Ambassador's "tribute"

After keeping us hanging for so long, a representative from DFA finally speaks up..albeit vaguely.
Expressions of sympathy still do not answer the call for justice. But this is still better than making no concrete statements at all..are you hearing this DSWD bosses?
INQUIRER.net 8/17/09
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—The Filipino nation is privileged to have witnessed the worldwide outpouring of admiration for the recently departed former President Corazon C. Aquino. Such a phenomenon, which couldn’t be anything but spontaneous, somehow helps to assuage our own grief over that grievous loss.
It also reminds us that the selflessness that is ordinarily attributed only to the likes of Rizal, Bonifacio, Mabini, et al occurred not only in the past but is very much still with us now—if we only looked hard enough through the opaque veil of self-doubt and cynicism. Tita Cory provided just one fine example.
For us here at the Philippine embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, we’ve had the added privilege of having worked with one other such hero, the late Social Welfare Attaché Finardo G. Cabilao.
Finard (as he asked to be called) was not, either in manner or speech, the swashbuckling type of hero at all; far from it.
Sitting next to him, you wouldn’t guess that upon those frail shoulders rested the fate—nay, the salvation—of many a Filipina victim of human trafficking here in Malaysia. For them, he helped arrange sanctuary from their tormentors; worked tirelessly on their legal problems, and helped to send them home upon resolution of their cases. Like the DSWD attachés who preceded him, he performed such deeds by the dozen; or even, it seemed at times, by the hundred. The record books of the Department of Social Welfare and Development Office in Zamboanga City, the usual re-entry point, should be filled with names of these Pinoy repatriate-refugees.
Finard was a familiar sight in Sarawak, in Sabah, and in the Federal Territory of Labuan nearby. After the huge fire that consumed an entire refugee village in Labuan, he was there with Consul General Renato Villa the very next day. He “worked the nightclub circuit” as an angel of mercy to those young women who, typically, were lured from otherwise honorable jobs back home with promises of the proverbial greener pastures abroad—but found themselves enmeshed in the flesh trade instead, with barely any hope for redemption. He wasn’t their customer; on the contrary, they were his “customers.” And, being customers, to him they were always right, never wrong.
As his co-worker who was responsible for him out here, I often had to restrain him from going too far in his advocacies or doing too much in his work for those distressed Filipinas. More than once, he pushed the envelope, risking his own safety or his status as a diplomat who was not expected to involve himself directly in domestic matters, though these may have been in joint pursuit of justice by local authorities. When reminded of this, he would invariably nod politely; but I was never really sure he shared my views on this.
Now he is gone—a very useful and productive life snuffed out in its prime—mere days short of his 50th birthday. We mourn his loss. Yet, as he himself would probably exhort us to, we must carry on with our work, looking after the well-being of Filipinos in Malaysia. There remains a steady stream of Finard’s erstwhile “customers.” And they are waiting for us who are still here to attend to them.
A little-known sidelight to the much-celebrated performances of the famed Bayanihan Dance Company in Kuala Lumpur last June is illustrative of his work ethic. Finard, who chaired the Committee on Food and Refreshments, went at it in such detail that the dancers never even came close to feeling thirsty, let alone getting hungry. He pre-arranged their meals and their baon during their bus rides. He went as far as to ensure a steady supply of bottled mineral water for the company members during rehearsals and performances—backstage, in the dressing rooms and, yes, on their bus.
In the end, Finard didn’t even get to sit down and enjoy the Bayanihan’s much-acclaimed Gala Performance that night of June 15th. When he was satisfied that all the members’ nutritional needs had been met, he quietly took a taxicab for the airport to catch a late-night flight to Sarawak state across the South China Sea—in order to assist yet another group of Filipinas in need.
That not-so-little act of self-denial was not unusual; it was classic Finardo Cabilao.So, there goes a true Filipino hero for these times.
The good news for our people is that there are still many civil servants like Finardo Cabilao around us, if we only looked hard enough. They need all the moral support and understanding from the Filipino public that they serve.
Meanwhile, paalam, Kasamang Finard