blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

There is one memorable line (now the subject of a zillion parodies!) in the movie "A Few Good Men" delivered by Colonel Nathan Jessep (played by Oscar winning actor Jack Nicholson). Lt Daniel Kafee (played by Oscar nominated Tom Cruise) wanted to find the truth about the death of a Marine grunt and when the evidence pointed to Jessep declaring a "code red"then Kaffee wanted the truth and Jessup bellowed "You can't handle the truth!" This line was voted 29th most memorable line in American movie history. But seriously the line has something for Jun Lozada and his fans to think about. So much has been been said about Jun Lozada. He has been called the "bearer of truth" (OK sort of...) and Jedi Knight (Oh puhleeeze!). The fans are in adulation but this whole morality play now staged in the Senate,on the Streets and in the Universities makes enough good Lenten reflection as we approach Passion Week. Strangely, the Catholic Bishops have missed out...

Leap Day happens since as part of the Gregorian reform of the Calendar, an extra day was needed to be added since the solar year was really 365 and 1/4 days long. If a leap day wasn't added the seasons will be out of sync with the calendar. Every 4 years we have a leap year except in years that are divisible by 100. If the year is divisible by 400 then we have a leap year. So 2000 was one but 1900 wasn't. But Gregorian reforms aside, the one reason why leap days and years are of interest is because of a long standing tradition that a woman may propose marriage to a man on these years and on leap day itself, it was ILLEGAL for a man to refuse! A supposed 1288 law promulgated by Queen Margaret of Scotland made it illegal to refuse. The penalties were once so drastic. (Was it death by hanging and quartering? Not really!) A man had to pay 1 pound which was then a huge sum of money. Because the law was so harsh the Queen reduced the penalty to a kiss. The man has give a kiss to the ...

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines yesterday issued a pastoral letter on the current political crisis we have in the Philippines. The Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia Chancery blog posted a copy. The six points made by the bishops have been said in other venues. It is not surprising that the bishops want EO 464 scrapped for this prevents the Queen's subalterns to appear before the Senate if they are to be questioned. They have to get her consent first. But what most op ed writers missed is this "For the long term we reiterate our call for “circles of discernment” at the grassroots level, in our parishes, Basic Ecclesial Communities, recognized lay organizations and movements, religious institutions, schools, seminaries and universities. It is through internal conversion into the maturity of Christ through communal and prayerful discernment and action that the roots of corruption are discovered and destroyed. We believe that such communal action will perpetuate at t...

If we had a Cabinet system of government then the Primus Inter Pares among MPs the Honourable Prime Minister has to convince all the ministers to toe the line. Then there is reason for a "unity walk". In the Mother of all Cabinet Governments the ministers don't walk but stand for a photo op in front of 10 Downing Street. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is Chief of State and Government of the Republic. If we compare the powers she has at disposal, she has more powers than George III of England ever had! George III however insane he was, never had to do a unity walk! So why the Unity Walk? We know that the Government is in panic mode when the ministers start the unity walk. We know that confidence is ebbing when the uniformed services do their own "unity walk". I don't really give a damn if the ministers do the walk. These civvies after all serve at the pleasure of Mrs Arroyo and they are accountable to her alone and not the legislature. However I am quite concerned w...

Students of Darwinian evolution learn early on that evolutionary novelties are nothing really new. They are but variations on an earlier theme. The variations arise because of natural selection. At first glance the variations are so unapparent and may lead some to think that some Grand Designer was at work with a new idea. But on closer scrutiny, one notices that the novelty is really based on an earlier "novelty". So we have the Tiktaalik wrist is the ancestor of our wrist. Today Darwinian theory has been extended to account for events in human history, revolutions and people power not excepted, the analysis of which were once the exclusive domain of political scientists and historians. So much has been written by our own political pundits in the op ed pages of the major Pinoy blurbs about people power "fatigue" and lack of outrage in the la affaire Lozada. In fact the Macapagal-Arroyo subalterns in the Palace have taken this observation and now have a smug attit...

The most famous ides is that of the month of March (which incidentally is my birthmonth). By the ides of that month, I should have been able to 1) mark all student essays, 2) give exams, 3)finish three scientific papers etc....arrgh. Ides is nothing but a Roman way to divide the month. We still divide the month when we get our measly Salarium ! My workload isn't the reason why the ides is famous but because of the soothsayer's warning to Julius Caesar "beware of the ides of March". Nonetheless Caesar appeared before the Senate and the Senators (who called themselves Liberatores ) assasinated Caesar using daggers. Caesar got 23 stab wounds. Of course it was in the Roman Senate where the crime was committed. But in our Senate, the Senators have long stopped wearing togas. Thus they have no place to hide their daggers but they can still cast dagger eyes. The Senators justified their actions as a tyrranicide. The tyrant lies bloodied on the Theatre's portico. Mark Ant...

The last petition in the Lord's Prayer or Pater Noster is translated as "deliver us from Evil". Christians have been praying that ever since. But Garry Wills, a renowned Catholic scholar of the Greek New Testament says that the phrase really means more than what it says. When we read the koine or marketplace Greek, he proposes that a new translation should say "Wrest us from the Evil One!" The Greek has the original sense of the prayer that has been lost in translation. The Latin (from which we get our English Our Father and the Filipino Ama Namin ) implies that evil is a concept and not a person. Wills says that the evil is really a person. So we have to capitalize the "e" into an "E" in evil. So Evil is Personified. We have Dr Evil and now a President Evil if Jun Lozada recalled correctly what his friend Romy Neri really said. (Neri doesn't remember what he said!) According to Austin Danger Powers Dr Evil wants to rule the world. What ...

The newest protest slogan in Manila is "Moderate their greed, exterminate their breed!" I think extermination is to kind and moderate. I propose the following "Moderate their greed, emasculate their breed!" Some in the ruling cabal have figuratively lost their balls.Why not make it permanent?

If this illustrious graduate of the Faculty of Civil Law of the Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Tomas has his way, then Her Pampangic Highness' cabinet members will get fired for attending a Mass! Gonzales seems to be fancying himself as Thomas Cromwell. But Cromwell was an astute lawyer and Henry VIII's hound against the religious orders. The Dominicans should dob this Secretary of Justice Raul Gonzales to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for proscribing the practice of Catholicism. The Dominican Professors probably regret having passed him in revalida . He threatens them with sedition! Is our Glorious Queen is fancying herself as Elizabeth the Virgin Queen? What's next, she'll order Gonzales to rack the Jesuits?!?! The Mass is the highest form of Catholic prayer. In the reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I people have been martyred for assisting at Mass. Some loyal ministers of their Majesties have lost their heads, foremost among them...

The Truth sets you and me free! Truth cannot be threatened by lies It never works that way. The Truth may not be apparent It may yet be hidden It takes courage to seek it out The cowardly never find it! One who speaks of a Truth cannot be threatened with death It has never worked that way. Truths stem from the Eternally Living That's why Truths live on Even when our bodies have turned to dust or ashes One thing is sure When the Truth is told Someone is set free. And the liars are chained!

The University of the Philippines University Council recently approved the conversion of Bachelor of Laws (LlB) degree to Juris Doctor (JD). The law school justified that the JD puts their graduates in line with other schools (like Ateneo) and with American practice. (Which leads me to ask. Why do we have to ape America all the time!) Juris Doctor means Teacher of the Law in Latin. The idea of a JD is that this is a professional qualification. However in title conscious Philippines I have heard some law students think that an LlB is lower qualification than a JD. Think again. In the Commonwealth, lawyers are still awarded the LlB. Getting that undergraduate qualification requires philosophical training which the JD doesn't require. The LlB is an academic degree. In other words an LlB gives a broader legal education than what a JD gives. But in countries where law studies is a postgraduate qualification, the coursework can overwhelm the once complacent undergrad. But with law as ...

Here is a list of revolutions we really have to continue. 1) Andres Bonifacio's unfinished one 2) Father Gregorio Aglipay's and Isabelo de Los Reyes' religious revolution 3) The Pinoy Scientific Revolution 4) The Sakdal Uprising 5) The Student Revolts of the 1970 6) The Martial Law Babies revolt that put Cory in power. Perhaps the reader can add more. I think most Pinoys would agree to the first. The second may offend the Catholics but we have to continue the revolution initiated by Aglipay and de los Reyes not as against the Catholic religion per se but the establishment of religion . The Philippine State has not yet got over seeking the Church's support when things get dicey. The Church becomes corrupt in the process. We have to disestablish the Church whether this be the Catholic, Born Again, Iglesia ni Cristo, El Shaddai or any religion that imposes on the State and the individual's conscience. Of course we need a scientific revolution of our own when Religion ...

About three years ago the writer and Magsaysay laureate Frankie Sionil Jose (of Rosales novels fame) gave a speech at the UP College of Arts and Letters in which he called for revolution. Sionil-Jose's lecture has been published as an essay entitled " Revolution and the University of the Philippines" Today former UP prez and now Prof Emeritus Dodong Nemenzo (of academic research in the Pen with the Trillanes fame) called for the same thing in his UP centennial lecture. There is something interesting when our greybeards (ooops that's a term used in England for eminent old men!) or grey balding heads (that's the better adjectival phrase!) call for revolution. No one in their sane minds would accuse the two men of being naive, hopelessly idealistic or lacking in wisdom. So we have to incline our ears. Both Sionil- Jose and Nemenzo have the thesis that the revolution that will lop off the ruling corrupt elite together with the social system that breeds them is necessa...

One good thing about the Catholic Church is that it is definitelty attuned to personal difficulties. The Church is really a caring parent. While the secular world may organize "desperately dateless" balls to match up or give singles a chance to find happiness, the Church assigns a heavenly patron to every problem. And with the global singles population increasing, the Pope has become concerned that the Vatican has assigned Saint Raphael the Archangel as the Patron of the Dateless on Valentine's Day! Here is what EWTN says about it. For starters St Valentine isn't the patron of the dateless. For starters one needs to have found love in order to ask for St Valentine's intercession. But the Church isn't even sure how many St Valentine's are there. We are only sure of one thing, all these Valentines were martyred and their heads lopped off. Now we wonder how that was related to love. The Church had long removed St Valentine from the liturgical commemoration. ...

The neo-feudal traditional politics that have characterized Filipino politics are fading fast,according to Prof. Randy David in his latest Inquirer op ed column. David places the context of Lozada's testimony in the Senate with last week's Joe De Venecia dethronement from the House speakership. Here greed is shorn off of its moral consequences. In the old politics loyalty once counted as David writes. But it is not the professionalism of modern politics that replaced it by sheer greed and it seems that someone in the Macapagal-Arroyo ruling cabal has managed to dredge out a modicum of conscience when he advised to "moderate their greed". The medieval idea likened the conscience as a castle keep. Consciences are never easily destroyed and perhaps Jun Lozada in waging what should be a private battle with the Devil, broke free with a barrage of arrows. It is just fortunate that other people now see how this battle is run as to fortify their own stands. And David cites t...

The US presidential horse race has even got the fancy of my Mum. All she talks about is what is following on CNN about who is likely to win the Democratic and Republican nominations. My Mum isn't just the only one in the non-American universe who is closely following the election race. But the Clinton and Obama side of the race is now in a statistical dead heat. Hillary got the few vote rich states and their delegates, while Barack got more states. Unlike the last major election that got the world's attention ( Question: What was that?..... Answer: The conclave that elected Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI in 2005), the American presidential race has no book of prophecies whom pundits would try to interpret. The papal elections always generate interest on the Prophecies of St Malachy which lists down the characteristics of all the popes as short mottoes. St Malachy does not name the Popes but alludes to their family history or career. So the saint lists down the popes an...

The University of the Philippines alma mater hymn "UP Naming Mahal" has been adopted by all sorts of alumni with all sorts of political stripes. The left has its own version in the musical "Lean". I propose a version for the graduates of the UP Integrated School, the basic education unit of the Diliman campus. My fellow Diliman brats, have fun. UPIS Naming mahal High school na hirang Ang tining namin di nyo pwedeng isnabin. Malayong lupain Kaya naming marating Di rin magbabago and damdamin 2x Luntian at pula Sagisag magpakalilanman Ating ipagdiwang kalayaan ng kabataan Humayo't itanghal galing at abilidad Mabuhay ang pagasa ng UP Diliman Mabuhay ang tagapagligtas ng Diliman! BTW the last two lines are so apt. If not for the UPIS graduates in the Diliman campus,the whole university may have crashed. :)

The Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn just launched his book entitled " Chance or Purpose " where he reflects on the relationship of science and religion. Schönborn caused controversy in 2005 when he wrote an op ed piece in the New York Times essentially saying that neo-Darwinian theory is not compatible with Catholic belief and that if one accepts the theory that presupposes that life's complexity is due to chance alone, that would presume that one had "abdicated his intelligence". Jesuit priest and former Vatican Astronomer George Coyne SJ criticised Cardinal Schönborn's opinion in an article published in the Tablet . Coyne essentially states that Schönborn muddles up science and theology by assuming science as not neutral with regards to faith. Thus the controversy exploded. Father Coyne (as most scientists) has no qualms with Intelligent Design if this is taught in theology. But when Schönborn begins to say that acceptance of the scienti...