Filipino Voices Is Shrilled Over HR 1109!

Writing at Filipino Voices  (FV)  is a time-consuming endeavor and I do not have the time.  But glancing at FV does not require so much time and glancing at it lately, I was shocked to find the collective “Voice”  shrilled and frayed over HR 1109,  a resolution that some say is a precursor to the extension of the reign of the queen at Malacanang. 

The conundrum of voices  at  FV over the resolution that convenes the lower house as a constituent assembly to propose amendments to the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of Tralala sent tremors to my self-absorbed activity and self-imposed furlough, and brought me back to punch my keyboard at the expense of my personal endeavor that requires my full and undivided attention.  I can only look with envy at some prolific contributors at this site  that can mass-produce literary pieces on a coffee-break, or others that can churn out articles after articles with classic  theme of “beating around the bush” and mindless of the footprint their masterpieces leave on the minds of  the readers.  I look at the readers with respect and studied caution and thus would think a while before I smoke my keyboard.

The Constitution is the law of the land.  Some say it is like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched and must be viewed with sanctimonious reverence.  [Thomas Jefferson, (1743-1826)]  Some say  it was made by the people and the people alone can unmake it.  It is a creature of their own will and lives only by their will. [John Marshall (1755-1835)].

So if you were a Jeffersonian in thought, your protest against HR 1109 is justified.  The Constitution which is too sacred a covenant will be soiled  if the scoundrels in Congress will be allowed to touch it, but if you were of Marshall’s insight,  the constitution can be rewritten by the people, or by the people’s representatives in Congress.

But which  Congress constitutes ¾  that can propose amendments to the Constitution?  HR 1109 was quite certain that ¾ of congress is the total number of congressmen and senators minus 25%.  Or if there are 265 congressmen and 24 senators,  ¾ of that number is 217.  The Resolution which the House has portrayed to have been unanimously passed on June 2, 2009 with the “ayes” drowning the “nays” brings back to memory the 1973 Marcos constitution which was ratified by viva voce in the barangay halls of the Republic Tralala.  The House claimed that the vote constituted ¾ of Congress voting to constitute itself as a constituent assembly to propose amendments to the constitution.    Its leadership calls everyone to visit Art. XVII of the Constitution and be enlightened by the reality that the said article did not say that ¾ of Congress means ¾ of the House and ¾ of the Senate convening in a joint session or separately. 

The House reads Article XVII of the Constitution  to mean that ¾ of Congress is 217 all congressmen without Senators,  or 217  regardless of whether the number has congressmen and senators in them.

But take note that the FV writer that started this brouhaha in an Open Letter said that there were  170 Congressmen who approved the resolution and therefore the number is short of 47 votes to make ¾ that is authorized to make amendments to the Constitution.  He has not intimidated that he has inside information of the insidious plot in the house to present this Resolution as having been voted by at least 217 congressmen and therefore would force through the throat of the nation that it is now authorized to tinker with the Constitution and prolong the reign of the queen.

Except for a couple of Senators who twitted on the claim of the House about what constitutes ¾ of Congress, the general response of the Senate was totally dispassionate.  The general sentiment in the Senate is that the House is free to believe whatever legal nuances it has on the constitution, but the interpretation of the provisions thereof is lodged with the Supreme Court.   So expect a forthcoming saga being fought in the judicial trenches.

But are we not supposed to have faith in  the wisdom of our elected congressmen to amend the constitution for after all we elected them to the office to perform  precisely what they had been mandated to perform, to “sit as constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution?”  Or had we been affected so much by Benign0’s  old-familiar refrain, that these bozos are the representation of ourselves as a people and therefore they are as half-wits and dimwits as ourselves to be entrusted with solemn duty to tweak the fundamental law of the land?   Who then can we trust to rewrite the constitution?

Does anyone consider our present recriminations misplaced and premature because we have yet to see how the House will brew the constitution but we were already bellyaching on the treasonous sell-out by which our distinguished congressmen offered us HR 1109?

If the recipe is abhorrent to our taste, are we not supposed to spew it out and reject it in a plebiscite that is called to ratify the amendments?  Why do we have to protest so much on an issue the resolution of which lies within our sovereign  capacity to resolve?

Apparently our discordant voices foreshadow that lack of faith in the wisdom of our congressmen we elected to office.  We are the mirror of these bozos in Congress and feel a very nauseating discomfort of seeing ourselves as half-wits and yet rewriting  the sacred law of the land.
Share this Post[?]

          

The Sex Scandal Continues….

The  sex drama online between Ms. Katrina and Mr. Kho had spilled over the Senate floor and everyone got wet,  literally and figuratively.   The august chamber on cue from Senator Jamby Madrigal,  Committee Chairman on Youth, Women and Family Relations had summoned, on suggestion from Senator Bong Revilla, another movie actor,  both artists in the sex video to  bare it  all, entertain the public and to enlighten the distinguished lawmakers  so they can craft a  piece of legislation to address sex videos proliferating online involving our young adults as well as not too young adults.  It is indicative enough that the Senate has the fortitude and the resolve to address this one vexing issue of pornography online,  though hours earlier, the same body was at a loss on how  to interpret its ethics rule against one of its member Manny Villar, and would defer to the High Tribunal for guidance.  Proficiency in math seems to plague this chamber too  that it is likely to ask the same tribunal to determine what constitutes ¾ of the chamber to call for Con-Ass, though in the latter, it is losing steam as of now.  Imagine children in gridlock over whose turn it is to wash the dishes and whose turn to play the video games that they have to ask their parents to settle the matter.   The only difference is that our lawmakers were no longer immature children, though temperamentally they could still be.

That this august chamber is deficient on something else does not argue against its capacity to fashion a piece of legislation that will address the issue of “voyeurism” or “pornography” online.  There seems to be, in this regards, a unanimous perception that the Senate can handle this “sex” investigation in aid of legislation or in aid of its basal interest for raw and prurient desire to look at the “perpetrators” up close and personal.

Let us leave the Senate for a while and look for some substance.

If  adults had engaged in some kind of indiscretion, our reflex reaction is to find out if it was consensual on their part.   If  this encounter was captured digitally frame by frame, our instinctive  reaction is to ask if both knew of the capture.  If yes on both, we tend to brush everything aside and take a hike.  If there is no public interest that is involved, we can sleep tight at night.   But how about if this indiscretion was done in an awfully tasteless manner and the entire episode becomes an overnight sensation online as to provoke someone to cry in anger:  “masyado akong nababoy”.  Now we can see some public outrage, though mistaken and misplaced in part because it was snowballed by the TV-network and the movie industry that had packaged Ms. Katrina both as a sex symbol and a heroine out to save mankind.   If Ms. Katrina was advertised as a sex symbol, what is so wrong with her being seen performing  an act that she was packaged to deliver?   Was it because her director was a doctor and  she was unaware of the camera rolling? Was the outrage lies in part because she was not able to deliver her best worthy of a FAMAS title as she was unaware of the camera rolling?  Or was it because it was a one-sided portrayal of her as a  sex symbol and it was not balanced by her selfless  heroine character?

The perplexing personality of Ms. Katrina is only matched by his partner who now claims that his deviant behavior was a result of a childhood trauma. What childhood trauma?  He seemed to be upbeat and in high spirit sojourning with his girlfriend, Ms. Belo in another escapade in Singapore until the sex video with Ms. Halili had appeared online.  He did not appear to be suffering from any trauma before the video scandal. 

 The negative reactions from the public was fueled chiefly by GMA-7,  Ms. Halili’s employer, whose daily variety show features scantily clad young girls gyrating before TV cameras beamed throughout the country and other parts of the world, which announced that it was standing behind her highly-prized sex kitten, Ms. Katrina.  The entire movie industry had rallied behind her as well.

 Dr. Kho was overwhelmed by the negative reactions from the public about this video clip that he hired a lawyer to fight tooth and nail for his right over this video which he claimed was released without his permission.  He appeared on TV contrite though for  his behavior only after his doting mother had made a similar appearance earlier that turned out to be a complete disaster. 

The public are being entertained with the cheap kind of circus where one is  being portrayed as virtuous and another as a villain.  Her virtue centers around her being unaware of the camera rolling while doing sex act;  and his villainous act, that  of taping the sexual congress and releasing it thereafter.  We seem to wallow in the idea that had she been aware of the camera rolling and did not consent to it, it will cement a character in her  person which in the first place was not there.  For proper perspective though, the public should see them both as villains.

To illustrate this point,  let us put another face instead that of Ms. Katrina’s doing sex with Mr. Kho.  This other face is not also engaged to be married with Mr. Kho  either because he has his own girl Ms. Belo.  We have no problem conjuring up an image of what the local wags would call “Pok-Pok” but in the case of Ms. Katrina, we conveniently put a face of a “victim of injustice”.

In the case of Mr. Kho, the public can easily read  perversion from every copy of  sexual video he has with his partners to catalogue his  conquest and to make money in them in the future.

If you sympathize with either, then we have our priorities wrong and our morality totally upside down.  This could be the reason why we can only achieve so much as a nation.

 

 

 

Share this Post[?]

          

Tehankee, Estrada and Martinez Pardon, A Cruel Politics!

    I had been a GMA admirer, partly because I respect her late father-president, Diosdado Macapagal.  Despite her being involved in the 2004 election cheating (“Hello Garci”), I still gave her the benefit of the doubt and had consoled myself with the idea of a “movie” star as President is “gross” compared to an economist at the helm of a fractious and poor country.  Election in our country is a big joke anyway. 

 

        But pardons and clemency left and right, led me to a rude awakening that GMA’s Presidency does not have what it takes to lead a divided, poor and miserable country.  Her leadership has not only bankrupted the economy, mortgaged the future of generations to come, just like the way previous politicians did, but also deprived us of our remaining resource, our dignity as a people.  

 

              In 2007, GMA pardoned one of killers of Senator Aquino, Pablo Martinez, without imposing a simple condition that the parolee narrate  to the entire nation the story from the perspective of one who has a direct hand in the murder of Senator Aquino of what happened in that infamous day of August 21, 1983.  In the same year, GMA pardoned President Joseph Estrada for committing plunder while the ink in the Sandiganbayan decision has yet to settle dry in the pages of that verdict. Now GMA has freed convicted felon Claudio Teehankee, Jr. for the murder of  Maureen Hultman and Chapman and the attempt on the life of Leino in 1991.

  

       It is not mercy.  It is political maneuver of which GMA has  become so astute lately.  It is also mockery of our judicial system,  which is never known now nor in the past for integrity and principles.  But in the cases of Teehanke, Estrada and Martinez, the judiciary has done a splendid job and has given meaning, albeit ephemerally, to the concept of “righteousness and justice”.  

 

       Mr. Martinez was pardoned at a time when Mrs. Cory Aquino was asking for the resignation of GMA for uncontrolled graft and corruption in GMA’s administration.  The pardon was seen by many as a retaliatory move against Mrs. Aquino by GMA. Mr. Estrada was pardoned because GMA had tried to court the affection of the misguided urban poor, that  are pro-Estrada of which there are plenty in Metro Manila. The parole of Mr. Teehankee was a simple case of those in the corridors of power, (his brother being one of GMA’s diplomats) can make miracles denied of ordinary prisoners convicted of lesser crimes.

 

     GMA blew everything the country could have stand for: “the law is hard but it is the law, and justice is blind and it is administered without bias or favor”. 

 

     In the case of Teehanke, just see  how painful it is to see a “disturbed” individual getting back his freedom while his victims are several feet under the ground.  Here is Wikipedia’s grim reminder of what happened in that tragic 1991 incident involving Teehanke, Hultman, Chapman and Leino: 

 

  

      The Hultman-Chapman murder case was a murder case that gained wide publicity in the Philippines during the early 1990’s. This is due to the fact that Claudio Teehankee, Jr., the perpetrator of the crime, was the son of the late former Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee, Sr. and the brother of former Justice Undersecretary Manuel Teehankee. The case helped sway the public view on crime and restore the death penalty in the Philippines.

 

       Court records show that Chapman, Hultman, and another friend, Jussi Leino, were coming home from a party at around three o’clock in the morning of July 13, 1991. Leino was walking Hultman home along Mahogany street in Dasmariñas Village, Makati City when Teehankee came up behind them in his car. He stopped the two and demanded that they show some identification. Leino took out his wallet and showed Teehankee his Asian Development Bank ID. Teehankee grabbed the wallet. Chapman, who was waiting in a car for Leino, stepped in and asked Teehankee: “Why are you bothering us?” Teehankee drew out his gun and shot Chapman in the chest, killing him instantly. After a few minutes, Teehankee shot Leino, hitting him in the jaw. Then he shot Hultman on the temple before driving away. Leino survived and Hultman died two months later in hospital due to brain hemorrhages caused by the bullet fragments. Teehankee was arrested several days later on the testimony of several witnesses. The witnesses were Domingo Florence and Agripino Cadenas, private security guards, and Vincent Mangubat, a driver, all three being employs of residents of the village.

An Open Letter to SC Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno

 

Please look closely at the banner overhead CJ Puno. It says "Kabuhayan, Karapatan, Katarungan". Then read the entire post if you can make some sense out of the slogan on the banner.

(This letter was received by CJ Puno on September 8, 2008 and he did not even care to respond to the letter).

August 29, 2008 

Dear Chief Justice Puno; 

     Our nation is in turmoil –  our institutions are in constant challenge – we have always been under social strife.  

      Amidst this turmoil, people come to your judicial enclave to adjudicate their claim over a piece of ancestral territory, others asked that you to set them free, some asked for money to be paid by his adversary, some asked you to curb excesses of government authority, the President had asked that her executive secrets and her private tapes be forever be sealed,  still others come to dishonor some members of the Bar or the Bench.  

        I come to you today to plea for my honor back and I write this letter for posterity.  

        Yesterday, August 28, I received a letter from the State Bar of California that your Office had advised the Committee of Bar Examiners “that due to a finding of misconduct, I was suspended from the practice of law in the Philippines effective August 9, 2005, and that the suspension remains in effect”. [George Solatan vs. Inocentes, et. al A.C. No. 6504.  (Copy of the letter is enclosed herewith)].

          Your Honor was part of the Division which penned the decision about my administrative case and despite my two Motions for Reconsideration,  the Court had denied them in two minute resolutions.  The last resolution affirming the finding that I was guilty of professional misconduct was  dated March 22, 2006.  I received copy of the Order  in the first week of April and I was of the impression that 12 months after April 2006 or in  April 2007, my suspension for one year to practice law has been served and thus I am free to practice my profession again.

          If my suspension remains in effect despite the lapse of more than one year because I have to do some paperwork to restore my standing, such does not appear to be the tenor of the letter I have received from the Committee of the California State Bar. If ever I have to do some penance or paperwork to regain my good standing, a modicum of fairness requires that the undersigned be informed about them so compliance can be made.

           Like His Honor, I was raised poor and I descend from a humble beginning.  Like His Honor, I put myself through law school and for a large measure, through the help of so many good souls. My administrative case has caused me sleepless nights, pain and agony.  I consider my honor my treasure and an heirloom worthy to bequeath to my children but that has been tarnished by this administrative case.  To clear my name, I have brought to public consciousness the indictment against my character, which common mortal, would have otherwise keep under wrap.  I am never ashamed of this case, though I ache in the idea that the Supreme Court, which I have tried to believe to be the fountain of everything that is just is otherwise unjust.

        I have tried to engage the public on issues that may affect them in the future, and though I am a zealot proponent of the principle that a pending legal issue must be resolved within the confines of the court’s four walls, such issue assumed a totally different dimension when it is finally made to rest.

        A final judicial decision, like the act of Congress or the Executive, can be a subject of a public debate.  Public accountability and judicial responsibility demand that every court decision must not only be defended in the four walls of this Court, but even at the halls of public opinion.  It was under this higher constitutional precept that I wrote my book.

       If the advice by this Court to the Committee of Bar Examiners of California to derail my moral fitness qualification was an offshoot of my attempt  to debate my administrative case outside the Court, your Office should at least been candid about it and must have informed the California Bar Committee accordingly.

          This Court, under your watch has tried to light the torch of the ideals of democracy and liberty and you have the occasion to write:

        “A government’s democratic legitimacy rests on the people’s information on government plans and progress on its initiatives, revenue and spending,  among others, for that will allow the people to vote, speak, and organize around political causes meaningfully. As Thomas Jefferson said, “if a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and will never be.” (Dissenting Opinion, Neri vs. Senate, G.R. No. 180643).

        I have exercised my right to speak because I believe I am free.  I have exercised my right to dissent in the same way that you have exercised yours against the best judgment of your distinguished brethrens in the bench. Must we seek for the distinction between your dissent and mine and deny me that God-given gift as a free human being while you invoke the protection of your right to dissent without fear, without apprehension, and without expecting any reprisal or punishment?  Is there fairness in such submission?

         Your peroration on the writ of Habeas Data would stir us to look for the truth that will stand the test of time and not seek for shallow imageries or appearances of truth.  You have intoned:

          “Indeed, truth is the bedrock of all legal systems, whether the system follows the common law tradition or the civil law tradition. Justice that is not rooted in truth is injustice in disguise. That kind of justice will not stand the test of time, for it is not anchored on reality but on mere images.”

         I am your disciple in that regard and so I squelch every imagery and appearance of truth and tried to seek for its true meaning beyond this imagery and found that this Court is not the only repository of good conduct and wisdom and the dispenser of everything that is just.   In fact, history has led us to believe that the capacity of our institution to succeed in its sworn task is intertwined with its doom.  It is doomed the moment one single innocent soul is served punishment instead of reward, condemnation instead of exaltation; and despite the monumental data of probity and wisdom in all other situations, they are all dimmed by this one slip up.

      Your speech on the Writ of Habeas Data was centered on the protection of human rights from abuse of government authorities.  My right to earn a decent livelihood is a basic human right that is at stake in this exercise.  But where does one go if he is abused by the very institution where he expects justice from?   Where do I go if this Court stood pat on its position that despite the lapse of almost two years, my suspension of one year is still in effect and thus deprive me of my right to continue to practice my profession?

       Should I endear myself to the Court’s discourse on truth and justice or does that entitle me describe it as  “hypocrisy?”

        If in God’s grace I pass the California Bar and denied admission because this Court will not give me a clean bill of professional demeanor, I will not for the second time come back to this Court to beg for my honor.  I will not beg for the restoration of my honor because I believe that in the eyes of the Lord, I am honorable.  I believe I have given this Court the chance to be just when I filed my two motions and to be magnanimous when I wrote this letter.  This Court may choose to validate my thesis that this Court is unjust, nay it is vindictive.

        It was injustice enough that I was suspended from the practice of law for one year.  It was double injustice that I continue suspended despite the lapse of my suspension period.

        I write because this Court, under your watch, may be able to step down from its pedestal and provide a veneer shadow of its probity and wisdom and hear one’s plea to correct an injustice.  It is up to your Office to perpetuate it or to end it. 

 Sincerely yours,

JOSE C. CAMANO

Michigan, USA                       

 

Cc:

Committee of Bar Examiners

State Bar of California

1149 South Hill Street

Los Angeles, CA 90015-2299     

Share this Post[?]

          

REMEMBERING SENATOR “NINOY” AQUINO

VIDEO UPLOAD COURTESY BY:Ubermensch4ever 

“My grandfather explained about the spirit world, how the souls of our ancestors continue to need love and attention and devotion. Given these things, they will share in our lives and they will bless us and even warn us about disasters in our dreams. But if we neglect the souls of our ancestors, they will become lost and lonely and will wander around in the kingdom of the dead no better off than a warrior killed by his enemy and left unburied in a rice paddy to be eaten by blackbirds of prey”.       (Robert Olen Butler,U.S. writer).

             I honor Ninoy in my book.   I have devoted one chapter, “Are We Worth Dying For” plus some references on him outside this chapter. They are reprinted herein below:

              “One of the finest 20th century heroes of the country went home in August 1983 from a 3-year exile from the US with a prophetic candor that the Filipinos were worth dying for. Few minutes after his plane landed, his military escorts shot him at the back of his head and few steps before his tired and weary feet longing for home touch the tarmac. A commission was formed to investigate the murder and it was headed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court whom many have considered a lackey of Mrs. Imelda Marcos because he was seen holding an umbrella for Mrs. Marcos in one of those public functions. The commission was subjected to intense public criticism, thus Mr. Marcos was forced to create another headed by Justice Corazon Agrava,  a retired jurist who was perceived to be another Malacanang loyalist.

               The Agrava Commision came up with two reports, The Minority Report and the Majority Report.  The minority report  which was submitted by Mrs. Agrava to Mr. Marcos has cleared Senator Aquino’s  military escorts for  his death and pointed to the lone communist gunman,  Mr. Rolando  Galman as the culprit.  This was  Malacanang’s  story line on how Aquino died.  The majority report submitted by the other members of the Commission found Senator Aquino’s military escorts to have conspired to kill Ninoy.

          On the basis of this findings all the military escorts were charged with murder in 1985 but were all acquitted. After Marcos fled to Hawaii in 1986, the Supreme Court declared a mistrial and another trial was conducted and found his 16 military escorts guilty of the murder. The mastermind was never known, but the people had the right suspect in their collective minds.

    (Please take note that the new Supreme Court considered the acquittal of the military escorts of Senator Aquino as a “sham trial” and has ordered a retrial before the Sandiganbayan.  The attitude of the SC was understandable because Mr. Marcos had already fled to Hawaii and Mrs. Corazon Aquino, Senator Aquino’s widow became the President in 1986. This is the year where the SC considered the decision of the Sandiganbayan acquitting all the accused from the murder of Senator Aquino a sham trial).

         (And yes, in this Chapter I answered the query that we are worth dying for.  But you have to read the book to find out why).

         References of Senator Aquino outside this chapter:

         “ x x x Gandhi was willing to be bruised by the British soldiers without let up and without putting up a fight until the soldiers would lose their appetite to beat him up. Senator Aquino was imprisoned by Mr. Marcos for 7 years and was sentenced to die by Mr. Marcos’  military tribunal but when he got the news that Mr. Marcos was ill, he hurried back home to talk some sense to the President to call for an election and transfer power to the civilian government instead of allowing a military junta to rule the country”.

 ” x x x

         The discussion of the Supreme Court of the Aquino v. Enrile case went at length on the existence of the threat of subversion from both the Maoist New People’s Army and the secessionist Moro National Liberation Front from Mindanao, (MNLF). The threat from the NPA and the MNLF, however, can be easily contained by the Army which remained loyal to the institution of the government.  (59 SCRA 183)  The deference the Court made to the President to declare martial law on account of his control of various agencies which monitored the activities of the “enemies” of the state has blunted the Court’s right to inquire into whether such state of insurrection existed or not, and considered his determination of the state of emergency a political question therefore beyond the power of the court to inquire. Thus it has conveniently failed to inquire into the motives of the executive about those claims in the light of the fact that Mr. Marcos in 1973 can no longer run for President and even if he could, the faltering economy and the unpopularity of his government made the “Boy Wonder” from Tarlac a shoo-in for the Presidency. Martial law was an excuse for perpetration to power and the Supreme Court was nothing more than a willing accomplice of the repression that follows. The Aquino case was a plethora of 448 pages of legal dissertations and historical events designed to distort the crucial period of our history itself. Those moments in our history where two political titans have tried to compete for one political firmament and one was about to outshine the other had not his opponent beckoned the institutions of power and used those institutions to outclass his competitor. But in the minds of the historians, and the generations to come that are willing to see through the fog of distortions made by the Court, Senator Aquino has outclassed his nemesis; he died a glorious death – his blood rekindles the Filipinos’ love for freedom, while his tormentor died a silent death, felled by sickness in a strange and far away soil.”

 ” x x x    

              And by the way, the Supreme Court has a history of not standing up on the side of the truth. In 1979 the Supreme Court had refused to rescue Senator Aquino who was later sentenced to die by musketry by the military courts of Mr. Marcos.

            Senator Aquino had earlier asked the Supreme Court to transfer his case from the military tribunal to the civilian courts which were open during martial law. Frustrated by the demeanor of the Court, he tried to withdraw his petition, just like the way the late Senator Diokno did on his petition for habeas corpus in 1973, but the Court nonetheless ruled on his motion for transfer of jurisdiction against him by claiming that the military courts have been duly constituted and therefore have jurisdiction over civilian defendants. 

         It was the subtle pressure from the US State Department that spared Senator Aquino’s life from the murderous military tribunals in 1975 only to be slain in 1983 by the same dark forces that lay behind those institutions of power under Marcos. [Aquino vs. Military Tribunal, (63 SCRA 549)] when Senator Aquino went home after a three-year of exile from the US. 

“ x x x

          A congressman from Ilocos Sur was shot at the back while about to receive the sacrament of a communion one Sunday morning. The house of worship was not safe from lawlessness that was perpetrated by those who are supposed to uphold the law. Gangland execution style of this magnitude, just like the execution of Senator Aquino in tarmac in 1983 can only be done by people in authority with tacit approval of the intended plan from someone up in the chain of command”.   (NOTE:  This post has been updated from what originally appeared in the Book to make the narration more correct).

Share  this Post[?]

          

HOW TO MUTILATE A COUNTRY

     

PHOTO FROM MANUEL L. QUEZON III BLOG

The Philippine archipelago is comprised of the territory “ceded” by the Spain to US in the treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898. In the treaty, these territories are described as follows:

 

“A line running from west to east along or near the twentieth parallel of north latitude, and through the middle of the navigable channel of Bachi, from the one hundred and eighteenth (118th) to the one hundred and twenty-seventh (127th) degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich, thence along the one hundred and twenty seventh (127th) degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich to the parallel of four degrees and forty five minutes (4 [degree symbol] 45′]) north latitude, thence along the parallel of four degrees and forty five minutes (4 [degree symbol] 45′) north latitude to its intersection with the meridian of longitude one hundred and nineteen degrees and thirty five minutes (119 [degree symbol] 35′) east of Greenwich, thence along the meridian of longitude one hundred and nineteen degrees and thirty five minutes (119 [degree symbol] 35′) east of Greenwich to the parallel of latitude seven degrees and forty minutes (7 [degree symbol] 40′) north, thence along the parallel of latitude of seven degrees and forty minutes (7 [degree symbol] 40′) north to its intersection with the one hundred and sixteenth (116th) degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich, thence by a direct line to the intersection of the tenth (10th) degree parallel of north latitude with the one hundred and eighteenth (118th) degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich, and thence along the one hundred and eighteenth (118th) degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich to the point of beginning.The United States will pay to Spain the sum of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) within three months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty.”  (Article III, Treaty of Paris).  “The Philippines comprises all the territory ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Paris concluded between the United States and Spain on the tenth day of December, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, the limits which are set forth in Article III of said treaty, together with all the islands embraced in the treaty concluded at Washington between the United States and Spain on the seventh day of November, nineteen hundred, and the treaty concluded between the United States and Great Britain on the second day of January, nineteen hundred and thirty, and all territory over which the present Government of the Philippine Islands exercises jurisdiction.”

 

       The 1973 and 1987 Constitutions define Philippine territory as follows:

 

       “The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and waters embraced therein, and all the other territories belonging to the Philippines by historic or legal title, including the territorial sea, the air space, the subsoil, the sea-bed, the insular shelves, and the submarine areas over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction. The waters around, between, and connecting the islands of the archipelago, irrespective of their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines.”

1898, DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

 

         We as laymen, come to know our territories as the main islands of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao comprising of some 7,107 islands.

 

        We did not agree that our country was ceded by Spain to the US on December 10, 1898 because we have become independent 6 months before that when Emilio Aguinaldo declared Philippine independence on June 12, 1898. This is the reason why we continue to celebrate our independence day on this date and not July 4, as we previously did.

 

        From the time of the revolutionary government of Aguinaldo up to the present time, we have exercised sovereignty over the island of Mindanao. Mindanao had recognized our government when its tribal chieftains have run for public office and had pledged allegiance to the Philippine flag.

 

     Later, when Malaysian and Indonesian influence on the minority Muslim in Mindanao, created a vibrant religion that proselytized most of the Mindanao inhabitants, certain chieftains of the island would like to establish a Republic of Mindanao. The rise of Muslim extremists of the Al Queda type found surrogates in the Muslim inhabitants in this island. The issue of the island being neglected by the central government in Manila and the poverty level of the people in this island were used to drumbeat the need for a “Mindanao Republic”. This aspiration culminated in rise of the MNLF and MILF, or even the brigand group of Abbu Sayaff, whose chief objective is to finally establish a separate Republic of Mindanao.

 

       ARMM is the political aspect of this struggle. The peace process between the MILF or MNLF and the Government, while it is  being undertaken by the government to address and appease the grievances of the people of Mindanao, is from MILF’s or MNLF’s standpoint  a strategic struggle to establish a Mindanao Republic. 

 

        It was to the credit of some of our people who see the bigger picture that the ARMM elections and “peace negotiations” between the MILF/MNLF and the government were being used only to negotiate for time, just enough time, when these group of armed militias have all the strength and resources to wave their own flag in the island and declare the “State of Mindanao” and drive away all the Christians in the island.  

 

        Just like the “peace negotiation” the government has with the NPA, it is being undertaken only to negotiate for time before the eventual kill.  Whoever thinks that the MILF/MNLF and the NPA have the desire for peace is a real dreamer. All these groups want is power and the subjugation of people who do not think just like them.

 

       Great nations would desire for more territories, while we parcel out our own under the guise of promoting peace.  We have already abdicated our rights over part of North Borneo (Sabah) during Marcos time. We are abdicating our territorial rights now over Spratlys.  We are about to abdicate our territorial rights over Mindanao. 

 

       And some of us see nothing wrong with the way we mutilate our sovereignty and national territory.  We lack the concept of nationhood and the candidness to tell our brother Muslims that the concept of one nation and one flag transcends the parochial concerns of tribalism and wardlordism. 

 
Share this Post[?]

          

      The 1935 Constitution in defining the territory of the Philippines provides in Article 1:

DATELINE: DETROIT, 06.27.08

        We took off at 9:15 a.m. from Detroit airport via NWA flight 997 for Miami, Florida for a 3-day cruise to the Bahamas.     

       We are a party of six: my wife, Gloria, daughters Kaycee and Loren, my son’s mother-in-law, Noemi and her son TJ. (short for Timothy Jayson).  One could say that we are off to a “nurses convention” in the Bahamas because except for Loren  who has yet to take her freshman course this September as a nursing student, and myself, everyone else  is a nurse.       

          Noemi is a physician-nurse. She  owns a hospital in Isabela and works as a nurse in the nursing home where my wife works.  She hustles back and forth from the Philippines to the US, works 6 months as  obstetrician in her own hospital and  six months in the U.S. nursing home.  It is rather odd, but luckily, she has no plans of working as a forensic pathologist, or as a mortician, otherwise she would have all the bases covered.  Aside from being rich, she is a widow,  charming, and a very nice lady and she has more fun in the US than in the Philippines.                  

         My son Benjo and his wife, Aimee who are nurses too were already in Miami waiting for us, having flown a day earlier  from their work in Denver, Colorado.  

     When the plan was afoot to take this vacation cruise, I have raised some objection about it because I hate flying and I see no relevance in spending money, (though not mine) when I think of my poor relations in the Philippines  who could benefit more if my side of the expense would be converted into cash and remitted to the Philippines and hope to find this amount in the bloodstream of commerce as my contribution to the deteriorating economy.  But despite my suggestion that I be provided my cash side of the expense  instead,  my wife said no.   

        I always find consistent difficulty and irony in undertaking a fun and pleasure trip while so many have the bare necessities to sustain life, or to put it more bluntly, while so many homes have their rice baskets empty.  Added to this dilemma is the fact that I have to close my business for four days and have to lose some money in the process.  I could have built a mini-crisis in my relationship with my wife and my kids on account of the social paradox that I found myself in, but the better part of prudence doused cold my intransigence.  

              So off we go. No cell phone and laptop and no blogging in political websites for 4 days (one day more for flight to Miami and back to Detroit).  My mind was in for a real pleasure and fun.   On flight to Miami for Bahamas, though, Kaycee, who used to write feature articles in her high school paper handed me a quarter size of a writing yellow pad. This pad and my pen become handy substitute for a keyboard and a monitor screen.  I started to write.

 

Bahamas Diary, Day One

 

BAHAMAS DIARY, DAY ONE, 06.27.08

 The plane touchdown at 11:45 a.m., a good 2.5 hours fligh from Detroit.  We took a taxi-van, not a taxicab because our luggage would not fit in a small car on ouf way to the Port of Miami.  After about 15 minutes slithering through the unfamiliar city streets, the van reached the seaport and we found Benjo and Aimee excitedly waiting for us.  My son handed me a rayban as a birthday gift on an occasion that was two weeks past, while others were locked in tight embrace and hug and enthusiastic kiss. My son had embraced me tight, though not as tight as when he embraced her mom and two sisters.

VIEW OF MIAMI PORT FROM THE SHIP

 While we arrived at the port from the airport at around 12:15 p.m. and boarded it about one hour later and sailed to the Bahamas at 5:00 p.m., you do not feel any need to rush because the excitement has yet to die down, and inside the ship itself, was a total fun. 

        Passengers were being processed at the port before they are allowed to board the ship.  The security was tight as the airport security; every bag and container were being scanned and every passenger has a snapshot taken at the gate. This has caused some snag, but it makes you feel safe.  You have to trade off your yearning for convenience with a feeling of security because you want your trip to be pleasurable as it is, and not one that is very nightmarish.

STARBOARD LOADING PASSENGERS

   The cruise ship is named “Carnival Fascination”, registered in the Bahamas, and which according to its literature, has an international crew of 920, (you would be amazed to find that majority of the crew are Filipinos, others are Jamaicans, Indonesians, Tahitians, Americans, Germans, and Europeans). The ship has an Italian ship captain; it can accommodate 2,657 passengers, weighs 70,367 tons, length, 855 feet, width, 104, eleven decks, or about the height of a 12 story building; 3 outdoor pools, 2 restaurants, shops, 6 jacuzzis, fitness center, spa, beauty salon, casino, bars, library, 58 elevators, 28 suites, 58 verandah cabins, 14 powered life boats with 15 passengers capacity each perched alongside the sundeck, colored life jackets for everyone complete with whistle and beckon lights, satellite radios, communications equipment and a fire department.

         Though you find an initial fun and excitement as you settled down inside the ship and were required to attend a 15-minute crash course on how to put on a life vest and familiarize yourself with the evacuation routine before the ship sails away, your mind brings you back to the realities of the ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars with 864 passengers that  sank  off Sibuyan island on June 21 as a  result of neglect and failure in regulation. 

                To this day, only 33 survivors have been found and it was tragic.                         

         Before we sail to the Bahamas we have eaten our lunch at the sundeck where the pools are. The passengers is a mini United Nations, composed of nationalities from different nations. Young and old, thin and obese, fair skinned and dark skinned, beautiful people and less beautiful, but all seem to work in one symmetry and balance that this cruise would  be a wonderful one  which they could remember and relive.

    

At the sundeck food stable, we have fish and chicken, fruits and drinks.  You can go back in line to satisfy all your cravings.   Your social  conscience had ached a little bit again because while I have encouraged my children to finish the food on their plates just as I told them when they were much younger, you can see chunks of leftovers  on most plates and they have to be discarded and must go to waste. Some passengers would not care much of this wastage.  The passengers already paid  good money for the food and the trip.  But as you think of your own  people who have no food on their table that day,   your sadness sinks back in.    

        It is at the fine dining area where we met Bernice and his supervisor, Anthony, a Jamaican who speaks halting Tagalog. Bernice is in his late twenties with wife and a son in Valenezuela, Metro Manila and works on a $1000 monthly salary and shares in the tip, which could run another $1000 more.  He goes home every six months.        

        We also met Sarah a receptionist in one of the shopping areas near the elevator, whom we were not able to know where she is from and Rafael, the photographer from Pangasinan, who also receive $1000 monthly salary plus commission if he makes a quota on the number of shots he had taken.

 Other crew we just happen to know to be Filipinos because they would greet us in crisp and unadulterated Tagalog.  Life in the ship is enjoyable even if you are not there as a guest.  You do not sweat much  because it has a centralized air-conditioning and with the food already paid for by the guest, I could venture that they must eat the same food as the guests. 

        We went to the front deck where the captain has the full vision of the ocean to navigate the ship.  We were on top of the captain’s cabin holding on the railings that surround the ship and the warmth atmosphere was replaced with the gentle sea breeze caressing your face, people were excited, grinning and jostling on the limited  space facing the wide expanse of the Atlantic. 

         The strong wind would blow a lady’s skirt and exposed her underwear but she was  oblivious of this innocent exposure and the intrusion on her person because like everyone else,  the focus was on the wide expanse of the Atlantic and the serenity of the ocean despite its dangerous possibilities.  Or one could guess that the lady would not bring her up skirts down so she can  bare the contour of her behind, or she had her hands tied up protecting her hair from being disheveled by the ruckus wind. 

       But this is a cruise ship where girls would bathe under the sun or in a pool with skimpy bikinis.  This few square inch of clothing either highlights the contour of your body in a magnificent way or distorts it.  If you have hundred summers gone by, your body would not do justice to your bikini because it is remarkably easy to distinguish  if the pleat is that of the skin or the fabric.  If hundred summers had not passed you by you may consider passing it up too  if you are slightly overweight. This lady is neither, so she would not mind the exposure at all.               

While you think that bikinis are objectionable only on those two situations, you find it still objectionable at all times when worn by your daughters. While you see some beauty of this scanty clothing in someone else’s daughter you see outright fornication in yours.  It is a double-standard of perceiving things.

     But you have to accept the fact that your daughters have grown, and have to live with that fact.

       Those little girls you use to hold with your arms and toss them on the air giggling with reckless abandon as you catch them with your bare hands as they descend were gone.  Time flies and you yearn for those innocent days of your kids, how’d your wish you can hold the time still.

        As the ship throttles in full speed ahead, the horn atop blew hard several times that almost shatter our eardrums, and the vibration could almost knock you down, but people simply covered their ears and still managed to laugh.  No one was upset,  a good sign enough that the trip could really be really that fun.    

       We tarried a little while at the deck.  In this place of the world at summer time,  the sun was still up at 7:00 p.m., but we were hungry.  So we went back to our cabin, and dressed up formally for a dinner.    

      After dinner  we went to a Karaoke  Bar. Loren and Aimee sang beautifully in front of these mini-United Nations “delegation”. Loren had learned to sing and to play the piano because she was tutored to these two disciplines. She was the lead actress in the musical “Guys in Dolls” in Divine Child high school, an almost all white school, this year and many of her classmates and friends were asking her to audition for the American Idol.    I would settle for a slot in the Philippine Idol.    

     I asked her to sing “I Will Always Love You” by  Whitney Houston.  The African  American guests in the bar went  on their feet shouting and applauding after they found out that she can hit the high notes of the song with such an ease and flamboyance.  They also sang with her on their seats but a mother have to hush her noisy kids so she can feel the flavor of the Ms. Houston’s piece in an Asian female vocalist.             

      While I have long known that Loren can sing, I did not know that my son Benjo can also sing. He belted a song the title and lyrics of which I do not know but it turned out good and exciting  that even the male audience in the crowd ended up singing and imagining they have guitars in hands strumming them with fancy string combination and notes as Benjo would slide from one side of the stage to another side pretending that he has the same guitar in hand strumming it with the notes that accompanies the song.   

        My daughter Kaycee, is normally silent and bashful.  She could not compete in this stage of accolade and admiration, but she has her own talent which every parent can admire.  She is still single, handles her finances pretty well and at age 27, she has her own house, a car and the magnanimity to gift her younger sister with a used red BMW that costs about $10,000.  Though the cruise expense was Loren’s high school graduation gift from her brother, Benjo.      

        Now, I am getting to know my kids again.     

     We went back to our cabin to sleep, but tarried awhile at the Casino poker table to try our luck. I was unlucky but Benjo and TJ were luckier. But it was fun playing at a  computerized casino table with opponents as real persons, and the only computer input was the card shuffling, dealing, winning cards selection  and bets computation.        

          Day one was over, but it was worth reliving.

Bahamas Diary Day 2

        .

 

           

 

 

 

 

INSIDE THE SHIP

 

BENJO AT KARAOKE BAR

Share this Post[?]

          

BAHAMAS DIARY, DAY TWO, 06.28.08

  We disembarked after breakfast of coffee,  bread and cheese, scrambled eggs and hotcakes at the pre-assigned table in the fine dining area of the ship where  Bernice and Anthony served as our wait persons. 

      At Nassau port, many locals offered you rides to the city.  Andrea whose husband was one of the regulars in the port,  in a “barong-tagalog” look-alike,  showed us the map of the island and the places we can go to.  Andrea drives a Daihatsu van while her husband stays at the port to look for more tourists.  

1. Nassau: Population 301,790 (2005 estimate) Population density 30 persons per sq. km., 78 persons per sq mi (2005 estimate) Urban population distribution 89 percent (2003 estimate) Rural population distribution 11 percent (2003 estimate).              

Its chief revenue is tourism and could be the reason why the locals would treat tourists so well. No fast break operators who would  rip you off of your precious dollar.

 The inhabitants are dark-skinned but are tidy and I see no one sporting rugs and begging on the streets for food and you have yet to hear someone swearing loudly or speaking in foul-language.   At the port, we have to haggle for a price of services with Andrea,  who drives a van to bring you in any part  of the island, but you would not quibble for a price of food they vend because it might be too embarrassing to ask for a dollar off  your food from a street vendor.  Though one “buko” sells at $5.00  at the water tower at Fincastle where the locals also sell island memorabilia to tourists.

 The city streets remind us of most of our two-lane streets in Manila so were the houses in the island are identical to houses in the skirts of  Metro Manila; medium size, simple and of mostly paved and cemented with corrugated iron sheets for roofs.  Only that their community is cleaner and there is no apparent pollution. 

        Cars are small and there are no trucks.  The driver seats of some cars are  on the left hand side just like our cars in the country, but some cars have the driver seats on the right like the cars from Europe and you have to drive on the left side of the road.

         The city is the seat of government of the Bahamas Island which comprises several islets.  It has its own Parliament whose members are elected every five years by the locals. It has achieved its independence in 1973, though it has been the colony of the British since 1717.  However, up to this date, the Governor remains the representative of  Queen Elizabeth of England which is quite odd.

FAMILY BEHIND THE CRUISE SHIP

         It is much warmer in this City compared to most U.S. States but the atmosphere is not damp.  The island’s climate  brings my memory back to Manila and  my boyhood in the fishing village of Bagacay, Tinambac, Camarines Sur.  The sea breeze as my mother used to say when she was still alive,  was  good for clearing up  your sinuses and your lungs from asthma and pneumonia infection.          

      The Atlantis Hotel which is about 10 minutes ride from the port of Nassau offers its bed to guest from $400 to $2000 a night. It is one of the engineering marvels of the modern times.   The entrance is built on the edge of the island and its main structure is built on seabed.  Huge palisades at the entrance ushered by  7 winged horses in bronze sculpture in galloping or flying  positions around a fountain.

         At the hotel basement are six panels of thick glasses; two on each side which served as the wall of the basement and  separated by huge concrete posts. 

      On your side is the inside of the hotel while the other side is the open sea.  The fish are in controlled area where they can swim freely except towards the sea. 

       You can see through the glass panels variety of fish like milkfish, pampano, talakitok, the bigger version of “sapsap”,  tanguigui, kiskisan, malasugui, stingrays, sharks and palad.  Palad is a fish variety where one side is different from the opposite side.  There are other fish I could not name and identify in this pool of sea creatures gliding elegantly beside this basement glass-cage and the suave fins that propel their graceful motion under water hardly mirrors their objection to the constriction of space in this basement exterior.  They were there to regale their guests.  

I would bet though that had my father been alive today and could have afforded him the pleasure of bringing him to this famous hideaway of Western tourists, he could identify every fish  in this hotel sea-basement.    

     The water in this basement  sea-aquarium is placid and  bluish and is matched  only by the serenity and poise of these fish swimming graciously and they  were not fighting for a territory or a piece nutrient that could lie in the sea’s underbelly.   There is total symmetry not only of the structure that houses the fish but also of the calm and tranquil environment.   I can tour the three walls and be soothed by the peace and stillness of the surrounding and chilled only  by a nostalgic memory of my father who died poor as foreman of road repair crew of the province after he had left fishing in Bagacay. 

      At another part of the island we stopped at Mckenzie, our “turo-turo”  counterpart to lunch. A small plastic plate of “conch”,  a delicacy in the island consisting of a shell entrails, the meat of which has the texture of an escargo (kuhol) or squid or octopus, minus the slime and fish odor, and is being served raw, “kilawin”  style; its pinkish white meat is sliced thin then mixed with fresh lime and lemon squeeze, bell pepper, onion and black pepper and slices of fresh tomato. The exquisite taste of the conch “kinilaw” is matched only by its price of $9.00, though locals claimed that you can gather conch buried in the sand in most beaches of the Bahamas.   You can also ask your host  to fry the conch instead of serving it  fresh, with baked banana slice, fried rice in soy sauce and French fries for the same price. 

        After a bite of   fresh conch, TJ said that he could live in the island forever subsisting on this delicacy and probably would live much longer free from disease-causing  cholesterol and saturated  fats. I can only nod my head in approval.  The regular bottled water costs one dollar, a bottle of soda 2 dollars  and a tin can of  beer about 4 dollars.           

KAYCEE AT ATLANTIS BASEMENT

        Before Andrea toured us in this island, we haggled for the price of $160.00 over what she originally wanted as guide and car fee of $180.00. She drove us through the island and showed us the US Consulate Office, his mansion, the parliament, the police academy,  the only college in Nassau, the mansion of the governor of the island, the water tower which is claimed to be the highest structure of the island, which in my estimate is about the height of a 16-story building.  Below this water tower of  85,000 gallons capacity which serves as the water supply for the island is Fort Fincastle where three replicas of big canons are aimed towards the sea.  The port was built somewhere in 1717 by the first governor of the island, Lord Dunmore, a British officer, to ward off marauders or pirates who wanted to seek provisions and amenities from the island.          

          We passed by the cemetery where Nicole Smith and her son Daniele were buried.  Both  were victims of what forensic doctors claimed to be drug overdose.  Both were US citizens but must have found the tranquil environment in the Bahamas as a natural cure for depression and drug dependence.  But once more, your

NASSAU ISLAND CEMETERY WHERE MS NICOLE AND SON WERE BURIED

environment is what you make of it. It is totally impassionate over your conduct and your  own fault.

         This island nation has her own money and the forex is one Bahamian dollar to one US dollar. If everyone is in the tourism industry, you would  find life easy, but those locals who are not earning from the tourist industry would find the  prices of food and services beyond their reach.   The locals are being priced out and deprived of essential services and food because these items  are being catered to the tourists who can afford them.   We have no data though of the percentage of the locals who are not dependent on tourism.

CONCH (pronounced konk), Empty Shell, Meat Being Sliced

After eating plateful of conch, fish, rice and baked banana and fries,  Andrea dropped us off at the beach the beauty of which is far less magnificent than the beach in my birthplace, the Atulayan in Sagnay where the water is pristine and clear,  the waves calmer and you can see clearly through the water the pebbles on the ocean bed and the fish that glide beautifully underneath, just like the majestic beach of Caramoan.  The flawless seashore of white sand and pebbles in my beach town  is far more beautiful than this Bahamas beach but it is out of reach from most tourists to be of economic value to the country.  The Bahamas, is a famous hideaway of American tourists  because it is about an hour plane ride from the nearest U.S. State of Florida and about 12 hours by cruise ship, or maybe less by lighter boats which can clock more knots than the big cruise ships. 

        Andrea drove Noemi and my wife to the shopping mall, a walking distance from the cruise ship, while we bathe in the ocean  under the searing heat of the sun and have fun. We did some funny stuff on the beach that only a father and his children can be thrilled about.  At my age, I challenged anyone of my kids to swim to the farthest distance of the ocean from the beach, but nobody accepted my challenge fearful perhaps that  I could suffer from exhaustion and heat stroke in the process.        

       At the beach we leased an umbrella and a plastic folding bed for $25.00.  

FAMILY BELOW ONE OF THE CANONS AT FINCASTLE

This beach adventure was an opportunity  to know my daughters and my son once again and it was also a time to reintroduce myself to my daughter-in-law, Aimee and her brother  TJ. The beach swim was a time worth putting in still photos for posterity,  it was an adventure worth reliving and an eternity  highlighted by  a paradox that it was about to end that day.          

        At 4 p.m., Andrea fetched us from the beach.  Because there were more space in the van, she was able to pick up another five passengers from the beach and was paid additional money in the process.  She said earlier that with the $160 dollars we paid, she already made the quota for the day, but you cannot fault her for being enterprising and make more money when there is an opportunity.  She said she has kids that are in school and would  go to Miami to shop for school supplies and clothes for her children because the price of these items were quite expensive in the island.                

JCC aka Jackie Chan

        My two daughters were shocked to find that a gallon of milk in this island costs  $8 while it sells at $1.99 dollars in the US. 

       Back at the ship shortly before 5 p.m. , we took our bath in the cabin showers and off to a diner of steak, fish, chicken, soup, fruits, salad and drinks. Bernice and Anthony were there to assist us with their usual unrestrained smile and glee. 

       Some Filipino crew would greet us in the corridors and were proud to speak Tagalog.  Other non-Filipino crew members would greet us also in halting Tagalog like “kumusta” “sana bumalik kayo”, salamat”.   They were speaking the language to seek your approval as if our approval means so much to them. Suddenly you become proud in the belief that your race could inspire, your language is not an incoherent birdlike chirping, but a language you think might become a major one in the likes of Spanish and French. 

       We skipped the karaoke bar and went to watch the live show at the auditorium after dinner.  The dancing and the singing were of the Las Vegas quality, colorful lights were in the likes of the Sin City too, but there was none of the nudity and pornography of the city. 

         Day two was not over unless we dropped by the casino to try another adventure at the poker table. I lost again but Benjo and TJ just made even. But it was fun.   

  

KAYCEE AT THE BEACH

LOREN, KAYCEE, AIMEE AT NASSAU

NASSAU PORT

7 WINGED HORSES

NASSAU CONDOS SEEN FROM ATLANTIS VERANDA

WATER TOWER

 

Bahamas Diary, Day 3

 

Share this Post[?]

          

BAHAMAS DIARY, DAY THREE, 06.29.08

Bernice, left and Anthony

       At around 7:00 a.m., Noemi who slept with her daughter, Aimee, son TJ and Benjo at adjoining cabin, knocked early in our cabin and roused us up from sleep to tell us that we have to jog on the sundeck while the sun was not up yet.  Despite yesterday’s early afternoon cruise back home, the ship was still at the open sea at 9:00 a.m. the following day, June 29. The leisure sailing was intended so that the passenger guests can savor the full view of the ocean the whole day. 

       We never got the chance to jog at the deck. We ate our breakfast of  “tapsilog” , specially requested by Aimee from the Filipino waiter, Bernice.  Benjo has a slight fever which her mom had diagnosed as sheer fatigue for yesterday’s grueling heat at the beach and could not join us at the table.  His food has to be brought to his cabin.

        I am still on my feet, while my son has to eat his breakfast in bed.  I felt some kind of invulnerability, but  somehow I was sad because my son was sick.  I have to bring two full-plates of oranges, apples and bananas to at his cabin and felt his forehead warm with fever. I took my vicks vaporub from my pouch and rubbed his back and breast and told him that he would feel better soon.

       My son will be 29 years old this August.  But when he was a toddler, I always rub his back and chest with vicks vaporub everytime he has a fever, cuddle him on my chest and let him sleep on my chest face down.  The heat generated by my body and his and the balm of the vicks ointment and a payer chant would juice him up to help his anti-bodies excrete the virus-causing infection from his system.  I always find him bouncing back and playing the next morning.  I did  the same routine to my two daughters whenever they are sick. I  am always amazed of how easily they recover from their fever.  From that that time on, I always have a canister of vicks in my pocket and my prayer chant ready whenever I have a sick child in the house.      I have my vicks in my pouch though we have no more babies in the house, Loren, a bustling 19 years old now, because I found it effective in deswelling a sinus, a malady which I have not quite outgrown from childhood.

        Benjo, while still sluggish was able to join us at lunch  on a roofed deck. TJ and I have already played ping-pong and another game where you have to push six circular plastic pucks to a distance of about 15 feet and situate them in rectangular and triangular boxes to score points. My sweat still drips at the launch table, but I felt rejuvenated by this physical encounter.

    Looking at my revived son at the lunchtime, I felt that my amulet was working  again.

     We ate dinner at the pre-assigned table later in the day. Bernice, a Filipino and Anthony,  a  Jamaican,  were there untiringly serving our food with unrestrained glee on the side.  When the dinner was over, my wife asked to  be photographed with Bernice and Anthony.  She gave them extra tips though the regular tips were already embedded in the bills.  She also hugged them as a token of saying thank you for the splendid job.

             After dinner, we watched the live shows at 8 p.m. and played poker at 10 p.m. while others were shopping at the  galleria for more souvenirs. The activities inside the ship as well as its atmosphere weld in perfect symmetry to make your vacation totally recreational and fun.  It was all right to splurge.

         Bernice regularly sends money to his wife and young son in Valenzuela, Metro Manila.  He was hardworking, friendly and dedicated to his job.  So were the other Filipino crew members in this ship.  Think of your spending binge inside the ship as your miniscule contribution towards job creation, it will unburden your conscience.

        On this trip, I have found thousand of reasons why I should have taken this vacation rather than botched it up because it was a waste of money, unacceptable and obscene in the light of the fact that most Filipinos have nothing in their food baskets.

       In this travel I saw the microcosm of true Filipino character of frugality, hard work, strength and honesty.  You can always see this character in every overseas worker.  The Pinoy OFW’s that I know would not ask for any special favor or advantage from their employers, only an opportunity to prove their worth. They worked long hours and they worked hard because in their own land opportunities were lacking and if there is one, you are not given a fair playing field.  Juicy government positions as well as contracts are reserved to the cronies and friends of the powerful, if you were an outsider, you have to bribe your way around to get a decent job, or if you were an entrepreneur, you have to share your margin to government officials to get the contract.

       I found the validation of the true Filipino character in Bernice and other Filipino crew members of the ship who tried hard to make their guests happy and comfortable so the ship will become profitable and assure them of long-term employment.  Most of them are married and have to leave their families so they can give them convenience and the comforts in life, something which they cannot provide had they stayed back home.

       In the country we see our leaders engaged in destructive partisan politics, corruption is endemic in high places and justice is for sale.

         It is very ironic that you have to leave the Philippines to find your own identity and true character.  Yes, we are a country of whiners, fault finders and corrupt individuals, but in some strange place, Filipinos are hardworking, honest and fair.

        In this trip also, I was able to peep through the character of my children once again and still find the  moral compass you have instilled in them while they were still young; they have grown and have quite developed certain personalities, but your reservation of their capacity to mature has exceeded your expectation.  With misty eyes you ponder how they come to care for each other . 

Pinoy Chef from Bulacan Chiseling Out Love Birds from Block of Ice

      I found the long lost  Filipino character from the Filipino crew in this ship and I found my children’s soul.  These are enough to soothe a bruised social conscience.    
Share this Post[?]