Thinking of that day, I can’t believe how far I’ve gone. Eight years ago, on this day I went to the National Statistics Office (NSO) in Quezon City to get an authenticated copy of my birth certificate. I was gonna use it for my passport application. On that day, I felt closer to my dream of going overseas. It was Saturday. I was supposed to go to church but I thought that I could skip church for that matter. I didn’t purposely set that date but it was the date they gave me. In the Philippines, procuring an authenticated birth certificate is a pain. First you have to submit an application and wait for about a week before they can hand it to you. It takes a week for them to locate your paper. But if you want to have it in a couple of days you have to pay them.
Anyway, I didn’t want to pay them extra for a job they are paid with our tax. It so happened my next appointed day was Saturday, December 30, 2000. I went to the NSO and there was a long queue already. The building was rather looking like a farmer’s house. The frames at the waiting area were all made of wood and thinking it was in Metro Manila where fires always break out, I thought that if someone irresponsibly threw a cigarette somewhere, that building could easily catch a fire. And considering it keeps the nations’ birth certificates, they should have been more keen on improving the building. After all, the people who want to get a copy of their birth certificate have to pay about 30 pesos if I remember it right. It’s not that much but for hundreds of people going there everyday, I’m pretty sure they make thousands of money everyday.
Well, I didn’t have to wait that long actually. I think I waited less than an hour. As soon as I got my birth certificate, I headed towards the bus stop at Epifanio De Los Santos Avenue more locally known as Edsa. Once there I thought of seeing my brother who was working in one of the hospitals in Manila. I was thinking whether to take a bus or go to the Light Railway Train station which was a little bit far to walk but then I reckoned that on this day the trains were going to be jam-packed and the queue would be from the stairs on the ground. I couldn’t make up my mind but as soon as the first bus arrived I jumped on it. When I paid my ticket then I realized I was going to the bus station to go home.
As we neared the bus station, I heard the news flash on the stereo that a bus on the other end of Edsa was just bombed. Another bomb blasted one of the trains of the LRT and another near the airport. My jaw dropped. If I visited my brother I could have been on the train or if I took the bus I could have been in the same place.
I got paranoid and thought to myself that I dishonoured the sanctity of the Sabbath and I was almost in danger. And I thought that those who were faithful to the Sabbath were very safe in the church that day.
Somehow I thanked God that He led me to the opposite direction to be completely safe.
Psalm 139:7-10
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
