(By Hezekiah Kit Sales Canlas)
โKIT, GAWA ka na ngย concession.โ [โ๐ฒ๐๐, ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐.โ ]
It was around 10:30 in the evening. Seventy-eight to eighty percent already counted. But the numbers were not in our favor. It was clear: The vox populi was cast and we werenโt chosen. A part of the city basks in delicious victory. The other: defeated, disappointed, hungry โ us.
After what was a rough day in a tough election year, every member of the mayoral campaign team, from the dancers to the drivers, watchers to the strategists, converged at the headquarters for a late-night meal.
But we found no joy on the fried chicken that night.
Young volunteers who danced their asses off in the streets for thirty days were on the verge of tears. The men were outside, smoking the disappointment away. Ladies with their puffy eyes.
Everybody was down, save one.
The silence was broken by our boss, our mayoral candidate, who kept a positive face and cheered up every person she talked to. She then thanked all of us for our efforts, her head held up high.
While she was consoling each member of the campaign team, a senior staff walked up to me. โKit, gawa ka na ng concession.โ It was a task to craft our boss’s official statement on her electoral defeat, and, once approved, publish it online before the day endedโa first for me.
At that point I was still trying to grasp what happened, on what possibly went wrong. But I knew then that there was still a job to do.
I went outside and climbed on the back of a parked pick-up truck. Alone I sat there beneath the night sky, pulled out my phone from my pocket, and started writing.
โMagnanimous in victory, gracious in defeat.โ That was what my mother taught me as a kid. That guided my writing that sad night.
Boss OKโd my draft.
***
Life Choices
We have been on a transition phase since August, this year, and no matter how we try to make the experience as seamless as possible, it still has its accompanying stressors. Thank God for the little and big comforts in-between to balance the acute snags along the way.
One good move to pave the way for my return in my home province was deciding to produce Woman Talk with Belinda Sales over 91.9 Balita FM in Tagbilaran City. We are on our third broadcast this week, and so far, we have received positive reviews. Many thanks to our viewers and listeners for sending their messages of support and congratulations. You inspire us to sharpen our show every week.
Then we have women advocates for guests to flesh out our goal to provide a distinctive venue; a platform for the voices of women to be heard. We will invite women and then men from all walks of life so we can cover a broader base just like what we did in General Santos City.
***
Woman Talk
Had fun spending time with the girls early this week at a chic cafรฉ in Tagbilaran City. It was a get-together for Alice De la Serna del Valle who flew in from the US for a well-deserved six-week break following the two-year pandemic. Everyone just needed to be home after the raging pandemic to reunite with family and friends.
Like any womenโs gathering, we had diverse conversation, lots of guffaws, and pleasurable banter. Cheers to everyone who was present last Monday: Joy Bonita C. Sevilla, Rosario Chatto, Ma. Teresa Dohig Baquial, Ivie Datahan Atup, Evangeline Uy-Pacaรฑa, Regina โGinaโ Gatal-Bastes, Dr. Maria Flores โMitchumโ V. Adiong, Carmelita โCarmiโ Pilayre, Mildred Tinaja-Relampagos, and Janeth S. Roldan.
A toast to solidarity, sorority, and friendship!
***
Our guest for Woman Talk tomorrow, September 17, 2022, is Tanya Vaรฑo Adiong, a third-year law student at the University of the Philippines Diliman. Tanya is a member of the UP Women in Law (Winlaw) where she advocates for women empowerment in the legal profession.
It will be exciting to interview a millennial law student in these parts of the country after having interviewed several millennial professionals in General Santos City!
***
Food for Thought
A person with integrity takes ownership of his mistakes. โ Lifted from a post.
Question: Are you?
***
Writer can be reached at belindabelsales@gmail.com. Twitter @ShilohRuthie./PN
