He has reneged on his pledges and his acts have all floundered in utter failure. One would ask Why?
Author Archives: DON J. PAGUSARA
At this point in our nation’s journey through time as a republic, we are thankful to President Benigno S. Aquino III for having forewarned us about the possibility of an abnormal type of governance to happen in our country. We are thankful because we are promptly reminded by his own pronouncements to be extra alert and be closely on guard lest we be caught flat-footed like what happened in 1972 when then President Ferdie Marcos declared martial rule over the entire Philippine archipelago.
The simple logic is: Since the rich mineral resource lands are ancestral domains of the Lumads, it goes without saying that the Lumads should be removed! By deceit or by death.
Last Sunday, while groups under the banner of the National Democratic Movement were having a picket-rally at Davao City’s Freedom Park, another group was holding its own collective action at another public place in the City. And while the national democrats were lambasting the absurdity of the so-called Philippine-American Friendship, the other group which was led by a certain Ely Pamatong was unabashedly pro-American.
This day—July 10—is my birth day anniversary. It was impossible for the remarkable events that happened to my life on this day in 1974 and onward to all the years during my detention to escape from my remembrances.
The existence of any entity in this world is inherently invested with a purpose or function—what we call its reason for being. It’s true to natural things as to human creations. That which ensues from the inventive genius or creative passion of humans belongs to that domain we call Art and properly falls under the concerns of the Humanities. But that is not the subject of this essay.
We have said it in no uncertain terms that President Noynoy Aquino could have been drunk with power. We have surmised that the popular vote he got in the last elections was some kind of an intoxicant—an intoxicant so sweet and powerful it could have had a habit-forming effect on his sensibilities as a State official.
Again, President Noynoy manifests his awesome power in disregard of the legitimate guidelines and processes involved in the selection of a National Artist. In a very arbitrary act that smacks of disdain and injustice he snubbed the proclamation of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA} and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) for Nora Aunor as National Artist for Movie.
What a heartening experience that despite the constant drum of raindrops on the roofs and the ceaseless pounding of habagat seawaves in our corner of the world, come this host of friends from the neighborhood to enliven my drab evening with interesting discussion on the jailing of Bong Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada.
The sole hope for an alternative society to sprout and blossom on these lands is for the people to take destiny in their own hands! Such is a truism long evidenced by the historical development of societies in the world.
