Simply Amazing

Lately, TV Patrol and the Philippine Daily Inquirer has become my new best friends. After three years of slumber, the current developments in the nation's affairs has awakened my inner journalism instinct. My hunger for information - and the truth has intensified tenfold in favor of those who were the underdogs of this elections.

Every morning, I would spend an hour or two consuming word for word the news and opinions posted on the PDI website. All reports favorable to the opposition puts a smile on my face, while new slaps of anomalies thrown at the COMELEC makes my heart beat faster. It's like reading a thrilling novel about politics - except that the drama, conflict and climax happens in real time courtesy of the newsmakers, which are surprisingly more vigilant in reporting the truth behind the irregularities that happened during the recently held elections.

By now, it is well known how election fraud was attempted especially in Mindanao. Several days ago, PDI bannered 12-0 TU in Maguindanao, which was a stark contrast to the universal trends in election results from other parts of the country. It was followed by a revelation by a teacher named "Bai" who exposed to the media how they were forced - at gunpoint - and involving children to fill out the ballots in favor of Chavit Singon, Prospero Pichay and the rest of Team Unity candidates.

I wonder if Pichay's pangarap to have a seat in the Senate will ever come true.

What's absolutely exciting about the developments in this elections is that the more irregularities are being exposed with the help of the media, the more people become aware of these election cheating being done by those in the administration. It creates a deep sense of vigilance and transparency never expected by those in power, which we all know, has the capacity and machinery to manipulate the ballots in their favor. Fortunately, the civil society groups and the opposition were prepared to counter such devious plans. Having a (relatively) free press and a public unsympathetic to the government were the last ingredients for those aligned with GMA to lose badly in the ballots.

Nevertheless, if there is something the administration should celebrate about, it's the economy. They may have been beaten badly in the public's perception, but in the eyes of foreign investors and traders, they are winning the battle.

Today alone, the dollar exchange rate closed at P45 something against the dollar. The last time we had an exchange rate as brilliant as that was six years ago. During that time, I was still in college and Mrs. Arroyo has just been the president for barely a year. Though, this may affect me (and other call center agents) in the long run, the news say that this is good for the overall perception of our economy.

Same thing is true with the stock market, which is reported to be the highest ever in the country's history. Such encouraging news, simply temps me to seek assistance from a stock broker to gain myself a piece of cake in the stock market.

Economy wise, I think we have a vibrant one, despite our sick and dirty political scenery. So long as the two of them won't mix, we are bound to greater heights in the months to come. This is the same reason why, no matter how I hated the administration, my confidence with Mrs. Arroyo hasn't been tarnished yet.

I say this again, one more time.

No matter how many attempts the opposition takes to unseat her in the future, she will remain the President of the Republic. I simply don't see anyone from the opposition or from someone else capable of forming a new government forcibly taken away from her.

It will be very bad, not only for the economy but for our national image as well.

If there is anything this election has taught me, it is that not all masa are dumb as what I have initially percieved. Some of them maybe swayed by a certain and obvious corrupt candidate, but in the end, they still know what is right from wrong.

I've also learned that despite being tagged as a country marred by killings of journalists, we still have a free (and working) press that has now stood up to become the vanguard of Democracy in the country. ABS-CBN should be praised for their ambitious project, "Boto Mo I-Patrol Mo" for successfuly and effectively involving everyone to guard votes and report irregularities happening in the far-flung voting precincts especially in Mindanao.

I hope that in 2010, more organizations (and even commercial establishments) support this huge undertaking.

God Bless Capitalism.

This elections will surely go down in our history as one of the dirtiest - according to the elders, second only to what they had experienced during President Marcos' time. The dramas that unfolded - especially the victories of Fr. Ed Panlilio in Pampanga and Darlene Custodio in South Cotabato against stronger adversaries will forever be a shining example of good winning against evil.

And if ever - the Genuine Opposition secures eight additional seats in the Senate, perhaps, the gods in Malacanang should finally takes seriously what the people demands all these years:

Enough deception, betrayal and corruption.

Stop all political killings and let the perpetrators of summary executions be brought to justice.

And last but not the least, it's high time we crucify Gonzales and Abalos.

The time for change is now.

---

entry written during the entire telecast of TV Patrol.

Dynasties (Last Part)

Because in every clan, there are families that belong to the dominant order, and there are those that are merely subservient ones.

I consider ours belonging to the subservient ones. Even if we do have the power to rise up against the order, our gratitude towards the dominant and our vital position in the chain of influence would prevent us from doing so.

- The Jomanian Doctrine: Politics of Families

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Last friday, I had a merienda date with my aunt at Pancake House in CCP. That same day, the elections in my sister's university was ongoing and the tension between families were already at its height. My mom, who bought my argument that we should never confront her sister sent pleading text messages to my cousin instead in order to diffuse the tension. Mom told her that she should not take things personally. After all, its just campus politics. She should always bear in mind that my sister is her blood relative. Blood will be always thicker than water.

Same thing is true with me. Taking advantage of my closeness to my aunt, I went all the way to treat her at Pancake House, at my expense to assure her that as a family, we will never take sides. Our desire is for the preservation of the family and like her, we hope that the conflict will end after the elections. It turns out she shares my sentiments.

---

A week before their elections, my sister expressed her sentiments to my mom about my treatment of her. She said that she gets hurt everytime I blurt to her that she's just a hopeless freeloader at home. She also can't understand why she could not get any support from us, when we're the only ones she could really rely on.

I understand my mother's concern about our conflict. In fact, despite her personal disapproval at how she waste the last of her academic years engaging in such fruitless activites, my mom chose to take her side instead of mine. Her reason was I'm too harsh and unforgiving about my demands and that I'm alienating her at home. The stress and pressure from running a university-wide campaign has already taken a toll on her mind and being, and that an added pressure from me might lead to her breakdown.

So she begged me to keep my sentiments to myself, for the sake of maintaining the peace at home.

That same week, she would often go home past midnight with her core group only to continue their meeting and planning at home. Such lessened contact prevents us from clashing. However the large number of people we have to support is eating a portion of our resources. This could become a point of contention between us siblings. What made me stop raising this issue is the fact that Punks also uses our resources everytime he sleeps over at home. She could always counter my complains with that argument.

---

As my mother recollects my sister's involvement in our frequent mother-son consultations, I've realized that things are not doing well for my sister. There's a hint that her authority was being challenged by a faction who's not impressed with her leadership. At the same time, countless inter-party complains pushes them to the brink of disqualification.

One evening, as the family waits for her arrival, I decided to check on her files on my computer just to check on her performance. It turns out that as a new political alliance, her leadership was untested. In fact, her choice of a standard bearer had already spelled defeat for her entire line-up.

If only I knew their situation way ahead, I might be able to give her an advice or two about running a machinery. After all, I was a secretary general during my time.

As my aunt puts pressure on us to convince my sister to resign her post, I begin to understand how difficult it is for my sister to hold everything together especially with her lack of experience. Sometimes, she would just cry to my mom out of sheer frustration and exhaustion from doing a thankless job. On many times, she would ferociously defend her party about my aunt's accusation of being a dirty player in their election campaign.

These things, for a time made me think about my stand. The issues of pride and ego begins to surface as my aunt tries to put my sister down and demand her immediate resignation from her party. I felt that Im being pitted against my own sister for the sake of satisfying a cousin's desire for dominance. However, my concern about the future and the preservation of the family also puts me in a position where I have to compromise my sister's right to choose her happiness over our long term survival. Losing my aunt's favor would mean that we have to swallow our pride the moment we have run to her for assistance.

Therefore we had to make a choice.

My aunt demanded for my sister's resignation a couple of times shortly before their campus elections. By then we knew that it's already too late for my sister to back down from her top position. Doing so would simple leave her shattered for the rest of her life. I suggested that she could transfer some of her responsibilities to a junior student, while running things from behind. However, it seems like my sibling doesn't understand the concept of succession in power so she never listened my advice.

Her stubborness and willingness to break relationships with people who cross her reminds me of a story back in my college years. Back then, I have a friend who belongs to a rival party. We've known each other for years, we're even classmates during the last two years of our college life. However, our party affiliations simply prevented us from getting close. We could not even engage in a small talk out of fear of being accussed of submitting to the other. She's been known as a strong-willed woman. For a time, I even thought she'd take over my position as the class president after she was nominated in that position during a class election.

Our relationship went on from being warm to being cold. It was the only time in my life I showed extreme display of distrust while still appearing cordial and accomodating to a person. Days before graduation, we had an unobstructed conversation summarizing our four years in college. Then and there she blurted to me, "kung hindi lang dahil sa partido, naging sobrang close siguro tayo."

We waited four years just to open up to each other only to part ways days later.

---

During the canvassing, my sister kept on texting us to pray for them. Apparently, they are on the brink of losing the entire council and that their rival is already gaining the upper hand.

I remembered what my aunt told me that afternoon about the only sad outcome my sister would get after the council elections had ended. It turns out that the reason why my cousin is furious at my sister's polical maneuvering is because among all her cousins, she considers closest to my sister. Now that their familial bond is broken, she feels that her connection with the bloodline is over.

That same day, in one burst of heated argument, I also told my sister how her arrogance will cost her dearly. First, I pointed out to her the value of gratitude above all things. It's a fact that the reason why she got admitted to that university is because of my aunt's connections. It would be her greatest humiliation to see someone she worked to be admitted go to waste. Second, even if we never solicited direct favors from my aunt, she had rendered us assistance during our most difficult moments. Her assistance when dad was in his deathbed will forever remain in my memory. Lastly, because my sister chose politics over academics, I have to brace to the reality that I may have to work for the next six months while she enjoys the comforts of remaining a student.

Before Friday ended, her karma has been served:

For all the efforts and sacrifices she had rendered just to push her party to victory - they lost all the major seats in the council to their rivals.

Now that everything is over, she had to pick up the pieces and pay the price for not heeding our warning.

Dynasties (First Part)

The national elections is just around the corner. From what I've heard in the news so far, several political families are in conflict with one another after family members decide to run for the same government position in office. Here at home, same thing is happening between two families. It's between ours, and my aunts - where my cousin and my sister leads the opposing political parties competing for seats in their upcoming student council elections in their university.

It's no secret that my sibling belongs to an organization, where in my university, people like them are treated with dismay and usually shunned upon. You see them promoting socialism as an alternative to the government, or sometimes you find them chanting "patalsikin si [put the name of the president here]!" in the streets causing annoyance not only of the drivers who have to work for a living, but also of the commuters who are always on the rush as well.

And in so many times and so many instances, we have clashed because of our beliefs. She claims that they could change things by having a long protracted struggle with the "imperialists," while I on the other hand told her a million times over that the "imperialists" are the ones paying my salary. Imagine that.

You see, when you get old enough and starts earning on your own, trivial matters such as student activism and campus politics doesnt matter to you anymore. You sometimes even don't want to talk about national politics and current issues because you know, everything is just a farce to you. You're wise enough to understand how dirty and decieving politics are and in a country like ours where everything could be twisted and flayed according to the interests of those in power, the only way to survive the everyday beating of life is to be cynical about things - even if you have an idea about the truth; or just get out of the country simply to earn more money.

---

Same thing is true with my sibling's organization.

Let me put myself in the shoes of the perfect student ripe for brainwashing. I'm a freshman in this prestigious state university. I have no one to talk to and no one to belong to, which in my own mindset is very alarming especially if you see these cool guys swaying people to their influence. Right now, you would look at such things with amusement for you don't need someone's approval just to get accepted. It's alright to live with just a bunch of trusted friends around you.

However, such vulnerability exists in most of us back in those years. Not all of us were gifted with confidence and pakikisama to others to be accepted outrightly by a group. So in truth, we find our own calling - even if this calling comes from the first group to take notice of you.

Back to our flashback, here comes a group of willful students marching along the corridor or along the pavillion bearing red flags with sickles and hammer as a banner. They would chant anything from "karapatan ng mangagawa, ipaglaban" to "stop political killings by the military." just to get noticed by everyone. Since Im just a looser-freshman who have no one else to hang out with, I would find these people cool and interesting to know better. Little by little, I'd find myself hanging out with them, listening to their teach-ins - which are actually propaganda to brainwash unsuspecting kids like me into believing that their version of the history is right and everything else is just a make-believe.

In four years time, I have chanted their slogans with them. I rallied on the streets with them, I made a thousand different fliers with them just to support our "social cause," and I have recruited an army of unsuspecting froshies, that were almost exactly in the same pit just like me four years before. Then, when my seniors have seen the glittering green light dangling in a call center's recruitment desk, leaving me and the organization forever. Those who remained would ask me to set-up the machinery and lead my party's victory in the upcoming student elections because of my experience and loyalty to the organization.

However, in our case, there is a complication that could tear us apart if we can't find any resolve on my sister's case.

The challenge lies with our first cousin. She is already well-entrenched in a rival organization whose aim is to win the elections against my sister's own political party's aspirations. Her mother, who had helped my family in so many ways, I would have a hard time where to start counting suddenly notices my sister's little activity which somehow "distracts our cousin's desire to win a landslide in their elections." or something like that. The point is, there is conflict between them. Then her mother starts complaining at me, which I in turn, shares the same disappointments with hers. After all, I can't stand having to work and earn just a meager salary only to cut my expenses out of my perpetual fear of being pennyless in times of emergencies, while she (my sister) just bum around with her organization and go into shopping frenzy when she's in the mood, while having to show a face that is pro-poor and anti-capitalism. The sheer hypocrisy of things sickens me.

And now that the grudge match is ripe enough to fall upon and tear us apart, the more I am beginning to see that this is not really about stands and principles anymore; it's more of practicality and seriously, utang na loob mentality. Elections come and go, and for student-leaders like my cousin and my sister, this is just a breaker to the boring lives they have in school. But you know what, I think if ever I will have to decide on how to act on this issue, I will put my bets on my mother's aunt.

I will reveal to you the reasons in my next entry.

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-tobecontinued-

Frozen Throne Contemplations

Note: This opinion essay is part of our requirements for Creative Writing. Since I promised someone before to show the essays I write in school, consider this as a sample... For a change, it's time the blogger takes a break from his normal, routine PLU life.

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We could all agree that the weather these days is unusually chilly for a late January. Those who complain of the humidity may find themselves in a very pleasant situation, strolling across the city on high noon without feeling the heat of the sun burning their skin. On the other hand, those who wake up very early in the morning will surely complain about the freezing temperature. “I am having a hard time taking a shower these days,” says a colleague who works morning shift in a call center. “I can’t stand the freezing water, which I find very strange considering that everyone I know is bracing for the hot summer months ahead.”

If you look back at the weather trend last year, strong typhoons hit the country during late November. December was warm and rainy, while news of water shortages was reported last October. There were no significant weather disturbances that happened last June to August and the summer months of April prevented some people to go out during the day since the unbearable heat simply made them feel very uncomfortable.

Around the world, people wonder about the freak weather pattern this year. A friend who lives in New York told me last December that they usually expect heavy blizzards to come during Christmas, but there were none. The storms arrived later during mid-January dumping heavy snow not only in Canada but also in the state of Texas. Germany and the rest of northern Europe suffered from one of the most severe wind storm to hit the region in centuries while parts of France, particularly in towns north of the Pyrenees reported water shortages as early as February.

The trends, though quite amusing at first reveals a very dark and gloomy future ahead. This possible future has been forecasted, studied and was given significant attention by the scientific community but governments, particularly those who rely on heavy polluting industries and carbon-based energy sources never listened. The signs pointing to Global Warming and Climate Change had been subtle at first, but as ignorance and greed continues to dominate human politics, the planet has its way of shoving the problem right on our very faces.

We could go scientific on the nature and effects of the recent weather pattern. We could even devote several pages of information about Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion just to make some sense as to why it seems, the weather gets more extreme every year. But we don’t really need the scientists to explain things right now, for everything we need to know is right before our very eyes – pollution, carbon monoxide emissions, signal number four storms, long dry spells during summer, monsoon season without any rain, the list goes on.


This year alone, reports of massive Glacier retreat in the North Pole and the Himalayas prompted some scientist to raise the alarm and turn the hands of the Doomsday Clock five minutes before midnight due to the threats of Climate Change to mankind. This has never been done before since the Clock is only reserved to nuclear threats posed by nuclear-capable nations around the world.

Almost every month, reports about Climate Change or events attributed to Global Warming are being shown in the news in hopes that it could further awaken the consciousness of everyone about the huge problem we are facing. But such revelations are useless if individuals like us would simply ignore the signs and not do our part.

Everyday, tons of cubic meters of Carbon Dioxide goes up in our atmosphere from the coal supplied to our power plants. Same thing goes to the hectares of forests being cleared up to give way to farmlands just to satisfy our excessive food appetite. Lastly, the garbage we mindlessly dispose in the thrash sometimes end up being burned in our dumpsites.

If we could only cut back in our consumption and be responsible enough for our excesses: If we would, in our deepest consciousness adopt a green way of living – by sorting trash before dumping them; conserving electricity by turning off lights and appliances that are not being used; and be wary of the unusual weather patterns instead of simply passing them off as mere “climate adjustments.”

Perhaps there is still chance to prevent the most horrible things from happening..

Mankind is slowly awakening to the harsh and bitter reality of how Climate Change and Global Warming may affect our daily lives. The voices calling out for a collective action grows louder and louder every day. We could always lend our voices to support government pressure, or we could simply go back to sleep blaming the “very cold weather” for inaction.

We just hope that when the time we wake up, a quarter of the world is not yet drowned in sea water, while the rest are either bracing for super storms or enduring months of dry spell simply because we responded too late to reverse the damage we have done to our planet.

Pardon The Inconvenience

Speaking of complications, I moved my entire blog to Blogger Beta two days ago in hopes that I could finally upload the photos I'm dying to post since last week. It seems that my journal provider is still in the process of identifying and fixing bugs, which obviously, is still apparent in the new format. However, I have to commend the new features they have for the Beta Version. One such improvement is that before, a blogger must have at least a little knowledge about htmls in order to make their blogs a little interactive. Now, with just a mere drag of buttons (or cue cards for that matter), everything simply organizes on the side bar.

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The deadline for the "Project Railroad" has been moved. Instead of submitting the essay on September 1st, I volunteered to take the September 12th slot for my submission. However, as of "press time" no such article has ever been started. Even the "lead paragraph," which is supposed to give an opening salvo to pages-long Feature Story hasn't ever been concieved yet.

Is it because my muses are on vacation again? Or I am just too lazy to start thinking how to start my story? Either way, I have to write my essay soon. This Project Railroad will spell my retention or dismissal in the Creative Writing Masters Program.

---

This morning, I saw in PDI's frontpage its banner about NPAs extorting money from local businessmen. In Rep. Etta Rosales' priviledge speech in Congress, she said that a unit of the New People's Army in Negros threatens local enterprises who fails to pay "Revolutionary Taxes" to the party. Apparently, a local exporter of Muscovado (Brown) Sugar failed to pay its dues and as a consequence, the said local unit burned the exporter's sole delivery truck for not heeding to their demands.

"It's attempt at extorting money from reputable organizations, whose aim is to help the poor, is downright gangsterism and hypocritical... In this war, nobody wins and it is the innocent and unarmed civilians who suffer... The NPA cannot and should not display behavior that runs contrary to its self-proclaimed role of being the people's protector."

These very passages which Rep. Rosales said in her speech changed my views about NPAs overnight. Who would have thought that such supposed-to-be-honorable organization has the nerve to do such horrendous acts. I know that they require local companies operating in their areas of control pay "Revolutionary Taxes" which are to go back to the local people. But doing retribution at the expense of the people whose hopes are with them is rather unthinkable.

They said that a great purge happened in the Communist Party a long time ago. Tens of thousands of NDF party members were summarily executed out of the party leadership's fear that the military had already infiltrated its ranks. The witch hunt went on until the party itself split into two: The Rejectionist and the Reactionist. With respects to those who are with the underground, I would not attempt to define the two factions, all I know is that the Rejectionists are the more moderate between the two.

Unfortunately, my sister still doesn't believe that the organization she belongs to hasn't been loyal to its ideals in the past. And the reason why the news banner today caught my attention is because I want to show her how she was mislead by her superiors by believing that their student activism would lead to something better - for everyone.

The next time she threatens my mom to run away and head for the mountains, I'd slap her with the front page banner today.

It's time for her to know that the very principles she's fighting for in the streets are the ones violated by her own organization.

---

Representative Rosales' expose, plus the positive news banner which hails a stronger peso exchange rate today would surely please Malacanang even more. Even the opposition which used to hold a strong lead in the national surveys are slowly losing the confidence of ordinary people like me.

With the NPA's image already shattered, who would stop the military and the police from performing its operations against the insurgents?

Personally, as long as I hear my sister praise Mao Zedong and Stalin; as long as my mom confides to me that my sister has joined another rally again, against our orders; and as long as she tells me how good her cause is, despite the fact that by heart, her materialistic, artsy nature overrules her,

I wouldn't care what the government do with the communist rebels and my impression of student activism would remain negative.

Besides, These insurgents have existed for decades, but have we really felt any change?

Stand Up, Face The Moonlight

She was extremely ecstatic when she arrived home from school. It is as if, she won the lottery or something. In fact, it was one of those rare moments I could feel her eyes gleaming by the mere sound of her voice talking from across the room, hers sounded of a victory, an ignominous victory knew by only those who doesn't see life closer to reality.

Prior to her arrival, my mom halfheartedly told me what happened yesterday afternoon in her campus. It appears that the President went to their "hospital" as a guest of honor to some new additional "medical" room that was opened there. Fine, she is the President so she can go wherever she wants to. And since she is quite an unpopular one these days, her critics would always find an opportunity to mess up her rather boring and ordinary day.

Here comes my sister and her groupies. It was as if the commotion was unplanned. As the President was about to enter her presidential car and join the motorcade, they began shouting at her. It was about the usual, monotonous issues. As others were complaining about the tuition fee increase, some others where crying for a wage hike. Soon the policemen who were in the area noticed them and started disbanding their little "tea party." It ended up with several arrests of prominent people (students) involved in such lightning protest.

---

When my sister and I got to talk last night, I voiced out my opposition to their rather rowdy tea party. It's like the same stupid media-spotlight activity done by that high school girl from Cavite. To be honest, I don't find anything commendable in messing up such a very dignified ceremony. If she had complains with the government, I'd rather advise her to do well in school and move to another country when she graduates from college.

The same thing with my sister. Between you and me, we always get into heated arguments whenever she talks about her movement and her beliefs. It sounded too idealistic for someone like me who greats real life every morning. Why join such protest rallies when all it results to are traffic, rowdy dispersals, disruption of classes and work and destruction of lives?

In fact, just to taunt her sometimes, I would tell in her face how much I love living in a capitalist, materialistic world, even if I don't see my life living in one. I'd even say to her face how contradicting her movement is from its core beliefs in hopes that I would somehow damage her ego. Mom's approach is rather different, being in the same movement before, she understands the flame of idealism emanating from my sister's bloody red mind.

Though she's pretty opposed to her activities, mom manages to compromise with her.

---

When I saw her groupmates last night in the late night news, I simply felt disgusted with their actions. There was this one guy who was caught by the police. He was obviously shaking and afraid to the point of denying his involvement in their lightning rally. As others berated at the police claiming that they're in this school and that they have the right to voice out their sentiments against the governement, several other people were escorted by the police to a private car waiting in the parking lot.

A girl and a guy who was also involved in the tea party manages to sneak fast under the policemen's noses in hopes that they could free those who were caught. The guy who was my sister's mentor was even chased by other policemen to be brought to the police department together with those other who were earlier arrested by the security force.

I was terribly ashamed I'd tell you. Those guys should go back to their classrooms instead... If they could not stand up to what they believed in. The first guy who denied his involvement in their movement reminds me of that apostle who denied his ties with Jesus. The so called mentor, who ran away while the policemen chased after him turns out to have no balls at all.

And that girl who said she's studying in this school and it's their right to say whatever they wants to say must be immediately thrown in a convent in the remote provinces. The hell, who said studying in that school offers you the protection and the right to say what you want to say? Girl, I'm studying in that school too and you know what, I think it's a priviledge being there in the first place. Who are you to bite the hand that gives you a far better future than the rest of the students like you?

You should be thankful with the government. Not all students are blessed with such great opportunity.

---

In the end, I think they got the media exposure they wanted to have. Perhaps the reason why my sister was so ecstatic last night was because they've got the level of propaganda they are aiming for.

But in the eyes of an ordinary "thinking" worker like me, I guess what they did there is pure bullshit. Did they achieve something aside from the propaganda and the media exposure? I think not. All I saw was a bunch of spoiled, rebellious brats who had nothing to do with life except complain about everything.

In a woeful time of rising oil and gasoline prices, increasing crime rates and violence, threat of terrorism and joblessness, massive influx of pinoys going out of the country resulting to a serious brain drain. The least thing the government needs now is an embarrasing opposition like them. Don't get me wrong, I do have issues with the government as well. In fact, I'd love to see Raul Gonzales being humiliated and embarassed on national television at least once in my lifetime.

But to see people like what my sister hangs out with doing those crazy stuff is an insult, not only to my worker status but to my humanity as well. To see an unproductive, supposed to be intelligent minority wasting their lives in such a hopeless cause is rather bit unfair. Too see brilliant minds leaving the city to join the rebels high up in the mountains only to die in the hands of the military is such a sorry sight to see.

And yet if I was there yesterday afternoon and saw my sister being dragged by the policemen to a waiting car, I swear, I would approach the officers chin up and tell them, "boys, take me instead."

"I'd like my sister to learn that for every folly she does, someone would have to pay the price for it. I'd like to let her feel how's it like loosing someone who earns a living just to see his entire family live comfortably for another day."

Tasteless

A week ago, my hatred for the government was bone deep.

But after what I saw in the news tonight - the scenes of relative harmless policewomen being attacked by raging young male protesters, and acts of heroism and tolerance among the policemen in the face of certain violence, my thoughts about hatred turned against... well, the activists once again.

From what I saw, I believe the government scored big points today. If GMA, in a slight hint of enlightenment scraps her ridiculous exective order barring government offcials from appearing from hearings, as well as the much hated CPR and EVAT.

I'm pretty sure that by next year, she will enjoy a relative calm and peace in ruling this hopeless country.

Filipinos tend to forget easily, that's what history have shown us.

Mama was right. A month ago, the pressure had almost vansihed, until some shithead from the government suggested these 2 controversial policies.

My opinions and sentiments toward the rallyist have drastically changed. Whoever suggested to storm the gates of Malacanang today - hurting other people as a result.

Must be surely out of his mind - A shithead too! Just like some key officials from the government.

Not only did he gave GMA a very nice reasons of enforcing CPR once again,

He just lost the support of sympathizers like me, who just a week ago were already beating up their own war drums to join such massive and peaceful demonstration.