WHISPERING HOPE

Cheers of awe on fireworks displays seen on the boob tube all over the world and the deafening little dynamites of firecrackers in the neighborhood welcomed 2007. Almost a thousand people were injured during the merrymaking but no one died according to news reports. Despite the elaborate fireworks and the injuries sustained by many, the year-end celebrations seem to have become so trite, so ordinary and have turned into a mere respite for the grueling days to come.

Nonetheless, 2006 was a rather bleak year that so many of our countrymen continuously seek their luck abroad. In my own family, four out of seven siblings are now working in the U. S. and Canada with their families. Our Christmas had become virtually a “cyber” Christmas as we greeted each other either through telephone or the webcam. There no longer were warm embraces and kisses during “media noche”.

Yet, there appear more reasons to hope for this year than to wallow in helplessness. There are telltale signs of character changes forced by the issues and events that surround our people. Some groups are beginning to be emboldened in speaking for this country as they witnessed PGMA despicably breaching our sovereignty when she spirited out rape convict U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Daniel Smith from the Makati City Jail in the dead of the night without any court order.

The big storms are also over now. Typhoon Milenyo and Reming that snuffed the lives of many in Bicol Region have even strengthened many in facing natural calamities and we see them now rising from the rubbles.

We see the vast majority of people in destitution, financially struggling inch by inch into a more dignified living. The peso, getting stronger in value, may also be indicative of a rising economy.

The churches from different congregations and sects have been awakened, now taking the streets as their virtual pulpits to speak for truth and justice.

In our city, a new mayor will take his oath of office in July 2007. Our new mayor, whoever he may be, is expected to finish the two bridges in Puntod and in Carmen. Thus, we see an end to the endless traffic jams that we experienced during the Christmas season.

We will also have a new congressman who, I suppose, will be a lot better than the person who betrayed us and tried to desecrate our present Constitution. Tinnex will also end his governorship in Rotary District 3870 after he was adjudged by many to have flunked the well-established Four Way Test of Rotary International.

Incidentally, the Four Way Test was an ingenious tool in changing the characters of Americans during the Great Depression (1930s) other than the “Big Deal” of the late Pres. Theodore Roosevelt that led to its booming economy.

Should the opposition congressmen swell in numbers after the election, we will see the President being abdicated through impeachment. A new leadership may usher a new era of good governance.

But the darkness is not yet over. Political turmoil and the prospects of bloody, dirty and fraudulent elections still hover in the air. The tempest of the two-century old war in Muslim Mindanao and the guerilla warfare waged by the NPAs still bedevil our nation.

They say the darkest point of the night is immediately before the sunrise. In the dusk, there is a muffled voice of a whispering hope in our hearts that tells me our sorrows will be appeased and rejoicing will follow in the coming days.

In our little way, we need to take our own part in ensuring that a bright new day will come. We have to seriously assume the roles we have opted to take in life.

In the end, it is up to each of us. Let us not think too big a leap for this year. As the forwarded message of Atty. Oka Musni on New Year’s Eve goes:

“Sometimes, we put too much passion on the biggest dreams and priorities in life that we fail to love the smallest pleasure in simple things. We search so much for the right choices, for the right person (politician), for the right paths (P.I./Con-Ass/Con-Con) to walk through, for the right time, and for the right reasons. But life is not about searching for the things that can be found. It is about letting the unexpected happen and finding the things you never searched for.”

As we say goodbye to 2006, let the good things we experienced inspire us to a better 2007. I am wishing you a very prosperous, fruitful, successful, healthy, blessed, happy, fulfilling, satisfying, challenging New Year!

SUPER ULTRA MEGA NINCOMPOOP

Intently following the proceedings in the Lower House of Congress on the desire of the majority Congressmen to push the Charter Change can be a cause for the upsurge of one’s blood pressure.

The minions of rabbit-eared Yoda-looking De Venecia mangled its own house rules by amending its various provisions thereby making it convenient for them to pass the proposal for a Constituent Assembly. According to Cong. Roilo Golez, the House Rules adopted for the approval of the proposal on constitutional revision has become a lot easier than the process in naming a street.

The rules had been so relaxed despite the fact that this involves changing the provisions of the fundamental law of the land. Apparently, the changes in the rules of the proceedings have been so designed in railroading the passing of the Resolution.

The majority represented by Speaker Joe De Venecia, Nograles, Lagman, Villafuerte and now our very own Congressman, Tinnex Jaraula, were found to have played so many tricks if only to attain their desired end.

However, they stumbled along the way as according to Minority Floor Leader Chiz Escudero “haste really makes waste”. In order to gag the mouths of the Opposition, all of their legitimate objections were brushed off by the Acting Chairman not realizing that millions of T.V. viewers were observing them until the wee hours.

Early dawn of Wednesday, our very own representative Tinnex Jaraula was found to have started reading a different resolution not even known to the Congressmen themselves. He had evidently vacated his very own proposal that was approved to be resolved or turned down, in utter derogation of the house rules.

Like the People’s Initiative, this process to convene the Constitutional Assembly (Con-Ass) for Charter Change (Cha-Cha) has become a grand deception of the Filipino people. One really wonders why the majority Congressmen are adamantly pushing the Cha-Cha through Con-Ass when SWS Survey has already showed that the great majority or 67% of our people have already voiced out that at present, they do not want any revision or amendment to our Constitution.

The rumors that this is done for three reasons is unfolding as a reality, namely: (1) in order to prevent the clamor for the Impeachment of PGMA, especially if opposition congressmen will win in the 2007 elections; (2) the Con-Ass is also designed to let the “graduating” congressmen continue their office; and (3) Finally, it is further designed for the President to perpetuate her reign in power beyond 2010.

What is disheartening is that the manner in which this Con-Ass is being brazenly manipulated by the majority Congressmen appears too gross or uncouth or in the words of Cong. Allan Peter Cayetano “napakagarapal”.

What makes it so shameful for us Cagayanons is that our very own Representative, Tinnex Jaraula, has become the major player in these manipulative and deceitful acts. He has unwittingly shown his true colors.

Proper observation of the acts of the majority Congressmen would show that they have made themselves a ship of fools who without yielding to reason would only want to please their matron PGMA. Have they virtually made themselves as the nincompoops in the lawmaking body, named by the late Teodoro Benigno, as the Cavern of Caligula?

How about our Congressman, Tinnex Jaraula, who has not even passed a single law in his eight-year stint in Congress? Has he now made himself as the Super Ultra Mega Nincompoop of them all in the desecration of our Constitution? Nong Tinnex, please don’t “CON-‘ASS’”!