Glimpses
The proxy elections
By Jose Ma. MontelibanoI really like what Sen. Serge Osmeña said about the recently concluded senatorial elections, “P-Noy won but Binay did not lose.”
I really like what Sen. Serge Osmeña said about the recently concluded senatorial elections, “P-Noy won but Binay did not lose.”
It’s that time again when traditional sources roll out their unsolicited advice. Vote wisely, vote responsibly, don’t sell your vote, etc. Now that the Internet affords more opportunity for any user to join the chorus from traditional media, including posters on Church walls, the volume of unsolicited advice has increased.
Poverty in the Philippines cannot be effectively and substantially resolved. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men cannot raise at least 5 million Filipino families out of poverty, not for as long as they do not change the way they look at the poor.
After a lot of traveling abroad, I have picked up local traveling once more, taking advantage of summer and special events taking place in the Philippines. Last month, I went to four provinces in one week to attend the most spectacular volunteer event ever held in the country, the Bayani Challenge 2013. 80,000 Filipinos (with some foreigners, too) joined the event, most of them for five whole days, at their own expense. The Bayani Challenge invites the participant to be part of community-based activities which range from building homes for the poor, repairing/repainting public school buildings, planting trees, rehabilitating mangroves, medical missions, and giving poor children the time of their lives with games, food and balloons. For five days, Filipinos gave of themselves to prove bayanihan works and should be the foundation of nation-building. 37 sites in 33 provinces hosted Bayani Challenge 2013.
I am on a ferry boat from Cebu on its way to Hilongos, Leyte. It has been some time since I have taken this route to reach Maasin, Southern Leyte, which is my final destination for today. My age does not encourage me to do traveling like this anymore. After all, I had to wake [...]
Losing a friend as many and I have in William MacGregor Esposo, or Billy, despite our having accepted a long time ago that death was an active and constant threat to him, is always an emotional trauma. We who had been among Billy’s closest friends in the last two decades are not strangers to the dramas of life, not at our ages. And we have not been strangers to danger, excitement and radical change either – these had brought us together, kept us together, and made our friendships even stronger.
Politicians have become entertainers, and entertainers have become politicians. For as long as Filipinos seek entertainment more than good governance, then it will continue to be entertainers becoming politicians and politicians become entertainers. Entertainment tends to distract us from our daily worries, or the exhaustion from our daily routine. With the kind of extreme poverty [...]
For five days, the largest and most inspiring volunteer event in Philippines history, the Bayani Challenge, witnessed upwards of 70,000 participants daily. The Bayani Challenge is a joint event of Pilipinas Natin and Gawad Kalinga hosted in 37 sites in 33 provinces. It began on March 23 and ended, the other day, March 27.
It is time to review the program of subsidizing state universities and colleges. Like any government expense, school subsidies must have justification, their objectives clear and desirable, and their results measurable and proportionately beneficial to the common good. The massive support for public school system from grade school to high school is understandable and necessary. [...]
The noisy Filipino went at it again. All the commentators, from traditional media to social media, could simply not help themselves. We had to bash ourselves again, maybe because the rest of the world had nothing but good to say about us. When people have gotten used to being failures, they do not know what to do with success.
A strange thing happened a few days ago. Nur Misuari came out in media blasting President Aquino, gave the President unsolicited advice, and then accused him of siding with Malaysia against Filipinos. I kept reading the news (thankfully, I missed the bizarre scene on TV) and wondered how history is so easily forgotten. And I am not talking only about Sabah.
Twenty-seven years ago, the miracle of a peaceful revolution that removed a dictator from power unfolded in Edsa. Since then, much has happened that could never have been predicted at that time. Personal and political fortunes had serious ups and downs, heels became heroes and heroes became heels.
