Ascension – the promise
of the Holy Spirit

The Church celebrated yesterday the Feast of the Ascension of Christ when the Savior went up to Heaven to seat at the Right Hand of the Father.

The importance of that feast day was that it contained the promise by Christ that even if He was no longer to be bodily present among us, He was going to send down the Paraclete (Holy Spirit) to keep us company.

It was the prelude to the Feast of the Pentecost when the Holy Spirit enveloped His apostles and disciples in tongue of fire over their heads. And the spirit then made clear to them the words by Christ during his sojourn on earth. Things they had never understood became clearer. Thus, they became emboldened and went to all parts of the world to witness to Christ and His Gospel of love and redemption.

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Murder raps have been filed against 18-year-old Pof Pascual of Tadlong, Sagay City, for the gory killing of Dr. Andres Gumban. The latter was one of the most popular physicians in Bacolod City.

Government prosecutors are still studying to evaluate whether the 16-year-old from Cadiz City acted with discernment when he committed the crime.

City Prosecutors Armando Abadonado gave the social welfare department five days to submit their evaluation report to decide on whether a case can be filed against the 16-year-old boy whose name is withheld from publication.

Offhand, I can say that the boy was not rational for having taken video shots of himself with accomplice with the body of the victim behind him.

He must have been on drugs. A rational person could not have delighted himself with that type of CCTV film. That’s why I had recommended that he and the 18-year-old Pascual be subjected to a drug test.

Even assuming that they were not prodded or assisted by adults to commit their crime against Gumban, the video footage is more than enough proof that they were the ones behind Gumban’s brutal death.

Hundreds of Bacolod residents yesterday accompanied Gumban’s burial at the Rolling Hills Memorial Garden.

A testimonial to the popularity of Dr. Gumban and the respect with which they had considered him during his lifetime as a practicing physician.

That past week, I had written about the problem caused by prolonged separation from the children by expatriate workers. And the imperative needed for a social outreach program similar Christian Family Movement used to employ in the past to help out the dysfunctional family of OFWs.

No, that does not mean that every OFW family is disturbed. But chances are that the prolonged separation of either of the two parents from their children is going to register impact on the psychological state of their children.

This is especially true insofar as when the children are still very young. We have seen several such classic manifestations that had often baffled us and created as much trauma on us as they did with the expatriate families and their children.

I am referring to cases handled by my late wife, Dr. Lourdes L. Espina and myself, long before she died. That was when we were still active members of the CFM II in Manila and CFM II in Montevista here in Bacolod.

One involved the devoted captain of an overseas vessel. When he arrived in Manila, he immediately visited us in our house. And his crew who accompanied him, witness to us and that he was a profoundly religious man. He refused to leave the boat during its port calls. He just wanted to save money to send to Bacolod and in preparation for his retirement.

In short, he was celibate, when his crew went down to indulge in what normally were activities in ports of call, he opted to remain on board and exchange for their watch.

His crew really had high praises for their boat captain. And they idolized him. Just a few weeks later, he was back in our home in Manila. This time completely plastered and raring to commit suicide.

We pieced out his tragedy. When he returned home to Bacolod, he noticed at a distance from his home his two children. They were both in dishabille. He asked them to bring him home. And he learned that his wife was out – with a Bacolod policeman with whom she had shacked up with. And the store which he had sent money to his wife to earn additional income was nowhere to be found. She had spent the entire amount he had saved for the store and for his family on her paramour.

He almost went berserk. Instead, he ended up drinking, worried and hoping there to salvage what he could for his family. He brought away the two kids with him. But they, too, suffered from his plight.

Another time, we also advised a relative, wife of a friend not to spend too long time in the US. She had wanted to earn extra for their three small children. Her husband was earning more than enough from his employment by a big firm. So, actually, there was no need for her to add to the income.

That stay extended for sometime in the US. The next time we learned from a nephew of her husband, he learned that his wife had written him a tearful letter informing him that she had taken up with another man in the US. And that she was not coming back.

As what was the reason? Just loneliness. The fact that she was there alone in the US apparently was mesmerized by her new found “liberty” from the household chores she had gone into when still with her husband.

These are just some of the pitfalls of prolonged separation from either of a couple. It is not just the children who are affected, the partners, themselves, also become victim of loneliness. And usually, this is something that is difficult for them to suffer for long. Sooner or later, the easy way out. He or she shacks up with somebody else. And the children are forgotten.

Yes, these were just some of the things that had been happening to some of our expat families. Unknown and unnoticed to most of us. We envy them for their external evidence of an uplift in their financial difficulties. And, of some flaunt their hard-earned riches.

But often, one discovers that too often the children are into drugs. They searched in chemicals what they have missed from their parents.

That’s why we needed to pray for OFWs and ask God to protect them and their children from temptations of their plight. And, as much as possible, reach out to them with compassion and understanding. They really need our help. Our prayers.*

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