Farewell Elvon

" a sight close to heaven: clouds from my window seat", photo by orange tulip

... and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord-forever
( Psalm 23)

-The Holy Scriptures

as i write this post i am trying to grasp the reason for the family tragedy. my brother escaped a near death experience three months ago when a trigger happy guy hit him thrice as he passed by(braving the rain and the darkness of the night) on his way to bring food supplies to a less fortunate friend. this happened while the authorities are busy implementing the "gun ban" due to the national elections. had it not been for a miracle, he should have been part of the statistics as the 30th casualty of the perpetrator.

as my brother is still in his hospital bed undergoing therapy hoping that he can walk again, and while waiting for the schedule of another operation for him to physiologically function normally, news came about the death of my cousin last night. interestingly, he is the only son of my father's younger brother. he is eighteen. he is on his way home from an out of town church organised youth convention aboard a van when the accident took place. while accordingly other passengers are in serious condition, he is the lone casualty.

ironically i just hosted an eighteenth"coming out" birthday party earlier this week. strangely, the motif chosen by the debutante were black and white. since it was the first time that i hosted such occasion with such colours, i insisted to have happy music to set a happy mood lest the guests may mistake the birthday party to be a funeral. majority, including me wore black. the flowers were all in white. more ironically, the news about my cousin's death was received by my eldest brother in his hospital bed, and my sister who is taking care of him sent me the sad news.

another brother immediately took a trip to the province to share the grief with my uncle and his family. i opted to stay where i am to make arrangements with the hope to be present at the funeral rites. another cousin was telling me that it is very sad beacuse elvon has to go first, at eighteen, and a very nice kid. i replied that nice or bad, rich or poor- mortals as we are, death is a sure destination we just don't know when and how. i tried to convince her that we have to be thankful because he was given eighteen years to live while some are "stillborn" or die as infants. he was a baby when his own mom passed away after a long and torturous bout with cancer. his dad, my uncle raised them as a widower and although he entertained possibilities of remarrying, he did not push through so he can focus taking care of his children. since my father has relocated, i had seen my cousins grow up very rarely. it has been eight long years since i last saw elvon on my last visit to my grandparents who were still alive then. time flies.

and the loss just sank in. a call from my brother made from his hospital bed minutes ago, worrying much about my grieving uncle despite his own concerns made me cry. and in my mind i am asking why must these tragedies happen to good people like my brother, my cousin and my uncle? i struggle to verbalise these questions.

remembering my conversations with a doctor who opted to stay in the academe, "everyone has his or her own time to leave this earth. its just a matter of when and how would this happen, mortals as we are" are source of strentgh. my college thesis turned to be my life adviser said it well-"there is nothing that we can do about it now. God took him because he has a purpose that we may not be aware as of now. you have to be at peace with God's decision."

my cousin has to go because his time was up. as humans, we look at eighteen years biologically as very short span for a lifetime. yet for someone who grew up with much love for God in his heart, elvon's life has been a full life and coming from a church activity, his sure destination is in heaven. and i reckon how painful it might have been for my uncle and his sisters and to the family- elvon has to go. as we celebrate mother's day on earth, elvon's mom who had been alone in heaven for the past seventeen years, have his only son to kiss and hug. for the baby that she left behind in this earth when she succumbed to cancer has grown up to be a fine, talented and handsome young man. he is eighteen.

elvon and aunt ellen shall dwell in the house of the Lord-forever.

i find comfort in that thought.

Earth Day

Source: photobucket.com/images/earth%20day/

i am taking a moment to remember earth day and do my part. let us give back to mother earth the love that she deserves.

The Philippine Elections 2010

what's happening at the Philippine politics is a rich source of case studies and arguably very interesting, if not amusing for political science students. first, a former president who was unsuccessfully impeached but was stripped of power through a "people's revolt", convicted of plunder and given clemency by his former vice president who took over as president. second, the current president, who held the top post in the country is seeking for a congressional seat which was vacated by his own son to seek a partylist representation for security guards. third, some senators are being adopted by at least a couple of political parties, making voters confused which party they are really loyal to and fifth the house speaker( who took over the former who has tried his best to make arroyo's president afloat until his own son and namesake testified about the ZTE scam) expressing his frustrations over the current administration candidate for some reasons, most notable of which for me is "not saying hi" to him prior to going to his davao city sortie, where he still need to win elections as a mayor. after being in the headline news of bolting the party, he did not push through but continued to ramble, at least enough for the media to notice.

some weeks ago, a very amusing incident on noynoy aquino's sortie in bacolod city was the talk of the town. baby james, the adorable two year old son of noynoy's celebrity sister kris upon prodding, said " hello"over the microphone, and when the crowd roared "hello" back and he blurted "veeyar" which made villar's day and took as an endorsement. these two presidentiables, aquino and villar respectively, if the surverys could be believed are occupying the first two spots in the presidential race.

as if surveys translates to votes, made noynoy very confident enough to say that all other presidentiables give up since its a toss between him (a heir of the hacienda luisita in tarlac which made generations of sugar workers landless) and villar(the poor rich guy who already spent billions for his infomercials which accordingly was his own money yet did not provide clear explanation about the C5, a government road project controversy and instead pointed out that his archrival benefited from SLEX, another road project)

what went on later was mudslinging from both camps. this went to the extent of dignifying a supposedly fake psychiatric report and bringing out the bad to worse from both sides, hitting each other "below the belt" and so on and so forth. both pinpoint at each other as arroyo's secret candidate while all this time, gilbert teodoro was staying put and assuring people that he remains the administration candidate.

i was not surprised at all when chavit singson of ilocos sur turned his back from the current administration to support nacionalista's party bearer manny villar. i did not believe nograles leaving lakas would make much impact for as teodoro puts it " he has to win the mayoralty first" . neptali gonzales II's transfer was a huge surprise but the most significant, i reckon was the administration's top economic adviser who called his boss "lucky bitch" joey salceda moving to the liberal party where his ateneo classmate was the standard bearer.

prior to cory aquino's death, i have thought that 2010 presidential elections was between gilbert teodoro and mar roxas, both of privileged upbringing and armed with education obtained from abroad, teodoro from harvard law school and roxas from the wharton school of economics. i am wondering what difference it would have made if the presidential elections was a 'battle of the minds" and not "battle of the mouths." listening to them is quite tiring and frustrating.

if the surverys are to be believed, roxas is the continuous topnotcher in the vice presidential race which is good. teodoro, on the other hand is looked upon for his qualifications and admired for not joining the mudslinging among candidates, yet surveys placed him on the continuous fourth place not necessarily because of his lackluster performance in his previous government jobs but because he is the candidate endorsed by the administration that majority of filipinos have grown to hate if the disapproving ratings are to be believed.

initially, i was rooting for richard gordon due to his achievements as a topman in subic, his lots of ideas for economic advancenet and political will. but the way gilbert teodoro is holding up these seemingly difficult days when some of his own party mates pulls him down invites reconsideration. despite of unreleased party funds if news are to be believed, he continues on his own sorties even the wife of his own kingmaker uncle campained "anybody but gibo". after all, he is the candidate next to gordon who is focused and has solid plans of what to do if elected president while the others have not clearly discussed their platform of government would be. and given the defections that he experienced the past few days, he reinvented himself as the "people's candidate" albeit belatedly, which might give him a chance for the presidency .

and yes, he has a very pretty and intelligent wife with privileged upbringing which would probably make a first lady that the filipinos can be proud of.

Elated Over Ampatuan Transfer

i join the many people all over the world who are happy about the transfer of the Ampatuans. although his lawyers tried a lot of delaying tactics, the patriarch was finally at the Camp Bagong Diwa in Manila. last friday afternoon, my colleagues and me were amused by how the military stood ground in taking him from a private hospital in davao city despite various protestations from the members of his family. i was surprised to find out in the news that those who were at the neighbouring city of General Santos were also flown to Manila using the same military plane.

those who were behind this development, the court, the military authorities and all who have helped such transfer a successful activity deserves commendation whoever they are. and i join the families of those whose lives were violated one november morning, in hoping that justice that they have been seeking, would come swiftly.

Happy Easter

today is a very special day for the entire Christian world being the resurrection sunday. i spent the holy week quietly watching movies that has carefully featured Jesus Christ's life on earth. happily, the ending was indeed happy, for He is risen with the promise to come again.

i am holding on to such promise. meantime, i will live my life abundantly as He has wished for all his childen. let's be happy, its easter!

Year 2010

i celebrate the new year with the people that undoubtedly loves me inspite of, despite of, come what may. i am thankful for this new year which beckons new beginnings, new hopes and aspirations for the fulfillment of new dreams.

each new year brings much hope for better days ahead. the past year was not exactly best, but, it was good. i refuse to look back over past disenchantments, enjoy my present and look forward to whatever this new year brings to me and to the people i love the most. being alive each day is a great reason to celebrate.

now i have to join the family celebration, our way of welcoming the new year, 2010!

The Horror of Maguindanao Massacre

"assalamualaykum", a Muslim greeting wishing someone "peace"

As a Mindanaoan, I have heard news of killing from here to there from time to time, yet the magnitude of the killings done in broad daylight as what occurred last Monday, 23th of November, three days prior to “thanksgiving day” is beyond my understanding. I am quite aware of clan wars and the reason why they happen but when women and people from the media is hurt and worse, killed in the process, my comprehension fails me. Muslim tradition, as written in all news accounts do not touch women in “rido”as they are treated like innocent children. Moreover, the presence of media supposedly neutralizes a hot situation but apparently, it did not. Nobody was spared in the convoy of 57 people on their way to file Ampatuan’s supposed challenger’s candidacy as governor in Maguindanao. I am quite familiar with the Davao City-Cotabato City route, and I did not sense any harm especially when travelling on daytime not many summers back.

Reading the news accounts on Tuesday morning has both appalled and horrified me. All throughout the whole country, people from all sectors of society are talking about the Maguindanao incident. Some argues that it is politically motivated, which may be the most apparent reason for committing such barbaric act but the root of it all is, without a doubt, the lust for power. In the succeeding days, I would proceed to the newstands to get my own copy of the major daily newspapers to find out how is it going after the very sad incident. Sad to note, the news had been covered in international papers and television channels, with updates in the net. And this occurred few days after pouring accolades on another triumph of Manny Pacquiao in the boxing arena and of Efren Penaflorida as the CNN Hero of the Year for his pushcart education advocacy. What a sad contrast.

The past few days I am lost for words. I cannot put into words the indignation and horror that I felt not necessarily because I am a Mindanaoan, a citizen of my country the Philippines but most importantly as a human being for such grave crime against humanity. Clearly, the civil, political and human rights of these people were violated, in this modern day and age . Looking at the list of the fatalities makes someone feel sick. The victims of such cruel acts that I heard of, in my lifetime are harmless women(a couple reportedly pregnant), lawyers and a parent of a female lawyer, large number from the media, and the supposedly target of the attack, the Mangudadatu’s kin. What is more sickening is the report that even those who just happened to pass by during that time were reportedly shot- all killed in broad daylight. And at this time, from yesterday’s forty six(46)the number has reached fifty seven(57). This is a huge number considering the time frame and the circumstances of such killings.

The United Nations has expressed their outrage as well as the European Union and the British and Australian governments. One of the reports notes that such killings has made this country worst than Iraq for journalists. It makes me feel sick looking at the photos flashed on my TV screen and reading about the news accounts. I do not know anyone among the dead personally but I can feel the pain as if I am a friend or a family member, pretty much like what other people all over the world feels for the victims and their families.

A lot has been written about how the clan suspected to carrying out such carnage has been very close to the current Administration and how, like majority, doubts about implementing the so called “rule of law” that they kept on saying during media interviews. I have some fears that this incident could escalate to further killings increasing the statistics from both sides or sadly even those who may unfortunately pass by. I am appalled by how the executive branch of the Philippine government is treating the “suspects”. Imagine a senior peace adviser from Malacanang going to the suspect’s residence to encourage him to surrender instead of being invited by the police for questioning. And when he finally “surrendered” the peace adviser, looked like his legal counsel and the justice secretary sounding like his defense lawyer. The “surrender” occurred few days after and not surprisingly, the suspect got a VIP treatment whether the current administration tries their best efforts in denying it and the " suspect"was not handcuffed, in contrast to the journalists caught in between the renegade and government troops in that memourable Manila Peninsula Hotel siege.

Yet I cannot stop wondering how the victims’ families are coping with their sudden loss as a result of this act of savagery. And as I join the community of those expressing outrage about such carnage and at the same time sympathising with the survivors of the victims and seeking justice for the fifty seven(57) who died as a result of this monsterous act, I kept on wondering- when will the other suspects surrender or at least be arrested for such brutal killings?

Not many years back, I did an essay on failed state for my "Global Politics" course in Political Science Down Under. I looked at certain countries as case studies and as I remember the points that I took in arguing why a "failed state" should be called as such, I fear that the Philippines is in the brink of such state.