[My good friend Jean aka JENARO PAREDES is shown here casually and sportily attired in one of his journeys/holiday trips. Jean, despite his being stationed in far-away IRELAND, managed to pitch-in to the FUNDRAISER put up by my daughters in relation to their quest to BRING HOME THE GOLD in the 2017 WORLD HIPHOP INTERNATIONAL CONTEST in Phoenix, Arizona from August 7-12, 2017 at the ARIZONA GRAND RESORT & SPA. Let’s all pray and support the Philippine HIPHOP Teams particularly the LEGIT STATUS and ALLIANCE Dance Teams.] 

 

He is a FRATERNITY BROTHER of a FRIEND,¹

But when we met and got together,’twas a good BLEND;

I found him JOLLY, KIND and AMUSING,

We went on a project that ended with a ZING²!

 

 

It’s a project that’s sort of a SECRET,

Even dined with a sociable PROSEC³;

And after a week or so, both Jean & I got AMAZED,

As though we’re able to zip through out of a MAZE!

 

 

 

Thence, Jean flew back to DUBLIN, IRELAND,

It BORDERS a part of what’s called by its tag as “NORN IRON”⁴;

And indeed in the short stint of our MEET,

Found Jean as hard as IRON, during his political BEAT!⁵

 

 

Now as a true and card-carrying  IRISH,

Jean has gone into GARDEN DESIGN and CATERING BUSINESS;

Am sure he’ll be grand in his DESIGNS,

And his businesses will prosper till the end TIMES!

 

 

 

 

 

Being a LEO person, you’re known as truly STUBBORN,

Cause you’ve ambitions in LIFE to which you are SWORN;

And being HONEST, WARM-HEARTED and SELF-MOTIVATED,

Am so sure you will succeed in your GOALS INDEED!

 

 

 

And as an OX person based on the Chinese ZODIAC,

You’ve the STRENGTH and DETERMINATION of a LUMBERJACK;

And with your ardent patriotism to our PHILIPPINE COUNTRY,

When you’ve retired, hope to see you back with CATHY⁶!

 

  

On your coming NATAL DAY, I wish to also THANK YOU;

Your lucky colors are WHITE, GREEN and YELLOW—

As a faithful husband to pretty CATHY,

Hope you’ll sway CATHY to stay even in our country’s PERIPHERY!

 

 

[Here’s a photo taken during the graduation rites of Jean’s youngest son. From L-R: Jean, the couple’s youngest son, and Jean’s gracious and elegant wife, Cathy.]

 

 

THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN AND  HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEAN!!!!

 

 

 

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[Legend: 1 – Jean aka Jenaro Paredes is a member of ATENEO’s AQUILA LEGIS FRATERNITY who has been based in Dublin, Ireland fro many years now. I worked on a case for him for which reason I got engaged as his counsel. He was actually introduced to me by his fraternity brother, Atty. Raymundo “Rosky” Quiroz, my former boss at Allied Bank’s Legal Department.

2 –  My engagement as Jean’s lawyer brought indeed a happy ending and it was not only exciting but even interesting.

3 – PROSEC is a government prosecutor also known as FISCAL.

4 – A colloquial name for Northern Ireland which is not part of the Republic of Ireland and which has grown in popularity in recent years is “Norn Iron“, derived from an over exaggerated pronunciation of ‘Northern Ireland’ in a broad Belfast accent. This name is often used by fans of the football team both on banners and in conversation. Though, Dublin where Jean lives is part of the Republic of Ireland, it actually borders the Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom.

5 – I learned stories about Jean’s stint as a politician in a southern province of the Philippines. Jean was filled with idealism and he fought off the corrupt as well as the rebellious groups in that part of our country, the Philippines, in one of the towns in Misamis Occidental. Though Jean was much loved by his constituents, he opted not to run for re-election .

6 –   CATHY is Jean’s Irish gracious and elegant better-half.]