Her Majesty, Mount Balatucan as seen from Balingasag, Misamis Oriental
As seen from Gingoog City
I was on the move over the weekend and that means a lot of time spent sitting on a transport. With a hundred kilometers to cover from one end of Mindanao to the other, expect a 7-10 hours ride.
It was of one these bus rides that I encounter some not so pleasant experiences. I was carrying my bulky bag at my back and holding a small backpack when I ride a bus somewhere in Misamis Oriental. With that get up, you look so heavy and awkward. As I scout for seats, the only one available was that occupied by a lady. A not so pretty but still an attractive lady. Beside her was a bag placed at the window side of the bus. I then asked her, “Is the seat taken?” She responded with a pout, conveying to me, that she does not like to share the seat with me.
She then gently transferred to the window seat from the aisle seat which surprises me because I thought she would give me that seat. I settled quietly in my aisle seat which honestly I don’t like because I prefer the window side to see the sights. Anyway, I cant do anything about her uneasiness with me. What can I do? I can’t be there at the backseat. I easily feel dizzy especially so if the bus will negotiate sharp curves like those in the vicinity of Binuangan, Misamis Oriental. I realized that she may have prepared to offer that seat to a Sam Milby or Piolo Pascual look alike and hope to start a romance in the bus. Or she was hoping to share the seat with someone wholesome to talk with until her destination. She was hoping for a prince charming, she ended up with a frog instead. I sympathized with her.
Well, to change her rough impression on me, I took out my not so expensive digital camera and just starting to scan my pictures. Well, just to show her I am not a shady caharacter (tourists carry cameras). Then when the bus stopped at a refreshment spot, I bought some bottled tea drink, actually C2 apple flavor. You know pag C2 ininom mo, at least mukha kang may class di ba? I made it sure she actually saw me drinking (para naman masabi niya me taste naman pala ang lokong to’).
I occasionally glanced at her. She had a soft, tanned but silky skin. She was wearing a backless tube, sort of and she is quite big for an average. I saw some other passengers occasionally glancing at her. I thought she might be a beauty titlist or at least a veteran of beauty pageants. i was wondering, where she is studying? Liceo? Maybe Xavier. Those are the thoughts alternating in my mind at that time.
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CARL EXTENSION
Malaya editorial
The bishops have thrown their support to the proposed extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, apparently still believing the worn-out catechism that land distribution is the way to improve life in the countryside. Make every farmer the owner of the land he tills, even if he is reduced to tending a postage stamp-size holding, and he and his family would have enough to lead a reasonably comfortable life.
CARL has been in effect since 1988. The original law expired in 1998, but was extended for another 10 years. The experiment will have spanned one whole generation. Most of the original beneficiaries have died or have become physically incapable of farming their lands.
Assuming they originally got four hectares, to whom will they pass on the land? The eldest son, perhaps, following the feudal principle of primogeniture? Or will they distribute the land equally to their offspring, for an inheritance of one-hectare each based on an average four children per family?
We are not saying that CARL is a failure. But is the price in terms of government expenses in buying the land and of the opportunities lost in failing to fully exploit the productivity of the farms worth it?
Top of the head, we can only come up with a sub sub-sector of land reform beneficiaries who have markedly improved their lives. They are the beneficiaries near urban areas who earned a windfall by selling their holdings to land developers (how long the money lasted is a different question). Then we have the beneficiaries who have contracted out their lands to big agribusiness concerns. These beneficiaries have turned themselves into some form of rentiers, with the resulting production arrangement breeding a new underclass of destitute farm workers.
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I thought Malacanang entirely dislikes Congressional investigations. It always jeered and mocked investigations of that sort and brand it as “in aid of grandstanding”, in aid of 2010”, “in aid of publicity.”
But what about this report that Senate Committee on Energy headed by Miriam Saniago and its counterpart committee in the house chaired by no less than presidential son Mike Arroyo will jointly conduct an investigation into the alleged overpricing by Meralco. Like how they chide other Senate investigations adverse to their interest, I ask them why conduct a probe on the overprice. What law they have in mind to pass after the conduct of this investigation. Does the investigation result in the lowering the rates of electricity charged by Meralco? Can not the ERC take care of this matter?
This proposed probe on Meralco should be look with a critical eye by the discerning public. Meralco is owned by the Lopezes. It’s the sister company of ABS CBN, the only remaining network that is relatively critical to the administration after ABC 5 toned down its more independent broadcasting. Like the old ways of Ferdinand Marcos, Gloria Arroyo wants to follow the trail of the former by using Meralco in one or the other of reining the independent broadcasting of ABS-CBN.
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Not the best venue to make “ladlad.”
Although I have so many disagreements with Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales on certain issues, I support his stand in opposing gays holding Santacruzan “sagalas.” I don’t think its too much to ask for the Catholic Church to at least respect the true meaning of Santacruzan. Correct me if Iam wrong, Santacruzan is derived from a celebration of St. Helena honoring the Cross as a symbol of victory in war particularly by his son, Emperor Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of Rome. It is said that before Constantine went to battle he asked the heavens for a sign and in the heavens he saw messages “In Hoc Signo Vinces” (By this sign, you shall conquer.)
So there is a religious undertone in the celebration of the Santacruzan and this, I think, was missed out by a lot of gays. Maybe what they noticed are only the wardrobes that the “Reynas” were wearing. And so they thought Santacruzan is another fashion event where they can show off their poses, walks and of course, their colorful and “bongga” dresses. I watched the television last night and I saw one gay who not only marched but even turn around like a model on a catwalk parading her flowing gown. You see, that’s the danger that the good Cardinal Rosales is warning us. That Santacruzan will be cheapened and desecrated.
Are gay pride parades not enough for them to show off what they’ve got and sent across the society the message against discrimination? Gay pride parades exactly accomplishes what they are vigorously campaigning for and for me that’s okay. But with Santacruzan its another story. It shoul have been spared from gayish influence. Its a religious activity for God sake.
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