Writing in old age

By Herbert Vego

USING Facebook, I often succeed in my search for old friends, one of whom is a fellow journalist from a decade gone by (1970s).  Eusebio “Bing” San Diego and I used to write regularly for the weekly Mod magazine. Having retired from his writing and teaching jobs, he kills time by writing letters to the editor for Manila dailies.

He asked me if I still wrote.

“Yes,” I answered, “but slower now due to failing eyesight and tendency to forget words. I still write a column for the Daily Guardian. Keeping my brain busy is my way of fighting forgetfulness.”

On Sundays, I join fellow senior citizen Neri Camiña in hosting a commentary program, Tribuna sang Banwa, on Aksyon Radyo.

Many others have different ways of reliving the past or remembering the good old days.

As for me, whenever I participate in karaoke singing, I belt nostalgic old songs such as Yesterday When I was Young and Those Were the Days.

Indeed I often remember my youth while sighing over the question, “Where have all the good old days gone?” It seemed only yesterday when I was aspiring to be a successful journalist. Now I am 71.

I don’t regret the passing of decades. I delight in looking back to that distant period in 1969 to 1970 when, as a Journalism student, I would send articles to weekly English magazines like the Free Press, Weekly Graphic and Weekly Nation, now all defunct. In those days, magazines were better circulated than newspapers nationwide.

Most of my early stories returned to me by mail with rejection slips but I never gave up. There was a time when I paid a visit to the editor of the Weekly Nation in Quezon City for advice. I was honored to meet the editor, Consorcio Borje (now deceased), whose short stories I had read in high school. He was probably in his 70s at that time.

His brother David was likewise an aging reporter at the defunct Daily Express when I began pounding the entertainment beat for the same paper in 1972.

The Borje brothers never stopped writing because they loved their work, and quitting might facilitate their appointment with the Lord.

Now I imagine myself in their shoes. I worry that I might not live as long as the Borjes.  On the positive side, however, I am a survivor who has bested a good number of deadly diseases, namely asthma, tuberculosis, pneumonitis, pneumonia, atherosclerosis, vertigo, emphysema and finally COVID-19 that kept me in the hospital for 12 days. I would like to “credit” those diseases for boosting my immune system.

After 51 years of journalism work since 1970, I still write for a living, partly because I am too proud to depend on my only son, a nurse in New York City.

It’s also because as a senior citizen, I need to buy expensive medicines and food supplements. You see, the vitamin advertisement “Bawal magkasakit” strikes at the core of the bitter reality that most senior citizens eventually lose financial independence. I know of friends and relatives who have exhausted their retirement money in medical expenses, especially frequent hospitalization.

On second thought, there are incentives for us seniors to keep on earning money. For one, we enjoy a privilege available to senior citizens only, such as value-added-tax exemption on top of 20% discount on food, medicine, entertainment and transportation, among others.

Yes, there could be more fun in aging.

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POWER PILFERAGE AFFECTS GOOD CONSUMERS

IF you are a resident of Iloilo City, you must have raised hell over sudden power outages.

But not’s the way to face the problem. This corner suggests that you go over the Facebook page of MORE Power where scheduled and unscheduled brownouts, as well as what’s being done about them, are announced.

In most cases you would discover causes inflicted by pilferage through devices better known as “jumpers”.  For instance, a damaged transformer could have resulted from overloading due to illegal connections. It has to be replaced with a new one.

In times like that, it’s not just the company but the general public that suffers. Therefore, our best move would be to find out who could have pilfered power and report them to the utility management.

Take it from MORE Power President Roel Castro, the company could further decrease power cost whenever pilferage is stopped.  In April this year, the average rate for residential consumers went down from P10.5212 to P10.2777 per kWh.

While it’s true that big-time pilferers/resellers have been caught, there remain smaller ones who are not probably aware of the risk they take. They could be charged with violation of the anti-power pilferage law (Republic Act No. 7832), which is punishable by six years of imprisonment or a fine ranging from fifty thousand pesos (P50,000) to one hundred thousand pesos (P100,000) or both.

In fact, MORE Power has already filed cases against scores of pilferers. One of them admitted that he had connected “clients” to secondary lines, charging them as much as Php 15 per kilowatt-hour.

MORE Power linemen used to get in trouble with suspected thieves. But this is no longer a big problem.  Because of  the “try-again” habit of certain jumper installers, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has authorized the Philippine National Police (PNP) to assist local government units (LGUs) and distribution utilities in inspecting electric facilities and in identifying the culprits.

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) has also committed itself to keeping the distribution utility informed of the fire hazards that may compromise delivery of electricity.

After all, we all know that the real potential of electricity lies not in merely providing social amenities but in stimulating long-term economic development.

Jonathan Cabrera “tik-toks” he agrees.