When people find out that I am a Mison, most of them would ask if I am related to General Salvador Mison. A few would ask me how I am related to NBI Director Mariano Mison. On rare occasions, they would ask if I am related to UE Prof. Ione Mison.
The event where I was invited to speak last Friday, organized by the Good Governance Advocates and Practitioners of the Philippines, was one of those rare occasions. The speaker before me, Security Exchange Commission Director Justina Callangan, happened to be a member of the UE faculty during her younger years. When I told her that I, too, was part of UE faculty, she happily remarked, “Like mother, like son.” Another rarity since the more common adage would be, “Like father, like son” or “like mother, like daughter.” I guess, in my case, friends can say that I am both like mother and father. After all, I was in the Army like my father and I enjoy teaching like my mother.
By the time this article will be published, my brother Salvador Jr. would have taken his oath as a three-star general in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), equaling the accomplishment of my father. Combined, the Misons now have contributed six stars to the Republic. (Some would say it should be 10 stars instead of six, since my rank as commissioner of the bureau was equivalent to four stars in the military). Salvador Sr. was a vice chief of staff of the AFP; Salvador Jr. is currently the deputy chief of staff of the AFP. I share these milestones to highlight the accomplishments, not of Salvador or Salvador Jr., but of Ione, the six-star general in the house.
During peacetime, the highest rank in the AFP is a four-star general. During wartime, five-star generals may be appointed by the Commander in Chief. I refer to my mother Ione as a six-star general. After all, she managed to raise six children to rise as “stars” in their chosen profession. My jovial and forever jolly mother may also be the six-star general in the Mison household since she holds the highest rank both in peacetime and wartime, so to speak.
Ione will always publicly declare that “the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” Since my father was assigned in the hinterlands of Basilan, Jolo, Cotabato and Samar during my childhood years, my mother practically singlehandedly managed to raise all her six children as professionals and responsible members of society. I remember the times when my mother would give family updates to my father, who was based in Mindanao at that time, via UHF press-to-talk radio…”Roger, buddy, everything is ok here, over!”. Acting like a single parent, my mother attended most, if not all, of her children’s school activities on her own, from graduation to recognition ceremonies. She would make us do chores, take afternoon naps and observe evening study hours. She would impose her “no TV rule” during school days and ensure we eat a balanced diet despite meager finances from my father’s income from the Army. She literally “rocked our cradle” as she was the good cop, bad cop at the same time.
But the greatest virtue I learned from my mother is patience. Until now, she teaches me how to patiently wait for things to unfold in His time and to patiently wait for the opportunity to take action. When I encountered frustration as I tried to reform the bureau, my mother will always tell me one word, Serenity. Over Sunday lunch, as she serves me my favorite dinuguan (chocolate meat for my American friends) she would tell me that there are just some things I cannot change. Ione always taught her children to be optimistic, especially when things don’t go their way. We should appreciate all trials that come our way as they make us better persons in the process, my mom tells me. Joyce Mayer said: “Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.” I encountered a lot of trials in life, both personal and professional, these past few years. I left public service with my integrity and personal dignity intact, regardless of what others may say. And now, I learned to patiently wait. “Yet, those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary” (Isaiah 40:31).
In his book Great Days with the Great Lives, Charles Swindoll said four things happen to people who wait: 1. They gain new strength as whenever they turn to the Lord in their period of weakness, they actually exchange weakness for His strength; 2. They get better perspective like soaring eagles that can spot a prey from a distance; 3. They store up extra energy as they will run and not get tired; 4. They will deepen their determination to persevere, as they will never become weary. I guess my mom’s style of rocking the cradle is close to how Harper Lee puts it in her best-selling book To Kill a Mockingbird, when she said, “Things are always better in the morning.” While much praise has been given to my father Salvador (who turns 84 in a few weeks) and my brother Salvador Jr. (who is currently the youngest three-star general in the AFP), a few friends and family can adamantly say that both may not have gotten their respective three stars in the AFP were it not for the six-star general in the house!