A few days before my Mom's telegram arrived, I applied for a job at the Philippine Education Journal as an artist/ illustrator. The art director there asked me to make an illustration of a turtle delivering mail. Very realistic because Philippine Mail then was as slow as that amphibian.
Anyways, the Director seemed to like my work. He started telling me the benefits, working hours, etc. The magazine subscribes to most schools in the country so it seemed to be a very stable periodical. Then I told them I was studying Fine Arts and the director seemed to turn uneasy. I never got the job, of course, but if I did, I was ready to settle down in Manila. The office was in Cubao, on the way to Camp Murphy and my boarding house was just a 15 minute walk away.
I never really wanted to go back to Asingan but the job at DWA seemed to be a challenge. The school has a good reputation during those years and many well to do families were sending their children to this Institution founded by German SVD Fathers. It has also a newly started College Department, and offering a better pay than most private schools at that time. Maybe I could settle there for good, so I thought..
It was Mrs. Loreto Blando Mizal who got me the job. We were together at the Rizal Academy, then we left the school at the same time to seek for the proverbial greener pastures. Both of us went to file our application at the DWA. She also sent another application to the FORPRIDECOM in Los Banios Laguna.
Then I heard she got the job at the DWA. Me, rather than stay in Asingan, without any job, I decided to go back to school thus I enrolled at the UST.
Manang Loreto finished her Journalism in UST. She was a published writer in the Philippines and she encouraged me to keep on writing. Because the only way to learn the craft is to do it. Write a journal everyday, she said. I did write a Journal too, but sometimes my sisters will find it and they do not believe in the privacy of a written diary. They would read it, and would kid me about what they read in front of the dining table.
Anyways, Manang Loreto asked me to visit the school when I am back in Asingan to report to the Director the late Fr. George Harwardt, SVD. When she received her acceptance about the job in Laguna, she filed her resignation from DWA and she was released on condition that she would look for a replacement. And that was me. Good for her..and for me too.
At last she was able to get a writing job in FORPRIDECOM, a government agency dealing with Forest Products Research. I did receive a letter from her telling me that if there is a vacancy in any of the several agencies in Los Banios, she would inform me about it.
And she did. It took two years before I was able to land that dream job of working in an Editorial Office where I could practice my craft. In this life, there is always a person aside from your parents, who would help you unselfishly find your own way.
In my case, it was her. First, she showed confidence in my ability. She corrected my early attempts at writing. Maybe she saw a grain of potentiality in those horrible, high school articles. Then she helped me find jobs wherever she was stationed. With her help, I finally stood on my feet, living in a good community by myself, my new family, away from the comforts of home in Asingan. I had a heavy heart when I left Asingan for Los Banios, with Miguelita who was already pregnant with our first child.
But to reach one's final destiny, I believe that first you must have to leave the shore.---#
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