blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

Americans recognize that their Supreme Court (SC) has great influence in their daily lives. Although most would not be able to name a Supreme Court decision that affects daily life, people know that these decisions define the limits and scope of their liberties and that of the Federal and state governments. Americans call the SC justices "supremes". They are members of the only branch of government that is not elected and have no term limits. The Chief Justice can serve for life. I bought a book entitled "Supremes Greatest Hits" by Michael Trachtman which is not about Diana Ross and cabal but the 34 SC decisions that have changed American society. Since the Philippines Supreme Court borrows from US jurisprudence, some of these decisions affect Philippine society too. Filipinos look to their SC as the court of final appeal and guardian of the constitution. The Marbury vs. Madison (1803) decision established that the SC is really supreme in the sense that it has the r...

I have lugged and shipped balikbayan boxes from three different places in the world. In Bermuda, I sent one by sea to the Philippines. My Aussie balibayan boxes had an orange kangaroo on the sides and was shipped via Qantas freight and the one I shipped from Japan had my name in Romaji and Katakana. Looks like I have to start packing one from the USA and fill it with books that the Delaware Museum gave me for free. Nonetheless, I really have a lot of books now and I have to find ways to ship it by mid-March. If you have a utilitarian philosophy, the boxes are mere objects with a function and that is to contain stuff to be sent home. But the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines have imbued the boxes with another meaning. Whereas before balikbayan boxes contained goodies from friends and relatives that can't be had in the import substituted Philippine economy, the Catholic bishops have now made it an icon of survival. Why the change in attributes? In the globalized world economy anyt...

Let the good times roll! I just came from New Orleans with the LSU biochem lab to watch the climax of Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday. In medieval Europe especially in France, fasting began on Ash Wednesday. The day before is the last time people could feast, eat meat especially pork and hence the day is known as Fat Tuesday or in French "Mardi Gras". In England and the Commonwealth, the day is known Shrove Tuesday. In Pre-Reformation England, the English used to "shrive" or go to confession on that day and eat pancakes. Another name for this day is Pancake Tuesday. In the Philippines, we don't have a celebration on this day. Our Mardi Gras are really celebrated for the feast of the Holy Child, so we have Sinulog, Dinagyang and their variants. Iberian Catholicism frowned on excess and emphasized penance unlike its Gallic counterpart. But according to historian Ambeth Ocampo, Manila had a carnival on Mardi Gras and this was controversial at times since some of the activi...

Professor Randy David's latest piece in the Philippine Daily Inquirer looks at the murders of leftist student activists in the Philippines and the apparent lack of response or even at the least indignation among students. Whereas if these killings had happened in the late 1960s or early 1980s, Prof David says that this would have incited a nationwide student revolt. Having come into adulthood in the mid 1980s I can give some observations why there is very little militant response. My generation came to adulthood at the time when Marxist-Leninism had obviously become discredited. At the end of the Cold War we saw in quick succession the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Then in 1989 the Tiananmen student revolt's was crushed by the Chinese army that was supposed to ensure the nation's liberation. Two images come into mind, the lone man who stopped the tank and the socialist-realist "Goddess of Democracy"sculpture What Professor David fa...

Pinoys complain about corruption or "kuarkot" in Filipino; in government and due to desperation some believe that in other countries there is no "kurakot". As a Pinoy who has traveled and lived overseas, I hate to say this but there is kurakot everywhere. The latest National Geographic Magazine (NGM) has a feature on Nigeria's oil and the political unrest it has spawned. This hits home to all Pinoys overseas and homebodies since not a few of our professionals working in that country had been kidnapped. The abductors are part of the insurgency movement that the NGM features. In Nigeria, 50 years of oil revenue has not a bit improved the lives of Nigerians in the oil producing regions. The end result is environmental damage and political unrest. The oil gobbling world would rather look another way. Nigerian light is the world's best. (Shades of beer?) Corruption is also a big issue in Louisiana. Many Americans believe that this US state is the most corrupt in...

In http://www.baratillo.net there is a link to an interesting feature predicting the loss if libraries and books go the way of the dinosaurs. Since many of us are so dependent on the internet for information, we might think libraries and the books that are found in them will be obsolete. The feature writer lists 33 reasons why the library will remain. The 33 reasons appeal to practicality and barely to pleasure. But as early as 1946, Nobel Literature laureate John Steinbeck bravely predicted that the book would prevail. In his essay "Some Random and Randy Thought about Books", Steinbeck lists down the pleasurable reasons why we like books. The erotic analogy was obvious, for the writer actually bares him/herself in his book and the reader has to uncover the writer who exists in the pages through the characters. Perhaps that is why the aphorism "books are alive" is apt. And this is the reason why when someone burns a book, it is like killing a person. Book burn...