Religious Images for Calendars (2009)

Religious Images for Calendars (2009)

Enjoying the Exhibit with the Heartist Painter

Enjoying the Exhibit with the Heartist Painter

At the entrance of Glorietta 3 lobby where the paintings are displayed. People come and go to view the paintings, some say a short prayer, others for curiosity, and also for photoshoots.

A candid shot with Mr. Joey Velasco. He belongs to batch 83 - DBJ. I belong to batch 90 - DBJ. I know the heartist painter as very down to earth and at the same time I enjoy reading reflections that goes along with all his masterpieces.

Joey Velasco 2009 Calendars

Joey Velasco 2009 Calendars

Joey Velasco is a social-realist artist. He possesses a profound sensitivity to the human drama. He touches the mystery of God in what is otherwise ugly and mundane.

His paintings are a momentary peek into eternity, a passing moment that captures the meaning of ordinary life in all its grandeur. The human soul finds genuine rest in the love of the Almighty. Hope beats with courage again. I call it inspiration; and we all need it.

Joey acknowledges that his profoundest gain from the Salesians is acquiring a heart for the poor. Having given some of his best years to the apostolate in the Don Bosco Youth Centers, he has never forgotten the faces of poverty and uncertainty that stared back at him. His paintings in oil convey messages of life-giving especially to the unfortunate.








I purposely placed the sample pictures of the paintings of Joey Velasco in my blog in order to sell it online especially among the people in the provinces or outside the country who are interested with the 2009 set.

Thank you very much.

Ostomy News Notes (September 2008 - Issue)

New header for ostomy news notes


Hello Friends and Fellow Ostomates,

I would like to share with you this months Ostomy News Notes for September 2008 Issue.
We have adopted a new look but still the same advocacy..

The topics for this months issue tackles:
a. The Phillipine Cancer Society
b. Ostomate in Focus - Mark Anthony Reynon
c. Understanding Crohn's disease.

We appreciate comments for the continued improvement of our news notes. Happy Reading to one and all.

Download Ostomy News Notes here

New header for ostomy news notes

Ostomy Reality (Bites)

The Correspondents, July 29: Dugtong ng Buhay

The Correspondents

“Dugtong ng Buhay”

July 29, 2008

They were able to survive cancer. But in exchange for their life’s extension, they have to live with a bag everyday – literally. Ostomates have undergone surgical operation to remove the cancer-stricken part of their intestines. Now, their intestines are peeking through their bodies, with them having no control of their bowel movement. They have to use colostomy bags to catch the involuntary dispersal of their stool.

They live in fear of being discriminated upon. Although the presence of the colostomy bag under their clothes is hardly noticeable by those they encounter, they are afraid that they would suddenly smell, or would uncontrollably defecate in the middle of a long journey. And worse, a lot of ostomates in the Philippines cannot even afford the colostomy bags: a disposable colostomy bag costs P350 and is good for only three days.

Ruben Gidacan, 42, has his ostomy since 1998. But a tragic string of events befell on him – his wife agreed that they separate because he could no longer support his family financially, he no longer was able to drive for a living. And just very recently, his brother Ariel died from the cancer – something very similar to what he had years ago. The only hope he is holding to now is the possibility that his ostomy is only temporary. He could go for a restorative operation for his condition.

Cita Guanzon, 39, could not afford the colostomy bags. She places household plastic bags inside the colostomy bag to extend the days of use. Whenever stool would come out, she would throw the plastic bag away and replace it with another one. Although cheap, she has very serious rashes around her colostomy. She used to hide her condition at the beginning, but her husband’s unconditional love keeps her intact.

The lives of Ruben and Cita, among other ostomates the episode will feature, are stories of sacrifices and hope.

Take your Tuesday evening with Bernadette Sembrano and The Correspondents team in this episode on ostomates. Watch with an open mind, and an open heart. July 29, after Bandila.

Link taken below.

Thank you to scarredempress

- - - - -

Addendum:

The sad fate of the ostomates here in the Philippines continue. The television exposure for this documentary worked both ways: both good and bad. Some people were willing to help and at the same time some people were not ready to accept the situation.

I am writing in behalf of Ruben my fellow member of the Ostomy Association of the Philippines. He would share that it was a joy to be featured in TV but the joy was shortlived.

Many people who were his usual customers stopped buying from him upon learning of his condition. A month after since the August airing, "wala na siyang kinikita sa trabaho niya."

Some OAP members are planning to get help from other sources because the media exposure had somehow backfired on us. These are lessons learned on the situation of what ostomates in the Philippines encounter. There is no wonder that many ostomates would hide and never reveal the condition to others even to one of their closest friends.

Dacawi: Humanitarian golds

By Ramon Dacawi
Benchwarmer

UST hours before China unfolded its pageantry and fireworks display in Beijing, Edgar Dacanay, a 36-year-old barber, was fidgety. Edlyn Joy, his two-year-old daughter, was an unsure starter for her next crucial bout. The kid is in a personal combat event of sorts she's too young to comprehend and wage and her family simply can't afford.

Edgar couldn't watch seeded Filipino boxer Harry Tanamor's debacle Tuesday night in the hands of Ghanaian light-flyweight Manyo Plange. He had to be at the corner of her kid. He learned of Tanamor's fate only the following morning, when he and his wife Merlinda were on their way to bring home Edlyn Joy. The kid had just pulled through her fourth bout and will rest for her next fight.

Each victory of the kid - and kids all over - is worth more than an Olympic medal. Her battle is protracted - against a dreaded Goliath who has no regard for disparities in age, weight and height, and too wily, deceptive and painfully brutal. Edgar and Melinda can only be relieved, thankful people came to cheer for their daughter and hope they will be around before the next round.

Edlyn Joy is battling cancer. The big C is at her tailbone, diagnosed as sacrococcygeal tumor. Doctors said it's malignant.

That's why hours before the opening of the World Olympics, people who heard came to see her being admitted for her next chemotherapy session at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center.

Juliet, a public school teacher, handed Edgar P5,000. She said it came from her brother Irwin Ilustre. Earlier, a woman delivered P4,000 at the barbershop, saying it was from an anonymous donor. A mother and son added P1,000.

As Edlyn Joy was being wheeled into the chemo room, a man caught up with them. He handed Edgar a wad, and reminding him of the power of prayer. When he has settled the kid on her bed for her six-day chemo confinement, Edgar remembered and counted the man's support. He then called him up, saying it was too generous - P16,000.

The man said he understands how difficult the ordeal was for Edgar and his family. He said he knew because he, too, survived cancer survivor. That's why he came, he said.

That's also why when Edlyn Joy's illness was diagnosed, her uncle Antonio, a farmer in Tubao, La Union sold his cow and had the small family land he was tilling tied to a loan. With no land to farm, he came up to watch over the kid, so her father can cut hair at the United Barbershop behind the Tiongsan Bazaar. So her mother can go back to work and repay her wage loan as a salesgirl at the Maharlika Building.

So Edgar and Merlinda could attend a court hearing last Thursday morning before bringing her home to their rented house in Loakan Proper Barangay. The hearing was about what happened to John Emerson. Edlyn Joy's elder brother, three years ago.

That was when John, then eight, and a classmate of his were walking to their second grade class when a passenger jeepney bumped him. He died two days after the accident in late January 2005.

Edgar said John, his second son, was able to push the other kid, saving him.

That's why Edgar can't give up on Edlyn Joy, whose other brother, Edmher, now 13, is in first year high school. That's why members of members of the Chrysanthemum Lions Club came to her hospital bedside, handing colostomy bags so Edgar won't worry about having to buy them for a while.

SunStar Baguio

Ostomy News Notes (Philippines)

I would like to share with you this months issue of the Ostomy News Notes. Once again, contributions are most welcome.


click below to read in pdf
August Issue 2008

Happy Reading to all.