blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

Some pundits are glad that we are about to say a big fat goodbye to the first decade of the 21st century which they consider as decadem horribilis or horrible decade tonight. T'was 10 years ago when we craned our necks so see those turn of the millennium fireworks and we hoped that everything will be good, an upbeat economy and technology that would empower everyone. In 1999, SMS messaging was in its infancy but the power of the medium was rearing its head. Someone sent a message that Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila was dead. This was taken seriously that the Vatican had already prepared condolences. Less than a year later in 2001, September 11 to be exact, I was in hospital for a life threatening illness and I was in a dicey situation. The doctors won't tell me so. However what I saw on the TV is worse than facing death. The docs and nurses were transfixed as they saw live New York's WTC tower's collapse after being hit by terrorist piloted jets. It took me about one h...

The Pope last October 20 announced a scheme to bring in disaffected Anglicans (Episcopalians in the USA and the Philippines) into the Catholic Church while allowing them to maintain their ecclesial traditions. The Pope's moves comes as an Apostolic Constitution called Anglicanorum Coetibus or in my rough Latin to English translation means "on groups of Anglicans". Apostolic Constitutions are Papal Bulls since they have an importance that concern the universal Church. I have a keen interest in Anglicanorum Coetibus since we have Anglicans in the family and I was raised as one attending services at Cathedral Heights as a child. The Anglican Communion has been dealing with issues on female priests and bishops, episcopal authority, the ordination of non-celibate gays and now the blessing of gay unions. It seems that the last two issues are the two last straws the broke the camel's back. Conservatives in the USA have split from the Episcopal Church (TEC) and formed the...

To understand the magnitude of the recent floods that hit Manila and northern Luzon in the wake of TS Ondoy (Ketsana), it pays to look at the historical record of flooding in the Philippines. There had been major flooding events before and some have been recorded in Spanish friar accounts. Floods regularly inundated Bulacan, Pampanga and Pangasinan as well as the Laguna de Bay area. Marikina was flooded at certain years and this endangered the colony's food security that residents of these areas had to ask for exemption from the hated colonial tribute. Researchers may well try to see if these flooding events are somewhat related to climate events such as El Nino or La Nina. Also they may take note of how long the floods lasted before it subsided. One very documented flood is the one that deluged Manila in November 1943. This is so significant that all writers of WWII memoirs recall it since it marked the start of the worst aspects of the Japanese occupation. The flood deluged part...

Some lessons for next semester's Environmental Science 1 1. Natural hazards 2. Disaster preparedness and awareness 3. Why the bahay kubo can survive floods. 4. Gated communities can keep the poor out but not environmental disasters

Ironically, I was in the Philippine Coast Guard typhoon response and rescue exhibit in Manila when TS Ondoy's deluge hit Metro Manila. I was following the storm on real time satellite apps on my mobile phone and was shocked to see that the storm's core was compact and consolidated. This meant a deluge will come. Checking on the PAGASA forecast, I saw that the forecast still said "gusty winds" I have seen and experienced these kinds of storms in northern Australia. During my first year there as a PhD student in 1997, a tropical low dumped a year's worth of rain in 6 hours. The university got washed out. Cars in the student parking lot were piled on top of another as the flash flood rushed from the eucalyptus covered hills. There were no casualties. Six hours before, people were advised to seek higher ground. Those in buildings were advised to seek the higher floors and stay put. Some friends were trapped in the library building and did not go hungry since even th...

I have to thank Nanay's (Soccoro Ramos) National Bookstore (NBS) for making available decent books at affordable prices. I'm not advertising NBS but the truth is my bibliophilic generation is truly "Laking National". When we were much younger, only NBS had carried good books in many of its branches. True there were other more specialist bookstores with fine books like Erehwon, Bookmark, Solidaridad and Popular, these bookstores were located in faraway Makati and Ermita (I lived in QC) or in the case of Popular just off Avenida Rizal near the Rathaus beerhouse. The first two bookshops are defunct, Sionil-Jose's Solidaridad is still around and Popular has moved to a trendier location on Quezon City's Tomas Morato near the Boy Scout roundabout. When I was an undergrad, a lefty friend of mine and I would take public transpo to get to Popular since this was the only place where we can read "commie" books. This is where I got my whole edition of Marx's...

Today's editorial in the Philippine Daily Inquirer I believe is the most silly and idiotic one ever to see print in that blurb. "Ominous Offensive" takes the pacifist and anti Arroyo spin to its most ridiculous conclusions with non sequiturs worse that what Dan Brown can dish. The editorial link the service call of an American warship on the way to exercises with the Indonesian navy, the fact that MILF insurgents can never be expected to hold to on a ceasefire, the wisdom of offensives against a single insurgent group, fear of upsetting Malaysia with (drumrollls.....), the President's supposed plan to declare a national state of emergency just because a group of bandits waylaid a marine platoon in order to remove the public's bad taste of a Frenchy and Yankee dinners in Washington DC. Read this " What haunts the imagination of the public is the mutilation of some of the slain soldiers – this desecration of the dead is forbidden under Islam and has horrified ...

Army wives are soldiers too and by extension army brats are soldiers also. My father served in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and saw action in Korea, Vietnam and the numerous unresolved insurgencies of our republic. My mother in many instances had to raise us by herself and was resigned that one day, her husband will come home in a box. The children too had to accept that and that duty to the Republic will take their father from them. I never had the concept of Sunday being a "family day". Dad was on duty on Sundays or at the front. We had to soldier on. When my father passed away years after retirement from the Armed Forces, my mother thanked the good Lord that her husband did not come home in a box. We brought the box home to bury our father. But it is very heartbreaking to see a picture in the blurbs of a 3 year old boy rousing his dad to wake up from his coffin. But I believe that the boy had an inkling of his dad as a soldier. And all army brats are proud that the...

The military honor guard over Mrs Cory Aquino's bier had their 9 hours in the public spotlight. As the funeral cortege passed, they had to stand for more than 9 hours in the rain, sun and wind. The four soldiers represented the four services, army, navy, air force and national police. I would have wanted that at least one of the honor guards was a woman. When Mrs Aquino became president, all reasons for not having women as soldiers became moot. After all if your Commander-in-Chief is a woman, what is wrong in having a woman take the orders? The four men had been interviewed by media and the press. Still dressed in their snappy uniforms, they were asked how they were able to manage it. Well that's the post-ROTC generation asking! These young people have no idea of what it means to stand motionless for hours! It requires discipline of course but also requires compartmentalizing what one feels. In ROTC we were taught to think of nothing distressful when doing these duties and of c...

n August we mark National Heroes Day on August 31, Ninoy Aquino day on the 21st and Quezon Day on the 19th. It may be a good time to reflect on what a national hero is now that some people propose that Congress make the late Mrs Corazon Aquino, 11th President of the Philippines a national hero. Mrs Aquino's husband Senator Ninoy Aquino was finally granted national hero status with Congress creating a national holiday in his honor. It was much belated since Mrs Aquino would never have thought of making her husband one during her term. President FVR recognized Ninoy's hero status by presidential proclamation. The vast majority of Pinoys agreed although there is some dissent. Foremost of the dissenters is Frankie Sionil Jose who writes that Ninoy is indeed heroic and a martyr, he is no national hero. For him it is Rizal and Rizal only that should have the honor for his deeds alone made this nation for what it is now. Of course not all agree with Sionil-Jose. What about Andres Bo...

Mrs Corazon Aquino, once President of the Philippines passed away before dawn of Saturday morning. In the family we always referred to her quite formally, calling her Mrs Aquino and never "Tita Cory". It was as if she was our next door neighbour, a gracious lady. Mrs Aquino has passed on from being democracy's icon to democracy's legend. The martial law baby that I am, my and countless others of my generation's political awakening paralled her catapult into politics. There are four images of Mrs Aquino that will be burned into my mind. The first one is her standing by her husband Senator Ninoy Aquino, when the death sentence was read by a military tribunal. The second is during her victory rally after the Marcoses have flown the coop to Hawaii. The third is when during the "God save the Queen" plot against her. She said "this queen need not be saved!" And the fourth is during Fidel V Ramos' inauguration when she left the grandstand for th...

Pope Benedict XVI, the Professor, once more proves that he is probably the most profound Pope in history in his latest encyclical "Caritas in Veritate" or Charity in Truth. This encyclical synthesizes our 21st century angst about 1) human rights, 2) science, 3) technology and 4) environment and provides the way to cast out the emotional baggage we have. A four letter word is the way out according to the pope. The overwhelming theme here is that the truth about these things should be sought in love. Reading Benedict's clear prose I found it interesting that since we are in the business of seeking "logos" we can only do this in "dia-logos". In doing the latter, we have to respect diversity and even love diversity, realising that in this, we see God. And we need to be authentically free to do so, at every stage of life. This is probably the most basic vocation. We are called to many paths but the path s converge to really what the Gospel says as the Wa...

This year my high school class celebrates its 25 year anniversary. On Facebook, many classmates expressed sadness in Michael Jackson's passing. Michael Jackson is one of two pop culture icons that defined Pinoy teens of the mid 1980s. During our senior prom, almost all the hits from the Thriller album were played on the dance floor. In a sense, Jackson's fusion of R&B, rock, pop and ballad styles signified a departure from the past. This is why Jackson's music became a hit among us teens at the time. The other pop culture icon (or better yet icons) that defined Pinoy teens most especially the high school class of 1984 was "Bagets". However it is plain to see that the Bagets gang, played by William Martinez, Herbert Bautista, Aga Mulach, JC Bonnin and Raymond Lauchengo represent an inculturation of Michael Jackson into Pinoy pop. Bagets launched into stardom, Aga Mulach and Herbert Bautista. Bautista was further catapulted into politics where he serves as vice ...

This is probably the most idiotic political proposal ever dished out in this whole talk of constitutional amendments. Norberto Gonzalez, a key Arroyo adviser suggests that his employer establish a revolutionary government in the likes of what Mrs Aquino did post EDSA. This government then shall have all powers to revise the constitution. Well we have news for Mr Gonzalez. If we do have a revolutionary government, we want it to be a genuine one and we are serious about it. We want a razor sharp guillotine with matching basket to catch a few Malacanang talking heads like what he has on his shoulder. But we being civilised in this 21st century, can be satisfied with Mrs Arroyo sacking him for such idiocy.

After seeing the news on CNN, my mother is keenly interested in the ongoing "scandal" involving media personality and Roman Catholic priest Father Alberto Cutie in Miami. The priest who has a high media profile among Florida's Latinos, was recently caught by paparazzi smooching and fondling a woman on the beach. His bishop obviously had to do something canonically to contain the scandal. He sacked Cutie from being cura parroco and banned him from saying Mass. I have seen some of Fr Cutie's shows while I was living in the US and the tag "Father Oprah" was not lost on me. My mother's being truly Pinay first comment was how "gwapo" this Father was. To which I remarked that here in the Pilipins, we have had many gwapo priests who had been caught in even more scandalous circumstances and still you can receive communion from them or even confess your most intimate sins! One or two of them even are bishops and only then did the Vatican do something a...

The Philippine Daily Inquirer in the past week has featured on its front page, articles on the problems besetting the Manila Hotel . Today it has an editorial on it. The hotel which if I am not mistaken was built in 1912. One of the first icons and architectural symbols of American sovereignty, it was meant to provide luxurious accommodation for the new colonizers. During the preceding Spanish regime, the luxurious hotels were in Binondo. Rizal's Crisostomo Ibarra in the Noli Me Tangere, describes one of them. Nonetheless before the Manila Hotel was built, travellers to the Philippines had little good to say about tourist accomodations in the city. The hotel is famous for the fact that as part of the deal between Commonwealth President Quezon and General MacArthur on training the new Philippine Army, the general had for a perk the airconditioned penthouse of the hotel. The hotel also witnessed the end of American colonialism in the Philippines. Richard Connaughton, John Pimlott ...

The Pinoy Holy Week is probably one of the best times to observe how secular values interact with the inherent religiosity of the people. While my senior citizen relatives would say that the Filipino has become less "religious", this meaning external manifestations of piety, mainly Tridentine, this isn't really correct. Traditional Catholic rituals seem to fulfill their function and in concert with secularism. So during Pabasa, people eat Jollibee's meat patties between buns. Last Holy Tuesday, I was with two people with scientific and theological training in a Figaro coffeeshop. One is a Jesuit priest whose PhD I examined and one was a scientist who attended the same university I did. The scientist upon returning to the Philippines and teaching for a year, realized that he had a religious calling and went right into seminary. He graduated with dual degrees in ministry and biblical studies. Both clerics are ordained ministers of the Catholic and Evangelical churches. ...

Garry Wills, an ex-Jesuit seminarian, masterful political historian of Nixon and Roman Catholicism wrote a series of controversial books in recent years. These are "Papal Sin", the apologetic and still noncorformist "Why am I Catholic?", "What Jesus Meant", "What Paul Meant", "The Rosary" and "What the Gospels Meant" Common to all these books is that they skewer Catholic stereotypes. While I believe that Wills is still largely on the orthodox side of the fence (hey he ain't a Jefferts-Schori Episcopalian!), he does make good Lenten reading. BTW the books (except the latest tome on the Gospels) are on sale at 50 pesos each at National Bookstore. I believe that they are too "heretical" for Pinoy Catholic tastes that NBS had to put them on sale. For I believe that Lent means skewering traditional Catholic stereotypes. In "Why am I Catholic?" Wills argues that Papal primacy evolved as the Spirit moved the...

This is my response to Dean Jorge Bocobo's Noli Me Tangere: Jesus Says to Mary Magadalene Jose Rizal’s title for his novel is an irony. As the writer’s foreword to his work says, there is a social cancer so malignant that mere touch can send the sufferer to spasms. The ancients can’t do anything but to expose the afflicted on the steps of the Temple in hope that someone can extend a blessing. Thus the afflicted body is not in a glorified state and is corrupted. In the case of the Resurrected Jesus, the body has been glorified and rescued from corruption (death). Mary of Magdala is cautioned from not touching Christ’s glorified body since she herself hasn’t been glorified yet. This is well within Jewish belief that a defiled body cannot be allowed to touch the holy. Now before the moral relativists read this to mean that women are defiled, Mary of Magdala represents all of us except in one thing. She has been faithful to her Master to the extent that she kept watch while the male di...

Caffeine_Sparks ruminated on the meaning of building a future in the Philippines . Now those who are geographers know that these constructs like “prosperous Philippines” have to be situated in space. So I find Caffeine_Sparks’ essay quite interesting. What is the future? Where is the future located? And how can we build it there? Now the essayist writes that her many friends and family ”cannot imagine a future in this spatiality”. Now we who teach in the University of the Philippines can relate with that in all spatial scales. Like anyone, it is very hard to find a future in this spatiality of 493 hectares and by extension the whole Philippines (considering that this university is a sort of microcosm of Pinoy society). But the question that nags many is why these bright people continue to teach and receive very pathetic salaries? This was a question of a true blue Atenean who decided to take a PhD in UP after attending Oxford University for a Masters (Since Ateneo did not offer an adv...