Legacy Builders & Healers

TONY MELOTO

After a long and lonely struggle with depression and suppressed rage, I’m gradually finding freedom from the doom and gloom of old age.

Growing old need not be the final curtain but the birth of new dreams and the fuel of new passions. 

Providence led me to Paraiso Village Farm in San Jose, Batangas, for my retirement five years ago when my heart and spirit had lost the spark to live.

But my Maker was not done with me yet. Paraiso turned out to be a healing farm where the lonely, injured, and broken came to heal one another.

Virtual morning Mass with Fr Tito Caluag and Rosary at night with my wife helped me overcome my addiction to anti-psoriatic drugs and steroids that induced depression and irrational behavior. I healed gradually by replacing chemical drugs that caused liver damage and inflammation of the brain with anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant food supplements like turmeric tea and virgin coconut oil (VCO).

And a host of wounded angels came to Paraiso to gradually heal me and many others through their acts of kindness and grace.

Bobby Joseph endured stage 4 cancer for 15 years and was my principal healer. He had such a zest for life despite the excruciating pain he had to go through. 

Bobby visited me regularly at Paraiso with his wife Ida as they built the Serenity Chapel to honor the memory of their 28-year-old son Richard and cope with the unimaginable pain of his loss. Richard was an avid volunteer of Gawad Kalinga in Baseco while he was a student in La Salle. The Chapel became a home to the memory of this great young man and a sanctuary of solace and peace for many troubled souls like me.

And my healing journey with the Josephs continued. Every Thursday, we spent lunch at their home in Ayala Alabang to calm our spirits throughout the pandemic. We formed the Rich for All Foundation to care for the lonely elderly and subsistence farmers when fear and uncertainty ruled their hearts.

Together, we fed a thousand evacuees for two weeks in the town of San Jose and Cuenca during the Taal eruption and built toilets and baths at their evacuation center.

Seniors Faith Club was born on February 14, 2020, to give good food and cheer to 200 indigent elderly who were the most devastated during the eruption. The movement continued and grew throughout the entire period of the Covid-19 pandemic.

To create profitability for sustainable philanthropy, kind-hearted friends opened the doors of many plush villages to our weekly delivery of fruits, vegetables, and eggs from Paraiso and other farms to improve the lives of farmers and support our monthly programs for the elderly. 

Then we had the big bang at Paraiso Village Farm on October 1, 2022. It was the first-in-the-world Seniors Hope Expo for over a thousand Senior Citizens from 18 towns and cities of Batangas.

The angels of good joined forces to drive out the demons of hunger and hopelessness with a day of feasting, fun, and fellowship to the often lonely and forgotten elderly.

The ladies were beautiful in their resplendent “ternos”; talents overflowed in the competition in ballroom dancing, singing, cooking, and cultural presentations. The local dishes such as “Kurobuta” steak, “Lechon Baka,” and Balayan “Lechon Baboy with Lomi,” Taal “Tapa,” and “Sinaing na Tulingan” came with Ralph’s Corona beer and wine to satisfy the craving for Batangas heirloom dishes. It was a “walang bawal” day – the Seniors could eat and drink anything – even play mahjong.

Many stayed until midnight, dancing to the music of Heart and Soul and Spirit of ’67 bands and entertained by the spirited singing and dancing of Christopher De Leon and his sister, Melissa De Leon Joseph.

The Bobby Joseph Award for the town with the best exhibit and program for Senior Citizens was won by Bauan, with Ibaan and Talisay coming in a close second and third, respectively.

Governor Dodo Mandanas, at 78 years old, was given the Most Outstanding Batangueño in Public Service Award. In comparison, 84-year-old Antero Javier of Cuenca bagged the prize as the Most Inspiring Batangueño for being a top entrepreneur from humble beginnings who never left his town despite his business success and his wife of 60 years and seven children who all have college degrees.

The San Jose LGU, led by Mayor Ben Patron, a Senior Citizen himself, laid out the Red Carpet for special guests Senator Tito Sotto, principal author of the Senior Citizens Law, Chairman Franklin Quijano of the National Commission for Senior Citizens, and health and beauty enthusiast Cory Quirino.

It was also an unforgettable day of kindness and happiness for many selfless volunteers who found pleasure and passion in giving their best to those with the least in life. Even heaven smiled with the sunny weather the whole day after many weeks of heavy rain.

Now all roads lead to Batangas Lakelands on December 8 for the Seniors Faith Expo, which will roll into one big celebration of three important milestones – Immaculate Conception, Batangas Foundation Day, and Christmas – on a breathtaking 50-hectare landscape overlooking Taal lake with the spectacle of dazzling Christmas lights and fireworks.

This will be hosted by legacy builder Bong Belen and kindred spirits Ric Casabuena, Nelson Terrible, and Talisay Mayor Nestor Natanauan.

Nelson, the owner of Balai Isabel Resort Hotel, had a quadruple heart bypass last year and now enjoys the gift of new life and is re-energized by his passion for helping save Taal and the fishermen in the lake. He has been a generous benefactor to the Senior Citizens of Talisay and many other worthy causes.

Ric has not been deterred by a painful spine condition to personally help many in need – an ambulance, a Sports Center, or the Church of St Therese of the Child Jesus in his hometown. He is the central pillar in inspiring and supporting our rapidly growing army of heroic volunteers.

Talisay Mayor Nestor opened the main reception hall of his world-class NDN Resort Hotel last October 16 for the Seniors Thanksgiving Celebration with participants from Talisay, Sto Tomas, Tanauan, Malvar at Mataas na Kahoy. The event ended on a grand scale with a flash mob of Seniors dancing with abandon.

I am blessed to be in the company of legacy builders in this final chapter of my life.

Legacy builders reach a level of transcendence beyond politics and business.

It is about gratitude for a blessed life well lived.

It is about forgiving those who have not forgiven us.

It is about giving to those who cannot pay us back.

In the final reckoning, everything belongs to God and those who will come after us.