• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
PPICommunityPressAwards
•Best EditedWeekly 2003 & 2007•Best in Photojournalism1998, 2005 & 2008
a
rt
tt
a
ngel
gelgel
 
printshop
Printing is our professionService is our passion
67 P. Burgos St., Proj. 4, QC 1109, Philippines
(0632) 912-4852
 
(0632) 912-5706
Mabuhay
LINGGUHANG PILIPINO MULA PA NOONG 1980
ISSN–1655-3853 • JUNE 12 - 18, 2009 • VOL. 30, NO. 24 • 8 PAHINA • P10.00
Fil-Japanese sa Hagonoy  walang Influenza A H
1
N
1
8 may sintomas sa Bulakanngunit hindi pa iyon ‘outbreak’
Freedom Day: Properuse and display of flag
B
 Y 
B
ENNY 
L
UZENTALES
Philippines News Agency
BUNTAL FOR A FLAG
— The Philippine tri-color made of red, white and blue “buntalhats” is the centerpiece of the Independence Day celebration at SM City Baliwag.The town of Baliwag is noted for buntal weaving and buntal hat exports.
— PR
 EDITOR’S NOTE: This Inde- pendence Day article was first published in the
 Mabuhay
on June 10-16, 1992.
THE Philippine flag is thenational emblem of ourcountry. As such, it standsfor national unity and iden-tity.The Philippine flag ex-presses our sentiments forfreedom, justice, equalityand nobility. Thus, wemust honor and respectour flag.The flag should be dis-played in all public offices,buildings, official resi-dences, public places andinstitutions of learning ev-eryday — repeat everyday!It should be raised atsunrise and lowered atsundown.Here are some rules onthe proper display of thePhilippine flag.
When flown from theflagpole, the flag shouldhave its blue stripe on topin time of peace and red ontop in time of war.
When not flown froma flagpole or staff, the flag should be displayed eithervertically or horizontally.
When displayed ver-tically, the triangle shouldbe on top. The blue fieldshould be to the right (leftof the observer) in time of peace and the red field tothe right (left of the ob-server) in time of war. When displayed hori-zontally, the blue stripe
 
continued on page 5
TULOY ANG PAG-AARAL
 
— Dahil laging lumulubog sa high tide ang ilang paaralan sabayan ng Hagonoy, nasanay na rito ang mga estudyante kaya’t kahit lubog ang kanilangkuwarto ay tuloy ang pag-aaral ng estudyanteng ito ng Hagonoy East Central School(HECS) na tinaas na lamang ang paa habang nagsusulat. Ayon sa mga guro ng HECS,mas pinangangambahan nila ang high tide kaysa Influenza A H1N1.
—
D
INO
B
 ALABO
N
I
D
INO
B
ALABO
HAGONOY, Bulacan — Nakahinga nang maluwag ang mga residente sa bayang ito dahil sa negatibo sa Influenza A H1N1 ang isang mag-aaral na Filipino-Japanese na kinakitaan ng sintomas ng kinatatakutang sakit.
 Ang walong mag-aaralsa bayan ng Bulakan na ki-nakitaan ng sintomas ng Influenza A H1N1 virus ayhindi pa maituturing na “community outbreak” ng kinakatakutang sakit, ayonkay Dr. Joycelyn Gomez,public health officer ng lalawigan ng Bulacan.Batay sa impormasyong nakuha ng 
Mabuhay 
kina Dr. Gomez at Dr. RommelPajela, municipal healthofficer, at kay acting MayorElmer Santos ang 16 taong gulang Filipino-Japanesena estudyante ng St.Mary’s Academy-Hagonoy(SMAH) na kinakitaan ng sintomas noong Martes ng gabi, Hunyo 9, ay kinum-pirma ng Research Insti-tute for Tropical Medicine(RITM) na negatibo sa in-fluenza A H1N1.Una rito ay kaagad isi-nugod ang estudyante sa Divine Word Hospital dahilsa lagnat at ibinalik sa nasabing ospital kinabu-kasan. Noon ding umagang iyon ay inilipat ang pas- yente sa Lung Center of thePhilippines sa Quezon Citybatay sa payo ni Dr. Zoraida Miguel na siyang nakakita ng sintomas ng A H1N1 sa estudyante.Sinuspinde naman ang klase sa SMAH noong Hu-webes, Hunyo 10, kung kailan natuklasan ng pro-vincial health officer na ang estudyante ay kauuwilang galing sa Japan ka-sama ang kanyang 10-taong gulang na kapatid atang kanilang lola.Mabilis na kumalat ang balita hinggil sa kalagayanng mag-aaral sa pama-magitan ng text messagesna ikinabahala ng maramisa Hagonoy.“Sana naman ay nega-tive siya sa Influenza A,kasi nakakaawa ’yung mga bata,” ani Celia Payonga- yong, isang nurse sa Divine Word Hospital na nagsisil-bi ring tesorera ng ospital.Gayundin ang pahayag ni Arnold Mendoza na maytatlong anak na nag-aaral.
sundan sa pahina 6
HAGONOY, Bulacan — “Pare, mayH1N1 daw sa SMAH.”Ito ang pabulong na sabi sa akin ng isang kaibigan pagkababa ko sa Baliuag Transit sa harap ng Pambansang Dam-bana ni Sta. Ana sa bayang ito noong Miyerkoles ng hapon, Hunyo 10. Ang tinutukoy ng aking kaibigan ayang St. Mary’s Academy-Hagonoy(SMAH) kung saan isang estudyanteng 16 na taong gulang ang kinakitaan ng sintomas ng Influenza A H1N1 noong Martes ng gabi at inilipat kinauma-gahan sa Lung Center of the Philip-pines sa Quezon City.Para akong naalimpungatan sa balitang narinig ko. Ang totoo, naka-tulog kasi ako sa bus mula sa Cubaokung saan ako inihatid nina Joe Pavia at Armand Arellano ng 
Mabuhay 
.Galing kami noong araw na iyon sa 
sundan sa pahina 5
Pagkalap ng ulat hinggil sa ‘swine flu’:
agkalapngulathinggilsa‘swineflu’:
Paano kung mayr
aanokungmayr
oong mga ‘positibo’?
ongmga‘positibo’?
N
I
D
INO
B
ALABO
 
2
Mabuhay
LINGGUHANGPILIPINOMULAPANOONG1980
JUNE 12 - 18, 2009
EDITORIAL
Alfredo M. Roxas, Jose Romulo Q. Pavia, JoseGerardo Q. Pavia, Joey N. Pavia , Jose VisitacionQ. Pavia, Carminia L. Pavia, Perfecto RaymundoJr., Dino Balabo
 ADVERTISING
Jennifer T. Raymundo
PRODUCTION
Jose Antonio Q. Pavia, Jose Ricardo Q. Pavia,Mark F. Mata, Maricel P. Dayag, Charlett C.Añasco
PHOTOGRAPHY / ART
Eden Uy, Allan Peñaredondo, Joseph Ryan S.Pavia
BUSINESS / ADMINISTRATION
Loreto Q. Pavia, Marilyn L. Ramirez,Peñaflor Crystal, J. Victorina P. Vergara,Cecile S. Pavia, Luis Francisco, Domingo Ungria,Harold T. Raymundo,
CIRCULATION
Robert T. Raymundo, Armando M. Arellano,Rhoderick T. RaymundoThe
Mabuhay
is published weekly by theMABUHAY COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES
—
DTI Permit No. 00075266, March 6, 2006 toMarch 6, 2011, Malolos, Bulacan.The
Mabuhay
is entered as Second Class MailMatter at the San Fernando, Pampanga PostOffice on April 30, 1987 under Permit No. 490;and as Third Class Mail Matter at the ManilaCentral Post Office under permit No. 1281-99-NCR dated Nov. 15, 1999. ISSN 1655-3853Principal Office: 626 San Pascual, Obando,Bulacan
 
 
294-8122
PPI-KAFCommunityPressAwards
BestEdited Weekly 2003 + 2008Bestin Photojournalism1998 + 2005
 A proud member of 
PHILIPPINE PRESS INSTITUTE
WEBSITE
http://mabuhaynews.com
Subscription Rates (postage included):
P520 for one year or 52issues in Metro Manila; P750 outside Metro Manila. Advertising baserate is P100 per column centimeter for legal notices.
Mabuhay
LINGGUHANG PILIPINO MULA PA NOONG 1980
Jose L. Pavia
Publisher/Editor
Perfecto V. Raymundo
 Associate Editor
 Anthony L. Pavia
Managing Editore-mail
mabuhaynews25@yahoo.com
TAMA ang pahayag ni EducationSecretary Jesli Lapus nang siya ay magtalumpati bilang panau-hing pandangal sa ika-111 guning taon ng Araw ng Kalayaan sa bakuran ng makasaysayang sim-bahan ng Barasoain noong Hun- yo 12, kung kailan ay binigkasniya na “ang tunay na kagalinganay ang pagbabahagi ng talino sa bayan.”Siyempre, ang tinutukoy niya ay ang masakripisyong papel na ginagampanan sa lipunan ng mga guro. Pero pag nagkamali ang mga guro sa kanilang itinuturo,hindi na kagalingan iyon, di ba?
* * *
Masasabing ang bawat isa sa atin ay guro sa iba’t ibang pama-maraan. Ang bawat isa ay da-luyan ng impormasyon na sina-sabing katumbas ay kapang- yarihan dahil ito ay nagbibigay sa atin ng iba’t ibang kakayahan. Ang edukasyon ay nagsisi-mula sa tahanan at ang mga 
Promdi
D
INO
B
 ALABO
Kalayaan sa kamangmangan
Buntot Pagé
P
ERFECTO
V. R
 AYMUNDO
Araw ng Kalayaan 2009
HINDI na masyadong napag-uukulan ng pansin ang Araw ng Kalayaan sa kasalukuyan. Ma-ging sa mga pahayagan ay wala na ang naglalakihang letra na bumabandera ang Araw ng Ka-layaan.Unang ipinagdiwang ang  Araw ng Kalayaan sa balkonaheng tahanan ni Hen. Emilio Agui-naldo sa Kawit, Cavite noong Hunyo 12, 1898. Kung tutuusinika-111 taon na simula nang itoay ipinahayag sa Kawit, Cavite.Ngunit matapos ang Ikala-wang Digmaang Pandaigdig,ipinagdiriwang natin ang Arawng Kalayaan kasabay ang pag-diriwang ng mga Amerikano ng kanilang Independence Day tu-wing ika-4 ng Hulyo.Muling naibalik sa Hunyo 12ang Araw ng Kalayaan nang sidating Pangulong Diosdado Ma-capagal ang pangulo ng ating bansa sa taong 1962.Sa panahon din ni Pangulong Diosdado Macapagal nataas ang minimum wage sa P6 na dati-ratiay P4. Siya ay naging pangulomula 1961 hanggang 1965.Iba si Pangulong Diosdadokaysa sa kanyang anak na si
Kastigo
B
IENVENIDO
A. R
 AMOS
‘Diversionary tactics’
 ANG paggamit ng tinatawag na “diversionary tactics” ay bahagina ng alinmang pakikilaban — sa aktwal na digmaan, sa sports atlalo na sa pulitika. Instrumentosa diversionary tactics ang pag-sisinungaling, panduduro, pag-gamit ng itim na propaganda atiba pang ilegal o pataksil na pamamaraan. Ang layunin ay para lituhinang kalaban, ibaling ang pansinng publiko, libangin ang madla,at ilayo ang konsentrasyon ng taosa kanyang ginagawang kabulas-tugan.Ganyan ang ginagawa ng Ad-ministrasyong Arroyo — may si- yam na taon na ngayon ang naka-raraan. Ngunit naging kapansin-pansin lamang ang paggamit ng diversionary tactics ng Admi-nistrasyong Arroyo buhat nang pumutok ang eskandalo ng “Hello, Garci” tape. Inunahan na ng Malakanyang ang mga “kala-ban” at sila ang nagbunyag ng “Hello, Garci” tape nang maram-damang may na-tape na usapannina Gng. Macapagal-Arroyo at
T
UNGO
 
SA
K 
ALAYAAN
Dapat na ipagmalakingkontribusyon ng Bulacan
BALIKTANAW: Sa pagdiriwang ng 111 guning taon ng ating kalayaan, ating tung- hayan ang editoryal sa sipi ng Mabuhay noong Hunyo 15, 1980. — Patnugot 
“Dapat ipagmalaki ng bawat Bulakenyo ang malakingkontribusyon ng kanilang lalawigan tungo sa ikapagtatamonatin ng kalayaan.”Ito ang binigyang-diin ni Assemblyman Teodulo C.Natividad sa kanyang talumpati sa pagdiriwang ng ika-82anibersaryo ng ating kalayaan sa Malolos.Si Natividad ang siyang naging panauhing pandangalsa naturang pagdiriwang na tinampukan din ng pagtataasng bandila at isang paradang dinaluhan ng may 2,000 kataobuhat sa iba’t ibang barangay sa Malolos.Sa kanyang talumpati, sinariwa ni Natividad ang mgabalakid na sinalungat ng ating mga bayani upang makamitnatin ang tunay na kalayaang tinatamasa ng lahat ngayon.“At sa lahat ng mga pangyayaring ito ay naging bahagiang ating lalawigan, lalo na nang dito sa Malolos itatagang pamahalaang rebolusyonaryo at ang pagbuo ngMalolos Constitution,” ayon kay Natividad.Bukod kay Natividad, naging panauhin din si Gob.Nacing Santiago at Bise Gob. Bernie Ople.Sa nasabi ring okasyon, muling iminungkahi niNatividad ang pagdaraos ng isang pulong ng BatasangPambansa sa makasaysayang simbahan ng Barasoain.Isang makulay na parada ang nagpasimula sapagdiriwang na nilahukan ng mga barangay sa Malolos.Umabot sa walong karosa ang lumahok sa parada.Kabilang sa mga nakasakay sa karosa ang mga kalahoksa timpalak Bb. Malolos ’80. Kasama rin sa parada angmga barangay brigade.Si Mayor Purificacion C. Reyes ang siyang tumanggapsa mga panauhin at si Obispo Cirilo Almario Jr. ang nagunasa panalangin. Nauna rito, nagkaroon din ng isangsimpleng seremonya sa harap ng Kapitolyo na pina-ngunahan ni Gobernador Santiago.Sa kanyang maikling pananalita, hiningi ni Santiagosa mga opisyal at empleyado ng lalawigan na mulingmanumpa na sila ay magpapatuloy na magbibigay ngmabuting serbisyo sa mamamayan.“Walang mas mabuting pagkakataon kundi sa Araw ngKalayaan dapat nating tiyakin sa ating mga kababayan saBulakan na tayo ay patuloy na maglilingkod ng malinis attaimtim,” ayon sa gobernador.
Pangulong Gloria M. Arroyo.Sana naman ay hindi na ma-bago ang petsa ng pagdiriwang ng ating kalayaan na pinagbuwisanng buhay ng ating mga ninuno.
Mga kandidato sa pagka-pangulo
MARAMING nagnanais na ma-ging pangulo ng ating bansa sa kasalukuyan.Naririyan sina Bise Presi-dente Noli De Castro, MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando atKalihim Gilbert Teodoro ng Na-tional Defense. Sila ay pare-parehong umaasa na sila ang mamanokin ng Malacañang.Sa panig naman ng oposisyonay nariyan sina Senador MarRoxas ng Liberal Party, SenadorManny Villar ng Nacionalista party, Senadora Loren Legarda,Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, atmaging si Senador Chiz Escuderoay may balak din kung mabibig- yan ng pagkakataon.Si dating pangulong JosephEstrada ay may balak din na pumalaot sa panguluhan kapag hindi nagkaisa ang oposisyon.May balak din na tumakbong pangulo si Bro. Eddie Villanueva ng Jesus is Lord Movement atmaging si Bro. Mike Velarde ng El Shadai.Sa sarili kong palagay hindibababa sa anim ang tatakbong pangulo sa nalalapit na halalansa taong 2010.Kayo, ano sa palagay niyo?
Villarica sa Ika-4 Distrito
PALASAK na palasak ang pa-ngalan ni Linabelle Villarica sa iba’t ibang bayan sa Ika-4 Dis-trito ng Bulacan na binubuo ng mga bayan ng Obando, Mey-cauayan, Marilao at Sta. Maria.Lutang na lutang na si Villa-rica ang isa sa mga tatakbo sa pagka-kinatawan dito. Ang pamilya Villarica ang may-ari ng Villarica Pawnshop na may sangay sa iba’t ibang bayansa buong Pilipinas.Bukod kay Villarica lumulu-tang din ang mga pangalan ng maaaring makalaban niya tuladnina ES o Ed Serapio at ang anakna abogado ni Kint. Neneng Nicolas.Marami ang nagpapalagay na medyo llamado si Villarica sa mga nagnanais na maging kinatawanng Ika-4 Distrito ng Bulacan.Kayo, ano sa palagay ninyo?magulang partikular na ang ina ay itinuturing na unang guro ng mga bata. Pero kung wala ang magulang at sa abroad nagta-trabaho maituturing pa bang tahanan ang kanilang tahanan?
* * *
 Ang simbahan ay isa sa mga institusyong naghatid ng edu-kasyon, hindi lamang patungkolsa espiritual na pamumuhay opananampalataya. Ang simbahansa Europa ang nagtayo ng mga unang pamantasan doon na hu-mubog sa kultura at sibilisasyonng nasabing kontinente. Ito aybago magtayo ng mga paman-tasan ang iba’t ibang gobyerno. Ang gobyerno ay isa ring institusyon na naghahatid ng edukasyon sa lipunan sa layuning palayain sa kamangmangan ang taumbayan. Ngunit paano kung ang gobyerno at mga taong bu-mubuo nito ay nagtatago ng mga lihim, nagsusulong ng mga batasna nagbibigay ng limitasyon sa pamamahayag, o kaya ay maliang impormasyong hatid sa tao?
* * *
Kabilang sa mga naghahatidng edukasyon sa pamamagitanng impormasyon ay mga mama-mahayag at mga historyador,kaya naman sinisikap nila na magsaliksik upang maihatid ang tamang impormasyon sa tao na nasa tamang perspektibo?Ito rin ang dahilan kung bakitwalang tigil ang mga mama-mahayag sa pagtatanong upang makumpirma ang balitang iha-hatid, gayundin ang mga his-toryador na patuloy na nagsusurisa mga lumang dokumentoupang maipakita ang tamang konteksto ng kanilang susulating kasaysayan.
* * *
Hindi biro ang trabaho ng mga historyador at mga manana-liksik. Kadalasan ay binabanggitpa nila ang dokumentong pinag-
sundan sa pahina 6
ni Komisyoner Garcillano ang oposisyon hinggil sa “dayaang”naganap sa eleksiyon ng 2004 na umano’y kinasangkutan ng ilang matataas na opisyal ng Comelec,PNP, AFP at Kongreso.
Matalino na ang mamamayan
 Ang pagkakabunyag ng “Hel-lo, Garci” tape ay ikinataranta niGng. Macapagal-Arroyo — lalo na ang kasunod na malawakang ki-los-protesta ng iba’t ibang sektor,kabilang ang isang bahagi ng military na nananawagang bu-maba na si Aling Gloria sa Ma-lakanyang. Natakot si GMA na tulad ng pinalitan niyang si Erap,ay patalsikin din siya ng isang people power revolt. Ngunitpinakalma at napagpayuhan si Aling Gloria ng mga beteranong dating kasama ni Marcos, tuladnina dating Pangulong Ramos,dating espiker De Venecia, at iba pang mga tusong pulitikong ang kapit sa poder ay sa kung sinoang nasa Malakanyang.Noon na gumamit ng diver-sionary tactics ang Adminis-trasyong Arroyo, gaya ng sumu-sunod na hakbang:Sa halip usigin ang mga opis- yal ng PNP at AFP (na ginamitni GMA sa pandaraya sa halalan),ang kinasuhan ay ang mga whistle-blower o mga hindi niya napasunod o nakumbinseng ma-kipagsabwatan, na hindi na natinkailangan banggitin. Upang pala-basing ipinatutupad ang batas atang Konstitusyon, nagtatag ng mga komisyong mag-iimbestiga kuno sa mga katiwalian sa AFP,pero pinigil naman ang resulta ng imbestigasyon.Sa halip usigin sina Garcil-lano, Lintang Bedol at iba pang kasangkot sa dayaan sa eleksyon,binuhay ang matatandang kasolaban sa mga nagpoprotesta atnaghahanap ng katotohanan—tulad ng mga kaso kina CrispinBeltran, Satur Ocampo at iba pa.Isa sa magagaling na tak-tikang dibersonaryo na ginawa ng Administrasyong Arroyo ayang hindi pagdedeklara ng mar-tial law o pagpapahayag ng 
sundan sa pahina 6
 
JUNE 12 - 18, 2009
Mabuhay
LINGGUHANGPILIPINOMULAPANOONG1980
3
Depthnews
J
UAN
L. M
ERCADO
Whipping boy
Regarding Henry
H
ENRYLITO
D. T
 ACIO
Cebu Calling
F
R
. R
OY 
C
IMAGALA
Living the mystery of God
 WHEN God saw the misery of Hispeople in Egypt, He asked Mosesto lead them out of the clutch of Pharaoh. “I am sending you toPharaoh to bring my people outof Egypt,” God told Moses. At first, Moses declined. “Whoam I?” he asked. But God in-sisted, “Lead my people.” Andthat was what terrified Moses. Tolead the people out of Egypt andhe never had any experienced atall. “A leader,” says Dr. John C.Maxwell, the leading authority onleadership, “is one who knowsthe way, goes the way and showsthe way.”Leonard Ravenhill in
The Last Days Newsletter
, shares the storyof a group of tourists who werevisiting a picturesque village. Asthey walked by an old man sit-ting beside a fence, one touristasked in a patronizing way, “Wereany great men born in this vil-lage?”The old man looked at thetourist who inquired and told himbluntly: “Nope, only babies.” Inother words, leadership is devel-oped, not discovered. The truly“born leader” will always emerge;but, to stay on top, natural lead-ership characteristics must bedeveloped.So, what are some of the traitsthat a leader must develop? Firstand foremost, he must have a character. A scorpion, being a poor swimmer, asked a turtle tocarry him on his back across a river. “Are you mad?” exclaimedthe turtle. “You’ll sting me whileI’m swimming and I’ll drown.”“My dear turtle,” laughed thescorpion, “if I were to sting you, you would drown and I would godown with you. Now, where is thelogic in that?” The turtle agreed,“You’re right. Hop in.”The scorpion climbed aboardand halfway across the river thescorpion gave the turtle a mightysting. As they both sank to thebottom, the turtle resignedlysaid, “Do you mind if I ask yousomething? You said there’d be
On becoming a leader
“GOD is the most popular scape-goat for our sins,” Mark Twainonce cracked. But in this coun-try, as House Resolution 1109shows, our “leaders” made theConstitution a “whipping boy”for even neuroses.1109 authorizes congressmento anoint themselves as a con-stituent assembly (con-ass). Re-writing the constitution, theyclaim, would heal our ills: fromZTE broadband and fertilizerstyle scams to salvaging. A newcharter will usher in a “land of milk and honey”.Like Mao’s “thousand flow-ers”, paid ads by obscure groupsbloomed. They claim 1109 offers“our country one powerful optionin minimizing, if not eliminating the evil of corruption.”Like congressmen’s speeches,the ads sweep under the rug greed, lack of integrity or un-bridled ambitions. They ignoresurveys that report: 63 out of ev-ery 100 Filipinos buck charterchange (cha-cha) now. But a goodwhipping boy “is almost as goodas a solution.” So, keep your eyeon politicians’ hands, not theirTHIS is a truth not yet well-known, let alone, lived. In fact, a good number of people disputethis assertion. They can driveaway believers with a savage bar-rage of scorn and ridicule. Are you nuts, they can say, to believethere’s more to our life than howour biology and sociology defineit?Our life is not just physical orbiological life. It’s not just eco-nomic or political life. Not evenis it intellectual life, no matterhow rich it is. It is a life en-trenched in the life of God, ourCreator and Father, who contin-ues to intervene in our life. OurChristian faith teaches that Godgratuitously wants to share whathe has, including his life, with us.Our life cannot be other thana life taken up in the overwhelm-ing truth, the mystery of God’slife. For Christian believers, thisis because we are made not sim-ply with the DNAs of our parents,but in the image and likeness of God.Even a philosophical or scien-tific analysis of our nature canreadily reveal we are designedTHE atmosphere inside the bar-ber shop was so intense. Every-one was glued to the T.V. watch-ing the on-going proceedings of a recent sex scandal. It took a whilebefore the employees even no-ticed I had entered. The barberwho attended to me was some-what reluctant to extract himself from the “hot news item.”[BUZZ…, SNIP…, CLIP…]From time to time the electricrazor and scissors would come toa halt as he turned around tocatch snippets of the news. Icouldn’t help glancing at the mir-ror, not at my haircut’s progress,but out of curiosity to get a glimpse of the news from theT.V.’s reflection. The barbersighed as he resumed with hismechanical chore.He finished quickly andbrushed the strands of hair on myneck, ears, shirt and face. I felthis fingers kneading my back and
Forward to Basics
F
R
. F
RANCIS
B. O
NGKINGCO
The first and stone counting
THE Federation of PhilippineIndustries (FPI) and the Federa-tion of Filipino Chinese Cham-bers of Commerce and IndustryInc. (FCCCII) are set to launcha new “Buy Pinoy Campaign” on June 10, and the Trade UnionCongress of the Philippines(TUCP) has already joined thiscampaign that seeks to encour-age Filipinos to favor the con-sumption of locally producedgoods and services, over thosethat are “imported or smuggled”into the country, in order tostimulate the local economy andcreate new jobs, according to theTUCP Secretary-General,former Senator Ernesto Herrera.“Never say die,” I should say,because we have tried manytimes to launch several “BuyFilipino” campaigns, but to noavail. This idea was first pro-posed by the late PresidentCarlos P. Garcia, but hardly didit take root and neither was itsustained. I am not about to op-pose the resurrection of thisnoble campaign, but I say thatthis time around we should makeit take off, and then make it lastforever. According to my TV guest Dr.Ernie Gonzales who is Presidentof the National Economic Protec-
Fair & Square
I
KE
S
EÑERES
and outfitted to enter into a rela-tionship with others, and ulti-mately with God.That we can think and know,choose and love, means we aremeant to get engaged with objectsoutside of ourselves. We aremeant for others. We are meantto believe and love, more than tosimply think and feel. We are God’s children, firstand last. We are God’s childrenbefore we are our parents’ chil-dren. Our relationship with Godenters a much more intimate,defining and abiding characterthan what our relationship withour parents can attain. Our par-ents can only influence us somuch. God intervenes in our lifealways.From our parents, we inherita lot. We also depend a lot onthem. But we are quite indepen-dent of them. From God, we geteverything. On him, we dependfor everything. And while wehave a certain autonomy, we cannever be independent from him,unless we choose to in a defini-tive way upon our death.The task we have is how tocorrespond to this tremendousreality of living our life within thewhole mystery of God’s life. Manyof us still think that we are quiteby ourselves, and the decision torelate ourselves with God andothers is purely optional.No, sir. Our relationship withGod, while an option—in fact, a fundamental option—is neveroptional, something we can feelquite free to have or not to have. We would be incomplete withoutGod. We need to be more aware of this marvelous truth. And fromthere, to start the lifelong jour-ney of conforming our life to thatof God, overcoming first our ini-tial human awkwardness in theface of our supernatural goal, andthen developing the virtues thatlittle by little resemble us withGod.It’s a process of always con-quering new frontiers and de-fending our fronts from the en-emies of God and of our soul.May it be that our thoughtsare also God’s thoughts. And mayour words and actions not be just
continued on page 7
shoulders with the usual end-of-the-run massage. Everything ended with his palms squarelyclapping on my shoulders, as if sending me off to say the job wasover and that he could finallywatch the news.The owner, who was alsowatching, took some time to giveme my change as he got dis-tracted between counting thechange and following the scandal. As I pocketed the bills mixed withcoins, one of the young ladiessighed as she listened to the ac-cused: “My, isn’t he handsome!”
* * *
Unlike in our Lord’s times,scandals now easily get to theknowledge of the public throughthe various forms of media com-munication like the T.V. and es-pecially with the global reach of the Internet. Jesus also witnessed a scandalin His days. Some Phariseeswanted to make use of a scandalto trap Him. They asked our Lordto judge a woman caught in adul-tery. The crafty Pharisees saidthat according to the Law, shemust be stoned. Jesus, instead of answering them, sat down andbegan to write on the ground.The Pharisees became impa-tient and pressed our Lord to re-spond. Jesus gave them a totallyunexpected answer: “He who hasno sin amongst you, be the firstto cast a stone.” At these words,the Gospels tell us, that one byone starting with the oldest, theaccusers abandoned their ploy. A moving scene follows.Christ, who became everything that we are except in sin, does notcast a stone. He doesn’t even giveus a clue about the woman’s sin.He simply tells her “to go her wayand to sin no more.”Every sin that we commit be-
continued on page 7
no logic in your stinging me. Whydid you do it?”“It has nothing to do withlogic,” the drowning scorpionsadly replied. “It’s just my char-acter.”“Nearly all men can withstandadversity. If you truly want to testa man’s character, give himpower,” said Abraham Lincoln.Character is what you do in thedark, D.L. Moody notes. And“there is no substitute for char-acter,” reminds Robert A. Cook.“You can buy brains, but you can-not buy character.”Integrity is the second trait a leader must always possess. If what you say and what you do arethe same, then you are a man of integrity. As Max Depree pointsout: “Integrity in all things pre-cedes all else. The open demon-stration of integrity is essential;followers must be wholeheartedlyconvinced of their leader’s integ-rity. For leaders who live a publiclife, perceptions become a fact of life.”“Whoever is careless with thetruth in small matters cannot betrusted with the important mat-ters,” said Albert Einstein. Theultimate test of leaders’ credibil-ity is whether they do what theysay. Most politicians are not goodleaders because they lack thisspecific trait of a good leader. Af-ter all, what they say is not whatthey do.“No one achieves and sustainssuccess without discipline,” Dr. John C. Maxwell once said. Andthat includes being a leader. AsBertrand Russell puts it, “Noth-ing of importance is ever achievedwithout discipline. I feel myself sometimes not wholly in sympa-thy with some modern educa-tional theorists, because I thinkthat they underestimate the partthat discipline plays. But the dis-cipline you have in your lifeshould be one determined by yourown desires and your own needs,not put upon you by society or
continued on page 7
tion Association (NEPA), thedrive to buy local products iseven more important now, be-cause of the upcoming imple-mentation of the ASEAN FreeTrade Agreement (AFTA) thiscoming January 2010. This dateis just around the corner, and themove of the government to post-pone it may just be too late.NEPA is already more than 70 years old, and it is practically theoldest non-government organi-zation in the country, establishedlong before the acronym NGOwas made popular. Come to thinkof it, the NEPA campaign to buylocal products has actually ante-dated the campaign launched byPresident Garcia. Since we havefailed before in the past in thisregard, we should make every ef-fort now to make it succeed thistime.My other TV guest Dr. DieterBenecke of the Konrad AdenauerFoundation (KAF) says that thephilosophy of the social marketeconomy (SME) is inextricablyrelated to the preservation of theenvironment, because the issueof environmental preservation isalways connected to the respon-sible production of goods and ser-vices.
continued on page 6
Buy Pinoy products
lips.The President’s congressman-uncle Ignacio, for example, rodeshotgun over 1109 from start tofinish. So did Ms. Arroyo’s sons:Representatives Dato and JuanMiguel. Did Mommy wink?Their clout, in the House,greased 1109 approval. It alteredMalacañang’ sound bites. Con-gress didn’t have enough time forcharter change, Palace spokes-men chorused earlier. After 1109,Cabinet Secretary Silvestre BelloIII insists: “The executive can’tdo anything if the constituentassembly led to charter change.”Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.By foreign trips and selectivephoto ops, the President projectsan above-the- fray posture. Were you born yesterday? “The voiceis the voice of Jacob. But thehands are those of Esau.” What’s next? The House willsend invitations to the Senate fora joint session, Nueva Ecija’s Rep.Rodolfo Antonino says. Tradi-tionally, the Senate is invited asan institution. Not this time, Jose. Invitations will be shovedinto individual pigeonholes of 23senators. Why so? We’re leery of being rapped for “ failing to inform” theUpper House when congressmenoverhaul the charter by theirlonesome, adds Speaker ProsperoPichay. How nice. In fact, they’llram through a parliamentarysystem, predicts former senatepresident Franklin Drilon. This’densure President Arroyo’s grip asprime minister. Congressmen willmutate into members of parlia-ment.“Will you walk into my par-lor?/ Said the spider to the fly.”the nursery invitation read. Agreeing to vote with congress-men would swamp the UpperHouse ten-to-one. Thus, a unani-mous Senate resolution RSVPedregrets — even before invitationscame. A resolution can’t dismantle a constitutionally created bicam-eral legislature, much less replaceit with a unicameral body. “It al-ways takes two to dance the cha-cha,” admits the usually-rationalRep. John Pablo Garcia Jr. Yet,he sponsored HR1109.
continued on page 7
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...