Gone towards the light ...

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A partisan Church?

Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles says the impeachment trial is a parody and foolishness. His words became prophetic when his friend and fellow Batangueño, the impeached Chief Justice Renato Coronado Corona came to the Senate to testify.

The masses being celebrated inside the Supreme Court compound, such as that celebrated by Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles himself, are supposedly for truth and justice. If it were indeed so, why should it be held in the very office of the accused?

Officially, the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines is not taking the side of Chief Justice Renato Coronado Corona. But action speaks louder than their collective denials.

The Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines is so obviously divided on this particular issue. Bishops who are still smarting from having been exposed as receiving expensive luxury cars and sports utility vehicles from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office are of course siding with Chief Justice Renato Coronado Corona who is obviously on the side of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who initiated the expensive gift giving because the PCSO is under the Office of the President.

It should be noted that according to Bishop Arguelles, the issue regarding the “Pajero Bishops”  was a complete misinformation because they did not accept it. Yeah, right! Photographs and other evidences prove that the so-called Pajero Bishops obviously used the luxury cars and expensive sports utility vehicles.

If that is not telling a lie or at least fiddling with the truth, I do not know what is.

The Crown has diminished in value

Today, Tuesday, 22 May 2012, the Republic of the Philippines had a date with history. When I woke up, I eagerly wrote on both Facebook and Twitter:

(1) ... a historic day .. may truth and justice prevail ... god bless the philippines... 

(2) ... i maintain that the country will be brighter with all these lanterns of lies as they eventually fuel the luminescence of truth

I was so optimistic. I believe that the justice system still works and I was eagerly looking forward to see how Chief Justice Renato Coronado Corona would defend himself in the Impeachment Court.

His mudslinging opening statement surprised me, and the fact that he was allowed such leniency astounded me. His spiel was a strategic move to make others look like shit (I will not apologize for this, it was what it is) while he projected himself as squeaky clean.

Chief Justice Renato Coronado Corona declared in no uncertain terms that the Haciendero President has used all the powers of his position to destroy him. Kitchen sink and all. He looked at his accusers in the Prosecution Panel and told them he is innocent.

Addressing the Filipino nation, he said his conscience is clear. He even repeated that for optimum effect.

The Chief Justice went full out and pandered to people of average means by stating they live simple lives, in fact they do not really use air conditioners because they tend to easily get sick with cold temperatures. Then he aimed lower and declared that they have no maids. I thought he was going to aim even lower still and declare that they only eat instant noodles if only to earn the sympathy of the poorest of the poor.

Senate President/President Officer Juan Ponce Enrile interrupted Chief Justice Renato Coronado Corona around four times while Mario Bautista of the Prosecution Team made two attempts to stop Chief Justice Renato Coronado Corona from continuing with his statements which Atty. Bautista said was irrelevant and based on hearsay.

And as Chief Justice Renato Coronado Corona droned on and on, I was thinking to myself, this man must have a very fragile ego (what with the squid tactics). He believes he is being bullied but is himself a bully. And listening closely to what he actually does not say, I get the impression that he has self-esteem issue (so surprising for someone who stands above the throng as the Chief Magistrate).

After over two hours of his soliloquy, he says: “The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of the Philippines wishes to be excused.” Suddenly, Chief Justice Renato Coronado Corona is out of the witness stand and is seen exiting the Senate Session Hall.

All hell breaks loose.

Chief Justice Renato Coronado Corona has indeed walked out of the Senate Session Hall cum Impeachment Court.

The Presiding Officer declares that the witness has not been discharged.

Defense Chief Legal Counsel, former Associate Justice Serafin Cuevas appears to have been caught off-guard.

The Presiding Officer quickly tells Senate Security to close all exits. Nobody leaves the Senate Building.

In the melee that followed, Supreme Court Administrator and Spokesman Midas Marquez is seen gamely playing the role of a “tagahawi” (one who clears the way).

And then the liars, err, excuse me, the Defense Team goes to town with stories that categorically state that Chief Justice Renato Coronado Corona had hypoglycemia and was in pain.

I am a diabetic. I have been trying to understand him from the perspective of a fellow diabetic. His claim of hypoglycemia does not make sense in light of how he actually acted. He did not appear disoriented when he was on the stand. And if he were feeling the onset of the crash, he would not have said: “The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of the Philippines wishes to be excused.”

It was pretty obvious that he was being a royal pain in the ass.

If he was indeed having an actual and real hypoglycemic episode, he could not have walked out on his own steam in such great haste. In fact, I believe that a diabetic who is on the verge of crashing would not have been able to leave his chair on his own.

It was obviously planned and choreographed. It was definitely a walk out. No ifs and no buts! And no, I was never aware of any other pain other than a headache being associated with hypoglycemia. Or has my family (both parents and a brother who have since passed on) been very lucky not to have experienced that during their lifetime?

His family says he did not have lunch. Really? For someone who has been a diabetic for so long, he knows better than to skip meals, no matter what. And his family should also know this full well. No lunch my ass!

Cut to next scene: Chief Justice Renato Coronado Corona in a wheelchair. Shades of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Paawa (plot for sympathy) effect still relentlessly at work!

I personally declare, without fear of going to jail, that Renato Coronado Corona, The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of the Philippines indeed has a flair for the overly dramatic ... he has a scene-stealing, attention-grabbing, media-hogging savvy that is so pathetic.

Tomorrow he has been ordered to return to court or else his case will be considered endorsed for judgment.

It will be remembered that all these began with his controversial and outright illegal and immoral midnight appointment as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of the Philippines.

This is the very same Supreme Court that prides itself in going beyond the basic tenets of Republic Act No. 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees) stating that:

“We have repeatedly held that although every office in the government service is a public trust, no position exacts a greater demand for moral righteousness and uprightness from an individual than in the judiciary.”

“Personnel in the judiciary should conduct themselves in such a manner as to be beyond reproach and suspicion, and free from any appearance of impropriety in their personal behavior, not only in the discharge of their official duties but also in their everyday life. They are strictly mandated to maintain good moral character at all times and to observe irreproachable behavior so as not to outrage public decency.”

The Crown has never had “moral ascendancy” to begin with. He even had to lie about his alleged academic honors.

The Pinoy LGBT Community and Ambassador Pacquiao of the Philippine Catholic Church

It all began with a dream. The dream sequence was supposed to have gone this way: he found himself in the middle of a dark forest where a lone, bright light shone. The light spoke to him, asking him why he has distanced himself from the way, the truth and the light. He was crying his heart out in that dream, and when he woke up, his pillow was wet.

Thus began the renewal of faith of the Honorable Congressman Emmanuel “Manny” Dapidran Pacquiao of the Lone District of Sarangani who sits in the 15^th Congress as Vice Chair of the Committees on the Millennium Development Goals; Committee on Poverty Alleviation; and Committee on Youth and Sports Developments. He is a member of the Committees on Agriculture and Food; Aquaculture and Fisheries Resources; East Asean Growth Area; Energy, Housing and Urban Development; Mindanao Affairs; National Defense and Security; People’s Participation; Public Information; Public Works and Highways; Transportation; and Basic Education and Culture.

A newly-installed member of the PDP-Laban, the political butterfly that is Honorable Congressman Emmanuel “Manny” Dapidran Pacquiao used to be with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Lakas-Kampi-Christian Muslim Democrats. In 2010, he ran for congress under the Nacionalista Party of Senator Manny Villar. He won while Villar lost, prompting The Honorable Congressman Emmanuel “Manny” Dapidran Pacquiao to jump to the Liberal Party of President  Aquino.

The Honorable Congressman Emmanuel “Manny” Dapidran Pacquiao is of course better known as the People’s Champ who has world championships in eight different weight classes.

Today, the Honorable Congressman Emmanuel “Manny” Dapidran Pacquiao is the Bible Ambassador for the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). His main task is to promote Bible reading among Catholics.

Yes, the CBCP has virtually touted The People’s Champ as the Tim Tebow of the Philippines, a country that simply has to have its own version of anything and everything (i.e. James Dean of the Philippines, Elvis Presley of the Philippines, etc., etc., etc., and we even have Vangie, the Filipino version of iPhone 4S’ Virtual Assistant named Siri). But while Tebow is known as a devout Catholic, Paquiao is not a stranger to controversies, including marital infidelities and their consequences.

This time, the Honorable Congressman Emmanuel “Manny” Dapidran Pacquiao is in the spotlight again with his controversial statement disagreeing with US President Barack Obama's support of redefining marriage to include same-sex couples.

The Honorable Congressman Emmanuel “Manny” Dapidran Pacquiao stated in no uncertain terms that Barack Obama is wrong. Speaking to the National Conservative Examiner while in training in LA, The Honorable Congressman Emmanuel “Manny” Dapidran Pacquiao was said to have emphasized the need for society to put "God's words first," quoting Leviticus 20:13 which reads: "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."

This prompted a howl of protests especially from the LGBT community in the Philippines and the rest of the world.  This only goes to prove that indeed, the Honorable Congressman Emmanuel “Manny” Dapidran Pacquiao is not a stranger to creating/being in the headlines, whether for boxing or otherwise.

The Honorable Congressman Emmanuel “Manny” Dapidran Pacquiao has subsequently denied quoting Leviticus, saying he has not yet read Leviticus.

While we are on the subject of denials from The Honorable Congressman Emmanuel “Manny” Dapidran Pacquiao, it will be recalled that he has likewise denied ownership of the controversial West Cove, his resort in Boracay; as well as his relationship with Krista Ranillo (which incidentally, his wife Jinkee virtually confirmed); and having a love child with 22-year-old student Kat Ordoñez, among a host of other denials.

In his official website, the Honorable Congressman Emmanuel “Manny” Dapidran Pacquiao states: “I’m not against gay people … I have a relative who is also gay.” Oh yes, and I distinctly remember his own admission that he has had sex with a homosexual.

Happy Mothers' Day

To all my Lady Mentors, Relatives and Friends ... not necessarily pre-qualified for technically having given birth but for helping nurture me ...

a special shout out to my Aunts EDEN FANCO ORBISTA and ADELAIDA INOSANTO ZONIO, Cousins and Midwives who attended to DOLORES BOLIVAR INOSANTO JEREZA when she gave birth to me.

Happy Mother's Day To All Of You ... with love and respect, always.
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One Person

This is one of my all-time favorite songs, entitled “One Person” which was performed, in this instance, during the Memorial Service for JAMES MAURY “JIM” HENSON, a.k.a. Kermit the Frog, who passed away on May 16, 1990, almost 22 years ago. Someday I hope to be able to visit The Jim Henson Museum and cross the "The Rainbow Connection" bridge in his hometown of Leland, Mississippi.

The NAIA 3 Trilogy

A “nut” so funny story happened at the NAIA Terminal 3.

Showbiz couple Raymart Santiago and Claudine Barreto arrived yesterday afternoon at the NAIA T3 from Caticlan airport, gateway to Boracay. To their dismay, they found out that their luggage were offloaded in Caticlan airport by budget airline Cebu Pacific. Ground Attendants who assisted them assured them that their luggage would be delivered to their home later in the day.

Claudine, who is remembered for having sworn when she tripped on stage during a performance, supposedly blew her top because one of the kid’s asthma medication was in the checked-in luggage. Now,  I’ve known people, young and old, who have asthma and they always travel with their medications in their hand-carried bag. Nobody in their right frame of mind would put asthma medications in checked luggage. What if the person with asthma has an attack while on board?

For someone who used to be so charming, adored and famous, Claudine purportedly dropped the name of Cebu Pacific’s Lance Gokongwei several times, asking the Ground Attendants to call him so that Claudine can ask Mr. Gokongwei to fire the ground attendant. She was supposedly cursing.

It has not been established if Mr. Gokongwei and Claudine Barreto personally know each other.

Mon Tulfo, a broadcast journalist/columnist, noticed the altercation between Claudine and the Ground Attendants and took some snapshots using his celfone. It should be emphasized that it is a public place and Claudine, although her status as a movie and television star/celebrity has dimmed considerably, remains to be a public figure.

There were apparent attempts to have/wrestle control over the photos Mon Tulfo took. This eventually fired the clapboard and the brief but fast-paced action scene took place. The celfone camera that captured the melee eventually went viral on youtube.

Mon, Raymart and Claudine are people whose egos have overgrown their brain's capacity to behave and act with civility. This piece shows a TRILOGY of tragedies that their lives have apparently become.

Scenes on the MRT ... a short hop from Cubao to Recto.

Sorry folks, my fault, the sign actually says DO NOT LEAN ON THE DOOR on the right panel with a Filipino translation on the left panel. I apologize.

Acquired Taste

Just a couple of days ago, I made myself a salad of mixed greens with a predominance of arugula and hearts of romaine, cherry tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, croutons and crumbled bleu cheese over bleu cheese dressing.

I twitted about it and someone sent me a one word text message: YUCK! The people I live with (in a boardinghouse) refused to even taste it because according to one of them, it smells funny.

This has been an ongoing issue for quite some time. Friends react negatively when I mention that I love bleu cheese. The gamut of emotions shown makes me wonder why they detest something that I find so delicious.

A former colleague tells me that bleu cheese is an acquired taste.

It is?

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, defines “acquired taste” as a liking for something that is at first considered unpleasant. The online thefreedictionary.com goes a bit further by saying that is means one that is unpleasant on immediate experience or is likeable only after being experienced repeatedly. Collins English Dictionary defines it as a preference that is only acquired after considerable experience.

I never thought bleu cheese was anything but scrumptious. I loved it the first time I tasted it. I did not acquire a taste for bleu cheese, I acquired more of it.

There was a time when I was between apartments and had to stay with a friend for a couple of days. I bought some bleu cheese and stashed it in his fridge. Armed with a baguette, I went home the following day to have another gustatory experience. I could not find my bleu cheese. The house help told me she threw it away because it was moldy. The garbage bin was empty! (And yes, in response to that question in your mind, I would have: no ifs, no buts.)

For some people, acquired taste means that the food’s perceived negative qualities are ignored in order to enjoy its benefits. But what about food that apparently are just enjoyed for the taste experience per se and not necessarily because there are benefits to it.

As a case in point, I love eating ampalaya (Momordica Charantia or bitter melon). The Department of Health of the Republic of the Philippines recognizes ampalaya as one of the best phytomedicines or botanical medicines but persists in classifying it as a mere nutritional supplement instead of medicine, particularly for diabetes.

Come to think of it, some of the foods I particularly like are indeed unpopular, albeit reprehensible. Some people even find them outright offensive and disgusting, like durian. But I love durian. The creamy pulp is best eaten as is or made into milkshakes, ice cream, candies or even cakes. Unfortunately, durian has high sugar content, and I am a diabetic.

Someone once described eating raw oysters as snoot straight out of a rock. But then again, I love my oysters raw. No boiling, not even scalding, and if possible I want to shuck them myself. No lemon juice, no hot sauce, no nothing. Raw, plain, delicious! If you were to accuse me of loving this for its alleged aphrodisiacal power, then perhaps I could have opted to have it baked or broiled or boiled. I like it raw, so sue me.

I love olives, especially black olives, the Kalamata variety in particular. I also like stuffed olives, especially when capers are used as stuffing. I love them both as an ingredient in Spanish/Mediterranean dishes and as appetizers, especially when offered as a tapenade, that delicious though pungent paste made from black olives, olive oil, capers, anchovies and lemon juice. There are some bistros and delis that offer olive tapenade.

I must admit that there are some things that I got to taste and never liked. I will never ever try them again. On top of this very short list is haggis, a traditional Scottish food with internal organs such as the heart, liver and lungs mixed with a couple of other ingredients and cooked in a sheep’s stomach. Now let me tell you, I do not care a whit about acquiring a taste for it.

 

Celfone shot from Recto MRT Station with Manila City Jail in the background.

I did not want to be among the throng of passengers going downstairs so I waited by the panoramic window where I saw this man lounging on the roof.It was indeed a very humid day towards the end of April.

Reading Adventures

I practically grew up in a library—the Libacao Elementary School Library—a wonderful kingdom where I lorded it over like a potentate, with authors and their characters in attendance at my court, offering a panoramic vista of people and cultures, adventures and misadventures, lessons and all sorts of vicarious experiences.

Tons of interesting books offered magic carpet rides to distant lands.  I wined and dined with royalty, worked side by side with deckhands and flew with the conquerors of the skies.  I was in Shangri-la one day, in Olympus the next.  I have gone on expeditions to the Sahara, and safaris in the heart of Africa.  I have conquered Mount Everest, gone scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef.  I have walked the entire length of the Great Wall of China, and pedaled my way across Eastern Europe.  I have taken the Shinkansen from one end to the other and boarded the Concorde from London to New York and traveled in style at twice the speed of sound.

Like a true-blue vagabond, I never knew where my being footloose and fancy free would lead me.

While I lived in a two-season country, my climatic experience was not delimited to the wet and dry seasons, for I have had a foretaste of the four seasons as I traveled the four strong winds without leaving home.  I have found myself in a blanket of snow and have seen for myself the glory of springtime.

My childhood best friends were authors who taught me countless things that helped develop my personality and hone my talents—especially that of paying attention to details.

Much to the librarian’s chagrin (my Mom, actually), my favorite reading spot was a corner by the window where I lay on the floor, reading between classes until it was time to go home.

I do not know why, but whenever I was reading something that really picked my brain, I always did so sprawled on the floor.  Today, I often read in bed, which is not very good for the eyes.

My interest in books was awakened by my sister Louella who loved books. At first I hated it when she would sit in our azotea on the second floor of our house on Rizal Street in Libacao, just reading. That would mean I would have to play by myself because we were not allowed out after the oracion. One other weird thing about my sister was that she would come home from school with all her assignments already done. Eloquent as she was, I guess she never really understood what “home work” meant. Nyahaha!

I would sit by her and she would read aloud. With a limited vocabulary, I would ask her what those “strange words” meant and she would try to explain as best she could. Eventually, she had to shush me up by giving me books I could handle on my own, valued hand-me-downs that literally opened doors for me. While I was open to a variety of topics, she simply went for what tickled her fancy.  She got into romance books quite early, and not being prepared for that, I gratefully inherited her junk.

We were almost always at the azotea, undisturbed. We would even beg, cajole and argue with Tatay who, with regularity, turn off the generator (Libacao had no electricity back then) at ten o’ clock in the evening.

We were never allowed to bring home books and other reference materials that other people could not bring home.  No library book was ever found in our house.  We were never accorded special treatment.  This included rare tomes which I invariably read over lunch.

We would travel to Manila twice a year, or at least once, during summer. Our parents would take us to bookstores and allow us free reign on our book allowance. We were in heaven.

To this day, I can willingly forego having lunch or dinner for as long as I have a good book.  Between lengua estofado and a really good paperback, or a steak dinner and a hardbound classic, reading invariably, albeit predictably wins.

Oh, and I was never into comics.  Even American comics featuring Tarzan and Superman, Popeye and Dennis the Menace.  I have always preferred reading materials that painted pictures with words.

Indeed, reading opened my eyes and made me interested in vocabulary and the images words convey, giving me an insight into their deeper meaning, and making me realize their power of suggestion.

It was thus that I learned to paint with words.

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Sign of the Times?

This picture is not mine. It was just sent to me by a friend who read my "Romancing the English language" article. She asked me to romance this one, too.





My synapses just went haywire!

Romancing the English language

“After mustered with a retribution caused by insobriety and intolerance, thank God ALL IS WELL NOW... I can see myself perking up and gyrating around filling my days that passed by. Hello world im back and so well!!!”

Wait, please don’t stop reading. That wasn’t me. That was a status update on Facebook. Here are some more bone-jarring examples of our supposed fluency in the English language, a couple of which come from people who work in the business outsourcing industry.

“I didnt realize he went out just to bought me this”

“Having fun watching movie yesterday.”

“My fashion is cooking, I want to be a great chef someday!”

“Do not let other people's failure your success...make it your own.”

Having fractured your funny bone and induced a laugh-deficit disorder, I believe those among you who pay attention to grammar and syntax (and become batty when an adverb is used instead of an adjective or grow claws when they hear/read they’re/their/there mistakes) are just about ready to unscramble an omelette.

Beyond the physical, the most notable aspect of our personality is our ability to communicate. Fluency and eloquence create a very strong and lasting impression. Fact is, people judge us by our manner of expressing ourselves and our ability to use language as a persuasive tool for influencing others.

From our salad days, we had an affirmation that the ability to express ourselves and speak our minds are crucial to our everyday existence. Proficiency in a language is critical to effective communication, and the best language to use in honing our communications skills is our primary language, the language we use at home and in the community we grew up in. I have always believed that it is best for young people to express themselves in their native language whose nuances and subtleties are familiar to them.

When I read that the Department of Education would launch the mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE) program, I was delighted. This was how it was back then for us before they rammed Filipino up the wazoo of non-native speakers of this Tagalog-based national language.

I re-read the DepEd press release “DepEd issues guidelines for mother tongue teaching” published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Friday, December 2, 2011 and had a gas: “It is the easiest way for children to access the unfamiliar world of school learning,” Luistro said in a statement, citing local and international studies that show the effectivity (sic) of using a learner’s mother tongue in teaching.

Effectiveness unveiled, not in a very subtle way.

As for me, English was not my first language. My primary education began at age six.  At that time, there were no prep schools or kindergarten classes, at least not in my hometown.  If you were not yet seven years old, you were considered a “visitor”.  How’s that for hyperactive audience participation?

English was not taught in Grade I then (“then” being indicative of my chronological age). We learned our fundamentals via the Aklanon equivalent of the cartilla using the book authored by one of my small town heroes, Roman A. dela Cruz.

Our lessons were taught using Aklanon, our native language, which has a very distinctive feature: the fricative g sound or the voiced velar fricative. This makes Aklanon one of the most difficult to learn among the languages in the Visayas. Aklanon shares a similarity with Portuguese, Scottish Gaelic, Azerbaijani, Basque, Catalan and Polish, among a host of other languages. The fricative g sound does not exist in the English language as we know it today.

Grade II was when we had our first lessons in English as a language. We learned the alphabet but the concept was alien to most of us. Some of my classmates never really saw an apple, much less tasted one until much later.

Having been forced to learn in a language whose culture is alien to us, most students are unable to develop the ability to express themselves. Add to that another layer of difficulty, being taught by people who themselves were having problems dealing with the language they teach in. The educational system eventually gagged on incompetent teachers who graduated under the Continuous Progression scheme that was in place then, churning “graduates” who were not even half-baked (alternately softheaded) professionals who did not know any better if their head got stuck in their rear ends.

About a decade later, Filipino was introduced as the medium of instruction. This was, without a doubt a very nationalistic move. Today however, with Filipino as the lingua franca of the educational system, most young Aklanons cannot even write a decent sentence in their native tongue. In fact, the use of Filipino has edged out a lot of other languages and dialects in the Philippines. This reminds me of Hogen, the language of Okinawa, Japan. When they were forced to adopt Nihongo, the younger generations lost touch with their rich language and dialects. Today, only the old people of Okinawa Ken speak Hogen. Today, the younger Aklanons are barely literate in Inakeanon.

The most valuable lesson I learned about learning English came from my favorite teacher in high school who told me to “think and dream in English”. Since then, my introspections have always been in English.

I developed a fascination for the English language even before I went to school. I used to watch my grandmother play Scrabble with her friends. It was from watching them play and listening to them argue in English that I developed an appreciation and love for the language even as I only had an incongruously uncertain grasp of grammar and spelling.

From scrabble, I learned vocabulary and images.  From my English teachers from Grades II to VI, I learned to develop a feeling for words, for their deeper meanings, their power of suggestion.  In writing themes I learned how to paint with words.  Little did I know that later in life, I would write through the night on an ocean of coffee, see my articles in print not just locally but internationally, and literally, write for a living.
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