"Wonders will never cease" Sassy wrote in her blog.

I say: Mindboggling indeed. But I'd take prevention over cure anytime, minus the gag on free press/speech and the baseless arrests though- just the quashing of the coup. Which brings one to ponder, when is a coup a coup? The act itself? an attempt? or a botched plot?

If only we can have both scenarios happening at the same time so we could compare them- what happened (1017) and what could have happened (without 1017).  Averting bloodshed or another tragedy is better than overreaction.

For a change, why don’t we dwell on something positive?

The Philippine peso closed at Php. 51.22 to $1, it’s lowest in about three years and a half.

The stock market gained.

There was a price rollback for LPG (may it continue).

Tourist traffic is up. Summer la.

GMA will lift Proclamation 1017. Madame, anggapo lay emergency!

As of March 3, 2006, 2:30 a.m., Blackboard is #53 in PinoyTopBlogs.com (and climbing… hopefully). How’s that for a newbie?

Sources:
INQ7.net

Manila Bulletin

Philippine Star

I first learnt about INQ7.net’s 5th anniversary through Yuga’s post. Wow! What a great way to celebrate it with us online readers! They are featuring Blog, Stories, Photos, Videos, Podcasts, and Greetings Sites.

Happy 5th Anniversary INQ7.net! Kudos to Mr. Joey Alarilla and the people behind INQ7.net!

As Mr. Alarilla had posted:

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What are your most memorable INQ7 moments? What news events have affected you most? What are your thoughts on the future of online media? What suggestions would you like to share?

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According to Wiki, there is an adage that March "comes in like a lamb, but goes out like a lion".

Today, being the first day of March, I snooped around the blogs of my ka-“prepys”, subliminally seeking a cosmic connection between the adage, the blogs and what March will bring to all of us.

Humancamcorder, a certified techie and Google Adwords Qualified Individual gave a tip on finding out the version of the Microsoft SQL software you are using.

The Postman, a colleague and a new blogger made his first post (actually two in a day) and he delivered! The first was about tips to guys who are “shooting blanks” and the second one is his take on the Da Vinci Code which he just finished. Days ago, I was on the verge of going anti-climactic and revealing the plot (what a tease!)- which he emphatically refrained me from doing so. You may want to check my post about the book.

BehnFer is wondering if drug companies have really reformulated their medicines that contain Phenylpropanolamine. Remember last year’s buzz that the drug may cause increased hemorrhagic strokes?

Yolly with Sunday migraine and all, quipped: “But with what’s happening in our country, should we "Send in the Marines?" Or do we shrug our shoulders and "Tell (the events) to the Marines?"

Rhodora went reminiscing at the same time excited and very much in love. Happy Silver Anniversary!

Eva blogged about the Dagupan City-Zamboanga Sisterhood Pact. Why not a brotherhood pact?

Ever busy Gabriel is off-the-air just for today but still managed to spread humor in spammed.

Kuya, is still very much preoccupied with digesting his law books and stressing out with his Assassin character in Diablo II Lord of Destruction. I have a Druid and a Paladin character.

My post? Repentance for a better Philiipines.

March On!

If you wake up and see our leaders and politicians in sackcloth and their bodies covered by ash, then the effect would be: Php.1= $1 and that the Philippines will be the envy of the world. Who am I kidding? It may be Ash Wednesday today but such scenario will just be a dream. If this becomes a reality, where will we get all the ashes?

Seriously,

For Catholics all over the world, March 1, 2006 is Ash Wednesday. It is the 1st day of Lent. It's a day of penitence to clean the soul before the Holy Week. As a tradition, churchgoers are marked on the forehead with a cross of ashes as a sign of penitence and mortality.

We need this right now. To humble ourselves and be repentant. Stop the self-righteousness, stop the finger-pointing, stop the hidden agendas, stop destabilization, stop the bickering, end the state of emergency, end the hate.

Repent. Sincerely.

And we all work for a better Philippines.

The weekend drama was not exclusive to Metro Manila. As the nation was gripped by news of an impending coup, rallies, the controversial “state of emergency” and Marines standoff amidst the 20th Anniversary Celebration of EDSA People Power, Baguio City’s Flower Festival 2006 which is also known as Panagbenga was rocked by controversy and division.

Baguio City, touted as the Summer Capital of the Philippines, apparently had two versions of the Pangbenga. The two organizers: The Baguio Flower Festival Association (BFFA), led by businesswoman Nelia Cid, which handled last year's flower fest and supported by Mayor Braulio Yaranon and Baguio Flower Festival Foundation, Inc. (BFFFI) backed by the city councilors and Baguio Rep. Mauricio Domogan. The BFFFI is headed by lawyer Damaso Bangaoet Jr., the acknowledged founder of Panagbenga, who was reportedly eased out of the 2005 flower festival.

The result of the impasse- a compromise agreement between the Baguio Flower Festival Association (BFFA) and the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation (BFFF) for a “one-parade-for-one-day rule”, with the former having its street dancing cavalcade, band exhibition and floral float parade at 8AM on Saturday, February 25, and the latter’s parade on Sunday, February 26.

I got hold of the issue only today when I asked a friend how the Panagbenga was (as I wasn’t able to go this year). He replied, “Pangit boss, makapoy natan. Apaldwa’y too” (It wasn’t good, this year’s celebration was not that nice. The people were divided).

Politics. What’s new?

Lisa: Dad, don't you think you're overreacting?
Homer: Don't you think you're *under*reacting?
Lisa: This conversation is over.
Homer: This conversation is *under*.
Lisa: Goodbye.
Homer: *bad*bye

-From The Simpsons.

What constitutes an overreaction?

Nipping a coup in the bud is not. Declaring a state of emergency is.

Asking GMA to resign is not. Deliberately sabotaging the economy is.

Celebrating EDSA by “the original EDSA personalities” is not. Destroying its spirit by the same people is.

Joining a disguised “EDSA Celebration” ala marching of Orcs in LOTR (as described by another blogger) is not. Leading it is someone who is haunted by the Mendiola Massacre and Hacienda Luisita killings is.

An eye operation timed during the EDSA anniversary is not. Thinking (that guy, think?) you are still president is.

Voicing out through protest albeit ill-timed is not. Throwing stones and injuring others is.

The police doing their job is not. Violent and bloody dispersal is.

Arresting plotters and saboteurs is not. Warrantless arrests of people, even the harshest of critics, is.

Opposition and Opportunists or Administration and Adhesive in one sentence is not. Military and adventurism is. It is also scary and should be denounced.

Reporting as it is no matter what is not. False reportage, misinformation, rumor mongering and exaggeration is.

Complaining of a critical media is not. Suppressing freedom of speech is.

What a preposterous weekend.

*Bad*bye!

As Bart Simpson puts it: Aye Carumba Philippines!

Not another tragedy!

This was the first reaction I had at the very moment I learnt of the news. Last Friday, Guinsaugon, a village in the town of St. Bernard, Southern Leyte was said to be literally erased from the face of the earth (like the demolition of the “shabu flea market” in Pasig?).

Estimates of about 1,500 people were buried by an enormous landslide which is said to be caused by continuous rainfall.

This is another horrendous landslide-caused (read as wanton denudation of the forest due to logging activities) tragedy that has besieged Leyte for at least the 3rd time in the last two decades. Remember Ormoc in 1991, where at least 6,000 people were buried alive? Or flashback just three years ago, when the town of San Francisco, was also perished by a landslide killing 133 people? 

Read more

It is now 20 years since the Filipino through a "People Power revolution" got united towards the common goal of freeing himself from the bondage of dictatorship and socio-political oppression.

As part of my own commemoration, I have been participating in discussions particularly on the PCIJ blog by submitting some comments.

I wish to share my insights on EDSA: 20 Years After by reposting the comments that I've  submitted.

From Edsa 20/20: Jim Paredes:

blackboard said,

February 13, 2006 @ 11:43 am

There is no such thing as taking a vacation from being a Filipino. We can deny our identity but we can never give it up. A true Filipino never will- inspite of all the miseries. Its all we got- being Filipino. Have we tried everything to effect change? I guess not. What we have regressed to is constant bickering and one-upmanship. Let us try being united with a common goal for Philippines for a change. We have attempted that at EDSA 20 years ago, we just didn’t sustain it.

From Edsa 20/20: Carmen Deunida, a.k.a. Nanay Mameng:

blackboard said,

February 13, 2006 @ 11:33 am

To me, calling the EDSA revolution as EDSA 1 or EDSA revolution is a misnomer. It was never the place, it was the people that made it as it was. It was not the politicians or the military- it was the PEOPLE. Like a movie with sequels, the other EDSAs that followed never measured to the first. The first was out of a need to topple a dictatorship and rise from political and social oppression, the next EDSAs were just a result of political shrewedness, adventurism and opportunism with the people as unwitting participants. And we wonder why EDSA has lost its mystique and potency? We have tainted its spirit. We eventually gave up or are giving up to the “system”. EDSA was about people empowerment and we empowered the wrong people. It is not late to reap the lessons of People Power (sadly after 20 years)- we as a nation can make Philippines better- TOGETHER! Without ulterior motives, without selfish desires. Enough with too much politicism that have gnawed our moral and national fiber. Not because we WANT to make this country better, but because we NEED it.

Love.

It is what Valentine's Day should be about. But I guess that is not the problem. What confounds it most is the multitude of definitions and perceptions we have about the four-letter word.

Among the abstract concepts, love probably has the most meanings (or attempts to give meaning to it) and the most translations in different languages. It is intrinsic in all cultures, it is a defining trait of humanity- it is what makes us human.
Its meaning is lost not in the translation, but in its usage and its misuse and abuse. We further muddled it by equating it with a lot of things- sex, want, money (love could even mean mahal i.e. expensive), pleasure, gifts and material things, among others.

Without being preachy about it, Pope Benedict XVI placed love in its proper context in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est.
Lest we allow ourselves to be eaten by the commercialism of Valentine's Day, be reminded that it is about love. It is not about queuing at the motel, dining at the most expensive resto or a bunch of Holland tulips or wearing someting red or giving a card. It is not just for couples or romantic fools. Or just for the young.

Valentine's could be for a child giving his parents a card with an asymmetrical heart (it doesn't even have to be red), a septuagenarian couple enjoying an early morning walk (still holding hands after all the years and despite the Alzheimers), a group of friends celebrating their single-blessedness, patriots uncessantly fighting for this beloved country or a single person preferring to enjoy his being "alone" in self-reflection or as a respite from the rigors of life and its idiosyncrasies.
Because love is for everyone. And expressed in a gazillion ways. Hey, it doesn't even have to be Valentine's Day to celebrate or show love.

Loving and being loved is for everyday.