My Christmas wish list

I have only three items in my Christmas wish list.

First, may the sick be healed. May they be given the strength to cope
with the trials they are going through.

Special mention in my list is the healing of my niece Rachelle who is
battling cancer. She has conquered cancer of the breast and she is now
battling tumor in her lungs. She is a very brave girl.

Another special mention is my boss, Malaya publisher Jake Macasaet who
suffered a stroke recently. Remarkably, he has recovered his speech
and is now back to his trademark “SOB”s against hypocrites.

He is undergoing daily physical therapy.

Included in my Christmas wish is patience and strength for their loved ones.
My second Christmas wish is for the Filipino people to find a leader
who is competent, not corrupt, and has a heart for the people
especially the poor.

May the decision of the Filipino people be carried out in the May
2016 elections. The person who would be proclaimed the next president
should be the genuine choice of the people.

Related to this, I wish that Sen. Grace Poe and Davao City Mayor
Rodrigo Duterte be included in the list that the people could choose
from. An election that limits that people’s choice by default is not
a truly free election.

My third wish is to win in the lotto. This is related to my first wish.
Unlike before when cancer was a death sentence, medicine research has
made remarkable advances in the treatment of cancer. The problem is
cost.

The cost of treatment is what will kill a poor patient.
***
I share the Christmas wish of Sen. Grace Poe for free Wi-Fi in every municipality across the country.

The internet can be a tool to shrink the wide gap between those in the developed and not-so-developed communities.

I’m currently in our barrio in Antique and I’m using a Globe pocket wifi. It’s a huge improvement from years past when I had to go to the capital town of San Jose , an hour away by public transport from out place, to send my columns by fax whenever I was on home visits.

But the speed is agonizingly slow. (Although the past days were not so bad compared to my last visit four months ago.) And quite expensive.

In batting for a free wifi in rural areas, Poe was thinking of the more than 10 million overseas Filipino workers who have to battle
loneliness abroad, especially during the Christmas season. A video call with their loved ones in the provinces would mean a lot.

She said she knows this having lived abroad for years.

“Dapat ay merong Wi-Fi zone para sa pamilya ng ating mga OFWs at para sa kahit sinong nangangailangan. Ito na lang ang koneksyon ninyo sa inyong mga mahal sa buhay, tapos mahal na, mabagal pa. Kaya nga po gusto ko talaga ang bawat munisipalidad ay magkaroon ng Wi-Fi zone,” Poe said.

Wi-Fi access, she said, will not only connect migrant families but also opens doors of opportunities for the unemployed and those in rural areas. The Internet has also been crucial in communications during disasters.

May her and our Christmas wish be granted.