PIO HOME

A Journey Called Life

Message of Lt General Oscar H Rabena AFP CG, PAF

Flag raising, 01 Feb 10

Amenities…

It breaks my heart to see good men perish into this world in circumstances beyond the ordinary. Yet, I attribute everything that is happening around us to the cyclical nature of life, the differing destinies that we will encounter each day in our existence and of course, “THE BEGINNING AND END OF IT ALL”—of our journey. In reality, life is fleeting… transient…a breath of air…a subtle curtain of fog that will soon fade as soon as the sun wraps the world with its warm embrace. That no matter how young or how old you are to leave this world, “it is not the years in life but the life in years that matters”, as they say. Our fallen brothers and sisters who met their demise too soon, however, they left behind lasting legacies that will ceaselessly linger in the midst to remind each one of us that the cudgel is now in our hands to continue their toil and probably, make that same impact for generations to remember; before we bid farewell to this temporary shelter of ours.

Last week’s events were truly heart breaking for the men and women of the PAF. As father of the Air Force, it gives me great pain to see sons and daughters lose their lives in circumstances beyond imaginable. To tell you honestly, it hurts me to see families lost their loved ones…parents deprived of the love of a daughter or son…and children orphaned at the sudden passing of a caring parent. I share their grief, because that pain is all too familiar, KAHIT SIGURO SA INYO, DAHIL SA ATING MGA BUHAY NAWALAN TAYO NG MGA TAONG MALAPIT SA ATING MGA PUSO.

But life must go on, despite the anguish of losing brave sons and daughters of the Air Force. This unfortunate event should not diminish nor dampen our spirits because I believe in my heart, that our departed colleagues would want to see us in bliss rather than in despair; for us to move on and continue with our missions BUT forever remember their memories. They would rather see those faces smile again and not let the tragic event of the past dent that steely resolve of ours…in service to God…country…and people.

SAFETY ALWAYS

Although we are still in grief at the loss of our brothers, I have two important points that I would like to convey to all of you his morning. Firstly, let me remind each one to be extra- conscious and vigilant across all fronts of our labor: from maintenance works, supervision, training, flight planning; these among others, should be carried out with utmost sincerity in accordance with existing policies, directives and bulletins. Certainly, we cannot let our guards down when it come to safety matters because any deviations from these standards, can have serious and often fatal consequences. Always bear in mind, that we are all safety advocates—each one of us has his own role to play.

SABI NGA DOON SA ISANG SLOGAN NA NABASA KO, “THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS WHEN IT COMES TO SAFETY.” So let us remember that. In our profession it is always imperative to be meticulous no matter how tedious some of the processes may be. For in truth, there are no clear-cut ways on how we can prevent accidents from ever happening again, SAFETY is the best and is our only weapon of choice against any eventuality.

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

My second point is about taking good care of ourselves through health and well-being. I know that most of you are aware that some of our colleagues passed away due to health reasons and certainly there is something that we can do in order to live life to the fullest and be in the company of our families and friends for the longest time. With our line of work, stress is a common enemy that we can overcome through exercise, diet and proper mind setting. At times, we pressure ourselves too much at the job that we flood our emotions and our minds with toxicity. Remember, it pays to take a breather, take a back seat and feel good about life to include its many challenges. As the aphorism goes, “life is a gift, whatever you do with your life is your gift to our almighty”.

Before I end, let not the event of the past week dampen the spirit of the InSTEP Airmen. These are just vexations to the spirit that we can overcome. I urge everyone to include in their prayers those who perished in this tragic event to include their families and I encourage everyone of you as members of the Air Force Family to also visit them and join their families in paying their last respect. We will forever remember their memories and together, we will continue the legacy that they painstakingly built. We salute them all and we honor their families!

Good morning to everyone!

And to God be the glory!