The Carousel

By Rolo B. Cena

Hushed Poppies

Dumaguete Star Informer

July 8, 2012

Cebu City, Philippines - The Judicial and Bar Council of the Philippines (JBC) has finally closed accepting nominations for the chief justice.  So far, the process has registered 65 contenders who voluntarily and involuntarily submitted themselves to scrutiny.  And lately, it’s been narrowed down to 24.

The unique and commendably authentic Philippine made democracy has its unique ways of espousing transparency as in the case of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.  To most believers, the live telecast of the trial made one and absolute good:  Transparency is alive!

The top three bets will be shortlisted soonest in the deliberation that will be covered by the media.  Most people believe that this process is interesting in the sense that it runs almost the same as any talent search show on earth.  Undoubtedly, P-Noy has earned a credit for himself as the most influential talent manager in the country to date sans the magical, starry mirror, outbesting popular talent machineries popularized by the top three terrestrial giants of the country today.

Notwithstanding the provisions of the Constitution on the qualification of the next Chief Justice, modern-day Filipinos believe that the Chief Magistrate should have the proven record of independence, character, and firm resolve.

Arguably though, the selection process was done with an ounce of mockery.  Part of it has started from the nomination process that has been liberally opened and made public.  Not only did JBC accord transparency in the selection process, it has also invited a lot of crackpots to crave for the post:  A former Regional Trial Court Judge who was sacked by the Supreme court in 2006 and who claimed “The court will never rise again except upon appointment of a chief justice who is anointed by Christ through Ave Maria;” a certain Leonardo da Vinci nominated via email a certain Antonio Villamor; and a nurse nominating herself.  What on earth can a nurse, an ordinary citizen or a mentally-derailed lawyer can do in the judiciary?

By far, this is the most ridiculed government process I have ever known.  Every citizen has wanted to occupy the post without regard to qualification, experience, and competence, and with each one of them telling the media that they “have the edge.”  The search for the chief magistrate is no laughing matter. Surprisingly, while it democratizes the system, it has actually devalued the position of the Chief Justice, consciously or unconsciously.

The position of the Chief Justice has been assaulted once:  the midnight appointment of a man named Renato Corona, inexperienced, partial and alleged to be a close ally and associate of the now-troubled petite lady of the Congress.  Please, let us stop devaluing it farther more.  Let us respect the way we respect our citizenship.

And Senator Joker Arroyo was right:  The selection has become ridiculous.  Senator Franklin Drilon has a point:  It has become a circus.  The irate Sen. Miriam Santiago has a valid argument:  it has become a devaluation of the position.

The challenge of the Council is to nominate its top three bets from which the President has to intelligently and impartially choose The One.  Nope, not just nominating the top three, but nominating these dramatis personae impartially, consciously, and intelligently.  These candidates should have the proven record of independence, character and firm resolve:  Independence that can outwit political influence, character that can outdo personal and political differences, and firm resolve that cannot be influenced by whatever color of money any “negotiator” has in his pocket.

And while the process has been started with magical spotlights, let’s not make the final round like a circus!  After all, the Supreme Court is not a carousel.

Poppies

By Rolo B. Cena

Hushed Poppies

Dumaguete Star Informer

July 15, 2012

Cebu City, Phils – Dutch post-impressionist Vincent Willem Van Gough died of a gunshot wound.  Investigators believed it was self-inflicted but remained to be a mystery until today because no gun was ever found in the scene of crime.  He was and will be best remembered for his colorful masterpieces especially “Poppies in the Field”.

Lately, Dutch missionary Willem Geertman was murdered in San Fernando.  Police investigators ruled out robbery with homicide; cause-oriented groups claimed extrajudicial killing.  He was and will be best revered for his cause for environmental movements and mission for the famers of Hacienda Luisita.

When Van Gough died in 1890, the post-impressionism movement in Europe wept.  Along with him died the wonderful colors of the canvass: the character imbedded in each stroke of his subject, in each hue of his expression, and in each meaning of his intention.

What purports to remain is the concession Van Gough had for life, which is aptly amplified in all his works:  Concision and grace.  Concision in the sense that his drive to collate all the beauties of the universe into one meaningful piece of canvass deflates the enormous mass of subjects available for his disposal; it demystifies the  mammoth of thoughts into an artwork that speaks of an artist’s prologue to a new dimension.  Grace in the sense that he wanted more strength to probably ease his ailing physique. 

When Geertman died, the cause-oriented groups in the country mourned.  Along with him died the wonderful colors of an ordinary yet purpose-driven life: the character depicted in each stroke of concerns for environment, in the strength unleashed for his worthy cause, and in each meaning for all his moves.

What purports to remain is the concession Geertman had for life, which is appositely magnified in all his works:  Truth and justice.  Truth in the sense that his passion to preserve the environment does not call for rebellion and terrorism; it calls for environmental activism aimed at preserving the dying mother earth and much more, at simply helping those farmers who till these vast lands to produce what we need.

When Geertman died, several other Filipino citizens including concision, grace, truth and justice died:  Concision wants to know the contents of the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN)  these mentally-derailed legislators, senators and government officials behold to present; Grace needs the help of these spotlight-conscious men that are supposed to be coming from the nasty domestic animal  butchered into a staple called pork in a barrel; Truth proposes to deliver the white papers unearthed from the shelves of those who are deprived of facts; and Justice wants to acquire fairness despite political differences, equity despite wide disparity between the rich and the poor, the favored and the less-privileged, and the lame and the powerful. 

When former President Corazon Aquino signed CARP into law, the objective was to deliver concision at the shortest possible time, grace under ruining pressure, truth amidst culturally rooted lies, and justice amidst disparity.  When Van Gough painted “Poppies in the field,” he never dreamt of making himself a symbol of post-impressionism; when Geertman caused for environment and the famers of Hacienda Luisita, he never projected to be the Gandhi of Luzon.    

And whether or not the poppies grow in the fields of Italy, Holland, Aurora or Tarlac, no demoniac is ever licensed to uproot and exterminate them from mother earth.  Geertman, just like Van Gough, deserves to blissfully live his multi-purpose-driven life with anybody, anywhere, anytime. 

Every one is a poppy; and poppies deserve to bloom to give color and meaning to life!

Stupid war

By Rolo B. Cena
The Gulf Files
Dumaguete Star Informer
7 November 2010

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – The US government was once again agitated when bomb-contained parcels bound to Chicago were intercepted in the airports of Dubai and Britain through the intelligence information from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. According to media sources, almost the entire world accused Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP) for the foiled terroristic activity.

Recently, the government was perturbed by the heightened travel advisories issued against the Philippines by the United States of America, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In their respective releases, citizens of these countries were advised to avoid visiting Manila and most of Mindanao cities including shopping malls, places of worships and other public places.

Credibility-torn and elections-troubled Barack Obama called the parcels as “credible terrorist threat” and could have, according to experts, even brought down the plane. The suspect, a Yemeni woman, has been arrested and contained by the Yemeni government. Assumingly, the US government would spare no effort to delve into the matter and sanction the source of the parcels reportedly sent to the two places of Jewish Worship.

Malacanang, on the other hand, assured the public of no possible terrorism stating further that the Office of the President has been provided with intelligence report and that the situation is under control. Terroristic activities in the Philippines are only carried out by the Abu Sayyaf, the militant Islamist faction of the Moro National Liberation Front. The group is the most notorious of all extremists the Philippine government has to deal with.

Al-Qaeda, the militant Islamist group who was responsible for the 9/11 bombing that toppled down New York’s World Trade Center, was engineered by Osama Bin Laden in alliance with other groups including war-torn Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. However, while the world believes that US military offensives killed Saddam Hussein including its dominion or have thrown them out of Iraq, the proximate probability of reunification with other Muslim fundamentalists still looms as it is obviously caught in the spotlight – again!

President Obama’s dream of fixing peace and reconciliation in the Middle East and Arab Peninsula seems to have been derailed or slowed down. With the recent bomb threat addressed to the Jewish nationals residing in his territory, the prospect of instituting peace between and among the conflict-born Arab Kingdoms is apparently turning gloomy.

For as long as the world’s superpower dominates global politics, war shall always be construed as a controlling mechanism by powerful countries and economies against weaker nations like those in oil-rich Middle East and Arab Peninsula. Consequently, the direct proportional relationship between the supply and demand of resources attributable to this ferocious exercise, under the economies of scale, determines the gigantic role of predator and the coerced submission of preys. Obviously, war is a manifestation of interests no matter who or what triggers which.

Perceptibly, the Islam fundamentalists are the only extremists the world has to deal with. Among them are the Al-Qaeda, the Hezbollah, the Taliban and the Abu Sayyaf. Collectively, these groups are Islamic by faith, culture and orientation. Most of them have been known for their terroristic and kidnap-for-ransom activities all over the world. Practically, the only perceived reason for their cause is their ideology positioned at the opposite end of the Islamic faith.

The Taliban is the Islamist group that was launched in early 1990 to end the bitter war in Afghanistan. Backed by Pakistan, the militant group almost succeeded in dominating the country when America then bombarded them from power in 9/11’s feverish aftermath. The Islam fundamentalists of Iraq are believed to be the offspring of Al-Qaeda. The Jewish controlled Israel defied the Arab-controlled Palestine over a strip of land each one claiming territorial control by reason of historical domain. Hezbollah was founded in Lebanon to blockade Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. The Abu Sayyaf, while it is thriving in the Muslim countries of the Far East with high profile notoriety particularly in the Philippines, shares a common ideology with them.

Startlingly, historic wars can be traced back to the famous Garden where, through the calculative and precise engineering of the serpent, the Woman tempted the Man to swallow the fruit that allegedly contains the trivia of knowledge. This knowledge propelled the technology of procreation whereby the two beautiful animals conjured their sexual faculties that later brought forward Cain and Abel. The four, to make the long story short, not only championed procreation; they introduced war with the highest degree of stupidity. Undoubtedly, it is the same war that crazed man-made kingdoms fighting against kingdoms of the whole world.

Humans are genetically pre-disposed to inherit the image of the Man and the Woman and that includes among others the intellect, the strength and biases, the whims and caprices, and its culpability and flexibility. Conversely, along with creation, stupid war was born. It was not the result of human conflicts or of its attributes; it was an activity consequential to creation itself.

Man is the masterpiece of all Creation initiated by the Master Creator; war is the masterpiece of procreation designed by the savage of the Garden called Man. Arguably, for as long as the thin red line that demarcates the values and greed or good and evil is completely understood, only then can man intelligently punctuate this stupid war at once.

Remember, even the handsomest of all angels named Lucifer waged war against the Master Creator out of personal business. What more can a superpower do to its subjects?

Cruisin'

By Rolo B. Cena
Hushed Poppies
Dumaguete Star Informer
8 April 2012

Cebu, Philippines - About ten years ago, I retired from the Country’s top government-owned-and-controlled shipping corporation where I spent more than ten years. This year, after my sojourn from my Middle East adventure, I luckily joined another shipping company; this time, it’s privately owned and with almost the same compensation package as I had overseas.

As part of my job orientation, I had to undergo an immersion trip via one of the company’s cargo ships. From the port of the “Queen City” of the south, I had to sail to Cagayan to meet the branch staff and to get familiar with the operations. From Cagayan, I had to enplane to Manila for the same objective.

Fifteen minutes past six, I took pride in boarding the steel-hulled carrier that holds tons of assorted cargos. The apprentice ushered me to the messroom while waiting for the master. He reminded me of the associate who ushered detained former Comelec Chair Benjamin Abalos to a meeting with ZTE officials that led to the hospital arrest of the petite lady he unwittingly served for. As I took a seat, I overheard from the background the news anchor of one of the terrestrial giants broadcasting the proceedings of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Obviously, these sailors are keeping track of the impeachment trial of the Chief Justice. And like other Filipinos, these calamity-tested white-uniformed men, who are as fiercely convicted to live as the Vikings of the golden era of seafaring, are eager to know the results. In fact, quoting the Second Mate, he wanted Corona convicted.

But for most of them, there is more to it than the session in the messroom: Life. Known to be bold and strong, they wittingly conquer the high seas that often pose overwhelming and threatening perils: Nature and man-made calamities. Most often, they overcome these perils by utilizing their skills and an ounce of providential luck; failure to overcome these dangers would certainly imperil their very own lives.

Peeping through, Titanic, the biggest and the most sophisticated luxury liner during her prime, lost hundreds of lives to Atlantic Ocean when it hit a submerged portion of the iceberg. Though it was a contact of nature, human error was the prevailing and proven factor in that case. Recently, Italy-based luxury liner Costa Concordia ran aground and tilted off the coast of Miglio, an island off Italy.

In two months time within the domestic shores, at least three storm-caused maritime disasters were recorded and reported: Off the coasts of Batanes, Catanduanes, and Aklan. Luckily though, all crew members survived.

Peeking through, the perks of sea-based workers are, by industry standard and practice, relatively higher and different from that of the land-based. For one, the risk involved is undoubtedly greater. Two, the detachment or alienation they experience is uncompromisingly incomparable.

Whether tsunami or hurricane, tropical storm or sand storm, cyclone or avalanche, they all fall under one label in life: Dangers. And in that we mean, dangers that put all of them, including us, in threatening situations. Any error in calculating the ships position in the navigational highway would certainly mean a maritime disaster that would consequently translate to loss of properties, loss of lives, or even nature.

Seeing through the barriers of opaque horizon, seafarers oftentimes dismiss the idea of seeing loved ones soonest, discount the possibility of sleeping with their wives, or forget the idea of dining with the family.

Cruising with the seafarers and sailing through the ups and downs translate to sailing with the two extremes this government accorded its constituents: the roller-coaster ride to uncertainty.

When was the last time we had our best cruise with any of the highest political leader of the country? Glitch: It’s not fun in the Philippines anymore!

Harboring the Harbour

By Rolo B. Cena
Hushed Poppies
Dumaguete Star Informer
15 April 2012

Manila, Philippines – As the Philippine Airlines airbus touched-down the tarmac of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, I couldn’t avoid transporting myself back to the years my family and I spent in the imperial Manila, home to egocentric approaches of self-propelled political platform in the guise of consumer-istic economic development.

Overwhelmed by the perks I had to enjoy in visiting our branches located in major seaports of the country, the stimulation gradually deteriorated as reality of Manila was slowly unfolding.

The supposedly shorter trip from the South to North Harbour took hours due to severing traffic congestion that has plagued the metropolis for decades now. As we drew near the Harbour, a glimpse of the informal settlers’ asymmetrically constructed shanties lining from the entrance of the bridge to the end part of the area caught my attention once more. From my recollection, the number significantly increased since late nineties.

Looking at the canvass reminds me of the informal settlers in most towns and cities in Negros Oriental that I have been to or have lived. From 2003, the number of shanties at the riverside, creeks, bridges and government-owned lands increased tremendously. In the neighboring town of the capital city alone, the alarming increase of informal-settling immigrants disturbed the government and the populace.

Based on my assessment, the bliss houses constructed by former Presidents Cory Aquino and Fidel Ramos seem like aged significantly over time. For someone who had witnessed its inauguration, the beautiful structures are beyond recognition: devoid of colors, sanitation, and order.

Drawing nearer to Vitas, West of Tondo’s Smokey Mountain, supplied deeper sense of my probe: Tondo has never improved and the government has failed in their programs of transforming the area from being a dump-site to a business-earning industrial estate of the sprawling North Harbour. Tons of garbage are dumped daily in the area and hundreds of informal settlers are arresting the area every month making it another “Bagong Silang” in the west of the metropolis. What a sight it would have been if the government is only sincere in their programs of eradicating poverty in the country. Thanks to pork barrels and election sheets attached to illegal squatting and poverty.

Side dish: Will the “tuwid na landas” of the younger Aquino succeed in relation to this agenda? Will he be able to put his teeth on what he was professing? As it is now, the country has been dragged to a more destructive process that brings us to another distortion; he is more inclined to convicting the people who became obstacles his family’s interests, instead of focusing on economic reforms that can propel the country to another paradigm and consequently alleviate long-running poverty.

Formerly known to be home to the beautiful sunset that became the tourism brand in the early Marcos years, today, Manila bay is a spot no more: a sanctuary of nocturnal flesh trades, crimes and criminalities, and commercial urban thrash that slowly deteriorates the country’s business and economic profile in the Far East.

And Manila is not Manila alone. It is a depiction of human and political greed that translates into a cascaded political disorder and economic chaos down to the smallest political subdivision of the country from Batanes to Tawi Tawi.

And what more can we expect from this wrong turns of uncontrolled and unprecedented economic and socio-political activities: A promise of wrath only titans can abort in their own sense and style, time and passion, and self-serving will.

And Dumaguete or Negros Oriental is not spared from this!

Near miss

By Rolo B. Cena
Hushed Poppies
Dumaguete Star Informer
22 January 2012

Recently, the tilting of luxury liner Costa Concordia off the island of Giglio in Italy shocked not only the maritime industry but the entire world as well. As the rescue and retrieval operations are currently conducted, the incident draws more dramatic attention when it revealed that the captain, Francesco Schettino, abandoned the ship devoid of plan to save four-thousand-two hundred lives on board.

Before the Senate-conducted impeachment trial began on Monday, Chief Justice Renato Corona instantaneously dared his detractors by saying: “If you want to remove me, kill me.” As the impeachment hearing continues, the most awaited real life drama that rose from the judiciary-executive conflict attracted more dramatic attention when it revealed that the captain of the court, the Chief Justice, owned about two hundred million pesos worth of properties, a figure his salary cannot afford.

These two men, both donning majestic robes and gigantic responsibilities toward mankind, have deliberately undertaken two major yet opposing gestures only an officer and a gentleman can believe and condemn: retreat and attack. The former fortifies cowardice and neglect; the latter personifies courage and responsibility.

On several occasions, Schettino argued that he was the last one to leave the portal of the ill-fated seventeen-deck cruiser. The audio transcripts of conversation between him and port authorities revealed that he was insistently informing them of leaving the sea craft despite warnings. The passengers and crew members cry for the captain’s conviction for manslaughter due to his ignoble act of abandonment.

Such was a blatant display of formidable cowardice in the midst of clear and present danger where an officer is expected to protect his men. An officer retreating from the perimeter or jurisdiction of responsibility in the midst of crisis espouses defeat, an act of willful neglect, and an act only a corporate coward can emulate.

On several occasions, Corona bravely implied to be last one to leave the portico of a credibility-torn Supreme Court. The eight allegations charged against his persona as embodied in the articles of impeachment purport to depict glares of the Magistrate’s credibility and moral fitness. The entire nation cries for the conviction of Chief Justice for allegedly betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, plunder and impliedly, manslaughter.

Such was an apparent and clear manifestation of courage under fire where an officer is expected to lead his men. An officer protracting the attack against the enemies in the middle of the battle espouses genuine leadership, an act of utter regard to responsibility, an act even the beggars down the street can emulate.

Sadly though, such were not the cases of Schettino and Corona. The former cowardly washed his hands with the stale water of Judas, escaped through “Jacob’s ladder” and disappeared while the horizon met the sky in the cold Mediterranean sea; the latter mollusk-ly cleft and held on to his position, made controls through “Herod’s court” and emerged while the cloak of the Judiciary has chaotically entangled with that of the executive and the legislative.

If I may opine, Schettino should have done the Corona’s “mollusks way” while Corona, Schettino’s “Judas way” and elude what seemed to be the most perilous prosecution of all times.

Arguably though, Schettino and Corona are graphical revelations of former Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arrroyo’s foiled attempt to leave the country, and her insatiable grip to power by way of her congressional representation. Merging these two can produce the classic political masterpiece, which literally and figuratively known to many as “greed” in its truest form and meaning.

And what do Schettino and Corona do commonly possess? It is the near miss of truth and lies that borders the posh domain of Gloria and her cohorts!

Fraction

By Rolo B. Cena
Hushed Poppies
Dumaguete Star Informer
15 January 2012

There are no written rules that squatters must learn for a safe habitation in the accident-prone multi-billion dollar gold-encrypted Compostela Valley. As Mines and Geosciences Bureau and other scientists once warned, the Valley is landslide prone and that no mining activities must be undertaken.

In the same token, there are no written rules that informal settlers must learn for safe habitation in the areas of Cagayan de Oro, Iligan City, or Negros Oriental where tropical storm “Sendong” recently unleashed its might in complete havoc.

Unlike mathematics though, there’s no school where the greatest common factor that should divide both numerator and denominator to arrive at the least expression be any different from the disparity of distribution of wealth and privileges from the overwhelmingly miffed and gaffed poor Filipino people are taught.

As a result, a bizarre masterpiece of madness and chaos hit the fragile habitation of Compostela Valley, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan City, and Negros Oriental that paralyzed the normal lives of the under-privileged; the same underprivileged who incessantly tried to outwit poverty by any or all chaotic and impecunious ways and means of survival. It is the same gigantic canvass of despair and utter poverty that rocked the demi-gods of the lip-service adorned halls of men of the explicit few numerators.

Indeed, the mathematical expression of fraction that obviously defines the disparity between the numerator-ical rich and the denominator-ical poor is as pandemic as the unfair distribution of land in the crisis-torn Philippines. It is the same fraction that apparently divides the domestic animal to produce the greed-labeled pork in a barrel; the same pork that disintegrates assemblies of commoners, lords, queens and kings. Relentlessly, it is the same “pork” that becomes the staple of political marauders to lure these squatters and informal settlers to stay in the danger zone such as Compostela Valley, Cagayan de Oro, et al in exchange of a bite size of it.

On the one hand, there are no written rules that Gloria Arroyo and her cohorts must consider to learn remorse before her fate is completely blown out of proportion: Abalos, et al are jailed; Corona is impeached; Gutierrez, Garcia and Reyes are out; Lagman falls out. All her hushed puppies, puppets and stooges are slowly, if not one after the other, exiting from her camp.

Unlike religion though, there’s no school where the scalpel edge of right and wrong, lies and truth are taught. More so, there’s no school where the hellish consequential wrath of plunder, electoral sabotage, extra-judicial killings, vicious graft, sadistic corruption, political adultery and concubinage are taught.

As a result, grotesque sculptures of hushed puppies like Angelo safeguards the loot; tamed puppets like Renato and associates secure the crown and revering stooges like Mercedita protects the political will. Of course, numerating these numerators would not be complete unless we romp them with another breed of political concubines and adulterers like Benjamin, Romulo, Mike, Vicky, et al who facilitated scandals and scams, fraud and sabotage, and the classic graft and corruption.

Indeed, the classic political virus called “greed” that consummates leaders across creed, race and culture continues to unleash its magical whims unconsciously rotting the souls of looters like Gloria, Ferdinand, Hosni, Moamar, Adolf, Fidel, et al.

Finally, there are no written rules that the entire Filipino community must learn in selecting leaders that should represent their voices in various fractional assemblies and halls.

Unlike political science though, there’s no school that teaches the pro-rata use of pork in a barrel in exchange of political paper called ballots. More so, there’s no school that teaches the gravity of these ballots when casted with the power of the pork, or a fraction of it, to produce the array of mentally-dehydrated political stars.

As a consequence, the classic science of election produces corrupt and corruptible politicians and insatiable leaders whose personal and vested interests, and not the mandate of the general Filipino electorate, illuminate their pathways. Obviously, the likes of Arroyo and their cohorts top the list.

Indeed, if the philosophy continues to dominate the minds of both numerator-ical rich leaders and denominator-ical poor voters, cases like Compostela Valley, Cagayan de Oro et al, Gloria and her cohorts, etc. shall forever befall on the doormat of Philippine politics and subdue all the hushed puppies, puppets and stooges to serve a fraction of one-hundred-million Filipinos.

Occasionally, a fraction is not good.