The Trinity

By Valred Olsim

The cross-carrying armored conquerors came with ordained swords – purging the pagan relics and substituting them with the Christian religious icons. Then, the paths were named after the Saints, and villages were named after Christian doctrines, events and symbols. The unification of lands at the foot of Montanosa was named “La Union” (The Union), and the valley town where the Cabacera (Capitol) overlooks “three prominent hills” was named “La Trinidad” (The Trinity).

The skeptic may insist that La Trinidad was named after Spanish Soldier Guillermo Galvey’s wife, Donya Trinidad, but Galvey’s military records show no wife, and the name “La Trinidad” was actually recorded to have been given by Galvey’s successor Commandante Manuel Scheidnagel, decades after Galvey’s death. As an imperative, Conquistadors dedicate a subjugated place to their Christian faith, or to the Royal crown…not to their wives or girlfriends.

Before the Trinity of Benguet, there was the island of “Trinidad (and Tobago)” which was encountered by Christopher Columbus in his “third” voyage. It was named similarly to the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity which holds that God is three consubstantial persons or hypostases—the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit— or as "one God in three Divine Persons".

The number three is popular in the context of symbolism and spirituality. It can refer to the harmony of “Mind, Body, and Spirit”, the “3^rd Dimension”, the “three wishes”, the resurrection on the “3^rd day”, the “three stages” of birth, life, and death, the “three timelines” of past, present, and future. Hence, the number “three” is said to mean “completion”.

An i-La Trinidad friend reminded me that for a successful life, one must have the three essentials of friends, family, and faith. A day should be fun, fruitful and fair. And we should always have the three values of love, hope, and joy. Three is indeed, a special number. Just the same, the Trinity (La Trinidad), is a very special place to me.

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With newfound vigor, I’m back to the job of telling good stories about the Trinity (La Trinidad). Despite the mounting number of meetings and paper works, we made sure that we will have a year-ender event which is related to tourism. Hence, we have organized the 2^nd La Trinidad Tourism Conference on December 20, 2017 at the beautiful Mt. Kalugong Eco-park. We imagine it to be a meeting of tourism stakeholders and tourism-interested members of the community, and at the same time an avenue to appreciate the gems of our town (since the yearly conferences will be held on the different tourist spots of La Trinidad). We will also have an afternoon music jam to further add value to the event experience while offering coffee and wine to the attendees! Due to the limited capacity of the mountain park and the unique condition of the access road, we only produced 200 tickets to effectively manage the activity. Interested persons may visit the Mayor’s Office for the registration forms and tickets! Asen taha shiman da! Men-iila tako isdi! Kitakits!

BACK TO WORK

Aside from absorbing some mounting collections of letters and codes, the six month sabbatical I had also re-educated me about life’s lessons that I sometimes overlook. Indeed we are all eternal students of this life.

I am back for work, and I thank my workmates for holding my designated fort. Salamat talaga kakadwa! Even though the La Trinidad-LGU is naturally modest, the 2017 year just as the past years, is their year of awards and rewards. La Trinidad is again a recipient of the “Seal of Good Local Governance Award” which proves that the LGU has a passing mark in financial administration, disaster preparedness, social protection, and peace and order, and also in the essential areas of business friendliness, tourism, culture and the arts, and environmental protection. La Trinidad was also awarded with the best Cooperative Office in the country, the Red Orchid award for No Smoking implementation, the National Gawad Kalasag for our Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, and various awards and citation on the Regional and Provincial levels for Solid Waste Management, Agriculture, and many other areas. It is good to be back to our service-oriented agency.

Despite the challenges of our everyday, we are still the lucky ones who live to work (not work to live) –this entails the presence of “purpose” which is the very core of a meaningful existence. This also means that we will spend more than half of our lives with work and workmates more than our personal interests and loved ones. Hence, our 8-5 or 40 hours of weekly work (not including regular overtimes) compared to only 30 hours weekly awake time for family, should be at least comforting and meaningful. Lest we want to live the tragedy of being immersed with 8 hours of conflict and negativity every day, we have to try our best to encourage a healthy and supportive working environment for all of us lowly workers.

As a laborer for the past ten years in different institutions, I hope to humbly share three tips on how to effectively work with workmates: 1. Speak kindly, 2.) Be Organized and, 3.) Smile, always.

As they say “it is not what you say, but how you say it”. Workers do not mind doing extra work if they are tasked respectfully and considering the basic human dignity. I am not really a judgmental person, but I do judge people according to how they treat the smaller people; the janitor, the security guard, or the lowly salary–grade 1 to 5 employees. The power-trippers, or the people who only respect power but treat the rank and file like disposable slaves, unfortunately arouses gossips, politicking, and needless stress and contempt in the work place. As a reminder for the lucky junior and senior officers (even the heads), kind words uplift the lower rank employees and build an environment of trust and positivity.

When I was younger (and as an artist and rock & roller), I worked with chaos and recklessness. Despite surviving for some time, there were couple of times that such care-free outlook cost me important ventures. Some workmates advised me to learn the skill of management and organization. This will prevent blame-games and confusion at work because all the levels of tasking and specialized delegations will be covered for efficiency. I am still learning those skills.

Smile. Energy, as they say is contagious. When you enter work with the look of depression, your co-workers and even clients will have the tendency to spend the day with the same drive and perspective. Smiling is the most inexpensive and the simplest way to encourage a lively and healthier working environment. As doctors remind us; Smiling contributes to the success of our work, our health, well-being, and happiness! Smile at work everyone!