The light at the end of the tunnel

IT is an English figure of speech, indicating hope for good times after a long period of bad. Recently, a friend used the phrase in describing what the series of donations by China of Sinovac vaccines would amount to in addressing the now long period of bad times wrought upon the Philippines by the Covid-19 pandemic. Those donations, now amounting to 1.5 million doses already delivered, have been programmed to reach an awesome amount of 2.5 million doses “at,” says my friend, “the end of the tunnel.”

Not even an iota of such huge volume of vaccines is forthcoming to the country gratis et amore from any of the Western brands — you name it: Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca — which, too, are contending with China for supply to the Philippines of the medicine for the virus.

And yet how ironic that China is getting the flak from large sectors of society, including high Philippine officialdom, particularly the Defense and Foreign Affairs secretaries, for an entirely humanitarian issue over the South China Sea. It happened that because of bad weather, a fleet of Chinese fishing boats was forced to drop anchor at Julian Felipe Reef in the Kalayaan Islands Group off Palawan. The traditional “Amboys” in the

Philippines seized the opportunity to gain media mileage over the incident, twisted the fact of the issue by promoting the force majeure anchorage of the fishing boats at the reef as aggression of Philippine territory by Chinese militia ships. At the continuous war-mongering by US rah-rah boys, the Julian Felipe Reef incident is increasingly being turned into the fuse that would ignite military confrontation between the Philippines and China. It serves no small amount of comfort that the other day, President Duterte broke his silence over the issue, with Malacañang spokesman Harry Roque Jr. assuring the nation that the President had been working quietly on the delicate matter.

Thus, given the years-long friendship cemented between President Duterte and President Xi Jinping, like those Chinese donations of Sinovac, the President’s assurance amounts to one more “light at the end of the tunnel.”

It’s rather amazing that it is in this particular period when dark clouds seem to hover over China-Philippines relations that I, too, experience seeing “the light at the end of the tunnel.”

You see, I’d had this blind left eye for years, which I didn’t realize was taking a toll on my right-eye vision. I complained this one time to an ophthalmologist who explained that the blindness of the left eye had been sort of draining the 20-20 vision of my right eye such that over the years my right eyesight had been dimming visibly. His recommendation was for my left eye to be operated like my right eye was in 2017.

Well and good. Trouble is for a columnist who earns a thousand each for his piece twice weekly, an eye operation that would cost some 150 grand at St. Luke’s Medical Center would be out of the question. Back in 2017, I had a similar lens implant on my right eye at a Catanduanes eye clinic for an affordable cost. I had that in mind when I finally decided that it was high time my left eye was similarly treated or else lose even the vision of my right eye — which over the past months had been an increasing possibility.

I had the operation scheduled in the same Catanduanes clinic. Problem there though. Lockdown period and travel to Catanduanes would be difficult.

Would a military flight accommodate a hitch-rider? Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., being the Southern

Luzon Command (Solcom) commander who has Catanduanes in his turf, would be glad to provide me with that accommodation. But Wilson Lee Flores of the famed Kamuning Bakery Café, host of the famed Pandesal Forum, which has been among the most formidable venues for ventilating significant social and political issues, learned about the journey which he thought would be telling on my old age and pronto suggested to have me treated at the St. Luke’s Medical Center. “St. Luke’s!” I exclaimed. “My God.” “Akong bahala (Let me take care of it),” Wilson said.

Learning about my travails, Gov. Ito Ynares of Rizal offered to have my eye operation done either at the Rizal Provincial Hospital System or at the Rizal Medical Center at his cost. But next I hear, Wilson had already arranged for my operation by Dr. Ruben Lim Bon Siong, brother of Federation of Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII) President Dr. Henry Lim Bon Liong (how the “Liong” in Henry becomes the “Siong” in Ruben is a most interesting subject that I hope to delve into in another piece).

“I’m telling you, Wilson. Wala akong pera (I have no money),” I said.

“Akong bahala (Let me take care of it),” Wilson said.

Thus, it came about that after thanking Pareng Ito for his offer of the facilities of the Rizal province for my operation gratis et amore, I finally accepted St. Luke’s. General Parlade similarly took a breather at this: he didn’t have to go to Catanduanes anymore. Thank you, general.

Came the findings of Dr. Ruben. I must have clearance by a heart doctor for the operation. Wilson promptly dug into his bottomless chest of camaraderie and found Dr. William Chua of the Health Cube in Mandaluyong City who in one fell swoop accomplished what Dr. Ruben required: laboratory tests for my blood sugar, heart pressure, etc., culminating in the needed Cardiologist Certification as to my fitness for the operation: remember, I am 80. So, am I ready for the operation? Not quite.

It’s lockdown period, right? Dr. Ruben required swab test. I had to turn again to Pareng Ito, whose secretary Ma’am Mina promptly got me a schedule for a swab test at the Red Cross facilities operating at the Ynares Center in the capitol compound of Rizal. On the eve of the scheduled operation, Red Cross emailed me the swab test result: Negative.

I’d had this worry of being found positive for Covid-19. You would never know. The pandemic, aside from spreading horror and death, had had occasions for the unscrupulous to make money out of people’s misfortunes. Fortunately for me, none of the guys mentioned above belong to that despicable category. Came April 8, as scheduled my left eye went under the knife of Dr. Ruben, and as the cliché goes, the rest is history: my left eye, too, now sees “the light at the end of the tunnel.”

On the day I went back to Dr. Ruben for my post-operation check-up, I gifted him with a copy of my book “China The Way, The Truth and The Life,” with a simple dedication, thus: “To Dr. Ruben Lim Bon Siong, China The Way, The Truth and The Life… and with you, The Light of My Eye.”

That was no hyperbole. In the first place, my first eye operation in Catanduanes years ago, it was friends from China who made it all possible. This had prompted me to sing on one occasion a paraphrase of a popular ditty in the 1950s:

All of me, why not take all of me? Can’t you see, I am no good without you,

Take my hands, I wanna lose them. Take my arms, I don’t wanna use them.

Once my eye a sight

How can I go on seeing without you?

You took the part that once was my heart,

So, why not take all of me?

left me without