f Allah finds any goodness in your hearts He will give you that which is better than what has been taken away from you.
— Quran 8:70
YESTERDAY, DECEMBER 23, I will be on my 70th year of a fulfilled life graced by God in his kindness and unending blessings.
To celebrate my birthday (yesterday) , I had my right forearm tattooed with the ‘Shahadah’ to profess my faith in the Almighty Father (Allah) who created the world and gave us life to live to the fullest.
Thank you to all those who greeted me and may the blessings of our God be as plentiful as the sands on the beach and stars on the evening sky.
Alhamdullilah!
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A week from today, we will commemorate the 129th death anniversary of our (so-called) national hero, Dr. Jose Patricio Mercado Rizal, or Pepe, who was executed by musketry on December 30, 1896 at Bagumbayan (now Rizal Park).
But little do we know about others like Rizal who were also executed by musketry for upholding their love for patrimony and the desire for freedom and independence from the tyranny of Spain.
Eleven days after Rizal was killed, thirteen ordinary Filipinos were likewise executed by the Guardia Civil also in Bagumbayan. But only a worn out marker at the place of their execution reminds us of their bravery and heroism.
I passed by this lonely reminder, only to feel sadness at how our love of country has gone so low that our leaders now are now embroiled in scandals that benefit only themselves and satisfy their greed without thinking about the welfare of each Filipino.
They say Filipinos are a race of warriors and heroes, but in the last century, we have become thieves and criminals who know nothing about dying for the Mother Land.
The Thirteen Martyrs of Bagumbayan (in Spanish, Trece Mártires de Bagumbayan), were Filipino patriots who, like Rizal, were executed by musketry on January 11, 1897 They were killed on orders of the Spanish authorities for cooperating with the Katipunan during the Philippine Revolution against Spain.
And the martyrdom of our forgotten heroes do not end there. Before Rizal’s death, 13 earlier martyrs were executed by firing squad on September 12, 1896 in what is now the de facto capital of Cavite, Trece Martires, which has been named so to honor their ultimate sacrifice for freedom.
In Bicol, 15 patriots were executed on January 4, 1897 and in Aklan, nineteen other martyrs sacrificed their lives in order to advance the cause of the Katipunan.
Remembering these our heroes, we are saddened because our current leaders in government have become thieves and criminals.
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FOR your comments or suggestions, complaints or requests, just send a message through my email at cipcab2006@yahoo.com or text me at cellphone numbers 09171656792 or 09171592256 during office hours from Monday to Friday. Thank you and mabuhay!