MARCH 14 - MARCH 20, 2021 6 OPINION WILLIAM E. ABLONG EYE OPENER wea_129@yahoo.com


Lent is a Catholic liturgical season consisting of forty days of fasting, prayer, and penitence beginning at Ash Wednesday and concluding at sundown on Holy Thursday. This year, Ash Wednesday was Feb. 17.


W


e are currently in the season of Lent. The season of


mirror). All the books were scattered, vital documents were strewn around, and everything else inside those shelves. To my estimate, almost 1,000 kilos or 1 ton smashed the roof top of our car including its body. Instant replay


During Ash Wednesdays, we receive ashes on our foreheads in the form of a cross, signaling a sign of our faith. With these ashes, we recall our origins from the earth, as well as how our bodies shall return one day to the same form. Ashes remind us that we are “dust.” As the dictum says “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return”. Lent is a time to step back and examine our lives. Lent invites us to quiet down and go deep into our minds and our hearts. Pope Francis said “Lent is a good time for sacrificing. Let us deny ourselves something every day to help others.” He further stated, “Lent is a journey of returning to the essential, which the Lord asks us to follow three steps: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting.” Last Feb. 28, an untoward incident happened to our Xpander vehicle. After attending the 4:30 pm mass at the Bishop’s Palace, we went downtown to buy food. From there, we went back home at about 6:30pm. After my wife and daughter, our niece and our house helper disembarked, I parked the car inside the garage.


Few minutes after we have settled down, we heard a huge bashing sound inside the garage. Startled, we quickly checked what was happening and to our surprise, our built- in book shelves have collapsed, hitting the entire right side of the car (including the side


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wishes. The anticipation stage is real. Friends are retiring; you’re tired of working, the finish line is in sight. This is the time to seek wise advice on how to handle feelings about leaving regular employment and the supportive social network it typically provides.


question is to think about retirement not as the end of work but as the start of a late-career transition. “Use some of the tools you might use in conceptualizing a career,” “What are my aptitudes? What are the things I like to do?”


One way to answer that


esteem, social network, role models) and strategy (optimism, reframing, self- management).


Realize there’s a light at the end of the retirement tunnel. “There will be many surprises along the way, but over a couple of years you will develop a new sense of purpose, a new sense of who you are, and a new way of negotiating relationships and building new ones,” says Schlossberg: For instance, if you


One helpful preparation tool comes from transition expert Nancy K. Schlossberg: the “four S’s” of coping with life changes and assessing your social and emotional strengths and weaknesses. These include: your situation with work and family at the time of the transition; your sense of self (outlook, resilience, spirituality); support (self-


climbed the corporate ladder, you likely had a mentor and learned how successful people got that way by observing and asking questions. Do the same around your retirement. Find people with a few years of experience living the retirement life you want, and learn how they got it. One rule on financial management is to withdraw 4% per year from the savings. Without running out of liquidity has been a pillar of sensible financial planning. But in the light


of low interest rates and longer life expectancies, some experts say it no longer holds up. These are the financial


tips for retirement: Pay attention to your spending (budget). Set aside funds for unexpected costs. Plan meals in advance. Live in a low cost setting. Opt for secondhand items. Explore cheaper travel options. Maintain your current household.


As I am now in the stage of applying the guidelines on the psychological and financial guidelines for retirement, I write columns and maintain a blog to share my experience.


I am also reliving my hobbies by doing small scale farming and livestock raising, doing webinars and consultancy to continue my advocacies, tending to small investments for passive income and making up for lost time with my family as an absentee husband , father and grandpa.


Actually, as I was approaching the car to check what happened, I was thinking the Xpander is now totally damaged. We won’t be able to use it again. I said that based on the very loud thumping sound that we just heard. When I went to check the window glasses (front and back), I felt grateful that the damage wasn’t that big. I was thinking that everything has been broken. Actually, I was


thinking of the cost of the car. It’s quite expensive. The side mirror tilted a bit but can still be used.


After we dislodged everything that was at the roof of our car, I immediately checked the car’s engine. Praise God!!! It wasn’t damaged as I thought it would be, in fact, it looks like nothing happened to it. There were of course several scratches on the vehicle’s body, and some parts of it were flattened, including the top part which was extremely dented. God is really good. While some parts were smashed, deformed, and scratched, no substantial damage was done to the engine. My car is barely two years old this coming May 29, I just can’t afford to lose it. Realization


places and especially at present that we are always traveling. Our daily prayer is not only limited to our own welfare but for everyone. We pray for people’s protection from covid-19. We pray for total healing of those afflicted by the disease. We pray for the ending of killings in Negros Oriental and all over the world. I believe that if God does


The power of prayer


permit evil to happen, at times, it is because of the irrevocable gift of free will. When people choose evil, God will allow them to proceed—but always with a caveat. The caveat is that God only permits evil to be inflicted upon others when that evil is ultimately going to be used for God’s glory and for some form of good. And it is only permitted in God’s time. If we do evil ourselves,


choosing sin rather than the will of God, then the evil that we do will end in our own loss of grace.


I believe prayer is the most important conversation of our day. We should take everything to God first before taking it to anyone else. As what is written in John 14:14, “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”


As I reflected on the incident, I’ve fully grasped the importance and the power of prayer. In our case, we pray individually and as a family, morning, afternoon, and in the evenings, most especially when we travel to faraway


In that incident, we felt God’s loving presence and He spoke to us that we should always be attentive to Him and notice how He is present every day. He is always with us! He will never leave us! He is always beside us, leading us, guiding us, and gracing us. In Matthew 28:20, the Lord says “I am with you always even until the end of the age.” Let us be attentive to God!


PINOYS TO GO ....FROM P. 3


ease restrictions are seen to be effective ways to help Filipinos recover from the pandemic, especially those who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19. On March 4, Cabinet Sec. Karlo Nograles floated the possibility that the entire Philippines might be placed under the least restrictive modified general community quarantine by April since the country is expected to receive more than two million Covid-19 vaccines that month. Duterte, however, said he is still “in a quandary of what to do.”


NOTICE


City, ALBERTO A. DELFINO of Cebu City, acting through Attorney- in-Fact of HOPE BANGCAL ABDULBAKI, JANEDA B. BATALLER of Los Banos, Laguna, acting through her Attorney-in-Fact SULPICIO DELFINO BANGCAL, JR.; HOPE D. BANGCAL and SULPICIO D. BANGCAL, JR. both of Dauin, Negros Oriental, have executed a DEED OF EXTRAJUDICIAL SETTLEMENT OF ESTATE AND PARTITION over Lot No. 4126 in Dauin, Negros Oriental, registered in the name of “HEIRS OF EMELIANA ALANANO, REP. BY JOSE D. TUBAN, WILHELMA LANIOJAN” under OCT No. FV-30159 on Nov. 26, 2020 in Dumaguete City, which is registered as Doc No. 07, Page No. 3, Book No. XX Series of 2020 in the Notarial Register of Atty. Samuel D. Dicen.


MetroPost Feb 28, March 14, March 21 NOTICE


He said he would further relax the quarantine measures in the country, once the number of Filipinos who have been inoculated with Covid-19 vaccines reaches one million. “I said the economy must be opened in a short while,” he said. “Kung makita ko na umabot na ng milyon ang vaccinated, probably, especially around towns and big cities, okay na!” The President also appealed for public cooperation to ensure the successful containment of Covid-19 in the country. “It is only when everyone’s


JULIUS TEVES, ALMA ASCENCION TEVES DAQUIL, all of Dumaguete City, JOSEPHINE TEVES BONIFACIO, and MELINDA TEVES NUIQUE of Melbourne, Australia, DAISY TEVES MONGADO of Massachusetts, USA and PAUL DEXTER TEVES of Burnaby, BC., Canada, have executed a DECLARATION OF HEIRSHIP and EXTRAJUDICIAL SETTLEMENT and PARTITION OF PROPERTIES as heirs of ALFONSO SINDA TEVES JR., particularly over the following properties: Lot No. 2515-A-2-C covered by TCT 109-20180005-7; Lot No. 2515-A-2-D covered by TCT 109-2018000508; Lot No. 2515-A-2-I covered by TCT 109-2018000513; Lot 5950-E-9 covered by TCT 109-20180000020; Lot 2292-B covered by TCT 109-2016000631; Lot 2292-C covered by TCT 109-2016000632; Lot 2292-D covered by TCT 109-2016000633; all in Dumaguete City and the following properties at Greenville Subdivision in Camanjac, Dumaguete City; Lot 2542-C-28; Lot 2542-C-29; Lot 2542-C-29 covered by TCT 20381; Lot 2542-C031 covered by TCT 21677; Lot 2542-C-30 on November 11,2020 in Dumaguete City, which is registered as Doc. No. 292, Page No. 60 Book No. III Series of 2020 in the Notarial Register of Atty. Roselle Anne Q. Tinguha.


MetroPost 2021 February 21 • February 28 • March 14 The public is hereby informed that NORMA LAGNITON TEVES, The public is hereby informed that JOSE D. TUBAN OF Dumaguete


METROPOST


cooperation that the nation can effectively contain the spread of Covid-19 and triumph against the pandemic. Through (these) concerted efforts, I am confident that we will emerge as (a) strong nation,” he said. (Ruth Gita Carlos)


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This attentiveness will open our mind and our heart to make them more open to recognize the “little signs” that Jesus truly is with us. God is attentive to our needs. God is sensitive to our situation. Don’t miss Jesus every


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