You know you are getting old when you drive into a religious novitiate and care more about the men and women in the cemetery than the present novices. I realized this as we drove into the Jesuits’ Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches one day.
With the veterans of World War II and the surviving spouses in the province of Camarines Norte diminishing in number as one by one they are called by their Creator to that “undiscovered country from whose borne no traveler returns,” Roderick Barbado, the new branch manager of Development Bank of the Philippines, introduced another innovation that facilitates withdrawal and deposit transactions for all senior citizens. Before him, the branch manager he replaced assigned a staff to facilitate pension withdrawals by veterans and surviving spouses.
This question is directed to Inquirer columnist Ramon Farolan or anyone who can answer my question regarding the senior citizen’s discount.
President Benigno Aquino, in his last State of the Nation Address, said, “All senior citizens or pensioners will receive no less than P5,000 a month.” The Social Security System, our biggest private “security collector” has, so far, done nothing to help its pensioners who are living below the poverty line or those receiving less than P5,000-per-month pension.
DID YOU know that Jan. 6, Three Kings’ Day, has also sometimes been called “Pasko ng mga Matatanda,” the Christmas of the elderly?
Of all, let me greet a senior citizen of the clan who recently marked his 63rd birth anniversary.
Yes, I got many letters in relation to commuting on the LRT/MRT and I promise to do another column on it. But I need time to go through the many concrete suggestions and insights that readers sent.
Does a correlation exist between working and living? In one of my favorite movies in the late ’60s, “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly,” Tuco (the ugly bandit) said it very plainly no matter how odd and twisted his character was in the movie: “If you work for a living, why kill yourself working?” Well said. It really does matter when you are 62 years old and 24 years in private employment. After having submitted my desire to be included in a retirement program that my company’s management might offer this year, one question does arise: What if not?
Let me start by quoting letters from two senior citizens to highlight their plight that I believe is a common complaint of many of our elderly.
The best part of my life now is the freedom to stay in bed and read and sleep and read and eat and sleep again. Often, I lose track of time. I wake up wondering where I am, what day it is, what time it is. Am I meeting someone for lunch, or am I free today to do some vacuuming or mopping, or both? I must sort the mounting pile of laundry, too, or I must buy more clothes.
First, an update on a hero. Last week, I visited First Class Cadet Alfonso Aviles at the V. Luna General Hospital. Although I was unable to speak to him—he is still under intensive care—his doctors informed me that there has been some progress in his fight for survival and recovery. He is now off the mechanical ventilator and is breathing on his own. He can open his eyes every now and then, but there is no sign that he is able to respond to any form of stimulus.
I have been wondering why at my age, 85 years old, I always get to see and talk to dead persons. I do not know if they just want to say something about their lives after death. I am getting the feeling that such appearances are part of a usual phenomenon. But I think there must be something about them.
