LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION?

Breaking Away and Spilling the Rottenness?

Five years of an unholy alliance. Five years of sleeping with his enemies. Five years of keeping the dark secrets of an inept presidency.

But the dissonance of the country's second highest official,  Jejomar ( from the initial letters of Jesus, Joseph, Maria) Binay,  is always surfacing even if the Palace and detractors did not pry open the lid of his Pandora's box.

The political opposition in the Philippines is no longer without a leader, an analyst said, referring to the person--Binay-- who has been accused of unexplained wealth and other anomalies.

Is he a credible leader who can speak for us whose combined "voices are as weak as Padsan and the dying rivers"? Should he not, first and foremost, explain his alleged enormous riches?

He was then a poor human rights lawyer during the time of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. He came into power after the Edsa Revolution, having been appointed s Officer-in-Charge of Makati, the country's richest city. And the rest is history--an economic empire that boggles the imagination.

Too late to become the hero of the poor and the downtrodden?

Nevertheless, he may yet become the top honcho in the palace by the dirty and highly-polluted Pasig river.

In the dysfunctional Filipino culture, men of honor and integrity and high ideals, do not become President of Las Islas de Los Ladrones. The voters, the great unwashed, elect into powerful public offices men of ill-repute and criminals like the convicted economic plunderer.

THE TRINITY OF CHANGE A FAILURE?

"Every man is a divinity in disguise, a god playing the fool."--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Re Dr. Agca's essay on fraternities at the state university in Diliman

If  his beloved University of the Philippines is a failure as member in the trinity of change--the school, the family, the church, not necessarily in that order--do the rest follow the domino effect?  If this is so, will it explain the widespread poverty and lawmakers as the biggest thieves of state funds?

They say that the country is no longer the sick man of Asia. Does this claim match reality on the ground? Can one explain the squalor and beggary in Manila, which is supposed to be a model in development in Las Islas de los Ladrones?

And what about this dysfunctional Filipino culture where criminals are voted into powerful offices? Like the convicted economic plunderer they call "Erap." Where dynasties rule with impunity. Like the Binays--father, son, wife, daughters-- and amass mind-boggling wealth.

TRINITY OF EVIL

Quotes of the Day:

"Light your candle before night overtakes you."--Greek saying.

"In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule."--Friedrich Nietzche

The Bangsamoro Basic Law is a concoction of the trinity of evil: President Aquino; the governmennt panel composed of the University of the Philippines professor Coronel- Ferrer and Secretary Teresita Deles; and Mohaqher Iqbal and his murderous MILF. The law will give a big chunk of Philippine territory to the Muslim rebels in a part of Mindanao, where Christians, lumads and other ethno-linguistic groups have lived for centuries, and comprise the majority of the population. Billions of pesos will also be alloted to the sub-state for its annual expenditures.

Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. and other legislators have questioned the Constitutionality of BBL, at least in some provisions, and vowed to make changes to conform to Philippine laws. For all the tirades against the son of the dictator, the senator makes sense with respect to a law that would give a beachhead to Muslim terrorists now stoking the fire that is burning the lands of Islam He has shown he is at par with the best minds in the Upper Chamber.

Congress, controlled by The Big Boss, is again noisy -- make changes in the Constitution to accommodate the BBL?

FASCISTS AND ILOKANO FASCISM

   Philippine national artist Virgilio Almario has reportedly developed orthographies of the country's different ethno-linguistic tribes that include Ilokanos. Almario is a Tagalog writer who once tampered with a Malacanang document but he got away with the misdeed.

     He is supported by a certain Joel Lopez, a high education official in the province of Ilocos Norte. He is a non-writer and can not write one single Ilokano sentence, according to a universal/prescribed orthography. He has also developed his own Ilokano orthography that is now being used in the public schools in Ilocos Norte. The Ilokano orthography is used in widely-read publications in the Ilocos.

     For imposing their respective versions of  orthography, Almario and Lopez have been criticized by writer's group like Gumil Filipinas, the national association of writers. The duo has been thrown  various derogatory names and been branded fascists.

     We understand the megalomaniac Almario and his deluded acolyte Lopez. Their outside behavior is just a reflection of their respective mind-set.

      This is also the case in the Ilokano writing community, where fascism is endemic. Needless to say, there are Hitlers like the editor who has banned writers in the pages of the magazine because the latter made snide remarks against his close relative,  who allegedly mismanaged the funds for a planned house of mannurat.
   

     

    

Aurora Park in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, Northern Philippines