Heartwarming reminder
For sure, today, millions remember the two special days of November, All Saints’ Day on the first and All Souls’ Day on the second.
Expectedly, many will find time to visit their departed loved ones. Expect flowers, traffic, the crowd, and family reunions at the cemeteries.
This week, we were made to realize how far a son and a brother, a scavenger in Cebu, will go to visit his departed parents and five siblings in Calatrava, Carmen, Bohol. Together with that desire came the strong determination to return to farming in his hometown rather than continue being a scavenger in Cebu.
Ceferino Angco’s plan was simple (perhaps others will say naïve or crazy).
Without enough money to pay for his boat fare (he only had P80 with him) and not wanting to bother others by begging or pleading for a free boat ride, he decided to swim across a 40 nautical mile stretch from Cebu to reach Bohol!
Ceferino was a farmer in Bohol who became a scavenger in Cebu. He had no stable earnings and no secure meals per day. Tired, hungry, and homeless (he slept in a sidewalk of Colon), a determined Ceferino decided to return to Bohol to visit his departed loved ones and also, to return to farming.
He started to swim before midnight but after some distance, he experienced cramps in his legs and arms. Providentially, he found and held on to a styrofoam until he was rescued around 8 a.m. the next day by the Fisheries Sea Ecological Care (FISECA) of Talisay City alerted by local fisherfolks who earlier saw Angco.
Thankfully, by now, Ceferino is finally back home on time to pay homage to his departed loved ones. He no longer had to swim his way home as Talisay City Councilor Antonio Bacaltos Jr. gave him cash to buy a boat ticket for Bohol and seedlings for him to plant back home in Carmen. He also received assistance from those who learned about his story. Ceferino’s story will be difficult to forget.
By his daring attempt to swim back to Bohol from Cebu, he called attention to close family ties, the real treasure that Filipinos cherish in life and that continue beyond death.
Ceferino’s swimming effort was not only to connect with those who have died but to connect with his own life which he wanted to turn around, from scavenging back to farming. Ceferino reminded us about the linked value of death of loved ones and a new life, a new beginning for a single, 48-year old farmer turned scavenger now desiring to be a farmer again.
Ceferino’s swimming bid was heartwarming too as he showed us his pure and noble heart. Rather than beg or plead or even steal or kill, Ceferino took the honorable though extremely difficult path home. His unselfish act created pools of kindness and compassion. His story touched many hearts and restored our people’s love and generosity for our needy kababayan.
Amidst negativities, darkness, and despair, Ceferino reminded all about holding on to hope, to light, and to life in an honorable way. He shames the so-called honorables who walk the halls of power and plunder the wealth of our people and our country.
Ceferino’s story is one often repeated in the lives of many of our people displaced by poverty and need, forced to leave their homes and families. Through hard work and sacrifice, not through abuse of power, plunder, stealing, and killing, Ceferino and millions of our noble and honorable Filipinos continue to remind us that true life and love live on, beyond death.