By  LPJ

Jhon Michael is 14 years old, a drop-out from the 10^th grade in Naga City, Philippines. His frequent absences were due to embarrassment that he couldn’t afford to buy lunch at school, or bring food to feed himself in the middle of the day so he could muster energy for the afternoon’s classes. Hunger, embarrassment, shame led to his dropping out of the public school.

Meeting Jhon Michael was an act of God from a random incident. My nephew, Chito Pandes, thought he lost his wallet on the plane or at the airport near Naga. His usual generosity made him offer to pay a full and sumptuous dinner for 10 at the Crown Hotel restaurant. Reaching into his small backpack for his wallet, he was shocked to realize it wasn’t there. He whispered to his wife Benita to pay the bill instead, for his wallet was missing. No problem, Benita said, the expected response of a kind lady as generous as her husband.

But in Chito’s mind, plans were broiling for what to do about the missing wallet.

Chito’s group with Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo at the City Hall

Dinner was delicious and fun. After all, it was the night before my Auntie Rosie Manuel Cruz’s grandiose 90^th birthday celebration, the reason for my relatives’ travel from Manila to Naga. The conversations were interesting and merry. Little did the others know that their dinner host Chito, in his usual bravadura, was grappling with the loss of his mobile treasure. To comfort himself, he wished that whoever found and kept it would be someone who badly needed the money. He hoped, however, that the expensive leather wallet his cousin bought for him in Europe would be returned. But even that didn’t matter as much as the thought that the one who found it is a person really in need. With that thought came peace of mind, strange as it seemed.

The morning after, Chito got a call from his uncle Joseph Manuel (who knew about the loss) informing him that a post on the city public online board mentioned a wallet found outside the Crown Hotel in Naga. Quite amazing, that post came from the Naga City Mayor, Leni Robredo, searching for the owner of the wallet, and asking if anyone could contact or find that person. An outstanding public service of one who has a heart for the people.

Chito, Benita, his sisters Hazel and Karen, Joseph, and cousins Siegfrid and wife Gerlyn went to the mayor’s office to find out if it was the lost wallet. The mayor was most accommodating. Sure enough, it was Chito’s wallet. Everything was in it – the credit cards, the dollars and the pesos, all intact. Nothing was missing. The finder was a female street sweeper, who told her husband about her find, and both reported it to her city supervisor who in turn, reported it to the city mayor. The finder and her husband were called to the mayor’s office to meet the wallet’s owner. Impressed and grateful for the honesty of the couple Joan and Michael, poor residents of Naga, Chito handed to them 10,000 pesos from his wallet. Pictures were taken of the group with the mayor. That incident was a very big deal, a lesson and a message about honesty and integrity.

Chito told me about the incident. That same day, touched by that couple’s honesty and integrity, I asked Chito to find out about that couple’s family. That’s when the mother mentioned her teenage son who stopped school because he was embarrassed about going hungry every day. My heart jumped. Here was an opportunity for the JMP Group (Jacob-Manuel-Pandes family charity started in Naga last year) to help someone. JMP has sponsored feeding programs and food distribution for abandoned elderly and poor children in Naga City: at the Missionaries of the Poor facility, the Immaculate Concepcion church and barangay Balatas. When told about the JMP educational aid, Jhon Michael, shy and speechless, bowed his head to hide his surprise and delight. One thing we asked of him was to do his best at school and avoid absences. He looked up with serious eyes showing his promise, his lean face lighted up with appreciation mingled with surprise, and his lips slowly moved to mumble “Salamat po” (thank you). Far away in California, I saw it all through Chito’s camera.

We don’t know why we met Jhon Michael. We don’t know what the Lord has in store for him. This we know, God works in mysterious ways. Like, there was a good reason for that lost wallet. There is a reason for everything. And He wants us to find and help the Jhon Michaels of the world.

Something lost … something found … even better.

[JMP has a plan – to start a simple, low-key soup kitchen at a poor barangay in Naga City, to be coordinated by Manuel cousin Victor and his wife Malou, with J Michael’s parents helping them serve. May God bless this plan and guide it to fruition.]

Linda P. Jacob