by Telly G. Ocampo

The Fable of the Porcupine

This is the story:

It was the coldest winter ever. Many animals died because of the cold. The porcupines, realizing the situation, decided to group together to keep warm. This way they covered & protected themselves; but the quills of each one wounded their closest companions. 

After a while, they decided to distance themselves, one from the other, & they began to die, alone & frozen. So they had to make a choice. Either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth. 

Wisely, they decided to go back to being together. They learned to live with the little wounds and pains caused by the close relationship with their companions in order to receive the warmth & heat that came from the others. This way they were able to survive. 

What do we get from this fable?

  • that the best group is not the one that is made up of perfect friends, brothers, sisters and relatives. The best group is made up of each individual member learning to live with the imperfections of others & admiring other persons’ good qualities. 
  • that we could find it better to be surrounded by warm pokes than be frozen in solitude. 
  • that the love that brings us together will bind us together and keep us healthy and strong enough to stand the storms.
  • that even with the heat and all the changing weathers and seasons of life, God will always grant us the grace to share whatever we have in order to survive in this journey of life, together.
  • that we will all meet the “porcupines” we need as we help one another, every minute of the day, every day of the year and every year in our existence. 

This is a sharing from  Mediatrix “Medy” Gonzaga – Ngo. We have the same family name:  Gonzaga.  We just call each other cousins, even if we cannot trace any blood relations. It is a distinct honor for me to be a “relative” of the Gonzaga-Varquez girls. Basta kay nindot paminawon nga paryente mi.

The Gonzaga girls, with Medy as one of them, were schooled at the then St. Joseph College of Tagbilaran. Medy’s older sister, Corazon “Chulia” Varquez Gonzaga was our classmate. Another sister, Barbara, who is the eldest in the family, is a year older than us. She was also in the same school with two other Gonzaga siblings: Purita and Elizabeth (Liz) and both were in the elementary grades while we were in high school.

All the Gonzaga girls were (and still are) good looking, kind and humble. Their group is the kind of good “porcupines” whom you want to be with. This could be one of the reasons they are blessed with good spouses and children. 

Barbara is now the corporate finance officer of the family-owned business, the Bohol Quality Corporation which is the leading business industry in Bohol. Married to Fred Ong, an alumnus of Ateneo de Manila University, Barbara has her children helping the family in the business. 

Medy is an authentic head turner. Like her sisters, she used to be a beauty queen at Divine Word College of Tagbilaran (now Holy Name University). She is also a businesswoman, Her husband, Eduard Ngo, heads the very flourishing Dynamic Castings with main offices in Cebu City. Dynacast Shipyard is a one-stop-shop for shipbuilding and ship repair providing an environmentally friendly choice for your shipyard needs and products. Dynacast is also ably supported by the Gonzaga-Ngo children. 

It was Chulia who was my closest because she was my high school classmate. She was brilliant! In fact, she was our class salutatorian. After finishing her course, she went to work at the Philippine National Bank. She married a Borres from Liloan, Cebu and he was a colonel in the military who was once assigned in Tacloban, when my family was still stationed there. One Christmas season in the 70s, Chulia visited her husband in Tacloban with her child Asher. It so happened that they stayed in the house where my family used to stay when we were new in Tacloban.  Knowing that she was from Bohol, the landlady contacted me; and Chulia, with her son, spent New Year with us.  On her second visit she went directly to my place because her husband was not able to meet her since the soldiers’ camp was already transferred to Kampitik in the hills of Tacloban.  The old camp is where the Leyte Park Hotel is located – just across the management and technology building at the University of the Philippines Tacloban. A few years later, Chulia died of cancer. 

We met Medy in Talamban for the perpetual vows of a sister of mercy who embraced the name Mediatrix.  Her novitiate years were in Baclayon, at the ground floor of the Villamor-Oppus house.  When the sister of mercy took her perpetual vows in Talamban, some of us (the cousins’ group) attended the celebration. And, then, Medy (named Mediatrix) was there, too.  The sisters were inviting persons named  Mediatrix. Despite her status in life, Medy has not lost the common touch. With the advent of mobile phones and the internet, we keep connected to each other.  From time to time, she sends me messages and stories worth reflecting upon and pondering on. And this fable of the porcupines is one of those treasures.

Elizabeth or Liz, who is married to an engr. is now a “baliikbayan” from the U.S.A. She is staying here for good with her husband Engr. Sumodobila. She stays in one of the beautiful houses on top of a small hill overlooking the Tagbilaran bay. HolyNamians will always remember Liz as that cute and lovely secretary to the Presiden of Divine Word College years back.
Meanwhile, the youngest who is also very pretty, is Purita. She is a nurse and she is married to JoeMariBorres, who is a fishing magnate from Iloilo. Purita and Joe Mari have successful children, some of whom are working abroad.