By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
unconditional. ”
The Mountain Province Provincial Government organizes an annual Mabuhay-Pasasalamat Program for retirees along with its awarding of best-performing employees and Christmas Program. This happened yesterday (as I write this) and I was privileged to give my thoughts for this Christmas in behalf of the retirees and I would like to share them with you. Here goes.
The major reason why there is Christmas and why we are gathered today is because of love. We are celebrating best performers in the Provincial Government, we are celebrating service in government and we are celebrating the birthday of Jesus Christ. The reason he was born is because of God’s unconditional love for us. Despite our sins, God sent his Son to be born among us so that we will have eternal life.
Love is not love unless it is given away and unless it is unconditional. For us government officials and employees, love means giving the best service to our clients, even if they are not our friends, they are not our relatives or even if they did not vote for us. As the Lord said, “Love your enemies…” (Matthew 5:43). This is reflected in our oath of office which we took on the first day of our work as a government employee “…to do my duty to the best of my ability.” Therefore, so we don’t stress ourselves and be able to reach retirement age healthy and happy, let us love our duty, let us love our work, whether it is sweeping the plaza grounds or cleaning the toilets in the hospital or working in your computer. Do everything as best as you can, no matter the pay. After all government did not ask us to work in government, almost all the time, we are the ones who begged the appointing authorities to hire us. I am lucky because just after I graduated medical school, there were many vacancies for rural doctors in the Cordillera so I had a choice where to go.
Love also means being kind. Let’s be kind our clients and co-workers. For chiefs of offices, be kind to your subordinates and subordinates, respect your supervisors. Always wear a smile, adi met kalakowan sa. Let our smiles greet our clients and co-workers. Start your day with a smile, thanking God for another day for another beautiful day (you claim the blessing) and asking him how you could best serve your clients and others for the day. Let Jesus be your guide. By the way, the reason why we have our jobs is because of our clients- the people. Government employees are paid from taxes from citizens. They pay us to give them service so let’s give our best. Except for the 4Ps. government does not pay them to come to us and avail of our services. For 4Ps members, they have to go to the health center to avail of its services and go to school so they would be given cash from government. This is why this program is called conditional cash transfer.
Love also means saying “thank you” for the blessings, the gifts we receive, not only during Christmas. As government employees, we have a lot of blessings- our salaries, bonus, 13th month pay, cash gift, magna carta benefits for health workers, uniform allowance, etc. Thank you to government, thank you to our provincial officials for our jobs because they appointed us to our present positions. We are blessed to be working in government- not everybody has that privilege. Thank you, Governor Lacwasan and Vice-Governor Tauli and all our elected officials for supporting our endeavors and initiatives in health like the community health teams, health scouts, barangay health workers program, health and wellness advocacy, search for healthy places and search for outstanding health workers. Thank you to my co-workers at the Provincial Health Office, especially the technical staff , for being good team players and we are able to garner a lot of awards. Thank you for my co-workers in the various hospitals and municipal health offices and in the capitol. Thank you to my wonderful family who are joy and inspiration. Thank you, Lord, for everything.
Christmas also making wishes. This Christmas, I have 3 wishes. First, I wish that the provincial government, with the Governor at the helm and with everybody cooperating and working hard, will continue to propel Mountain Province towards excellence- in governance, service delivery, stewardship and human resource development. We are doing a lot but we need to do more to preserve our remaining forests and sustain our environment.
My second wish is that the Provincial Government will create a Retirees Volunteer Program to keep us retirees physically and mentally active to prevent “kabaw”. There’s no retirement for the indigenous Igorot. Being senior and a retiree is not an excuse to be lazy but should even make us more available for service to others as our children already have lives of their own. It’s a choice, though, if the retiree wants to babysit their grandchildren or do farm work or go into politics. In line with this, I wish the Provincial Government will provide a retirees’ lounge where retirees will feel welcome and bond with other retirees. Baken koma nan damo ay kanan yo kendakami et “Ya? Apay kanak no nenretire ka et.” As if we don’t have a right to enter the office anymore. Please welcome retirees in your workplaces.
This volunteer program would be one way of giving back to government for all the blessings we have been receiving throughout the years. We have fed, clothed and housed our families because of the salaries we received from government. With this program, retirees won’t spend their pension in everyday coffee in the Bontoc market, or buying unhealthy food for their ap-os or buying maintenance medicines or expensive supplements.
My third wish is that you may all age gracefully, working to the fullest, reaching retirement age healthy and happy without maintenance medicines, like me. The best way I know for long term health and happiness is simple – GO ORGANIC, GO LOCAL. Again and again, we have been saying this- GO ORGANIC. Just like what our Igorot ancestors practiced. Meaning that we eat food from the Garden of Eden, live simply and be content with what we have. Then we can sustain our environment for future generations. A BLESSED CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!***
**
“My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.” John 10:10
