"Beyond Diploma"

“A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that 'individuality' is the key to success.”

- Robert Orben

Every time I smell the aroma of the graduation season which, as of this writing, is now drawing closer and closer, I always remember what U.P. Diliman Chancellor Sergio Cao once said: “There’s a difference between getting a degree and being educated.” It never fails to leave me with the impression that if somebody is about to enter college, he or she must aim both the degree and what Sergio Cao emphasized as real 'education'. There is a clear demarcation line between the two and for people like me who have struggled a lot just to reach this point, it's easy to admit that the essence of graduation rites is more than the degree or diploma you earn but rather in its role as a crucial time to reminisce every single hardship you have earned just to have an education and those that made you stronger, mature, and more prepared than ever to get out of your comfort zone and start following your path outside school. Five years ago, I entered MCU with just the thought of getting a bachelor's degree. I'm lucky that I'm about to leave with both a degree and an education.

Unbeknownst to most of my contemporaries, I spent one and a half years of my college life studying biology in a state university and then stopped for about 6 months to work in a local restaurant as a crew. The following school year, I enrolled in MCU and studied nursing for the next 3 years until I went out of school for the second time around this time to work as a call center agent in Makati. We were evicted at that time from our apartment that's why I have to voluntarily work and help our family build a house first. After 6 months of struggle, I was terminated from my job and was diagnosed with mild tuberculosis, leaving me unemployed and depressed. But due to my parent's encouragement, I went back to school to finish what I have started before. But life, with its own twists and turns, never fails to test my character. Last December, my father, who have worked as an OFW for four years in Saudi Arabia, died of heart attack 2 days before Christmas and almost 3 months before my graduation. This is my story and although I don't know Sergio Cao personally, I strongly believe that the lessons and courage I have gained from these experiences are the same things that he referred as 'education'. I never wanted to sound melodramatic but I thought that a great example should come straight from the horse's mouth. And after the 22 years of my existence, I can proudly say that I've had my own fair share of struggles that taught me a lot of things you just can't learn by simply staying inside school.

As my final days in this educational institution slowly creep in, I have realized that different students have different perceptions about this solemn ceremony. Some believes that it is just a transient ceremony done just for formality's sake when people finally wear their academic attires and throws their mortarboards cheerfully above the air. Some pessimists see it as a simple rite of passage that will welcome students to the world dominated by unemployed and underemployed citizens. Some academic achievers, on the other hand, put more importance to awards and distinctions above anything else, blinded by their belief that impressive grades will assure them of success in life. From my own vantage point, graduation is more than a diploma, more than any awards or medals, and even beyond its usual definition as a 'start' of a new beginning. It is, for me, a ticket to success, a key that will lead anyone to his niche as long as he uses his education to its full potential and believe that learning doesn't stop after graduation. Universities will give us the degree but none of them will automatically provide us the genuine education that takes real character and experience to be achieved.

Graduation can mean a lot of things to different people but one thing should be clear about it: gratitude is not enough to thank our parents and benefactors for the education that has a shelf-life of forever and will withstand the test of time. Few people are lucky enough to have been blessed with the gift of education. It doesn't matter what school you came from but how you use every single lesson that life and your school have inculcated to you. I hope everyone would see graduation the way I see it now. It's above every superficiality and empty interpretation. Life doesn't end where graduation stops. It persists and goes beyond diploma.

DFA, OWWA, and the Saga of a Dead OFW

    It's almost close to a week yet the painful wait for my father's remains is far from being over. The holiday season and the painstaking processes that my father's dead and already freezing body are just two of the culprits why my family's agony still remains at its peak. My aunt, who is in U.A.E. working as a radiologic technologist, is likewise having a hard time finding a sponsor who will help her travel directly to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where my father's body seems to be waiting in vain. The stressful days and nights we are experiencing are yet to meet a final conclusion. For the record, my daddy died ofcardiac arrest last December 23, 2010 and since then, we are completely lost if his recruiter or employer are doing their jobs to repatriate my father's human remains the soonest time possible. I mean, with all the news I've been reading regarding OFW repatriation (I once read of a case wherein an OFW corpse took almost 2 or 3 months before finally returning back to the Philippines due to issues concerning the Philippine Embassy and the employer) I don't feel anything but apprehension and anxiety towards the possible time period it will actually take before we can get back our father's dead body. As recommended, we tried to contact an employee from the Department of Foreign Affairs (who we will meet by tomorrow morning) to help us hasten our father's repatriation. Together with my mother, we are praying and crossing our fingers at the same time that our appointment tomorrow at DFA will soon be proven productive and will help us connect with the Philippine Embassy at Saudi Arabia.

      We are set to go to OWWA as well by tomorrow to enlighten ourselves regarding the requirements and procedures that we need to claim the death benefits from their office. According to my research, natural death and accidental death will be covered by OWWA and the dependents will receive 100,000 and 200, 000 pesos, respectively. However, before anything else, the family should verify first if the deceased OFW is an active member of OWWA at the time of his death. You can do the verification and other inquiries through the OWWA 24/7 Operation Center or by going directly to their website. Here is the lik: http://www.owwa.gov.ph/.

    On the other hand, one should remember that DFA is the first destination to ensure the swift and smooth repatriation of the deceased OFW's body. If you're under the same situation as mine, maybe you can also check your relative's status on the Social Security System to receive death benefits, if there's any. Perhaps also check his/her contract regarding issues like repatriation fees and death benefits. On the other hand, I'm quite positive that God and Daddy are always with us and will definitely help us in every step of the way. OFWs, like my father, are living heroes who deserve the final respect and love upon their deaths. It's one hell of a process but in one way or another, I know we can make it and survive this ordeal as a united family. Please continue to pray for my father and my family. May God be with us always!

"Christmas Mourning: Death of A Father, A Friend, and My Dearest Inspiration"

My beloved father, Luisito A. Batongbakal Sr. (January 25, 1959-December 23, 2010)

Nothing on earth could compare to the agonizing pain and shock that the news of my father's death has brought to our household two days before Christmas celebration. At first, the numbing sensation creeped all over my body and left me verbally and physically weak, so to speak. But when everything started to sank in slowly- - my father died yesterday afternoon in Saudi Arabia (night time in the Philippines) while on sleep due to heart attack that is yet to be verified- - -my only instinct at that moment  suddenly pushed me to hug and kiss my mother and older sister, who are both crying in despair for the excruciating loss of our father and the uncertainty that the future has started to beckon. I've been reviewing in advance for the July 2011 nursing board exam but after the horrible news took over our household, I'm quite lost and doesn't know where, when, and how to start again realizing that my father's death is quintessential of an untimely one: a life taken almost 3 months before I could finally march the stage for graduation and amidst the merry-making activities that is of Christmas.
For the record, my father and I have had a not so smooth relationship and it's actually just few years back that my father slowly changed for the better. He was a bonafide cigarette smoker and alcohol drinker since God knows when. But inspite of his past mistakes, I know that my daddy just wanted the best for us that's why he used all means to seek greener pasture in a desert country to fulfill my dreams of becoming a nurse and hopefully, a competent physician. My father was an engineer but he's more than that to me. He is my life and inspiration along with my now broken-hearted mother. His loss is by far the most tragic event that has ever happened to me not just on Christmas time but on any part of the year.
The morning after the news, numerous calls from my friends and classmates seemed to be not enough to comfort me or at least alleviate the flesh-tearing pain that I'm experiencing now. In addition to that, the long process of waiting for the repatriation of my father's remains from Saudi Arabia to the Philippines only adds up to the long list of worries that have been disturbing the sanity out of me. I love my father and I learned the importance of not taking things/people for granted the hardest and painful way.
Daddy, I love you and I promise you that from now on until eternity, I will protect and love my mother and sister to the best of my ability and we will finish our studies and turn out victorious in the end. I promise this from the bottom of my heart, which is drowning now with so much pain and anguish while the rest of the world are singing joyful Christmas songs. God has plans for us and your departure is a crucial part of it. Rest assured that you will never be forgotten, together with the lessons you had inculcated to us. I love you and I will sorely miss you.
I hope that you're already one with God and whoever is reading this article, I hope that you won't mind setting aside some of your time to pray for my father's soul and my family's strength.

Daddy, farewell to you and see you soon!I love you!

And for all the people who lost their father, may this music video of a personal favourite song remind us all that no matter who our fathers are, they all deserve to be loved and not taken for granted. The pain that comes from a father's death is just beyond words or adjectives for me to describe it. But the comfort of God's promise of a reunion in eternity is what I keep holding on to. May our faith in God finally bring us peace that will see us through our grieving process and to the life that awaits us after this agonizing period of mourning. God bless us all!