The appearance before the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 129 of the four American servicemen accused of raping a 22-year old Zamboangueña in Subic last November 1 is a huge step for the prosecution considering how it became a very thorny issue on whose custody the four accused servicemen be handed to. When I saw them drooping and toddling slowly towards the court’s premises, I felt like the Philippine justice system has gained enormous credibility points because for a while there, I would have almost expected local courts failing even just to summon the appearances of the accused Americans. For a third-world country like us, the American embassy could have easily harassed every bureaucrat there is just in order to delay or deny completely our court’s prerogative to indict and try the four accused. And with our government so hungry for American aid and assistance, it might have been easily done—and the whole rape case a done deal for that matter.

Now, the prosecution should not be celebrating too soon and should even work doubly harder for this is supposed to be not an ordinary case where judgment on the case should be handed down within a year, as prescribed by the Visiting Forces Agreement we have signed with the American government. In fact, they should always be on the lookout and anticipate every delaying tactics that may be unleashed by the defense and counter them effectively when they come.

Now, just when I thought we could trust and count on the prosecution to do their work well, it seems that the contrary is appertaining. There was a major hullabaloo when the prosecution opted and moved for the downgrading of the charges (from principals to mere accessories) against three of the four accused American servicemen. It could possibly be a prudent strategy since downgrading the charges on the information sheet (the complaint) often increases the chances of prosecution, since the evidence required thereat or the quality thereof would not be as exacting as in higher and more graver charges. Often in our courts, charges such as murder are downgraded to something like homicide when evidence of premeditation—which is always harder to establish—is not crystal clear. This way, the court may most probably render judgment against the accused and not be perturbed by that silent but very important legal dogma of demanding “proof beyond reasonable doubt”. In our legal system, there is this silent rule that judges always adhere to and that is, “it is better to set ten guilty men free than imprison one innocent man”. This means that judges always see to it that before sending an accused to long years in prison, they should make sure that the accuse is guilty 100%—or what we mean by “beyond reasonable doubt”; and the presence of doubt, even how miniscule it is, should lead the judge to render judgment in favor of the accused.

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Actually, it “was” my birthday since it had happened two days ago, last Monday in fact. Well, how does a 34 year-old man celebrate his birthday? I do not really have any idea except that like Abaniko, maybe I’ll have platefuls of pansit, doing it the old and reliable way—to have a real long life. Or maybe like Sam, in the oh-so-tender arms of his loving family.

When I was so much younger, I had always go for spaghetti and fried chicken, cooking them my own way and spending the rest of the days asking my close friends every now and then if my spags and drumsticks were great. Of course, birthdays is the only time where your friends would always say “Great” everything about you, making you wish that everyday is your birthday. Big wishes, I have.

Well for this time, I will have the most politically-correct wishes and they are, hoping and wishing that there’d be peace on earth, every nation has no nuclear arsenal, North Korea and South Korea would finally reunite, United States signing the Kyoto Protocol on the regulations of industrial emissions, the troubles in Iraq finally end, Israel and Palestine—as well as the rest of the Arab worlds—finally come into the most ideal compromise and stop kicking each other in the ass, Guns N’ Roses finally releasing the much anticipated new album and possibly reunite like The Eagles did, third world debts eliminated or reduced to a minimum, all religions be united in spirit in their entreaty to God, for He is the same God we all pray to, Jerry Seinfield making a movie and be successful in it (like George Clooney did or Matthew Perry), our country finally seeing economic stability for the first time in decades, Aha—that Norwegian band—finally coming out of their rut and hitting it big again on BillBoard Top 100, U2 making more and more music, like two albums a year as the Beatles did in the 60’s, and finally peace of mind and good life for me and my family.

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Or rather, Big Brother is coming to town.

In “1984”, George Orwell predicts a world where “an eye in the sky” sees everything a man does—just like in the reality show we all are aware of by now. In “Atlas Shrug”, the superlative thinker Ayn Rand thought that in an ideal world, every man is known by a number designated to him or her from day one. And in the Philippines, aside from apprising suspects of their rights to remain silent, policemen would soon be mumbling cinematic lines like, “Where’s your I.D.?” or “Give Me Your I.D.?” Just like in a Sylvester Stallone cop-and robber movie or an Arnold Swarzenneger futuristic.

Fact and fiction would soon converge here in our country as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered the full-steaming of the national I.D. system just hours after the Supreme Court had upheld the constitutionality of Executive Order 420, the Malacañang instructive that calls for such. And finally, we will come to a point in this country where we could be required to hold a public document in our wallet or else, we’d be penalize for being forgetful. Up to this time, we can’t be held for not having our birth certificates in our wallets, or even by not having any at all. The only consequence for this is that we can’t get some privileges like employment and marriage—matters that requires the presentation of a certificate that records the day that we first breath fresh hospital air. I never really heard ‘bout a guy being handcuffed for not having had that darn certificate when he needed it.

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(First posted on March 25, 2005)

In these days of Lent, I could not help but empathize with the occasion, as I likewise bring myself before the solemnity of faith, in the manner that I see fit. In this connection, let me present to you an article that I have read some years ago in an issue of Newsweek Magazine. It was titled “The Other Jesus” and was written by Kenneth L. Woodward in the March 27, 2000 issue of the said magazine. I have been a voracious reader of many periodicals in the past—both local and international—and of all the articles that I have read, this one turned out to be the most memorable for me and the one that I have especially kept not only because it was about faith and religion (which magazines like Newsweek and Time rarely venture into), but mainly because it was a very informative and insightful piece of writing. There is something about this article that I could not point to, which is the reason why I always go back to it every now and then, every time I go rummaging through old issues of magazines and newspapers. I don’t know why I always do these things. Delving into old papers and documents had become an annual ritual for me that without doing it even for once, my year is not complete. I like the feeling of going through old things that I have piled in boxes and huge envelopes because they almost always remind me of past things that endear to me, that I could go all day excavating through old books and photographs and the dust coming from them gives such a unique and amorous scent. This year, at this particular point in time, when the kids are mostly home for the school break and summer provides a lot of empty hours for empty pleasures, I went backtracking again, through piles of old magazines and found this one magazine that contained the article that became my favorite of all time.

Due to copyright restrictions, I won’t be able to present here the verbatim content of the article “The Other Jesus” but I am giving you the synopsis, as best as I could. The online archives section of the Newsweek Magazine have this article stacked but it isn’t free. If you have online subscription to it, you’ll have free access to past issues.

In Catholicism, our Lord Jesus Christ is revered as the Son of God, the most recognized member of the trinity and He is the Redeemer of Mankind. In Pope John Paul’s own words, “Christ is absolutely original and absolutely unique. If He were only a wise man like Socrates, if He were a prophet like Muhammad, if He were enlightened like Buddha, without doubt He would not be what He is (today).” The Gospel Christ is the most well-known personage of the Messiah and many of us had learn to know Him as the man who was born of a virgin, who healed the sick and made the blind see; One who brought back to life a man who had already gone dead; who once walked on water and calmed the storms in the sea; and who gave His life to humanity in order that the sins of the world may be taken away. This is the Lord Christ, as we know him.

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U.S. President George W. Bush formally declared that the most proper approach to the Iran nuclear debacle would be true-blue diplomacy, and insisted that he remains committed to that option. Whatever that means. Despite this pronunciation by the U.S. President who seems to have the most wars in his hands at any one time (Nixon only had Vietnam while Reagan had the Contra affair in El Salvador), recent leaks from U.S. military sources appeared that President Bush is back once more to his peak form as a gung-ho cowboy in a suit.

Accordingly, top U.S. Military men believes that airstrikes on selected sites within Iran is the best option possible in order that Iran’s advancement in nuclear technology may be quashed effectively. Just this day, Iran’s outspoken leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced with great pride that his country had finally perfected the process of Uranium enrichment and that Iran would soon be among the “club of countries with nuclear technology”. This development may certainly make air raids into Iranian territory more and more tempting and “justifiable”.

In the past, airstrikes by America into enemy territories had resulted into mixed ends. In 1986, then President Ronald Reagan ordered air raids into Libyan facilities that were suspected to be harboring terrorists and while it had shaken Moamar Qaddafi so badly that time, terrorism had become even more virulent since then. In the 90’s, America sent fighter planes into Yugoslavian territory in order to punish reported war abuses by Serbian combatants against Bosnian civilians. These airstrikes had appeared to have weakened Serbia’s resolve to annihilate every Bosnian there is on the face of the earth and soon war in the Balkans ended.

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I was just reading Abaniko’s take about blogging hit-rich topics like Pinoy Big Brother or about the Big “S” Word—you know, those topics with keywords that could double your search engine referrals overnight—and I never thought that I’d come to this point of being in the same quandary as Abaniko so soon. Not that I am too queasy about being called a blog slut (please excuse my language this time), I have no problem with blogs that blog about PBB and similar subject matters, for all the while, those must have been their area of expertise and that they were already blogging about them long before they knew that those topics can actually do magic on their hit counters. Well, some just do it for the money…er…for the hits. But that is just how it is in the blogosphere

To blog or not to blog.

I was watching the results show of American Idol just hours ago and something or someone in that show made me want to blog about American Idol, or somewhere near it, and certainly Ameriacan Idol is one of those hit-rich topics that I have referred to above. Kenny Rogers was in the show, just like Barry Manilow was there about a week ago. I could pass on the guy who sang Copacobana but I just couldn’t let pass Mr. Kenny Rogers, the guy who sang “Through The Years”, and the man who is not only a famed crooner but also a kind of food culture icon because of his very tasty charcoal-roasted chicken formula.

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