Here’s what she had to say about Tara:

Tara Santelices, 23 Poet, musician, filmmaker

I only met her once, ever so briefly, at Mag:Net Katipunan. Next time I heard about her, she was already lying unconscious at Medical City. The world lost an artist too early, yet again. A few months before she went into a coma, Tara quoted the poet Louise Gluck in her blog, “I did not expect to survive, earth suppressing me. I didn’t expect to waken again, to feel in damp earth my body able to respond again, remembering after so long how to open again in the cold lightof earliest spring.”

The Tara I had come to know through her writing and work seemed to be an irrepressible being. She took on filmmaking, songwriting, the guitar, her friends, causes and life by the horns—she raised everything above her head and swung it around. Tara certainly knew what life was all about. At least we had her until July 27 of 2009. (Get to know Tara through http://tarxz.multiply.com/ )

The complete article can be found here.

Here’s what Karylle says about Tara’s story:

“Nabaril siya sa isang dyip sa isang holdup kasi parang ayaw niyang ibigay yung gamit niya. Di dahil nanghihinayang siya kundi mataas kasi ang prinsipyo niya sa buhay. Alam niyang mali yun, di niya matanggap yung ganung maling sistema.

“Outside very obvious na mahilig siya sa party. Mayroon siyang ginagawang shirts, mayroon siyang fashion line, tapos nasa band siya na electronical rock o mahirap maintindihan especially for parents. Siyempre on the outside, rakista ba ito o ano? Pero nagwo-work pala siya sa isang NGO, pangarap niya pala na maging ambassador. Sobrang sayang kung iisipin na matatapos ang buhay niya in such a tragic way.

“I think through her story may magandang maituturo sa atin from her life. Karamihan kasi sa mga kabataan natin, ang problema nila is parang generation gap. I think this is a wake-up call for the parents na di porke’t mahilig sa rock or whatever o iba manamit ang anak nila, masama na siya. Malay mo ang pangarap niya ay maganda pala.”  -from Telebisyon.net

The reschedule date of “Tara’s Theme” is November 28, 2009.  The venue is still Meralco Theater, concert time is at 7:00 p.m.

Cheers,

Larry and Anne Santelices

“Hi everybody. The new date of Tara’s concert is November 28, Saturday, same venue and time. See you there… Larry and Anne Santelices.”

-posted by Angela Serrano

“Tara’s Theme: Music, Friendship and Love” has been rescheduled to 28 November 2009, Saturday, 7:00 p.m. at Meralco Theater.

Below is an e-mail message sent by Larry and Anne Santelices, Tara’s parents:

Hi everybody,

The new date for the benefit concert is November 28, Saturday. Still at Meralco Theater, 7:00 p.m.

We are thankful to the management of the theater to have gone out of its way to get in touch (when everybody was reeling from the disaster) with those who made reservations to get the confirmation if they will push thru or not. We were lucky that that date became available.

Cheers.

larry and anne

———————————-

We apologize for the inconvenience the postponement may have caused you or your friends.

We hope that you can help us spread the word about the change in schedule. If you have sent out posters or e-mails, please update these with the new date.

Thank you very much!

-Angela Serrano

————-

The typhoon Ondoy

In light of the recent catastrophe, we also urge everyone to help out.  People are still in need of clothes, food, medicine, and essentials. also, if you know people who’d volunteer their cars, i think that’s urgent as well. maski half-day lang just to help in bringing stuff to those affected.

Here’s a re-post from inquirer.net for those who need them:

MANILA, Philippines – Below is a consolidated report of the interactive maps, private groups and business organizations where you can find information on how to help the victims of tropical storm Ondoy, based on the sites of INQUIRER.net columnist Manuel Quezon III (http://www.quezon.ph/2009/09/26/how-to-help/), bloggers Frannywanny (http://www.frannywanny.com/2009/09/public-advisory-typhoon-ondoy-ketsana.html) and Jane (http://herestolife.wordpress.com/) and Google map creators Serge Gregorio and Franklin Naval.

Rescue Operations

National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) (+632-9125668, +632-9111406, +632-9115061, +632-9122665) Help hotlines: (+65 734-2118, 734-2120) ndcchelpdesk@gmail.com
Philippine Coast Guard (+632-5276136)
Air Force (+63908-1126976, +632-8535023)
Metro Manila Development Authority (136)
Marikina City Rescue (+632-6462436, +632-6462423, +632920-9072902) Pasig Rescue Emergency Number (+632-6310099)
Quezon City Rescue (161)
San Juan City Hall Command Post (+632-4681697)
Bureau of Fire Protection Region III (Central Luzon) Hotline: (+63245-9634376)
Senator Dick Gordon (+639178997898, +63938-444BOYS, +632-9342118, +632-4338528)
Senator Manny Villar (+639174226800. +639172414864, +639276751981)
Philippine National Red Cross (143, +632-5270000)
Philippine National Red Cross Rizal Chapter operations center hotline: (+632-6350922, +632-6347824)

Rubber boat and chopper requests

NCRPO (+632-8383203, +632-8383354)
Private citizens who would like to lend their motor boats for rescue please call emergency nos: +632-9125668, +632-9111406, +632-9122665, +632-9115061)
You can also text (+632917-4226800 or +632927-6751981) for rescue dump trucks.
For those who are able to lend 4×4 trucks for rescue: Please send truck to Greenhills Shopping Center Unimart Grocery to await deployment, Tel No. (+632920-9072902).
Petron & San Miguel Corporation are lending choppers for rescue operations, call/text: (+632917-8140655) ask for Lydia Ragasa

Power supply concerns

Meralco (+63917-5592824, 16211, +63920-9292824) If you want service cut off to your area to prevent fires and electrocution.

Donations of heavy duty flashlights needed for rescue operations in Cainta, Rizal area. Contact Cielo at (+632918-8824356)

E-Donations

SMS: text RED to 2899 (Globe) and 4483 (Smart)
G-Cash: text DONATEAMOUNT4-digit M-PINREDCROSS to 2882
TXTPOWER.org: Paypal, Smart Money (5577-5144-1866-7103), G-Cash (0917-9751092)

We can do this! The Filipino people will rise again from this tragedy. Let’s do our part to help out.

- Quincy Gonzales

ondoy photo taken from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/annalyn/3958428720/

Hello, everyone!

Can anyone recommend printing companies for the souvenir  program? Based on the original project timeline, we should be able to  give the souvenir program to the printer by September 17. Quincy  has already contacted a printing press he knows, and I’ve also e-  mailed Avlich Printing, a company recommended by Ms Ritzi  Ronquillo. I’m looking for other contacts.

If you know of any reliable printing companies that produce high-quality outputs at reasonable prices, please let me know. Please give the company name, owner’s name, contact info (e-mail, telephone numbers), address, and some indication of the quality of their work (promptness, whether they’ve printed well-loved publications, whether they coordinate closely with clients to ensure that the output looks the way it was intended to look, etc.). This is so that we can come up with options that Tito Larry and Tita Anne can choose from.

By the way, if anyone would still like to contribute photos of Tara with friends and family, please feel free to do so! So far, the only photos I’ve received are from our Air Police Commander in ROTC. I was hoping to get more photos of Tara with family members and other friends.

Many thanks and see you tomorrow!

Cheers,
Angela B Serrano
angge.serrano@gmail.com
0928 506 1117

“It is the one thing we hold on to so we cannot let it go,” Larry Santelices, Tara’s father, says.

Tara is in a bright green room, attended to by a midwife named Babes.

It was on August 9 last year that Tara was shot in the head by an unknown assailant inside a passenger jeepney. It was also the eve of Tara’s birthday.

The young woman had just graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University the year before with a degree in political science. She was active in the band circuit while working for the NGO Upland Marketing. “She had many dreams. She wanted to go to law school someday,” Santelices says. He bears no bitterness for what has happened. “We choose to be thankful for the 23 years that we were given, when she was healthy and so full of life.”

Tara’s brain was damaged. Shrapnel remain in her head. When I went to see her, it did look like she was just sleeping yet opening her dark brown eyes once in a while. Her hair tied into a neat ponytail, she looked much healthier than the last time I saw her at the hospital.

Larry and Anne say that once in a while, she gives them a miracle. “I’d like to believe that she can see,” Anne says. “She looks at us intently using her good eye (her left eye is blind and totally damaged), and every now and then, when she is awake, she grips my hand firmly or blinks her eyes. I know she is there, somewhere,” Anne relates.

The couple and their two other daughters, Iya and Gita, shuttle between their home in Cainta and the small townhouse in Quezon City owned by Anne’s brother who works overseas. Tara lives with her grandmother and the two midwives who rotate on 12-hour shifts.

The Santelices family is happier and more settled now that she has been brought home after an eight-month confinement at The Medical City, where their bill reached a whopping P4 million. Santelices says the hospital was kind enough to give them time to pay for the bill, a huge part of which was subsidized by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

However, the balance of around P1.3 million is something they continue to struggle with on a day-to-day basis. This is in addition to P90,000 a month for Tara’s care and the family’s other needs. Tara’s milk alone, Peptamen, costs them at least a thousand pesos per can each day.

The couple says once in a while they wonder how much longer they will be able to sustain Tara. “Her heart is strong now, but what do we do when the organs start to fail?” Yet, they continue to be buoyed by their faith and hope for a miracle. “Nothing in this life is really under our control. Not once did we question God,” Anne says. “There must be a reason for all of this. Always, there is a reason for the pain.”

Difficult journey

Unfortunately, the Cainta police declared the case closed, saying they had already caught the culprit and shot him down. However, Larry says two witnesses from the scene said the man the police caught was not the same one who shot Tara.

“That is the difficult part of this journey, knowing the man who shot our daughter continues to roam the streets,” Larry says. But rather than focus on being angry, the couple chose to focus their energy on work, caring for Tara, and “Tara’s Theme,” a fund-raising concert they plan to put up in October to pay off the debts incurred with Tara’s hospitalization. It’s amazing how people have come together, to perform the songs and the music Tara loved while she was growing up. José Mari Chan, Karylle and Bloomfields will perform at the show.

As I was leaving the Santelices’ townhouse, I recalled what Dr. Jerome Groopman, professor of immunology at Harvard Medical School and chief of Experimental Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, wrote in his best-selling book “The Anatomy of Hope”: “To hope under the most extreme circumstances is an act of defiance that permits a person to live his life on his own terms. It is part of the human spirit to endure and give miracle a chance to happen.”

(lifted from the column “Roots and Wings” of the Philippine Daily Inquirer dated July 25, 2009 by Cathy S. Babao-Guballa)

As the event draws nearer, please send us your support by forwarding the info to your friends and inviting more people to attend. Let’s make this event a memorable one, and we won’t be able to do it without everyone’s help.  We still need attendees and hopefully, fill up the Meralco Theater in time.

We are also still needing sponsors, so if you’re interested in helping out in that way, let us know asap. We have sponsorship packages available and it would be a huge help for the event if more people pitch in. And if you have products, i believe we also have booths available.

Kaya natin ‘to! Mark your calendars, October 4, 2009, 7pm.

- Quincy Gonzales

PS

By the way, if you know anyone who would like to submit content about tara – writeups, old photos you had with her, soundclips, anything! – kindly send them to tarastheme@gmail.com so that we can include them in the event’s souvenir program.  Also, if you see articles posted about tara, what happened to her, reactions about tara’s incident or the concert, either here or elsewhere, please forward us the link or source so that we can cross-post it on this blog.

thanks so much!