The Candari Analect: Political, Socio-Civic, Humanitarian Views of the World, Personal Philosophy, Values, Struggles, and Hopes

By Cesar D. Candari MD FCAP Emeritus

*The au opted not to provide About the Book information.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9781669862864

Book preview

Foreword

THE THIRD BOOK OF Dr. Cesar D. Candari serves as a basic guideline and detailed instructions to be successful in life. The writer shares his experiences in life on how he achieved various accomplishments not only in the field of medicine but in other social facets of life as well.

The book that details his successes in life is a must-read for those who want to succeed in life because success, according to Dr. Candari, has very little to do with luck.

In 1970, I arrived as an immigrant from the Philippines with no job experience but as a new graduate from college. I attained my second degree in accounting and my graduate degree in Business Administration. I started as an administrative assistant and moved to higher management positions in Corporate Taxation for Fortune 500 companies. I agree with Dr. Candari’s guidelines for success because I personally experienced the suggestions he pointed out in this book, such as having a consuming desire, having a mission in life, developing the right attitude, to be positive, to have the will, determination, and perseverance in life.

Dr. Candari speaks about the different experiences in life and how one can enrich it by doing philanthropic work and responding to the profound altruistic calling in life. He speaks about the reality of life as a journey with profound actions and contributions to society until one day you are called to your destination when you must face death or the end of life on earth.

Dr. Candari sees through the lenses of his eyes the historical events of the Philippines under Spain’s regime. The Martial Law/dictatorship of the late Ferdinand E. Marcos and his dream of Filipinos’ economic freedom. Under the new leadership of the late dictator’s son, Bongbong Marcos, Dr. Candari is hoping for new leadership who can inspire the people and implement wide-ranging socio-political and economic changes.

Important events recorded in this book have seemed to change the image of the United States as a leader in democracy. The issue of racism, such as the Asian Hate Crimes due to the spread of Covid 19 virus, the treatment of black people by some police officers, the issue of gun violence which took the lives of young children and old alike, and the January 6 insurrection, are sad facts to remember but must be faced to solve these social problems in the United States.

The writer describes the year 2021 as a happy year immersed in completing his third book. Ironically, in January 2022, Dr. Candari claimed he experienced the happiest, exciting, productive, spiritually uplifting, meaningful, and fulfilling time. He was so focused and engaged in finishing this book like operating in a bubble, hardly distracted by all the distractions wrought by the pandemic.

Being absorbed by the project kept the negativity at bay. It did not allow the creeping anxiety to replace his joy, zest for life, and the positivity and optimism that the final work of the book filled his life. But two months later, like a tsunami of malady happened when he was diagnosed with a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. This book ended with writing his journey toward the end of life –a serious discussion of death, a compelling one.

We can learn so many insights and profound lessons from this book. The writer’s outlook and views transcend beyond the obvious aspect of life. They motivate people to transform into better citizens with goals and missions and become individuals who uphold the law of the land to redeem the world with peace, integrity, and responsibility. It inspires us to be genuinely creative and dignified people with, above all, the gratefulness and fear of God.

Ruby Abiera Figueroa

Ruby Abiera Figueroa, BJ, BS, MBA

6 July 2022 Chicago, Illinois

Message From A Friend

I did not know Dr. Cesar Candari until I moved to Henderson, Nevada when I retired from thirty - eight years surgical practice from the great state of Texas six or seven years ago. It was at a restaurant where he volunteered to bring his band ‘gratis et amore’ singing the old standards and playing the keyboards with his guitarist. He told me afterwards that he did this to entertain the restaurant guests and to obliterate the boredom of his variegated life as a doctor, an accomplished columnist and writer of a weekly newspaper in Southern Nevada before his move from a lucrative and illustrious life in California. I was invited to be in the circle of close friends from that night on, invited by him and his wife Cely Asprec Candari’s to their home, to further learn that the man was a humanitarian in all perspectives in life, proud of his family, active in the pursuit of positions relative to his medical profession, and humble even in the face of recent events in his life. I was inspired to read his weekly column in The Philippine Times and of the two books I received where he has written about the philosophy he has espoused and the various topics he cannot resist the lure of writing about. I am even in awe as to why he has sponsored the propagation of his recipe for success in the promotion of his ideas in his town of Antique.

Despite the unexpected turn of events in this 89-year-old man, staring at the reality of death and the shortness of life he has been given so far, he has not given up. He has availed himself of what a doctor knows might alleviate the condition he finds himself eventually as the vicissitude of ‘age’. He is on the verge of publishing the third book he describes as spiritually uplifting, meaningful and fulfilling.

I have urged him to continue writing, write his third book and forget the resentment he might harbor still about the distraction thrown his way. If January 2022 was the most exciting, most happy, most productive year there ever was in a friend’s life, then I am forever thankful for knowing that it is. It is a view that resonates with me and try to emulate from my friend, Dr. Cesar Candari.

Edward E. Quiros, MD MBA FACS FICS CMCM

Henderson, NV 89044

Preface

THE CANDARI ANALECT covers my columns in the Philippine Times of Southern Nevada and is an omnibus of subjects: politics, socio-civic, humanitarian, and about my personal philosophy, views of the world, values, struggles, and hopes.

Read the third book of Dr. Cesar D. Candari with your heart! This is the way to find yourself absorbed as you read on. Connect with Dr. Candari and discover the message which defines the work. The book invites the reader to follow what I discovered, exploring the heart, every nook and cranny, the shallows, and depths, and inner self through my thoughts. The book is a reading EQ (emotional quotient) from start to finish embracing a vision; constantly pushing boundaries and relentlessly as we recreate ourselves into our best possibilities; being intentional (purposeful), honest, truthful, expressing ourselves powerfully, taking a stand, and welcoming challenges, including the pains that go in line with them; being in control of our choices and outcomes of our life; keeping our integrity; living simply (authentically); leading from our heart, not from our position of power; living a significant life that grows on self-donation, etc. The book is about the heart of emotion, what makes us human and real … to others and ourselves. The book is an invitation not to engage in academic discourse (that is never its intention) but to pursue what is best for our humanity, what our heart wants to do, and the best that our heart wants to follow. As we explore our hearts, we discover our best potential as human beings. In it, we come face-to-face with our calling.

This project is not a new endeavor for me. The pieces I wrote herein have extracts from my previous two books. In them I emphasize the values that anchored and shaped my life, and without forgetting the bond of connection to our homeland, the Philippines. Adopting a new country does not mean rejecting your old. Your dreams make you who you are, but they can never change who you were.

I take pride as an author in not making any moral or ethical concessions whatsoever to power, to political correctness, to oppressive tradition, or to the lowest common denominator of popular opinion.

I acknowledge that I am not an effusive writer with journalistic shrewdness. Instead, I am a physician who cannot resist the lure of writing. I realize that a simple and straightforward manner of writing is the best. I was propelled to write in a fashion that would resonate with my readers. Nothing creates resonance more deeply than writing from one’s mind and heart and the stories of my life. There are obviously publications that are intellectually more refined and authoritative than this book, but I take much pride in what I do. We can learn so many insights and profound lessons from this book. The writer’s outlook and views transcend beyond the obvious aspect of life but motivate people to transform into better citizen, people with goals and mission, citizen that upholds the law of the land and with a purpose of redeeming the world with peace, integrity, responsible and genuinely creative and dignified people.

In every word and every line in this book and in the two others that came before, readers would encounter the thoughts that dwell in my boundless consciousness, feel the passions that keep my heart beating, and touch the yearnings that constantly push the boundaries of my life. These are the treasures that define me. They don’t die, and they are immortal. In them, you will hear reverberating -- again and again till eternity -- the voice of my soul. Without forgetting the bond of connection to our homeland, the Philippines is ingrained in my heart and soul.

One might ask how I choose my subjects. My answer: I am a people observer and wish to share my views and opinions on issues of daily events with no hesitation. In it I have nurtured, labored, and ultimately reaped the fruits of that seed to the heart’s glorious delight. If these writings of my journey will touch or influence the course of someone’s life, then I will have the boldness to say that the mission of this book has been accomplished.

Am I within the journalistic norm? Every time I choose and tackle a title, I confine myself to get the cream and survey with concerns, albeit with confidence that it is an apropos posting. A subject is always an inspiration; it spurs me to dig over the theme and realize the interest lies within the confines of reason. To offer the readers in terms of my viewpoint, I analyze how to provide decent food for thought, genuine deep thought.

Writing is a craft. Upon completing high school, I was given a chance to write my valedictory address. I had my experience as an orator contestant; however, writing was not my forte. I decided to write down whatever came to mind; foremost was the theme – A DREAM COME TRUE. After giving the speech to my classmates, I remember feeling like I had accomplished a small piece of writing on my own. That was how my flavor for writing began. In an introspective analysis of what I had gone through in my life, I wish to share these varieties of my writings with the young, growing Filipinos to guide their personal growth in having dreams, goals, and desires. I wish my words to spur the future generations of Filipino Americans to make great achievements and emulate others with good works.

We must teach our American-born children the history of how they came to the U.S. These lessons must not be forgotten, or else our future generations will lose a part of themselves. Who we are and who we were will always be linked. I, who have experienced a remarkable journey involving medicine, politics, charities, and various organizations, understand how essential one’s dreams are to one’s life. Boring as one may say, it is an accurate glimpse of my life on this earth.

In 2021, was my happy year. I was Immersed in completing my third book, this book. Ironically, in January 2022 was my most exciting, most happy, most productive, most spiritually uplifting, and most meaningful and fulfilling time. I was so focused and so engaged. I was like operating in a bubble, hardly distracted by all the distractions wrought by the pandemic. Being absorbed by the project kept the negativity at bay. It did not allow the creeping anxiety to replace my joy, zest for life, and the positivity and optimism that the final work on the book filled my life. With this article, I also realize how a compelling vision -- the subject of my book -- is an antidote to languishing. But two months later, like a tsunami of abominable malady, a very tragic sad event in my life hit me: the impending end of my life on this planet coming to full view. I was diagnosed with a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. This book ended with writing about my journey towards the end of life –a serious discussion of death, a compelling one.

Author’s Note

ENDING PART IN THE BOOK

THIS UNEXPECTED TURN of events in my life was so distressing it certainly threw me off balance for a while. But the initial edgy feeling gave way to calm when quiet acceptance edged out my subdued resentment -- a tremendous blessing at my most tumultuous time. From an elevated perspective, my focus shifted from what was irreversible to what remained in my sphere of influence. Engaging the latter is empowering and energizing; ruminating in the former inspires surrender of everything. The ensuing creative energy that filled me easily canceled the sense of loss and powerlessness.

When the reality of death stares us in the face, the essential things in life assume prominence and urgency in our lives -- these are easily missed when there is so much time before us, wasting it on secondary goals and meaningless activities that occupy us on end. With time running out on me, doing more significant acts for humanity that I shared for all my 89 years became compelling. This is what should engage us all our life for it to be worth living.

Aside from practicing medicine for years, writing had been my passion that outlived the first one. In these two gifts, I found a mission that gives meaning to everything that I have done in life. While I retired from medical practice a long time ago, writing has become my enduring mission directed towards the same end: improving lives and influencing change to make living more fully alive, and more fully human. Writing is a calling that has transformed my mission and continued to recreate my life and, hopefully, this would create the same exact change in my readers.

Indeed, I am facing a threat of colossal proportions: my impending death. No human experience can be as debilitating and crushing as this, but it only wreaks havoc on my body, not my soul. This incurable malady cannot stop me dead in my tracks. It cannot cancel my mission or invalidate my life altogether. While the outcome of my health is beyond my influence, writing allows my inner power and drive unlimited space to impact lives and the world in my fast-shrinking space and time now --but endlessly beyond it. This book must go on with writing my journey towards the end of life –a serious discussion of imminent death, a compelling one. I unfolded this part of my life story philosophically in the hope that it would help others face death with calm and courage. My life is a journey, a story worth sharing with those who see life this way and find it worth living as it had been for me. The steps, twists, and turns and the many surprises that met me in between shaped my life in the way my first two books have unveiled them for my readers to see and for them to ponder on theirs. As my worldly journey has now put the finish line within sight, I share with you the unfolding drama that mark the last chapter of my story. It offers some of my deepest reflections about life and our shared humanity in the hope that it would help others face their own death with calm and courage and welcome the new journey beyond with excitement, hope, and assurance as we are grateful for the one that has been--a tapestry of varied colors, textures, symbols, and shapes I leave behind as a reflection of me and what I was to everyone who came to know me.

Dedication

Dedicated to my wife Asela (Cely) Asprec Candari,

without whom I would not be living my best life, to my

son Roy and to my three daughters, Marjorie, Candace,

and Arleen, who humble me by being who they are.

And to my mother.

Thank you for allowing me to dream with

the burning desire that helped

my visions come true.

This book is also dedicated in memorial to my

father, who gifted me with a political pedigree.

Philippines, The Old

And The Recent Past

THE PEOPLE POWER REVOLUTION IN 1986

THIS WAS A HISTORICAL EVENT that could never be forgotten by all Filipinos no matter where they were in those days.

The following is a summary of the fascinating history of the Philippines for your information. These are extracts taken from glimpses of Philippine conditions from Spain’s colonization to the present time. Although it may appear to be a late story to tell, it may educate many Filipinos wherever they are today.

The overwhelming events in the Philippines today…the civic, social, political, and economic pictures…convey a sad story. From the beginning of the Spanish rule up to the present time, the disparity between the rich and the poor is estimated at 30 percent for the middle-class and wealthy and 70 percent for the lower-class and poor of the poorest. In all honesty, the country nowadays is being subjected to the serendipity of events that it has become a less attractive place to live in permanently. It may be a favorite place of retirement for Filipinos working abroad, but it is politically beleaguered that a few are having second thoughts about it.

In 1521, when Magellan used fire to burn the homes of our forefathers in Mactan, Lapu-Lapu rose, took up arms, and killed Magellan and his men along the shores of Mactan Island. Lapu-Lapu was a hero and nationalist. We admitted that the Filipino nation was not born despite the defeat of Magellan. We were under Spanish rule for over three centuries (1565-1898). The Spanish regime’s intolerable abuses resulted in the formation of a group reformists Movement that later paved the way for the Philippine Revolution. Local revolts against Spanish imperial corruption, racial discrimination, and church abuse began late in the nineteenth century. These first revolts called for reform of the economic-political system but not for independence. A young doctor-writer, Jose Rizal, used his pen to expose the Spanish colonizers’ brutalizing, depressive and anti-human treatment. Dr. Rizal was arrested and executed by a firing squad at Bagumbayan on December 30, 1896. Rizal, who was just 30 years old when he was executed, aroused the Filipinos to rebellion, spurred by the Katipunan organized by our heroes Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo. They engaged in ugly infighting resulting in the execution of Bonifacio. They failed to merge their forces and fight side by side against the enemy, and the leaders lost their souls to greed and thirst for power.

On June 12, 1898, in Cavite el Viejo (now Kawit), Cavite, Philippines, the KKK patriots of Aguinaldo proclaimed the Philippine Declaration of Independence. With the public reading of the Act of the Declaration of Independence, Filipino revolutionary forces under General Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed the sovereignty and independence of the Philippine Islands from the colonial rule of Spain. However, on December 10, 1898, the Americans annexed the Philippines with Spain by the Treaty of Paris. This act brought about the Filipino American war in 1898. The Treaty of Paris, approved on February 6, 1899, made the United States an imperial power. General Emilio Aguinaldo was finally captured by American General Frederick Funston in the secluded mountainous town of Palanan, Isabela, on March 23, 1901, which officially ended the Philippine-American War. The exact site is about 50 yards from the medical clinic of my friend, Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, who was, in 1962, a medical missionary volunteer of the Work-A-Year-With-The-People program in this remote Sierra Madre town of Palanan, a nationally popular humanitarian project of then Senator Raul Manglapus, Manuel Quezon, Jr., and Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. While ministering to the health needs of the people of the town, Philip was able to convince the town Mayor to construct a monument to memorialize this neglected and forgotten important international historic event. Since June 12, 1962, Palanan has been the site of the annual Philippine Independence Day celebration, albeit 61 years delayed. The Philippines then remained an American colony for nearly 50 years. It became a Commonwealth from 1901-1941. Democratic principles, structure, and governance were learned during this time.

In 1935, a semiautonomous Philippine Commonwealth was inaugurated in Manila with Manuel L. Quezon as President and Sergio Osmena as Vice-President. This became the Philippine government in exile during the Japanese occupation.

The Philippines came under the Japanese empire from 1941 – 1945, which produced disaster, devastation, and annihilation of the Filipino people from the Japanese imperialism. You all remember the death march in Bata-an. General Douglas McArthur fled to Australia with a promise, I SHALL RETURN. The American forces returned in 1945 to liberate the country. Manila City was one of the most devastated cities.

We celebrated the independence of the Philippines from the Americans on July 4, 1946, and six presidents were elected during the two decades that followed as a democratic country. Since then, there has been no change in the gap between the rich and the poor…30% rich and 70 % poor. The Moro National Front was founded in 1969 and conducted an insurgency in the Muslim areas. The political violence was blamed on the leftists but probably initiated by government agents’ provocateurs. The situation led Marcos to suspend habeas corpus as a prelude to martial law.

MARTIAL LAW/DICTATORSHIP

On September 21, 1972, Marcos issued proclamation 1081, declaring martial law over the entire country. Under the president’s command, the military arrested opposition figures, including Benigno Aquino, journalists, student and labor activists, and criminal elements.

A total of about 30,000 detainees were kept at military compounds run