G Spot

174           “MY CUP RUNNETH OVER”              20181030 I was again under the canopy of the trees along the Clark Freeport, which I visited twice over the span of 10 years. The acacia trees and some fruit trees, quietly swayed, dancing to the rhythm of the wind that lingered among the leaves, in no hurry to move on. Here, under them, were several buildings, reminiscent of the houses in Camp John Hay. We stopped in front of one of these buildings, where the office of the Capampangan in Media Inc. (CAMI) is housed. I breathed in the freshness of this place, and like the wind, I lingered outside, in no hurry to move in. The air was cool, warmed only by the welcome that ushered us in. Inside, some members of the media were having breakfast which prompted Fe Mangahas and I to check the Kapampangan breakfast offering. Fe went for the "hito" (catfish) with the "buro" (ferm...

173           PROJECT PURAW                                 20181022 For some countries, the painting of houses in depressed neighborhoods aimed to reduce violence among young people. This was how Mexico envisioned it. This was also how it was conceived by others in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro and Philadelphia. With this objective in mind, Mexican authorities invited a local street art collective “to create what they claim is the country's largest mural.” The German Crew collective painted the mural in a depressed neighborhood in Palmitas, Pachura, painting over 209 houses covering some 20,000 square meters using approximately 20,000 litres of paint to create the impressive piece called “El Macro Mural Barrio de Palmitas”. This project transformed and inspired young people in t...

172           OVER MY DEAD BODY                      20181015 This morning, I decided to walk to Jollibee V. Luna, where I used to sit and had mental conversations with the kaimito tree across it. The kaimito is no longer there, but I imagine it to be, and say hello to the aura that still remains, whenever I walk by. My usual seat was empty, which surprised me, because it has been months since I visited the place. I claimed my seat very quickly in case others will race me for it. Just in front of me were two elderly ladies, very good-looking ones, talking animatedly. “Wow, at last, may wala la’y agustuan mo!” (Wow, at last, you like someone!) “Balet, amay kaibak a bii, binitla to lan amin para’d siak: nu inerak ya nan-aral, nantrabahaho, nu siopa ra’y aka-relasyon ko, tan say pinaka-mauges ya imbaga to, impalastog to ni ya sin...

171           FAKE NEWS                                          20181008 The fact that Mocha Uson resigned does not mean that “fake news” will disappear in Malacañang. She did not invent fake news. Fake news began before her time. The reason we are so concerned is not so much because of her person, but because the entire information system is at stake and we have not fully realized its complexity and power. “Fake news” is real. According to a  University of Oxford study  on the 2016 US elections, “news from professional organizations and what they call "junk news" were shared in a one-to-one ratio on social media.” It greets the public every day, and is shared with a click of a finger, by many who do not verify ...

170      ITOGON There is a creeping landslide far worse than Naga or Itogon. The landslide is happening inside of us, an erosion creeping insidiously, right at the very core of our existence, unnoticed, replacing traces of goodness and Godliness. Proverbs 6:16-19 lists six things that God hates and the seventh which is " an abomination unto him": “17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.” Greek monastic theologian Evagrius of Pontus first drew up “a list of eight offenses and wicked human passions” in their escalating gravity: 1) gluttony; 2) lust; 3) avarice; 4) sadness: 5) anger; 6) acedia (not to care/ spiritual sloth); 6) vainglory; and pride. He ranked the sins based on the escalating severity as a progressive fixation with the self, with pride as t...

169           THE POWER OF THE WIND 1:56 a.m.  rushing in through the open window/ dancing with every movable object in the room/ the wind waves, a magic wand. On September 15, Ompong broke through Mapagkawanggawa Street, blasting a transformer ten meters away from where I stood feeling the wind. It was as though God sent a mighty street sweeper, in a hurry to finish its task, without segregating debris. The yero (galvanized sheet) flew and struck the pavement, like a stiff flying carpet, throwing off whatever it carried, among the leaves, twigs and branches that were torn away from trees. 2:52 a.m. she breathes the smell of distant shores/ bearing gifts from afar/ a leaf from Puerto Rico/ and the semen of a seahorse. I can smell the sweet fragrance of kamuning flowers, that lemony freshness, the scent of clean, and a hint of the scent of the sea. 4:38 a.m. she howls/ speeding through the silence of dawn/ ever...

168           ESTABLISHING “FACTS” In 1997, during his professorial lecture at the City College of Manila, Ambeth Ocampo, former Chairperson of the National Historical Commission (NHCP) said "Personally, I think this controversy like that of the site of the first mass -- Limasawa, Leyte or Masao, Butuan -- belongs in the basura (trash). But then, textbooks and quiz shows require definite answers. People want "facts" not lessons or perspectives."   Vicente Calibo de Jesus, a relentless researcher on the subject of the first “mass” disagrees. He said, “A historian has a moral obligation to Truth, and an ethical responsibility to his readers, domestic and global.” There is also a claim that the first “mass” was actually in Bolinao, Pangasinan celebrated in 1324 by Odoric of Pordenone, OFM, also known as Odorico Mattiussi or Mattiuzzi, an Italian late-medieval Franciscan friar and missionary explorer, predating the  mass ...

167           CHEWING GUM I have no doubt that Senator Trillanes submitted the documents required to give him amnesty. To believe otherwise is an indictment of the negligence, ineptness and utter corruption of the bureaucracy. It is meant to give the public something to chew. While the public laps up Trillanes, inflation is at 6.4% in August 2018 exceeding previous estimates, prices of gasoline and other goods are soaring like Elon Musk's rockets going to Mars, the peso against the dollar is racing like an aged turtle. China, like the monkey, is racing fast, stringing Philippine territories and its economy to its Belt and Road Initiative. The current account deficit is expected to rise by 1.5% and the value of the peso against the dollar is expected to depreciate further, by at least 7%. The inflation rate of 6.4% is higher than 5.2%, as projected by IMF in a report at the conclusion of their visit on July 11-25, 2018. In th...

166           CROSSOVER “I know of a cure for everything: salt water...in one way or the other. Sweat, or tears, or the salt sea.” - Karen Blixen In the quiet of the night, all the sounds, the howling of dogs, car wheels on slow pace, muffled air-conditioning and sounds too low to be heard to have perceptible significance, all constitute an eerie silence that combines both pain, realization and anticipation. The dawn stirs these conditions together that I tend to believe they are inseparable and one. It is at this time when one is given the chance to decide: stay inert or explore possibilities. To anticipate, to risk something, to step to the great beyond, into the void. It takes courage to get into unknown territory, where others hope to see a new world rising, exploring ways to exist, or being transformed into an atom, transporting itself into a new womb, or splitting itself to make a bomb. No one had seen the afterlife ...

165           MOVE ON All those lessons in respect, honor, good manners and right conduct from teachers of long ago, and all the philosophies that guided wisdom, what happened to it? We should not be in this abyss. We should be moving on to what truly moves us. Move on. Some die without honor, and move on without it. A few die like kings and queens in the land of the dead and the dying. And birds have nothing to say to them, not even a song, or a tweet. If something moves you, by all means move on. Follow that invisible inspiration, and move on with it, just flow, you need not understand it, let your inner guide lead you. Move on, not as a response to a MAD woman, but a response to your own muse. Move on move on, move on move the body, a cadaver to a sepulcher, where he resurrects among the derelicts, believing “He has risen.” Desaparecidos no traces, no murder move on, money, crawl, in the org...