She was fearless. She was selfless. She could have accomplished a lot for the Filipino people.
Such were the talk on the streets, in homes and in offices when it was announced that Gina Lopez passed away due to cancer.
While other media have peppered the public about her achievements, not much was said on why she became who she was—selfless, fearless and incorruptible.
When she was still a minor, she left home to work full time for the Ananda Marga Yoga Society. That ended her formal education then which she was pursuing in Boston, USA. He parents were shocked when she left home and even thought she had gone crazy when she emptied her closets of designer clothes to be donated to typhoon victims. They later found out that she took to the extreme Ananda Marga’s doctrine of leading a simple life and selfless service to humanity.
In power then, the Lopezes (the vice president was her uncle) asserted their parental rights over minor Gina. They went to the Supreme Court to gain custody of her. So she was forced to go back to her lusrious environs.
After a year or two, she became of legal age. The parents then could not do anything when she went back to Ananda Marga as a full time worker, like a nun. She had to survive on donations, and had to put up children’s homes or orphanages, and preschools. She had to be a pure vegetarian, had to meditate four times a day, and had to keep herself physically fit by doing regular yoga exercises.
Above all, she had to fast (not even a droplet of water or anything for 24 or 36 hours) four times a month. Without such practice and discipline, satisfying the requirement of celibacy would be almost impossible. That also took care of her internal and physical cleanliness. She adhered to the discipline for more than three decades.
Those practices developed her strength of mind which must have come in handy when she was assigned to Africa. For more than two decades there, she put up schools, orphanages and was responsible for enabling many African women to finish college. All from donations she solicited.
With all the sacrifices she endured and the training and dicipline that developed her selflessness and courage or strength of mind, she came back to the country with a family. And the clout, prestige and financial muscle of their family’s ABS-CBN was waiting for her to utilize. Thus that network’s foundation was put up her.
The rest is history like her cleaning up some of Metro Manila’s waterways which everybody thought was impossible. Also her orders that closed many mining ventures. It shocked the mining bigwigs and other bigtime business people but she was unfazed. For she was trained to think of humanity’s welfare and not for the selfish interest of big business of the establishgment.
Then there was her confirmation that almost coincided with the tiff between her brother Gabby Lopez or ABS-CBN with PDu30. The mining magnates and other big business threatened by her non-compromising stance for the environment, which was for the people, also bonded together to take her down. So she was not confirmed as DENR secretary.
It was again history repeating itself. Those who sincerely fight for the general welfare are always taken down. **