Pepe

1861 June 19 - 26 December 1896

What would you think if, facing the sea on a clear bright morning, tied at the elbows from the back, a group of Filipino soldiers, members of the Spanish army, were aiming to shoot your back in a few seconds? Were you born 35 years ago eventually to stand here, deemed a traitor to the land you sacrificed your life for, not even allowed the dignity to face your executioners?

Everyday there had been executions, and the grass where you stand was still wet with the blood of those who preceded you. And yours, wet with dew, will be seen by those who will follow. It's a heavy burden to the mind: that there are people who condemned you as not fit for continued existence: the malignant friars who desecrated God's name for power, the false friends and rebels who betrayed you.

Your poem that you entrusted to Narcisa survived. In one of the stanzas you even consoled us. "I go where there are no slaves, executioners and oppressors, /Where faith does not slay, wherein who reigns is God."

However, the note you hid in your shoe, the message you expected to be found when the Spaniards would bring your corpse to your family, it was not read nor seen; because after the execution the Spaniards and friars, with malignant cruelty, buried you in shallow grave without a coffin, without a decent rite for the dead. It took two years later, in August 1898, to get your remains. The mind that cared so much and that created your lasting legacy, had melded with the earth; the shoes and the notes had crumbled. Your last message remains forever a mystery in our country's history.

But, as long as there are those who educate themselves, who are enraged by injustice and cruelty, you will remain a beacon for us who revolt against systems that oppress.

Rizal's burial place at the Paco Cemetery a few years after his execution.Note the transposed initials of his name beneath the cross.

Unggoy

Privileged spits, June 11

Ayan, nagpatutsada na rin si Sen. Jinggoy. Obviously na-impress ang hunghang sa pakulo ni Revilla nung Lunes. Ewan ko lang, ilusyon ba ni Jinggoy na pag tumayo siya sa podium na pinanggalingan ni Revilla, siya ay makikita nating matangkad at makisig sa halip na punggok at mukhang Lego? Hebigat ang Ingles niya ha, akala mo may pinag-aralan siya at may modo; pero problema na yan nila ng ghostwriter niya.

Sa positive side naman, at least yung asawa ni Jinggoy ay hindi nag-Lani sa gallery na may punas-luhang effect. Isa pang positive eh... ah... Hindi siya mahiyain nung idakdak niya ang kanyang privileged spits.

Balik tayo sa katotohanan. Nagpaumanhin siya sa papa Erap at mama Loi niya dahil sa idinulot niyang stress at sakit ng ulo sa pamilya. Nangarap tuloy akong sumagot si Erap [slurred boses, parang lasheng]: "Alam mo, anak, deja vu ito, yung dawit ka na naman sa pangungupit, yung inihahanda na yung selda at warrant of arrest para sa iyo. Pero after six years ko sa kulungan, anak, huwag mo nang kaladkarin ang aking pangalan. Hanep, kinilabutan na nga ako nang i-thank you ako ni Bong, para akong tinamaan ng flashlight habang bumubungkal ako sa City Hall. Wish ko lang malimutan ni Manong Johnny ang pangalan ko kung gagaya siya sa inyo."

"Ako rin, anak," sabi ni ex-senador Loi, "dedma na lang muna. Di ba sabit din ako sa listahan ng mga whistleblowers? May ipagtatapat ako sa iyo, iho. Nung baby ka pa, nahulog ka sa kuna at bumagsak ka sa sahig, una ang ulo, kaya ang paglaki mo naging crosswise na lang, saka maraming brain molecules ang tumilapon; kakarampot na lang ang nabawi namin. Ganu'n pa man, kahit low IQs ka at arogante ay mother's love pa rin kita. Basta huwag mo na akong banggitin ha?" [End of imaginary dialogues bago tayo ma-cyber libel]

To be fair naman, aaminin kong lisya ang judgement ko nang tawagin kong unggoy si Jinggoy. Mali ang pagtimbang ko sa sitwasyon at maaaring injustice ang naging resulta. Kaya humihingi ako nang paumanhin: sana'y patawarin ako ng mga unggoy, na ni minsa'y di pumatol sa kaban ng bayan, di kapal-mukhang nagsinungaling sa milyon-milyong uto-utong botante, at lalong hindi kampon ng magulo at malikot na angkan. Mukhang unggoy lang ang profile pic ni Jinggoy, pero hindi niya taglay ang katinuan nila. Palagay ko mas safe ang taumbayan kung si Jinggoy ang nasa kulungan at ang unggoy ang nasa labas.

Putsang sinungaling

Bilang na ang araw niyo, peksman.

Puwede ba yun? Magsinungaling nang katakut-takot sa Senate floor, tapos hihirit nang napaka-korning kanta? At nandu'n pa yung kahanga-hangang family members; at least di dala ng kapatid ni Bong ang kanyang mjolnir na pang masahe niya sa likod ng mga kasambahay. Nakita ko rin si Congressman Lani: at last nakita kong live yung luhang buwaya. Lacoste tears, sa Ingles.

Si Enrile daw ang ultimate statesman. Puwedeng competent legislator at lawyer, pero hindi dakila ang Martial Law administrator ni Marcos -- libo-libong buhay ang nalagas noon. Yung mga smuggled na mga sasakyan sa Cagayan, di niya alam iyon? Yung illegal logging, di ba para sa mga posporo factory niya sa Pilipinas? Siya ang may-ari ng lahat ng palito sa bayan. Sinungaling ba siya? Nung nilulusob na siya (at Fidel Ramos) ng mga sundalo ni Marcos noong 1986, ipinagtapat niya sa Bombo Radyo na peke ang ambush na isina-zarzuela nila ni Marcos para mai-declare ang Martial Law. Tapos lumabas yung librong "Enrile," kung saan inihirit yung unang version: tinangka daw siyang patayin ng NPA. Yung libro, sa kanya yung intro o preface, pero ang buong laman ay baboy na Ingles ni Nelson Navarro. Ipinagmalaki pa! Kung dalawa ang version mo sa iisang incident, sinungaling ka. Magnanakaw ba siya? Nangurakot ba siya? Madadala ba niya ang loot sa pupuntahan niyang lugar na mainit?

Kasama sa mahabang Thank You list ni Revilla si Erap. Sanay makipaglaro sa mga journalists si Revilla, at tama siyang nalimutan na nang Alzheimeric na masa na noong 2001, nung pini-People Power 2 si Erap, aba, tinalikuran ni Senator Bong yung matalik niyang kaibigang si Unggoy, este Jinggoy, at pumunta sa Plaza Miranda at binanatan si Erap at sumang-ayon na dapat nang patalsikin ang sugarol at babaerong (look who's talking) presidente. Dahil dito ilang taon siyang di kinausap ni Jinggoy. Si Daboy (Rudy Fernandez) ata ang umayos sa dalawa eventually; pero kwidaw, showbiz bati lang yan: nasa political memory ng father and son ang pagka-oportunista nitong ex-Captain Barbell. Revilla, matagal nang pinanday yung bakal ng rehas na kasasadlakan mo.

Naki-relate by TY si Bong sa lahat ng kasama niya sa Senate, para may uto-impression na nasisira ang karangalan ng Senate dahil magnanakaw daw yung tatlo (so far). Kasama sa thank you si Gloria, na lagi daw niyang ipinagdarasal. (I assume pray siya sa God, number 1 sa Thank you list niya. Bong, kahit dumikit ka pa sa The One, halatang walang limit ang pagka-user mo.) Tapos TY sa Grace Poe, para maisingit niyang pinapayuhan siya ni FPJ noon. Nalimutan na ba nating ninakaw ni Gloria kay Da King ang presidency through Garci noong 2004? Inaasahan ni Bong na by 2016, may amnesia na naman tayo at hahabol siyang presidente sa partido ni GMA. Sa ngayon Thank You din kay Binay (at kay Nancy), achiever daw, na buburikihin niya sa likod sa Election 2016.

Message niya kay PeNoy? Huwag gawing tanging legacy ng administration niya ang pagkulong sa tatlong plundering senators. Huh? Ok lang kung iyon lang ang nagawa ng palpak na Aquinong ito; pero mas mainam kung may halong konting tiga-LP sa likod ng rehas, para masaya ang kosa. Kung sakali, Congrats, Jinggoy, second time around is sweeter (para sa taxpayers).

Message pa ni Bong, huwag daw watakin ni PeNoy ang bansa kundi pag-isahin. Sana nga, 'no? I-unite sa bilibid que opposition man o KKK man. Cosa Nostrang tunay. Sa likod ng lahat ng palabok ni Kap, ibig niyang sabihin kay Aquino at Leila Dilemma, "Oy, huwag ganyan ha. Serious na ito, may kulong-kulong na ito, hindi na biro yan. Oist! Ayusin na natin ito; let's make a deal."

Diyan nagising si Napoles, na malapit nang posasan uli ng pulis. "Aba, hindi lulusot si almighty Enrile!" kalabit ng brand new never-used niyang konsiyensiya. " Nakow, state witnness na po ako. Di na po ako astig (kahit pangit pa rin)."

Conclusion: Hayupaks kayong naglagay sa Senate sa mga magnanakaw at sinungaling at sintunadong crocodiles. Pami-pamilya pa at pakyawan kung magboto kayo sa mga Marcos, Binay, Abad, Agood (*jokes!*), Pacquiao, Reviilla, Estrada/Ejercito/Mayor Guia. Sa talaga lang, huwag makinig sa malanding Ping Lacson, na takot masira ang institution ng Congress. Tibagin na ang putang'nang pugad ng Representathieves. At huwag kalimutang ang kalaban ng mga kontrabida ay HINDI automatic na good guys. Sa away ng mga magnanakaw, lamang ngayon ang mga crony ni Aquino, pero darating ang araw na mabibisto rin ang mortal sins ng mga kabarkada, kabarilan at kaibigan

May araw din kayo, at ginagawa na ang kalendaryo.

Frame by frame stories

The Time issue with Einstein on the cover is the first issue of our baby millennium, year 2000. (The right year to start the new millennium is 2001, but I'm not quibbling; I like the round figure better). I bough the magazine when it appeared very late in December 1999. When I saw the iconic Einstein photo by Philippe Halsman. In an episode of Pawn Star, a man offered a version of that photo, signed by Halsman, and framed beautifully. The man wanted $10,000 and Rick Harrison wanted to pay $5,000 tops. No deal. I thought, "If I had $10,000 I would have bought it. Then that frame would look good in one of the big rooms in my mansion -- if I had millions of dollars to buy a mansion." In 1966 March 14 the United Postal Service issued a postage stamp honoring Einsein. It's a purple Halsman.

 Einstein was named Person of the Century, edging out, by the grace of god, animals like Hitler and Lenin as one whose influence altered the world and changed for ever our view of the Universe: Time, he said,  is the fourth dimension without which objects and the space they occupy cannot be defined. Besides, his  long unruly hair


itutuloy...

A Fully Booked Afternoon

TIME's new Beatles book

About noon, Manilyn and  I were sorting out boxes of used stamps in the Stamp Room when I received a text message. It's from "em of Fullybooked sm n0rth," informing me that "The book TIME:BEATLES INVASION has arrived and reserved under your name..." Dropping everything aside, I said, "Let's go. Bihis na tayo; kunin natin."

Zoom (after a lightning lunch) to SM North's The Block, third floor. From the elevator I had to limp, assisted by Manilyn, a short distance to the Fully Booked branch. The fun thing is, before we reach Fully Booked,  we have to turn a corner to Toy Kingdom's storefront, where earlier last week I tried to persuade Manilyn to snitch this Captain America cardboard figure into her bag. "Magaan naman," I told her, "Maganda sa Stamp Room ito." Apparently, the urban way of plunder has not eroded her provincial probity yet. So I settled for posing beside The Cap. 

The Captain and me on Manilyn's Nokia

Nearby is the more hefty Battle Blade figure. Since stealing this is not within my assistant's consideration (and training) yet, I settled for another pose. 

I'll dream of this tonight.

Leaving the action figures with a Napoles glance, I went to the Fully Book counter and paid for the book. I had the impression that books in that store are somewhat expensive. Still I shake off the temptation to get the 10-volume boxed set of Neil Gaiman's Sandman TPB comics. The P7,999 price tag is a mighty assist to Leena's admonition whenever I'm off on a trek to Book Sale and NBS: "Don't buy anything over P1,000." 

Leena developed this bargain basement attitude after we went to a National Bookstore bodega sale early this year. Chess books that had been tagged at P900 were marked down to P75. Bestsellers (James Patterson, Jody Picault, David Baldacci, Janet Ivanovitch and other pulp pushers) that were selling P350 in other branches were being sold at P30 each.  And then there's her eBook contact, who for P10 per title will email the latest novels and some magazines to your dropbox to download to your eGadget. If you know how to go around Pirate Bay and other Streaming sites, you don't even have to pay P10 for any book, magazine, game or movie.

We browsed in the store for a while, visiting the Sandman boxed set (bow!). Then we moved on t the local titles (Kiko Machine 10 is not available yet), then to a rack of postcards. I picked a picture of a Jeepney, P25. 

I bought it for two reasons: (1) I like the design. (2) I may make a little profit out of it like a picker. I remember I have many 1980 Jeepney  sets in my stock, all as new as the postcard.

Philippine Jeepneys, 1980

I use Mike Wolfe's technique of bundling up two items up to get a better deal, and I hope I get a good result for this.  If my idea works, I'll buy a bundle of this postcard and pair it with my stamps. I'm dreaming of earning my way up to the Sandman box.

After I paid the cashier at the counter, she looked at the postcard and then looked at me. She asked,  "Ibabalot pa natin ito, sir?"  I said, "No. No need, I'll just tuck it in the book." The Beatles book automatically deserved a paper bag, after all, it's P718. But a poor Jeepney postcard, P25, it must hitch a ride. That young woman's courtesy have been fully booked that she forgot that it's how you treat the small guys that gives you cache where it really matters: In your self-worth. I no longer know how it feels like to be a P25 person; I know I have leveled up, to P7,999 maybe?

Blue's birthday

Dec. 24: Happy birthday, Blue, father to multitude of beautiful sons and daughters, grandfather and great-grandfather to the Ragdoll population in this part of the city. Live long and do more multiplication. Your math is awesome.

Happy birthday, baby Blue!

Hunter's New Year message

I woke up late to join the photo session earlier, this last day of 2013, so I have been chosen to represent the human family here, the dogs and several families of cats, including the foundlings, the strays who stayed on; and the cichlids who have grown colorful in the big aquarium, and Mang Ambo's lonesome dove. Pogi says I am more qualified than he to greet you all a blessed and peaceful happy new year, what with his hotheaded propensity to insert some snide political remarks, his impractical suggestion to send many plundering government officials to shake hands with Jesus much sooner than they expect, or his inclination to post his picture here in spite of the fact that I look better, I'm younger, smarter, and I have hair. Hugs and nosekisses to all.

A Christmas greeting  

 

Mickey and Tabby, in behalf of Pogi, Leena, Neneng, Manilyn, and the other cats inside and outside the house, the chowchows in the garden with askal Chico, the fishes in the aquarium and in the fishbowl, Mang Ambo's dove in the cage, and Pope Francis whom we all love, greet you all a peaceful Christmas, with a little somber prayer for brethren in Tacloban and others sitting in darkness. We share what happiness we have, and send what little strength we can to lift you from your solitude.

Discombobulation

Nadi-discombobulate ako pag medyo pilay ang Ingles ng mga newscasters (pwera sina idol Karen Davila at Karmina Constantino, parehong cute & grammatical). 

UNTIL: "I was calm until I saw Napoles, then I turned green with rage." Nag-iba yung situation pagkatapos ng "until."

UP TO: "I have turned green, and up to now I still like being green because my ding-a-ling remains hulky." Hulk sa simula at hulk hanggang ngayon; alang shift sa situation. 

INUTIL: "Di ko kailangan ang tip mo, berdeng pogi, dahil magaling na ako sa grammar mula pagkabata until now."

Learning to write

A perplexed friend asked me, "I want to write, but I can't do it.  Is there something I must know first to be able to write?"

"0f course!" I said, surprised that he did not know the obvious answer. "The first ingredients in writing are the alphabets; you know, the 26 letters: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz." Then my memory, always eager for time travel, returned to the day when I was taught the peculiarity of the alphabets. (Later, my teacher, after she was released from the asylum, said she learned a lot, too.)

"Now, William," she said, holding a flash card with a big, black letter on it. "This is the small letter l; and this (another flash card shuffled up) is the capital L. Now what is this letter?" She plucked a card from the pack, flashing a b.

"An l with a big tummy?" I said, surprised at the way her faced turned from pink to light indigo.

"That," she hissed, "is a b! Now you know what a b is."
 
"Yes, ma'am, a lot of them pollinate flowers."

"Never mind. And what do you make of this?" It must be a peculiar day, because she picked the same letter, but facing the other way -- d.

"A leftward b?"

"No. Try again." The way she steamrollered the last word so heavily and so blunt, I imagined the word breaking into little pieces and falling to the floor.

Looking at the floor, I tried to appease her with the best answer that came to mind. "A small l with a big butt, like Nikki Minaj's?" Teacher was shaking her head like she wanted to detach it from her neck, so I tried again: "Like Kim Kardashian's?"

"IT'S A D!" She said so loudly I saw capital letters. "And what do you make of thissss?"
 
Strange day, indeed. She was showing me a p. So I pointed out the obvious: "You're holding a d upside-down, ma'am." She put the card in front of her face, frowned, slowly turned it 180 degrees, looked at the card again, then tossed it behind her shoulder.

Picking another card from the deck, holding it as if it was a rotten fish, she said, "And I suppose this is an upside-down b," tossing the q behind her to join the one on the floor, along with the shattered letters of the word she steamrollered earlier.

"And this, I'm sure, is not upside down, is it?" 

I gulped with embarrassment: she was showing me a pictogram of u. "What do you call that, ma'am?" I hedged.

"It's another letter. What do you think this is?"

Turning away from her, I mumbled, "a breast?"

"And this?" she smiled sweetly (but laced with strychnine) and held up a v. "It's a pointed breast? And thissss," throwing a w in the air, "is Madonna's pair of boobs?"

"Wow! You have an awesome imagination, ma'am. I thought that v is a bird flying. A female bird."

"I'm afraid to ask, but how do you know it's female?"

"Because a boy bird looks like that (me, pointing at a Y), his ding-a-ling is dangling while flying. Ma'am, why are you throwing away that n?"

"That's just a breast upside-down. No use wasting time on double-n, er, I mean m, either. Let's move on to O." 

"The moon! That's the oldest alphabet. I read somewhere that the first thing the first caveman drew was the first object he saw on the night-sky."

Finally catching on, the teacher added, "And this -- Q -- is a cat gazing at the moon. See the tail?" Tossing away the whole deck, she made a straight line on a piece of paper and drew a single v on the line: ____v_____

"I know that," I said. "It's..."

"Yeah, you dope, it's the bird on the wire." [Singing];
♫ Still I run out of time or it's hard to get through,
Till the bird on the wire flies me back to you,
I'll just close my eyes, whisper: baby, blind love is true. 
I wanna lay me down... ♪

Anyway, Happy Letter Writing Day to all!   \(^o^)/

 

AFTER the storm

We do not and cannot criticize that
1. The government has issued sufficient warning that the coming typhoon is strong. It has.
2. The president and his officials had asked the people in the Yolanda's path to evacuate ahead of time. True.
3. The government had allotted massive resources like food, water, medicine, and personnel for relief-and-rescue after the storm. Yes, but it failed to deliver them.

The president and his officials were not expected to have stock knowledge of the destructive effect of a super typhoon of Yolanda's strength and magnitude. In fact that knowledge turned out to be useless: Maps gathered from past storms through the years -- to help predict the probable paths of landfalls -- did not even indicate Guiuan as a possible site, and that's where Yolanda made her first landfall before going on to Tacloban and four other sites.

That said, it is the tendency of people with facts to expose people who cause, through their actions and inactions, harm to the lives and welfare of the citizens. In this case, the president is the man responsible for entrusting the welfare of the victims to DND chief Voltaire Gazmin, DSWD chief Dinky Soliman, DILG chief Mar Roxas and DOH Secretary Ona. PNoy and those three are the cause of the chaos and hunger in Tacloban and other areas. Although they cannot be blamed for the deaths and damaged wrought by Yolanda,  they must answer for what they have done and have not done for the victims AFTER the storm.

Everyone is a genius in hindsight, true, but we, and the victims, and mediamen local and foreign who had been to Tacloban, have been howling since Sunday, AFTER the storm, when it is the government's turn to wield its massive strength and machinery to search and rescue those who can be saved, feed the survivors, heal the sick and wounded. All these acts involve people, and all these must be done immediately, even if we have not rightly assessed the storm's strength and path, even if electricity and communications were down, even if debris blocked the ways in or out of Tacloban, even if Mayor Alfred, Romualdez, Rep. Martin Romualdez, and some barangay personnel are heartless bastards.

For those lives and properties Yolanda has taken and destroyed, Yolanda and no others must be blamed. But for those who died because the government did not act immediately to extract them from the rubbles, feed those debilitated by extreme hunger and thirst, send life-saving medicines to the wounded and severely injured, Aquino, Gazmin, Soliman, Roxas and Ona are culpable.

Why Aquino? Could another president have come out with a different and better solution? Exactly. And there, from that man, unravels the source of the survivors' frustrations and unnecessary hardships AFTER the storm. Aquino is weak-willed, and right after he was elected he failed to keep to his pledge that he will appoint in office only those qualified to hold and execute huge responsibilities. It does not take the strength of a typhoon to sway this president's mind: just a nudge from old family and crony connections got Gazmin and Dinky their positions in the second coming of the Aquino administration. It had been that way in Cory's time; so it is now -- a De Quiros to SSS, Alex Padilla now in Philhealth, former Bulacan governor Dela Cruz to Philpost, Boy Abunda somewhere out there. Roxas, as the Liberal Party's losing candidate, naturally got a slot. Let's see how they administered in Tacloban.

Anderson Cooper and other correspondents' observation that armed forces personnel are usually at the forefront of disasters is not off the mark. In calamities where speed can save a life,  soldiers have the manpower, machinery, training and experience to cope and solve, bringing in lighting, transportation and communications, and dig out survivors and send them to feeding and medical centers, set up by them too if required. DND chief Gazmin was in Tacloban all along, and he did not take over when the Tacloban government officials and police failed to do their tasks. He did not ask for additional personnel to help set up distribution points for food and water, dry clothes and blankets. He let thousands of Filipino corpses rot in the streets and be shown to the world for almost a week AFTER the storm.

Aquino -- who arrived in Tacloban one morning, posed for the news cameras while distributing mineral waters to some victims in a designated PR site -- apparently did not ask Gazmin why hundreds of Filipono deads are still lining the streets of Tacloban? He did not ask about the darkness at night because he was whisked out of there while the sun was bright and clear. He was also spared the sight of seeing hungry mothers in makeshift shelters tiredly fanning their hungry children from the oppressive heat. He did not see helpless fathers appeal for food, water, medicine for their family. Victims who lost members of the family did not have the luxury of grieving as they tried to fend off starvation, thirst, and afflictions. Many failed and died, days AFTER the storm.

What Aquino and his officials announced about food is true and remains true to this day: There is enough supply of food and water. Jessica Soho, who was in Tacloban, said she saw the warehouse where Dinky and volunteers were repacking food for the victims. Yet the victims went put to the streets day after day after day begging for relief. Because Dinky (and Gazmin and Roxas and this Aquino) maintained that the local government is the one in charge when calamity strikes. Yet Yolanda had swept away the Tacloban government structure (Aquino himself availed of this fact and used this as an excuse for his inaction), and Gazmin entrusted the repacked relief goods to the barangay head, who obviously kept the goods for a select few, letting the rest go hungry, especially those who did not vote for him in the last elections. Gazmin admitted this on TV Friday morning. Ineptitude marked the Cory government, and Gazmin is extending this to the present Aquino adminstration.

What about Roxas? He is supposed to handle the local government units. When the Tacloban unit was demolished, he could have installed an emergency unit so relief goods, there in Tacloban all the time, can reach the victims. Roxas and Aquino have consistently pointed out that there are not enough trucks, gasoline, personnel, etc., to do the job. So the dead lie in the street, the hungry starves to death, those injured die, until when? Until someone cries, This can't be right! Days AFTER the storm, part of the bridge leading to Tacloban was opened; if Roxas had something to do with that, he did not bring in more trucks, gasoline, personnel to save lives. The roads and bridges are jammed? If Roxas and Gazmin were concerned and frantic about more people dying AFTER the storm, they could have availed of the government's massive resources to clear traffic, to get trucks and gasolines outside Tacloban, even in Manila if necessary. Surely it cannot take six days to clear a path to Tacloban, get trucks and gasoline available outside Tacloban and bring them in? A DOH doctor, fishing for sympathy, told a news reporter that they had run out of medicine days ago, because their supply are still held up in a pier Cebu for four days now. DOH is government, it is supposed to set up a path for medical supplies to the victims, not complain of the supplies being delayed by minor factotums in the bureaucracy. Ona, who had been announcing directives as if he is in Tacloban, has been in Manila all along. People are dropping like flies, and Ona is attending meetings with members of the Philippine Medical Association about the date when thay will go to Tacloban. Thickheadedness can cause death. No amount of apologies will bring back to life those who died because of these officials' lack of sympathy concern for the victims.

Roxas revealed his lack of sympathy for the victims when he traveled to nearby Tanauan yesterday. He reached the barangay and talked to the people, who asked for food and water. Roxas said he came there to assure the people of the government's presence -- six days AFTER the storm -- and that assistance is forthcoming. He had planned to get there, but did he think that the people he would meet there will be suffering after six days without sufficient food, water and medicine? He did not bring any. And this creature Roxas wants to replace Aquino as President. Are not they doing enough harm?

We are howling about that, Not about PNoy's lack of foresight or preparedness. PNoy and his men insist on staying on until 2016. We are shouting and cursing that if they are shameless enough to stay in power, they must at least do no harm to those who still trust them, including those who for personal reasons defend such impeachable acts and inaction. They are fortunate: members of the Opposition are equally thickheaded, and some are also culpable of great offenses, so they cannot oust Aquino and his cohorts. They wait until Aquino delivers us from his trespasses into the hands of Binay.  Another storm is coming.

A kittycornered categorie

"This is Schoppi. He --"

"Schoppi?"

"Short for Schoppenhauer. He gets antsy around people. Must have received some kicks from some before we found him."

Welcome to Kittycorner, the accidental orphanage for cats. Well, they are kittens when we adopt them, but they all grow up to be cats. Lovely cats, too.

"Look at Schoppi's side-whiskers, just like the muttonchops of his namesake. "

"Are they all named after philosophers?"

"Many are, but not all. That's Thoreau, he's a loner and doesn't mingle. Walks a lot."

"You must have felt like Blake adopting Thoreau."

"Yeah, I got the urge to write some essays and do woodcuts. [Laughs.] Ah, here's Pavarotti, look at his girth! His high-pitched meows will astound you."

"[Sings] ♪ Perhaps love is like-a boiled chicken, or a stuffed pair of mice... ♫"

"Haha, that was Placido who sang with John Denver, not Pavi. Anyway, aherm! -- Ladies and gentlemen, here's the Beatles!"

"Really? You've got four mopheads here?"

"No, it's Ed Sullivan. Here he comes. Move slowly, he startles easily. He hunches his back like he's always introducing someone."

"That's some hunch, shoulda named him Bruce Lee. WooO0ohhah!"

"That one in the corner is Bruce Lee. Looks like an upside-down 'U' walking, but can he leap!"

"Hey! Look at that one, he walks with a shuffle and swagger like..."

"Bruce Willis. I can almost see him smirk and make his pitch: 'That die-hard cat's a natural coz he's got nine lives!'"

"That one's nose is kinda huge. Now, let me guess... Durante!"

"Except that's the lady of the house, so it's La Streisand. She's a Ragdoll, soft as an easy chair."

"Wow! What a menagerie you've assembled here."

"Categorie."

"What?"

"Because of Streisand here, it cannot be called menagerie, you see? So I think Categorie fits nicely."

"A kittycornered categorie. Ok. And that cat in the hat is..."

"Theodor Geisel!"

"Huh? Whozzat?!"

"Hehe, just messin' with you, man. Yep, it's Dr. Seuss."

This PNoy

President Noynoy Aquino, his username cleverly compressed into PNoy, can be considered a rarity in the steeply alpha Filipino culture -- truly a man only a mother can love. Many Filipinas will take umbrage at this statement and come to his defense (time and time again this has been so), but none will marry him, or consider becoming his mistress. So far.

Men with strong opinions without sufficient social skill to back them up tend to fall into deep trouble. They are such stuff of which tragedy are brewed. The first Benigno, his grandfather, was a senator even before this country was deemed sufficiently literate to be declared as a commonwealth by its American colonizers. After Filipinos helped drive out the Japanese in WWII, Benigno Sr. and others who had helped run the Japanese Administration's  puppet Congress (he served as Speaker from 1943 to 1944), were charged with treason and collaboration, but MacArthur easily prised them out of ignominy.

Benigno Jr. -- Ninoy -- carried on the senatorial trade for the clan. It is assumed that the old man had political charisma, and Ninoy inherited, and wielded, that great political tool with equally great skill. The volubility, it is also assumed by those who inferred from Dona Aurora's silent demeanor, came from the father's side of the family.

Ninoy talked at a fast clip, charming his way to political prestige and into Cory's heart. Their son, Benigno Simeon, must have been a talkative boy, competing in volume with Kris and three other sisters. Noynoy, people say, also got his father's charm, but not (this is tactfully left unvoiced) the good looks.

Irony is also a hallmark of tragedy. Ninoy -- favored with good looks, wit, and the Cojuangco wealth -- easily became the country's youngest mayor, then governor, then senator. So it was also assumed that he would, inherently and rightfully, replace the young Ferdinand Marcos as president in 1972. (It was a young Marcos who beat the old Diosdado Macapagal, who is to be blamed for siring Gloria, in the 1965 election.)  Martial Law denied the country of the turmoil of a Ninoy administration, but fate finally played her hand, and the twist is undeniably ironic and tragic.

Sent to exile in Boston, Ninoy availed of a grant and talked and talked until 1983, when he decided to return home to replace the ailing Marcos. Ninoy died with his impossible dream, the presidency, which Marcos toyed with for an extended 20 years after his term. It took people stopping tanks with flowers and prayers in EDSA to banish the Marcoses to Hawaii in 1986.

Never in his wildest nightmare did Ninoy even remotely see his wife, the quiet and unassuming Cory, rise to the presidency that he had failed to achieve. To view it in another way: Without Ninoy's dream, struggles, and death, Cory would have remained an unknown quantity in the political equation. Things are not simple as they seem.

Cory ruled. Her speech at the US Congress was boisterously applauded by the American senators and congressmen, who gave her a standing ovation. Back home, she survived several attempts by Enrile, aided by Honasan and the Ramboys, to oust her from office. Powerful men can also be big ignoramuses: Enrile should have known that what fate has decreed will  be done. So Cory stayed as president for her full six-year term, even greeting (in a Valentine's Day radio message) the ousted Enrile a happy birthday to share with her daughter Kris.

Noynoy had repeatedly asked for his mother's permission to run for office, but Cory said no member of her immediate family should aspire to public trust during her term, and Noynoy was a good and dutiful son. In 1992 Cory stepped down, and Noynoy became a member of the House of Representatives in 1998. After three full terms, he leveled up to become senator in 2007.

In November that year we saw Noynoy at the side of his frail mother, heeding the call of Capt. Danilo Lim, Trillanes, Faeldon and other Magdalo officials to kick the corrupt Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo out of office. Fate, it seems, does not make a distinction between good and evil, and so Gloria stayed while cancer slowly rounded off Cory's life. It was Cory's funeral in 2009 that highlighted the possibility of another Aquino presidency, through the third Benigno. And so it came to pass: Death sends another Aquino to the presidency.

Today, millions in the Visayas suffer as a result of a ferocious typhoon's onslaught. They suffer more, people say, because Benigno Aquino III or President Aquino II or this PNoy is inept. Also garrulous. He sure can talk, but he can't perform as well as expected. And why does he paste that inappropriate smile on his face in times of crisis? He had explained that when he is stressed the smile appears, as it appeared when he announced the death of seven Hong Kong tourists and the ex-cop who had hostaged them in Luneta. That was years ago, but China remembers.

A few days ago, this PNoy, his approval rating down by 19 points, made an appearance in Tacloban. He distributed bottled water to the typhoon victims; his smile seemed to indicate that he was handing refreshments to party guests. Can we trust a man who can't control a facial tick to handle the great affairs of a benighted country? Twenty-two countries have pledged millions of dollars to help the Philippines; China, with oriental nuance, pointedly donated $100,000, much less than the NBA's $250,000 aid. This, because Aquino refused to apologize to China over an individual Filipino's offense? Former President Estrada, now Manila mayor, had recently volunteered to apologize, even profusely if necessary, in behalf of the people.

Estrada, of another people-powered presidency, might have been a rogue, he will throw sincerity to the winds if it helps his people, but he is not the president any more. PNoy is. Will this, can this Aquino set aside his strong opinions and beliefs, if in exchange the Filipinos are alleviated of their misery? Or will he be set in his ways, still stubborn and smiling inappropriately, not even aware that there is a crisis at hand, that anger and outrage must be expressed over his bureaucracy's lack of urgency to deliver food and medicine to the starving and wounded victims?

It is the sad history of the Philippines that not one leader since 1521 has loved the Filipinos beyond his self-interest, his own dignity, his opinions and personal beliefs. Not Felipe II, after whom this country and its people were named, certainly not Magellan nor Lapu-Lapu, not Legazpi, not the sultans and datus, not Bonifacio and the uneducated Katipunans. The spouses Diego and Gabriella had the ardor but not the means. Rizal tried but failed. PNoy is president but not a leader. This he has made clear by his actions, or inactions.

If PNoy fails to get more than a mother's love, if no woman will bear a son of his, then the Benigno line of the Aquino tale comes to a close. Perhaps it is fitting it ends this way, to save PNoy's life. After his father Ninoy died, his mother became president; after Cory died he became president. We pray that this Benigno, this PNoy, single or eventually married, lives to a ripe, old age. After Cory's Kamag-anak Inc, after this PNoy's KKK, the Philippines may not be able to survive Kris' Showtime.