A Tale of Two

By Rolo B. Cena

Hushed Poppies

Dumaguete Star Informer

22 September 2013

Finally, he freely flies back home – home where his heart belongs; home where truth and freedom indisputably live.  This time, it is happening without argument on neither expatriation nor repatriation. 

Beaming with stars-studded dreams, his hazel-nut eyes projected a glimpse of vivid horizon back in 1996.  Four years later, his young and vibrant life turned bizarre and his story exceptionally disheartening.   

Without him knowing it, Rodelio Lanuza or Dondon, as he is fondly called, became a fancy in the eyes of his married male boss, a Saudi National.  Surely, he hadn’t dreamed of experiencing this morbid happenstance, which later derailed the insular panorama of his entire life back home while working as a draftsman in Damman, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.      

In the year 2000, while attending a small party, his boss endeavored to rape him.  In defense of himself and other co-workers, he stabbed the Saudi national to death.  It would have been a self-preservation but the back stabs essayed a different angle:  that the crime was a planned, deliberate act. 

In Saudi Arabia, a drip of blood caused by another is punishable by death; much more, taking lives. 

Dondon was jailed since August 2000. He was sentenced to death in 2001 by “qissas” or beheading for the crime. The Highest Court pardoned him after the victim's family signed a “tanazul” or letter of forgiveness after receiving blood money amounting to SAR 3 million.  A fundraising campaign was initiated by his family, friends and supporters, colleagues back in Saudi Arabia, several OFWs, the Migrante, government officials and other private individuals.

It was so comforting to hear this noble act of people around Dondon to raise the funds.  Truly it showed that in our hearts still live the value to help others, especially those who are in need.  In contrast, for ten years now, only a few enjoyed the benefits of the ten-billion-peso stake of the pork stored in a barrel.  Surprisingly, not even half of the requirement to save Dondon was raised out of the pork.

Crazy!  And indeed, it was the craziest of all greed.

His case, no matter how bizarre one perceives or could perceive it, is one of the many cases all expatriated Filipinos and other nationals heard and learned about in this oil-rich Middle Eastern conservative Arab state; one of the many cases peculiar individual experienced.  Truly, stories like this are not hidden from the hearts and minds of those who are working in these areas, and of their family members, friends and colleagues.  

Not even from the one who holds and scribbles the truth!

The best thing that happened is that Dondon and his family, colleagues and friends did not stop believing that one day he will be freed.  The blood money in the amount of SAR 3 million or about PhP 33 million was raised.  Thanks to the initiation of the Vice President of the Republic.
Indeed, the brotherhood of Filipino men sans the vested interests always prevails.  Truly, when he arrived yesterday, not one mentally-dehydrated politicians contacted a paparazzi for a souvenir.  Thanks to the pork barrel scam, they are too busy for advertisements!  

Finally, Dondon was free and he is home.  However, he may have been freed but the ordeal, the trauma would always linger.  The post partum experience is always heavier and greater – that’s what they said.  Like most victims elsewhere, the damage that certainly brought havoc in their respective lives would always manifest.  Let’s pray that he will soon overcome this.

Working overseas is not a heaven-made-on-earth paper bill.  Working overseas is risk; it is a sacrifice to begin with.  For one, being separated from loved ones is an agony expressed in different, melancholic tone.  Two, stepping on a stranger’s place is as furious as eternal damnation.  Three, it is literally and figuratively an experience of advanced waterloo.     

His story is a tale to ponder upon.  Lo and behold, in here lies the other tale!

Cocktail Mix

By Rolo B. Cena

Hushed Poppies
Dumaguete Star Informer

15 September 2013

Juxtaposed with other priorities this administration has on its plate, the pork barrel scam authored by Janet Lim-Napoles is by far the most disquieting of all.  For one, it has tainted the image of the non-government organization (NGO) community; two, it has painted a bizarre mural of corruption in the high walls of the two chambers of the Congress.

And while the former is somewhat relatively new; the latter is absolutely an old concoction re-engineered to produce the same punch but this time with different zing. 

One thing this country of fun-loving Filipinos doesn’t actually know is that Ms. Lim is a good driver, too.  For one, re-routing the transport of the red meat called “pork in a barrel” is damn harder than re-routing the Erap-Sa-Mahirap jeepney trips within the major thoroughfares of the Imperial Manila Metropolis.  Two, Ms. Napoles was never apprehended by traffic officers even when recklessly driving the transport of this “red meat” from the nautical highways of Ate Glo to the Tuwid-na-Daan road links of P-Noy in the last ten years.  Interestingly, it was an ordinary citizen who grabbed the whistle of the traffic officers and did the first blow.

Thanks to Benhur Luy, her cousin.  After all, he ain’t heavy; he is a brother! 

The calculated driving which resulted to ten-billion-peso damages, notwithstanding the damages Ms. Napoles caused to the one-hundred-million hungry Filipinos, is an act of betrayal.  Betrayal in the sense that these publicly elected congressmen and senators infringed their own oaths and pledges to protect the interest of the state and the government and their constituents.

Dumb if you do; dumb if you don’t.   After all, everyday does it!

What added confusion in the minds of the public is when one national daily published the photo of P-Noy and Janet Napoles taken in November 30, 2012 at the dinner party in Shangri-la Hotel.  What business does P-Noy have with Napoles?  If the allegation of Talent Manager Lolit Solis holds substance, then the Chief Executive is liable to his “boss” - the Filipino people.

Thinking out loud, are P-Noy, Enrile, Estrada, Revilla, Reyes et al in the same boat?  Are they synchronically paddling towards the same coastline, or are they thinking of the same end in mind?

Most recently, the Supreme Court issued an order to temporarily stop releasing and using the pork barrel while they hear petitions to abolish it from different personalities and groups.  There have been attempts before but these petitions had never succeeded.  For one, this is money; it makes the world alive and crazy.  Two, the pork barrel is their lives.  Senators and congressmen would die protecting their interests in the guise of helping the majority poor Filipinos. 

Sadly though, we kept on singing the old song.

The author of the pork barrel during the heydays of Aquino administration must have been inflated with cholesterol, if not filthy rich.  Too much red meat is unhealthy and therefore unsafe and dangerous to health; and so with consuming too much of the pork barrel; it is addictive and paranoiac. 

And addiction paralyzes; it just did to the petite lady who formerly occupies the Palace.  Worse, paranoia kills.  It just did to one defense secretary years ago.

Several personalities have been linked to this newest and hottest primetime sensational drama.  Showcasing a different twist of elements, the episodes dramatically depict a new dimension of greed mixed with power and the abuse of it, incest and betrayal.  It is a powerful fusion of two sets passionately fashioned to produce a glaring inter-connection of several subsets.  This inter-connection becomes the cross pollination process that brings to the fore dramatic political conflicts, which should bring about a grandest action plan of looking deeply into authority and accountability, and the application of these, at the end of the day.  

Truly, what a cocktail mix!