Cheers for the powerless

E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Cheers for the powerless
Sunday, 09 29, 2002

Golden Acres Home for the Aged is a collection of several unpretentious one-storey structures at the back of an annex building of a mall in Quezon City. Walls everywhere add to Golden Acres’ nondescript character. Here, 273 men and women senior citizens – most of them abandoned by their next of kin – while away the last years of their lives. They receive adequate and real attention from the social workers who treat them as family. They get decent food and warm bed, and their living quarters are spectacularly clean. If there is one well-managed government-run center for the disadvantaged, this is it.

Yet, there is a lingering sense of boredom and loneliness among the residents, the sense that they are all alone and not part of a family or cluster. Eyes are sad, and grizzled faces blank. The only deviation from sleeping and eating are morning walks on the paved pathways of Golden Acres. Even while in this, with the sun still soft and its rays gentle, the slow, hunched, age-beaten figures tell the story of lost, purposeless lives.

In a culture where the elderly and grandparents hold a lofty, revered place in the family even at the peak of their crankiness, the stories of the residents of Golden Acres are particularly heart-rending. Neglected, abandoned, literally thrown-out. Some of the residents were admitted to the center practically without anything, even a functioning, alert mind. Some came off the streets in rags, literally. I doubt if someone made the choice to live at Golden Acres on his or her own volition, on his or her own free will. Golden Acres to them is their life-support system.

The residents of Golden Acres mean nothing but a list of names that have been crossed out in some senators’ address book: They are too weighted down by their senility to be involved in some other activity such as expressing interest in what’s happening to the rest of the country; they are far too advanced in age to recognize our senior citizens for what they are, much less care enough to go out of the confines of that senior citizens’ enclave in Pasay City. But not in Sen. Ed Angara’s Book.

Little do most people know that Golden Acres is where Senator Angara has decided to spend the early hours of his birthday for many years now. Without the attendant fanfare, Angara has been giving flesh and blood to what he promised when he filed the bill (Senate Bill 1435) that later became Republic Act 7432, most popularly known as the Senior Citizens’ Law. And during those annual birthday huddles with the wizened wards of Golden Acres, the grateful gleam in the eyes, the warm hugs that accompany the often unvocalized gratitude of these elderly, bespeak of a more eloquent and sincere birthday greeting than the rest of those Angara gets for the rest of the day.

As it was for the past many years, the birthday celebration of Senator Angara at Golden Acres had a festive air. Most of the residents woke up early, bathed, wore their Sunday’s best and headed off to the small recreation hall. A cheap but reliable sound system kicked off several hours of singing and dancing and making merry. The dancing and singing skills of some of the residents were unbelievable. The songs were a mix of haunting kundimans, old songs of broken hearts and shattered hopes, pop songs and even fast ones that were recent hits. Dancing accompanied the singing, with applause, hoots and laughter all around. Some even recited memorable stanzas from Florante at Laura.

There was simple food. Gift packages were distributed to the residents by the senator who did everything the residents asked him to do – but sing.

Angara’s simple, short message was drawn from the homily delivered during the Mass. Msgr. Chito Bernardo said Congress should really be the voice of the powerless, the marginalized, the forgotten. The good priest said Congress should fight hard for those who cannot influence public policy.

Angara can really take pride in what he has accomplished: Free High School, the National Health Insurance Program, the Magna Carta for Health Workers, Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education, and the landmark law for rural development and agricultural modernization. Scratch the surface of Angara’s legislative record, and it is all about giving the ordinary people a fighting chance in life.

One message was conveyed as Angara moved out of the recreation hall: the residents were looking forward to another Sept. 24, a day with the senator. It was high noon when we left the Golden Acres, with the most of the residents in the hall exchanging notes on their gift packages. Some were still humming tunes and conversing in low tones, with the sound system blaring the plaintive cry – that Angara has always responded to – immortalized by the Beatles: “Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m sixty four?”


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