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“Jay-jay: the 25 centavo Angel”
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Last year, a five-year old child died of dengue. At the foot of his coffin during the wake was a half-filled plastic bottle of twenty-five centavo coins. His mother, sobbing in grief, explained that Jay-jay specified during his last hours to make sure the bottle reached the hands of his religion teacher as the coins were for Jesus.
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John Jewel Estrada or Jay-jay, first heard about the Pondo ng Pinoy from his kindergarten teacher at Hospicio de San Jose located near the Ayala Bridge, Manila. His mother, who would drop him every morning before she would go to her office at the Budget Commission near Malacanang, used to wonder why Jay-jay would insist on getting the small coins rather than paper money for his ”baon”. He was also very solicitous in picking up the coins that he would find and drop them in an empty mineral water bottle.
He was quite upset one day when one of his sisters attempted to get some of the coins for her jeep fare and saw that act as “stealing from the poor” even if his sister promised she would repay it later.
He was looking forward to submitting the bottle before Christmas vacation, his estimate that the bottle would be full by then, and it would be his best gift to Baby Jesus.
Christmas here on earth never came for Jay-jay. The rainy season in October bringing with it the Dengue fever epidemic made Jay-jay one of the victims.
While in the hospital, Jay-jay asked his mother to bring over the Pondo ng Pinoy bottle as he said he would ask the nurses to drop their coins too so it would fill up faster. His mother and sisters would bring him coins and listen to him whisper “Para kay Jesus” as he dropped a coin in his precious bottle. Did he have a feeling that his days were numbered?
Jay-jay’s mother, sisters and teacher were interviewed during the Third Anniversary of Pondo ng Pinoy last June 16 at the La Salle Greenhills gym. Over three thousand participants listened to the inspiring story of Jay-jay and his bottle. I could see many wiping their eyes, not in sorrow but in awe that a five-year old boy could grasp the concept of the Pondo ng Pinoy Catechesis – the Theology of the Crumbs and how each little good deed could be symbolized by dropping a twenty-five centavo coin every day.
In the words of His Eminence, Cardinal Rosales, “Today, Jay-jay sits at the feet of Christ, and is embraced by the arms of the Savior he loved with all his innocent and trusting soul. His memory lives on, though, not only in his beloved mother’s heart, but in the hearts of all those who see in Pondo ng Pinoy the chance “to do small things with great love”, and to change the world one small loving step at a time. Jay-jay’s love story – for it is indeed a story of love – inspires everyone to look upon the humble containers bearing the Pondo ng Pinoy logo as the Hand o fGod extended in abiding love and unfailing mercy.”
His story caused Cardinal Rosales, the Father of Pondo ng Pinoy, to declare joyfully, “We have our first saint!”. He asked us to commit to our hearts the gentle words of innocent faith: ”Pupunuin ko yan, para sa amin ni Jesus”.
I call Jay-jay our twenty-five centavo angel.
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