The Free People in Jail

It does not come as a surprise to me that the officials of the AFP and the PNP are stunned by the walk-out of Trillanes IV and Lim from the Makati RTC to Manila Peninsula Hotel without their military escorts stopping them.

The AFP and the PNP are in a state of denial. They refuse to face the fact that the leaders of both organizations, especially the AFP, have no moral ascendancy over their soldiers.

To kill and die for one’s country is an ideal. The soldiers become and are paid their salary for this ideal. When soldiers are bombarded by facts and circumstances which are contrary to their ideals, they rebel. Yet, their rebellion is not contrary but, in fact, very consistent with their ideals. It is not ideal to steal votes. It is not ideal that their appointed leaders are people who made the stealing possible. The foregoing are not ideal for the country they are ready to kill and die for.  

Of course, nobody likes force. But what do countries need the military for if force is not a necessity?  

Trillanes was and Lim is a member of that organization that symbolizes and exercises force. So how do we expect them to act in changing things? Election? Antonio Trillanes IV had tried that.  

Trillanes and Lim would like to force change in the Country—immediately. So, they took over the hotel for a start. To end the siege immediately, the AFP and PNP used force.  

There was no difference between the two sides as to the means employed on how to get what they wanted. The only difference was who got what he wanted and why. 

Needless to explain, it was the AFP and PNP who got what they wanted because their organization had the power—money. Money to house and educate the children of the people who obeyed the orders of their generals. As to Trillanes and Lim? They had only the ideals.  

But as to whom sympathy of the fellow soldiers goes? 

Surely, not to the AFP and the PNP and their Generals. Otherwise, Trillanes and Lim could not have walked-out, staged a three kilometer march, more so took over a five star hotel in the commercial capital of the country. Or, Trillanes could not have won the elections. 

The rebellion might have been stopped but the AFP and the PNP did not win. They will be haunted by their ideals they failed or refused to act upon. As to Trillanes, Lim and others, they are in a dark room, surrounded by guns—in jail yet free from the ghosts of their conscience.

The Administration Wants Trillanes and Lim Dead

Despite the success in quelling the attempted take-over of the government by the group of Antonio Trillanes IV and General Lim, the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is seething with anger at media. Because of the presence of media around Trillanes and Lim, the present administration failed to eliminate the two, thereby failing to totally eradicate the threat of the same incident from happening again. 

Members of the media are wondering why they were arrested as had never happened in the history of numerous coups and rebellions in the country.

Like all animals, people are made to do or not to do an act through the system of reward and punishment. We reward the good deeds to further encourage the doer to continue doing good while punish the evil doers for the evil deeds to deter the latter from doing evil.

The reward may not always be in the form of money or other tangible objects. Sometimes, the value of the reward is not as important as the idea of the reward itself. In the novel Bulaklak ng City Jail (Lualhati Bautista), jail guards received five pesos or a stick of cigarette from prisoners in exchange for favors. Sometimes, the happy feeling or satisfaction derived from the commission of the act is enough reward or incentive.

Those who obey orders for, and do things that advance, the interest of the government are rewarded. She rewarded promotions to the Generals involved in the rigging of the 2004 national elections, popularly known as the Hello Garci controversy. Jocjoc Bolante, who is wanted for his participation in the fertilizer scam and Lintang Bidol, who is also wanted by the Comelec for his to shed light on the 2007 election controversy in Mindanao, were given the cloak of invisibility. Otherwise, they should have been in jail.

The administration has palabra de honor. When she promises, consider it done. Thus, she enjoys loyalty form her people. She lives her creed. No wonder why her general imitate her. A general promised the Manila Peninsula incident would be over within the day, so it was.

Thus, the members of the media were arrested and herded into a police van yesterday. The government was punishing the act of the media in disobeying the order to desert the hotel which would result in the abandonment of Antonio Trillanes IV and General Lim and others. The government intended that the media suffer all the inconveniences and all the hardships there were so that they would learn their lesson and next time, when the government says leave those persons behind, media should leave them.

I remember an incident that happened in an airport tower here in Manila. The man took over an airport control tower to air his grievance and expose corruption in the government. He was being interviewed by a radio station, when suddenly, he was no longer on the phone. What happened was, while he was talking on the phone, the SWAT team assaulted the tower and murdered the man. It was a strong message to the world never take over an airport tower again, or die.

The administration does reward those who obey orders for, and do things that advance, her interest and punish those who do otherwise. Unfortunately for many, disappearance or death was their punishment. I am referring to the activists who were kidnapped and those who were executed.

The same fate (execution) should have met Antonio Trillanes and General Lim had the media left them. Damn the media.

But the government did not give up the goal of terminating the two easily. Even after the declaration of surrender, they kept throwing cans of tear gass in the lobby of the hotel thereby reducing visibility. The move to move out of the building after the tear gas had cleared save them not only their tears but also and most importantly, the lives of Trillanes and Lim.

Of course, who will ever forget that Madam Gloria reached the summit of the ladder of political success through people power? Trillanes and Lim or those they represent would like to reach the same summit by climbing the same ladder. Unfortunately for them, Gloria knows the way and how to block it. So, while the two and their cohorts were in the act of climbing the ladder, Gloria kicked it away. They fell stumbling on the ground. Hurt – but not dead. Thanks to the Media. 

When The Dreaming Ends

When she is consumed by an idea, my girlfriend abandons everything to write that idea down. Momentarily, that idea becomes her all-consuming universe.

As for me, I also abandon everything when my asthma attacks. I lie in wait preparing for the ultimate: either my healing or my death, or none at all. I just wait.

I have long surrendered to asthma. I do not like it but it always finds its way into my life. I do my best to protect myself from it, like avoiding cold drinks, drinking lots of water, exercising regularly and avoiding stress. Still asthma finds a way into my life. When the weather changes, it comes in the form of colds, a sore throat, dry and itchy throat, then all I know is I have difficulty breathing. Or I can breathe so long as I do not move.

When my asthma is severe, I want it to have its way. I do not want to breathe anymore because it hurts my back, it hurts my chest and it hurts almost all parts of my body. The air becomes so heavy as if it were a rope with a ten-wheeler truck tied at the other end. All I choose to do is close my eyes and let the involuntary action of my lungs breathe for me. By this time, I would be very weak and tired and all I want is to rest. I become oblivious to the sensation of my mother’s hand caressing my hair and the swirling questions of doctors and nurses all around me.

The doctor would either inject in my intravenous or let me take a steroid-based pill or both. And as if by magic, everything goes back to normal. My back and chest relax and my vision of a rope and a ten-wheeler truck vanishes. Except for my aching head and a floating sensation, I would be OK.

Then come the doctors and nurses and nursing interns who force me to smile and ask me not to have asthma again as if I wanted it.

Then come the hospital and medical bills.

Then I wonder if my life is worth all their expense. I have had my family spend for me for the past 27 years. In return, all they get from me is more hospital and medical expenses.

When I am not sick, I have grand dreams. I will be very rich I will own a skyscraper. I will start by raising enough money to afford a lot and build a house I will sell to buy another lot where I will build another house…and the process is repeated until I will have enough money to buy a lot and build my skyscraper.

I will also become a lawyer. I will provide poor people first class service. But which will come first I do not know. I might become a lawyer but not a builder or vice versa, it does not matter as long as I can do either of them and earn enough money to fend for myself and to finance the needs of my loved ones.

But asthma is like the sun. In the morning it shines and the dreaming ends.

Pacquiao Spoiler

I have transferred this piece here.

On The Election Of The Speaker of The House

Last month, on the day President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo delivered her State of the Nations Address, the lower house of the Congress almost did not make it to elect the Speaker of the House.

The camp of Speaker Joe de Venecia did not want to use the secret balloting procedure espoused by the Garcia camp. Instead, they would like the raise your hand if you vote and do not raise your hand if you do not vote-procedure. They wanted to see for themselves who votes whom. So the the Lower House spent almost all day debating as to whose position to take–that of De Venecia or that of Garcia. In the end, the camp of Speaker Joe, through some insidious means, had their wish.

I understand why the camp of Representative Garcia wanted secret balloting in electing the speaker of the House. It has something to do with the pork barrel. Every Congressman/district representative receives an estimated 35 million pesos per year in pork barrel. But as to who among the Congressmen will receive the pork is upon the discretion of the President.

During elections, Congressmen promise projects to their constituents. Since projects require money, the only way they can fulfill that promise is through the availability of funds through the pork. It is not news that the legislative districts whose representative is an anti-administration receive their pork barrel late, if they receive at all.

Garcia and his camp must have some information about the dissatisfaction of most of the Congressmen under the leadership of Speaker De Venecia. Those Congressmen however were wise enough not to come out and declare their dissatisfaction by raising their hand in electing another person to be the Speaker of the House, at the expense of their being called liars by their constituents for unfulfilled promises.

If Speaker Joe was sure that he had the support of the majority of his coleagues, why bother about the process of selection? That votation without the use of secret ballots had been the practice of the Lower House and therefore should not be changed is an excuse, lame at that. People know the truth.

Municipality of Pilar Election Results

Mayor: R. Patricio (LP)
Vice-mayor: M. Patricio (KMPI)

Councilors:
1. R. Patricio (LP)
2. C. Cazeñas (LP)
3. A. Perez (KMPI)
4. L. Anoche (LP)
5. F. Pastrana (Independent)
6. B. Bonilla (LP)
7. C. Dumali (LP)
8. A. Dichosa (KMPI)

Why not Dynasty?

(A pro-dynasty stand. Click here for the anti.)

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! Let me talk about classification. Classification is the ability of a person to separate one thing from another of a different class. What a simple definition, right?

It is that very ability that separates us from animals and made us who we are–human being.

For example, we throw away that which we no longer intend to use or consume. We call them scrap or better yet we call them garbage. So, when something, like food, is thrown into the garbage, we no longer touch much more eat it. Why? Again, because we have classified it as garbage, and as garbage, we no longer eat it.

Try giving food to a person which (food) that person saw you took from a the garbage and see what happens.

In the animal world, however, classification does not exist. So, we are not surprised if here we see a cat eat from the table and see the same cat eat food from the garbage can there. Or are we embarrassed to see our dog make love in public places like the streets.

It must be a very long introduction, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for your indulgence, but I am only about to make my point.

My point is, those who do not classify or do not know how to classify are no more than an animal in the body of a human being. Being such, listening to them is a waste of time.

I am referring to the anti-dynasty proponents, especially the speaker that preceded me (please refer to the immediately preceding piece, An oration piece). His point was simply this: you can not be a politician, much more a good one, if you belong to a family of politicians.

With all due respect to him, his statement doesn’t really make sense to me, and I am sure to many others also. It is like saying, you can not be a doctor because your grandfather is a doctor, or your father, or any member of your family, or dynasty, for that matter is also a doctor.

You see, in politics as in any other calling or profession, predecessors do not make a man.

I agree with him that, having an ascendant politico doesn’t automatically qualify the descendant to be a politico much more an effective one, and vice versa. But I disagree with him that just because my ascendant or descendant is a politico disqualifies me to be voted for and to serve my Country.

The previous speaker was blaming Congress because it failed to comply with the order of the Constitution to at least define the term “dynasty” much more, enact a law that prohibits it. But the problem, my dear brothers and sisters, is not in Congress. The problem lies in our Constitution itself because it failed to put educational attainment as qualification for an elective office.

You see, brothers and sisters, no body clamours if the son of a doctor becomes a doctor himself, or the son of a lawyer becomes also a lawyer because we know for a fact that he worked hard for it, he has the intelligence to become it and therefore he deserves it because he passed the respective licensure examination.

What I am trying to say is, instead of generalizing and in effect, stereotyping candidates or politicians with an ascendant or descendant politico as ineffective, inefficient, whatever, why not move to amend the Constitution, then put educational qualification as a prerequisite for an official position, so that we are assured that those who are elected in the position have at least the required education to be able to discharge his duties. Or better yet, put their blame on the 1987 Constitutional Commissioners (one of them Fr. Bernas) for their omission that we are now in debate.

You see, ladies and gentlemen, if our Constitution placed educational attainment as a requirement for a public position, the dynasty clause in our constitution, ordering Senators to enact an anti-dynasty bill becomes moot. In otherwords, useless!

Why?

Because, the only concern we have about politicians or candidates who belong to the same family that make up the dynasty is that, they do not qualify, and they are in the position simply because of undue advantage they have having a family member already in the position.

As to the argument that they have undue advantage over other candidates by their being members of a political family, what can I say? Every person, although born equal in law, is not born equal in fact. Some are born to rich parents, some are born to parents who do not even have food for a meal. If I am born to rich parents naturally, I will inherit their riches, as well as I will inherit the poverty of my parents if I were born to poor ones.

It is a fact that we do not and can not choose our parents and vice versa. If I am born to famous parents, it is next to impossible that I will die incognito.

This circumstance is beyond our control. We have nothing to blame but fate. We can not argue with fate neither can we control or regulate it.

But, as to the qualifications of candidates, this we can provide limitations. If the unqualified is not allowed to run in the first place, our problem is solved.

Thank you.

To Oration Pieces page

Dynasty Deteriorates Society

(An anti-dynasty stand. Click here for the pro.)

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! The friend of a friend has a business he inherited from his father who inherited it from the latter’s father who inherited the same business fromt he friend’s great grandfather.

Now, I have a question for you: are government officials supposed to treat their position as a business like that of my friend’s friend’s? Can a politician just hand his position down to the next of his generation?

Obviously, your answer to the first question is “no”. Government officials are in position to serve and only to serve. They are not to earn from whatever transactions they facilitate. They are not to get rich because, as we said, government position is not a business. This is the theory.

As to the second question, the answer is still the same “no”. A politician can not hand his position down to the next of his generation. It is the voter that dictates whether the next of the politician’s generation will have the job or not.

That the candidate wins however is another story. Of course, his winning will constitute what is call “politycal dynasty”. (Dynasty, by the way means, a line of rulers of the same family. So the word “political” in the phrase “political dynasty” is actually a superfluity. That is according to the New Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus). But what about dynasty according to the law?

Sad to say, the law does not have a definition. In fact, there is even no law about dynasty. What is written in the constitution actually is an order for Congress to enact a law tha defines and prohibits dynasty.

Of course, I am not in favor of dynasty. To rephrase the Constitutional Commissioner who explained the rationale for the existence of the provision against dynasty in the Constitution, dynasty narrows the opportunities of competent, young and promising poor candidates to occupy important positions in the government.

Without the law that prohibits dynasty, there will be no end to the rule of people form the same families who have most of the money but do not necessarily have what it takes to make this country great.

But since Congress in the home of dynasties, to borrow Fr. Joaquin Bernas’ words, the realization that the provision on dynasties would widen access to political opportunities, will probably be exhaustingly long in coming. Fr. Bernas, by the way, is one of the country’s most respected constitutionalists.

The situation is actually on of betrayal. We elect people to represent us. Obviously, however, when they are elected, they begin to represent themselves and their interest. Our status as their master is demoted to a mere fan to be smiled at and to be thrilled by promises.

Then a son or daughter come up and say, “father, I would like to be a mayor/congressman/senator like you.”

“Ok, anak,” father mayor/congressman/senator replies. “I’ll take care of it. In the mean time, go and announce to this and that barangay that we are constructing waiting shed and basketball courts; and do not allow them to forget about me, about us. Never forget to pain on those structures in bold and large letters they were constructed out of love by your father to his constituents. That way, when it is your time to replace me, they will have an easy time remembering your name, our name.”

Talk about undue advantage. Talk about the “narrowing of opportunities of competent, young, promising, poor candidates to occupy important positions in government”. They who have everything but the means to make this country great.

Talk about betrayal.

So, please, when I am back here again on stage, I hope I would not be asked again about my stand on the menace to our society called dynasty.

I am not and I will not be in favor of it.

To Oration Pieces page

With

Father,
uncle is similing.
He sold his only car
to buy cousin
a piña barong
and a crocodile shoes.
He is to sign his name
in the roll of attorneys.

We took the exams together.
But I can not tell you
what went wrong
until the score sheet arrives.

Been here in Manila since January.
Tired to scrub the floor
and axe wood at home.
Submitted resume
in law offices in Makati.

I think about the happy
times, father.
About the day I was sure
not to receive lashes
because you had died,
for example.

But the house smells
of candle. I can’t bring
myself to smile.

Mother called.
I’ll sign my name next year,
she assured.

I doubt.

When I think about the exam,
I can not think about next year.
I can only think about why,
when you died, you did not bring me
with you.

When the Eye Sees the Beautiful

I first saw her at a restaurant beside the school. It was about one PM. Ian–a co-boarder and a classmate–and I were having our lunch when she went inside. Forgive the cliche, but I thought I saw an angel. She was just so astonishingly beautiful that, for a while, my eyes were glued on her.

I have never seen such beauty, or to put it in another way, I’ve only seen Kate Winslet on television. But, boy, this girl’s real!!! Her eyes are like my eyes (as friends describe them) “solemn and beautifu”. And her nose! And lips–great God, she’s really an angel!

Numerous studies indicate that human beauty may not be simply in the eye of the beholder or an arbitrary cultural artifact. It may be an ancient, hardwired, universal, and potent behavior-driven, on a par with hunger or pain, wrought through eons of evolution that rewarded reproductive winners and killed off losers. If beauty is not truth, it maybe health and fertility: Halle Berry’s flawless skin may rivet moviegoers because, at some deep level, it persuades us that she is parasite-free and consequently good mating material. Acquired, individual preferences factor, but research increasingly indicates that their influence is much smaller than many of us would care to know.

I later found out that she works (in) a bookstore nearby. So, I visited that bookstore always…or, I visited that woman in the bookstore always.

Landmark studies show that attractive males and females not only garner more attention from the opposite sex, they also get more affection from their mothers, more money at work, more votes from the electorate, more leniency form judges, and are generally regarded as more kind, competent, healthy, confident, and intelligent than their big-nosed, weak-chinned counterparts.

She is in charge of the school supplies. So I drew near her and asked for a number of things inside the glass cabinet, when the truth is: I just wanted to be near her, smell her, hear her voice.

‘It turned out that the way an attractive female face differs from an average one is related to feminity,’ says psychologist David Perrett of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. ‘For example, female eyebrows are more arched than males’. Exaggerating that difference from the average increases femininity,’ and in tandem, the attractiveness rating.

I don’t know how she took my presence. But she made me feel as if the bookstore were my house and she my maid.

For psychologist Nancy Etcoff, (author of the 1999 book Survival of the Prettiest), ‘female makeup is all about exaggerating the feminine. Eye makeup makes the brow thinner. It makes it look farther from the eye’. Which, she says, is a classic difference between male and female faces. From high hair to collagen in lips to silicone in breasts, women instinctively exaggerate secondary female sex characteristics to increase their allure.’

I was convinced that to know her name was really a must. But, every time I bridge our distance, I seemed to be levitating…out of myself.

As a rule, I never did approach anyone, when I yet can’t figure (out) how I feel. In short, my heart never gave me the chance to at least introduce myself to that lady. Until…

‘Human beauty really has three components,’ says bio-psychologist Victor Johnston. ‘In order of importance, there’s natural selection, which leads to the average face and a limited age range. Then there’s sexual selection,’ which leads men, at least, to be attracted to exaggerated feminine traits like the small lower jaw and the fuller lips. ‘Finally, there’s learning. It’s a fine-tuning mechanism that allows you to become even more adopted to your environment and culture. It’s why one person can say, ‘She’s beautiful’ and another can say, ‘She’s not quite right for me.’

One night, together with my friend, I saw an angel together with her co-workers waiting for a ride. On the very jeepney they took, we rode as well.

One by one, along the way her colleagues went down. Until, we were the only passenger left.

Before she could even step down from the jeepney, a friend went down ahead of her. And on that most beautiful night, we exchanged names.

Female preferences in male faces oscillate in tandem with the menstrual cycle, suggests a study conducted by Perrett and Japanese researchers published last June (1999) in Nature. When a woman is ovulating, she tends to prefer men with more masculine features; at less fertile times in her monthly cycle, she favors male faces with a softer, more feminine look.

When I told my girl friend that I seem to be drowning in her beauty, and I would like to make her my wife, she laughed at me and said, “women at that age (she’s around twenty five years old) are looking for financial security. That’s why she’s working–but you? What are you, yet?”

Research indicates that, across the board in mating species, a non-good-looking guy can make up ground with status and/or wealth. Anthropologist John Marshall Townsend showed photos of beautiful and homely people to men and women, and described the people in the photos as being in training for either low-medium, or high-paying positions–waiter, teacher, or doctor. ‘Not surprisingly, women preferred the best looking man with the most money,’ Etcoff writes, ‘but below him, average-looking or even unattractive doctors received the same ratings as very attractive teachers. This was not true when men evaluated women. Unattractive women were not preferred, no matter what their status.’

Nevertheless, I went to talk to her often, and later I learned that about a month from now, her baby will turn one.

It’s all a bit bleak. Talk to enough psycho-biologists, and you get the impression that we are all rats–reflexively, unconsciously coupling according to obscure but immutable circuity. But beauty researchers agree, that along with natural selection and secual selection, learned behaviors are at least part of the attractiveness radar. In other words, there is room for individuality–perhaps even smattering of mystery–in this business of attraction between humans.

(Italicized portions are excerpts from Brad Lemley’s “Isn’t she Lovely?” Discover magazine, February 2000)

This article was first published in the Mediator, the official student publication of the College of Mass Communications, West Visayas State University, La Paz Iloilo City, August 2000 issue.