Elixir by James O. Sy PhD

Author:James O. Sy, PhD
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction/Christian/Suspense
Publisher: Elm Hill
Published: 2018-08-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

THE ORPHANAGE

Often times, things get tarried and a person becomes impatient. But in the fullness of time, if it is in accordance with the Almighty’s plan, then all these will come to pass and come into being.

………

Such was the case with the spacious, nipa-thatched shelter located behind a fish pond that functions so perfectly as an orphanage. There was never an intended plan to build this Heaven-sent gift.

Sister Patricia is a Catholic nun, identified with the religious Sisters of the Sacred Heart. She had been rounding up the strays, the abandoned kids and the homeless, who were loitering and whiling away in the neighborhood. She did her charity work and compassionate deeds in the agricultural part of Dela Paz, Laguna.

………

Dela Paz is a sub-urban annex of Biñan. The City of Biñan itself is located about twenty-one miles south of Manila (the capital city) and has a population approaching 400,000. There are still farms dotting the outskirts of the city, although evidence of industrialization is sprouting everywhere. It is not uncommon to see among the frontage of endless rows of agricultural land, suddenly appearing in plain sight is the ubiquitous McDonald’s, situated right alongside a newly built mini-mall.

It is an unfortunate conversion of much-needed farmland into commercial strip centers, restaurants, and fast-food joints. But it is not only this type of transformation that has been ongoing.

A recent transaction that had members of the farmers‘ cooperative up in arms involved a plot of agricultural land sold by the owner who migrated to Canada.

He had liquidated most of his assets at cheap prices due to his haste to move abroad. The real estate agent found a ready and able buyer for a plot of farmland, a rich businessman who offered a mutually agreeable price. Manny, a Manila-based Chinese Filipino astute in the art of the deal, facilitated the closing of the deal, agreeing to an all-cash mode of payment. What riled up the local farmers was the new landlord’s plan for the piece of land. Manny had purchased the property not for the planting of an important staple food source, rice, but for the construction of a tilapia farm. Due to an ever-increasing Filipino population, coupled with these greed-motivated, mind-boggling, and wanton conversions of agricultural land, the Philippines has seen a role reversal. Three decades ago, the country had a huge surplus of rice, making it a top rice-exporting nation. Nowadays, this Asian country needs huge shipments of the this staple food sourced from Vietnam and Thailand.

Locals were quite upset at this unmitigated, irreversible, and increasing pace of agri-land conversion. Sadly, the Filipino government took no actions, preferring a policy of laissez-faire. Initially, the actions were peaceful protests and picketing. When these methods didn’t work, stone-throwing incidents directed at the construction site, harassments of workers (at the site), coupled with threats of bodily harm were tried next. But what brought things to a boil was the attempted abduction of the construction foreman. Although it was unsuccessful, it did temporary brought the construction of the fish pond to a halt.

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