Bakasyon

When your homeland becomes a mere vacation destination for you, there won’t be time for blogging, even reading newspapers and watching news. Times are spent just catching up on events that took place within the close-knit family circle since the last vacation. Talks on politics happen only when your aging father updates you on the latest government shenanigans.

Spending the first half of my month-long vacation in Cagayan de Oro, where my in-laws are based and where I own a modest home, there was very little talk of politics. There would have been none, if I could have helped it.

Driving from the airport in Lumbia to my home in Camaman-an, I noticed several billboards proclaiming “GMA Cares” (for what, I wondered). As I drove by SM City, I noticed a street sign larger than the average street signs. It identified the street as Macapagal Drive- ano ba ‘yan? I would have understood if I were driving along streets in Lubao, Pampanga. Pero nasa Mindanao ako.

We decided to swing by SM City’s food court for a quick lunch. After paying the bill, I was given several loose coins and a P200-note with Diosdado Macapagal smiling at me (Must Jun Magsaysay be a president before we can replace Kong Dadong’s portrait with that of Ramon Magsaysay?). Isa pang “ano ba ‘yan?”. What has Diosdado Macapagal done to deserve all these tributes. A Macapagal Street, a Macapagal Drive, a Macapagal Avenue, and a Macapagal note? Here’s a nation so grateful to a former president for things only his daughter knows. I dread the thought of having a town, a province, and, who knows, a country named Macapagal just because of a daughter’s hallucinations of grandeur.

While in Mindanao, I had the chance to visit other towns in Misamis Oriental. Jasaan (my mother-in-law’s place) is still a picture of serenity. Though, some stretches of coastline may appear unsafe due to UFOs (unidentified floating objects), there are still stretches that are enchantingly clean and invitingly beautiful. Salay (my father-in-law’s place) ranks second in my list of the sweetest tasting tuba sources. I reserve the number one spot for tuba from the town of Claveria. If it were not for the daily afternoon rains, I would have reserved a date for the beaches of Opol.

The last half of the vacation was spent with my folks in Cavite. Mornings are reserved for feasts of native delicacies (suman sa lihiya, sapin-sapin, bibingkang galapong, etc.) and a stockpile of tawilis. Early afternoons are for driving to the nearest SM or Robinson’s. Evenings were spent chatting with brothers and a brother-in-law over bottles of extra-strong beer.

Talks on political issues become inevitable with the radio tuned in to the AM band all through the mornings. These discussions were dull and memorable at the same time. They were dull because they were all between me and Tatay- there were no points of disagreement, as we have always shared the same viewpoints since I was seven, when PP1081 took effect. They were memorable because they were all between me and Tatay- they were moments of bonding between a father, who never failed to understand, and a son, who never failed to question. I admit that they were more memorable than dull knowing that nothing lasts forever. I know, Tatay won’t be there for me forever, or I may not be there for Tatay forever- so bond while there’s time.

I also had my own moments with my kids as we spent an afternoon in the farm picking vegetables and wild mushrooms, drinking coconut water straight from the coconut, transforming mango branches into instant chainless swings, taking pictures of several heads of cattle we own and riding on their backs after those photo ops, and plunging into an accidental bath courtesy of an unexpected afternoon rain.

The worst thing with vacations is that they don’t last as long as you want them to. After becoming so attached (or, is it reattached?) to folks back home, we had to detach. My sons had a difficult time saying goodbye to grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. The folks we left behind were just as teary-eyed as we stepped into the NAIA’s departure area.

Vacations start with anticipatory smiles. They end with eyes moist. And, when the tears are wiped dry, blogging begins again.

Bago MagSONA

Hours before the "President" delivers her seventh State of the Nation Address, Philippine broadsheets and their online editions are teeming with news items and editorial columns dedicated to the event.

Before every opinion maker comes up with his own analysis of the 2007 SONA, I ventured to look back at how the previous report card was delivered on 24 July 2006:

We now have the funds to stamp out terrorism and lawless violence. May pondo na tayo para labanan ang katiwalian.

Our reforms have earned us P1 billion from the U.S. Millennium Challenge Account for more investigators, prosecutors, and new technology to fight corruption. We are matching this with another billion from our fiscal savings.

Well, terrorism is still here- and the spin? Funds alone are not enough. I am quite expectant that the same sentence will find its way to this year's SONA. Just substitute funds with HSA.

May pondo na raw para labanan ang katiwalian. More investigators, prosecutors and new technology to fight corruption? We only managed to fight those who used to be above us in the rankings of Asia's most corrupt governments. Guess what? This is probably the only fight Aling Gloria won. Now, nobody else is above the Philippines in terms of corruption in Asia.

In the harshest possible terms I condemn political killings. We together stopped judicial executions with the abolition of the death penalty. We urge witnesses to come forward. Together we will stop extrajudicial executions

Between 26 June 2006, or two days after the 2006 SONA, and 17 July 2007, a full week before the 2007 SONA, 50 lives had already been lost extrajudicially. Who's responsible? Was it the usual suspect? Aling Gloria did not leave anything to speculation:

...And we will end the long oppression of barangays by rebel terrorists who kill without qualms, even their own. Sa mga lalawigang sakop ng 7th Division, nakikibaka sa kalaban si Jovito Palparan.

Ang tanong ko lang bago magSONA, buhay pa kaya si Jonas Burgos?

Jokes And Their Punchlines

Aling Gloria jokingly floated the possiblity of running for Congress in 2010. Her joke was promptly followed by a string of staccato-fashioned laughter reminiscent of the laughter one hears towards the end of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”.

I am relieved that I am not alone in qualifying what was floated with the adverb “jokingly”. Ms. Tordesillas used a verb. But just the same, I think, Aling Gloria’s words were meant to be a joke (now, that’s a noun).

It is very rare for a “president” to joke around in public. In Aling Gloria’s case, I can only remember two other jokes she made- one during the Rizal Day ceremonies of 2002, and the other sometime in July of 2005. (Okay, there were more, but enumerating them all here may take up more time than I had alloted for typing).

Jokes won’t be jokes without their usual punchlines.

The Rizal Day joke had its punchline revealed sometime in October of 2003. We all thought that we were in for a single-punchline joke. The grand punchline for the same joke, as we all know by now, was delivered one early June morning in 2004, when most of us were too sleepy to laugh. Well, up to now, that joke’s still on us.

The July 2005 joke, now more commonly known as the I-am-sorry-for-my-lapse-in-judgement joke had a punchline right before the twentieth EDSA I Anniversary. It became known as “Presidential” Proclamation 1017. I remember some personalities like Prof. Randy David and Congressman Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran, who failed to “dig” the joke. They waited for the punchline, only to hear it while being dragged into police vans. Now, the atmosphere is abuzz again. Apparently, PP1017 was not the first and only punchline to that joke. Are we ready for the Human Security Quack of 2007 (that Orwellian newspeak again) yet ?

There was a joke delivered this morning, 19 July 2007. When are we going to figure the punchline/s out? What is/are the punchline/s?

Abangan ang susunod na kabanata…

Bloghopping

My daily ration of current events used to come only from online newspapers, radio and television newscasts. Being far from where the action is, I had to content myself with simply “knowing” how things are shaping up (or crashing down) in my beloved Philippines. Expressing reactions may not have been difficult- I can talk to myself, can’t I? But the few times I did, I worried. What if I suddenly find myself answering myself? Baka sa National Institute for Mental Health na ako magising.

Mabuti na lang nauso ang blogging.

Ngayon, I can afford to skip these online newspapers, even the broadcasts.

I usually begin my cyberday with a visit to Ellenville. I am always sure that I’d get the latest, the hottest and the most controversial news items of the day. May bonus pa. I can read through realtime reactions of other politically inclined Pinoys all over the globe. Yung bonus, may bonus pa rin- I can chip my own reactions in, both to the news and to the others’ reactions.

Sa Ellenville, one gets to “meet” different people. Doon, pakiramdam ko, lahat kami ay magkakaklase. Some of them are really interesting, some of them are (ano nga ba’ng antonym ng Interesting? Ah, ‘yun nga!), well, boring. Most of them are Filipinos, some of them were. Most of them say Aling Gloria has to go, while some of them think Aling Gloria needs to go (pareho lang ba ‘yun?). Some of them intentionally inject humor to lighten discussions up (sina Pareng Cocoy, Ka Magno, TT, at ang nagbabalik-loob na si Artsee) when the going gets tough. Some of them are simply funny with those matter-of-fact reactions to hints of sarcasm (never really “getting the drift” that the sarcasm is directed at them). All of them are bound by a common cause- concern for the Philippines.

Next stopover on my itinerary is Quezonville. Here, I consider myself a student. All the other bloggers are my professors. Mabigat ang balitaktakan, but one really learns a ton just following the discourses. Some of the characters are also occasional Ellenville habitues like Anna (who is an SME when it comes to military stuff), Dean Jorge Bocobo, John Marzan, Schumey, and CVJ to name a few. Dito, medyo balanse ang katig, kung baga sa bangka. Ellenville “graduate” Benign0 occasionally drops by Quezonville, too.

Now, with these two anchors, and all the other anchors they link through, who would need the early morning papers, online or otherwise?

Batalan

Ano ba ang batalan?

Ako mismo, hindi sigurado kung ano nga ang batalan, e. Pero sariwa pa sa alaala ko ang batalan doon sa lumang kubo ng mga nuno ko sa Cavite.

Sa batalan kami madalas naliligo ng mga pinsan ko. Isang pintong kawayan lang ang pumapagitan sa batalan at kusina. Maaaring sabihing ang batalan ay isang silid paliguan. Pero walang dingding ang batalan namin noon. May bubong na pawid, kawayan ang sahig at ang hagdan. Dalawang tapayang puno ng tubig panligo o panghugas ng paa ang laging nakabantay sa isang sulok. Dalawa rin ang tuyong bao ng niyog na nakasabit sa siit na katabi ng mga tapayan- ang mga ito ang pangadlo ng tubig.

Kung nagutom kami sa kalalaro, sa batalan kami dumadaan papasok ng kubo- tuloy kaagad sa kusina. Sa batalan din kami dumadaan kapag umiiwas kaming mapansin ng mga matatanda sa tuwing aabutin kami ng takipsilim sa laruan.

Ang mga huntahang palihim tungkol sa mga usaping mapanganib, kadalasan ay sa batalan din nagaganap.

Kita na sa batalan. Kita nang maghuntahan. Sssssshhhhhh.....

Pambungad

First, I have to confess that I do not have direct links to newsmakers. I am not somebody "in the know".

Second, much as I would want this space to concentrate more on the hottest issues of the day, there would be moments when these issues will have to fade into the background to give way to occasional visits of the "muse", poetry being an occasional hobby.

Third, being interpretations of events that are fluid, and coming through a limited perspective, opinions formulated in this space do not come with a guarantee of finality. They may change if changes in the situations are significant enough to warrant such changes.

Fourth, this space is just an attempt at self-expression by someone who lacks formal education. If and when errors are found, corrections are welcome.

Fifth, and lastly, tara na'ng maghuntahan!