Chess

By Rolo B. Cena
The Gulf Files
Dumaguete Star Informer
06 February 2011

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – He was the robust horseman and she the classic bishop. His role was to deliver according to the pace his position was designed for; her role to safeguard the Royal Palace according to the mandate her appointment was called for in the public exercise.

And when push came to shove, the robust horseman had to take a stronger crossover deviating from the norms horses have to, this time like any pawn pushed across the line; the influential bishop had to validate the moves the robust horseman initiated, even to the extent of persecuting all the king’s men.

The beans have been spilled and people who heard the hullabaloos from each drop compose their own modern-day music that so timely serenaded the new Royal Palace; others who saw the spillage write their own literary masterpieces that stirred the senses of the lawmakers, the Levites and even the ill-fated subjects. While commissioning the truth sans the defunct truth commission of sort, these masterpieces were read and re-read in all areas and the music played in the legislative and judicial halls.

Such was the classical cotillion of political roses and candles; such was the art of war in the classic board game.

At the end of the cobblestone-paved political highways, commuters often ignore the existence of a blind spot; oftentimes as it surely does happen, pedestrians do observe its existence. Such are the cases of Reyes and Garcia; of George Rabusa and Heidi Mendoza. And Trillanes would have been an exemption to the rule until he does what the Romans do. Even the smartest of robbers this kingdom of corruptions ever produced miss some points: the king missed the murder of a lawmaker in the tarmac orchestrated by his wife and the queen missed the corruptions and scams wilfully designed by her husband.

“Only the wicked gamble at the wicked.” What one Saint articulated, bunch of sinners executed. Who will be the lesser evil of them all? Let the iron-fist lawmakers roll the dice squarely, or else, let the commons re-think what the nobles do. EDSA is just a stone’s throw from our stead, after all.

Rabusa’s literary piece may have been a classical one as validated by his lyrical allegation that such military infidelities are mostly genetics and hereditary: genetics because it runs in the blood, it runs in the system; hereditary because the predecessors, if this society does not call them forefathers, ran this exercise and handed down to their heirs and successors.

Mendoza’s discourse may have been a rational one as validated by her examinations that such twists and turns are truly scientific and philosophical: scientific because it was made according to generally accepted auditing and accounting standards; philosophical because it upholds logic. Such was the case of Clarissa Ocampo who was instrumental in the ovrthrow of the former king of lust that briefly ruled the land.

Science proves that the heirs of the criminal are genetically pre-disposed to follow suit: such is the case of these stars-decorated men in uniform; such is the case of General Angelo Reyes. Garcia is by far no exception to this! Not even the troubled Hong Kong drug trafficking suspect Singson who faces disqualification from the house of the commons.

There’s one gray area that is so obviously noticeable along the line: the lines of the queen of corruptions and scams were deleted from the lyrics of the modern-day music. Damning the damned seemed not to be the plot of these new-born singers. What is going on?

During the war, provisions and military supports are transported at night; upgrading ranks and releasing their appointments usually happened on the eleventh hour, normally before midnight falls. Strategically, nobles do this before leaving the grounds of the Palace to ensure loyalty. Such was the case of the executive orders and instructions from the Palace that defied the meaning of sovereign power.

Literally and figuratively, all members of the Royal Palace reports to the king; they pay tribute to the king and queen. Even the lowest in ranks, the pawns, do the same. Exactly as perfectly that it works: command responsibility. After all, the early Thursday morning paper bags at the grounds of the Royal Palace proved the practice.

One, ten, fifty, one hundred, or more millions of pesos - figures don’t matter; the act does. “Am I greedy?” is not the question, after all. Moderating greed is not even the cup of tea of the post-modern EDSA democratic king who inherited the crown under the suit of true democracy.

While it may be true that Rabuusa and Mendoza are credible witnesses for and in behalf of the Palace, what stops money, political power and greed to silence them. In this square box of political game, only one thing is sure to happen: Stalemate

And stalemate means the stronger troop eludes persecution. Such was the case of Lauro Vizconde and Jessica Alfaro.