Torn over at Torn and Frayed In The Philippines had once quipped that “No one is too old to escape the massacres in the Philippine countryside” after lamenting how even a 72-year old activist did not escape certain death and was killed right in front of his family members. He was an old man for goodness sake and we know from common sense that old men should not be treated shabbily at all, much less being slaughtered while having his evening meal.

In January, torn also had pronounced European Union’s discontent over the spate of killings in the countryside, mostly of political and some agrarian activists. To date, some 800 politically-motivated killings were recorded from 1991 and about 272 since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took office in 2001.

Now it’s the US turn to vilify the Arroyo government for the seemingly relentless spate of political killings that has hounded our nation in recent times; those killings whose frequency has grown mind-numbingly patent. I said mind-numbingly because despite of the apparentness of these killings (like we read such kind of incident almost every week), it escapes me that there is really no such thunderous protestation against the government for this; when in my mind, this burning issue could be more scandalous than the fertilizer scam or even that of the Garci Tapes issue.

If a government is letting its own people die in this sort of gruesome manner, in the name of political gains and interest, then that government should either be impeached or be brought down in the next elections. No administration should ever win elections if in its midst, killings of individuals who merely stood for their political principles are killed like chickens, that in these days and times (as torn said), no one could be too old too escape such malevolence.

I remember that in the Marcos years (at least at the near end of such era) I can recall seeing a lot of red-splattered posters condemning political killings and disappearances as well as rioting in Manila in protestations of alleged political killings done at that time.

But now, the government gives us mostly that ho-hum façade whenever they are confronted with such questions. Who were killing those radical activists all along? Why the manners of killings are all similar? Why the victims always come either from BAYAN MUNA or AKBAYAN almost exclusively? Why such acts always blamed at NPAs when we all know that the NPAs can’t keep on killing their own ranks or they’d easily dwindle down in numbers, overnight? Why the investigations into these killings do not become well-publicized, always dying down after awhile and being forgotten into the guts of general public apathy? Are we all being mass-hypnotized? To turn the other cheek like the German public did while Adolf Hitler was massacring millions of Jews in Auschwitz?

Now—even for once—we can thank America for finally voicing out against this very abnormal circumstance within the Arroyo administration for it seems only America can make our government stop, look and listen. And nobody else can. Like a favorite lover.

In law, there is this silent rule of Res Ipsa Loquitur which is roughly latin for the phrase “the thing speaks for itself” or in my own wordings, “the fact something is wrong, then smoothing wrong has been committed”. It is a legal precept that has very strong application in civil cases, especially in torts and damages, where in any accident or wrongful act, there were instances were despite the lack of concrete evidence pointing out to the wrongful act, the judge meted out damages and penalties. Considering also that in civil cases, the court could have merely preponderance of evidence and act on it. The degree of evidence will not have to be so absolute like that of “beyond reasonable doubt” class, like direct witnessing, fingerprints and DNA traces as object evidences, or judicial admission of guilt.

It is sad however that this principle of Res Ipsa Loquitur has strict applications and requisites and could not be applied in criminal cases or otherwise, these spate of political killings is something so wrong in our present society or in this current administration that despite not having concrete evidence, we know, or almost all of us know and feel correctly that something grave is being done by some unscrupulous men in our midst. And we know who they are.

These killings in the countryside is a grave social illness that would not have gone so worst and malevolent if only the government had acted on it appropriately and in a very timely manner. I don’t know if it can be called as negligence, but for certain these deaths occured because so many just decide to turn a blind eye—including the government itself.

I am really against war, any form of armed conflict for that matter but when Republican Senator John McCain analyzed that if the American forces pulls out of Iraq today—or even systematically reduce in size—a full blown civil war would erupt there one hundred percent. Despite that I was against the U.S. unilateral move on Iraq even from the beginning, I am afraid that Senator McCain may be dead right on his conclusions. The political sphere in Iraq now is so much different when Saddam Hussein was still in power. Back then the Sunnis hold the nation together despite them being only second in terms of number to the Shiite populace, even though it is clear now that such control were mostly wielded by the despotic hand of the deceased Iraqi ruler. Now, most of militant activities there are being propelled by Sunni Baathists and they hold such fierce firepower that everyday, American soldiers, as well as Iraqi forces, die alongside innocent civilians on the smoldering streets of Baghdad. Despite sizable presence of American troops in Iraq (about 220,000 strong), the killings do not stop at all and shows no signs of abating. They even become more and more gruesome as each day passes, the attacks more and more deadly and the manner more and more sophisticated.

If the U.S. Military leaves Iraq at this time, Shiites and Sunni factions would go at each other’s throat, to compete on control over the oil rich country, to gain supremacy over every other tribe as a matter of arrogance and conceit. And of course, the smaller Kurds sector would also get embroiled in the heat and could suffer tremendously from that. This civil war, as Senator McCain predicted, may or may not happen but the possibility is just huge at this point in time that a complete American pullout now would lay that nation into shreds.

But the newly-controlling Democratic Party is now inching to initiate a binding legislation that would in effect take away the broad authority of President George Bush on the Iraq War, and would most probably lead to the eventual pullout of U.S. forces there—earlier than the Bush plan, maintaining skeleton forces only to train and assist Iraqi military units.

It seems to me that the Democrats are not anymore waiting for the next election to make a decision on Iraq. They are making the decision now while they have control over U.S. Congress. To me this looks like changing horses in midstream in the gravest form. It would appear haphazard and could open up a lot of Pandora’s boxes—like as I said, the predicted civil war among the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

Another thing, it may give President George Bush a convenient escape route and be generally relieved from main responsibility if the situation in Iraq becomes worst than what it is right now. He could say, “Hey, I told you so”.

If this move from the Democrats churns out uglier results—far uglier than what Bush had made on his Iraq War Strategy—it would surely hurt their chances on next years U.S. Presidential Elections and in essence, they would just be kicking themselves in the butt.

I think the best move here is a compromise between Bush long-term plan on Iraq and complete pullout. That would mean a slow and gradual pullout of American troops there starting this year while at the same time injecting radical economic and social measures such as increased infrastructure spending there and swift infusion of aids, in order to neutralize the vacuum left by the forces pullout. A good and running Iraqi economy is one thing that could avert general uprising and discontent in the population there.

The onset of the virus was swift and before I knew it, I was a bit trembling from extreme cold that I was feeling yesterday. It was such a sunny Monday morning that I woke up to, and in fact I was unusually in high spirits that I watched the entire King Kong movie the whole morning. But as noon slowly approached, I was already feeling some temperature just underneath my skin, and the way it felt was so familiar that I had no doubt that I’ll get full-blown flu before the day was over. The very worst thing about flu is that once the symptoms gradually become patent, there’s just nothing you can do about it. In fact, every time this sort of thing happens, I just prepare myself to sleep all day and drink a lot of fluids. Unlike when one has colds or coughs, taking common medications may actually relieve it in a day’s time. Cold medicines and cough syrups can be so good nowadays that a reasonable dose of them can actually make the runny nose or coughing disappear in a jiffy. But not in influenza’s case; it’s gonna get so worse before it goes away. Usually, I’ll struggle with it for at least three days and mostly for a full week.

I don’t know if its normal but I get the flu every once in a while, ever since I was a child. It had gotten to a point that my flu bouts already had became cyclical or periodical, like I get it once in every couple of years. I feel this way because of the many times I remember myself wrapping myself in thick linens to stave out extreme coldness.

Nowadays, flu vaccines are already available although I don’t know if it can be easily had in our place or if it’s affordable at all. In America, such vaccines are now widely available.

My brother in law had this afternoon advised me to drink certain medications—like the Bioflu—but in my mind, I still believe that there’s no better medication than taking a lot of rest and drinking a lot of fluids. My aunts back then used to tell me that there is really no ready-cure medication for influenza or no medicines had been invented yet to combat the virus. Acetaminophens and paracetamol could just deaden the muscle cramps and of course, alleviate the aching respiratory system (influenza virus mainly attacks the respiratory system) but the virus just won’t go away.

So for the meantime, I’ll be drinking glassfuls of water until the virus backs out and completely goes away.

By the way, there’s a lot of ‘Did you know’s?’ about Influenza on this Wikipedia page and its so interesting to note how it had wiped out huge portion of humanity in the early 1900’s and how its name actually came from the word ‘influence’ as in ‘influence of the cold’.

It was one wondrous time I had attending the Apo Hiking Society concert last night, on a cool evening when the stars shone starkly over the Astoria Regency, and the night air was so soft to the senses. I went alone and I had to explain such circumstance when I encountered my cousin Rose and her hubby Darwish while lining up to enter the concert hall. My wife couldn’t come I said because the kids shouldn’t be notified where we’re or I was going, for if they knew it was to a musical concert, they wouldn’t stop belching till they come along.

Some months ago, Sharon Cuneta was in town and since my wife was a big fan of hers, she had to attend her concert no matter what, and when the kids had learned where she was about to go that night, they were crying like I’ve never heard them cried before. We had to promise them that when John Lloyd hits town, they’d be treated to his concert. The eldest amongst them were a little smarter than his other siblings that he had actually asked, “Bakit pupunta ba si John Lloyd dito?” Of course, John Lloyd wasn’t scheduled to hit town anytime soon and we just made that up just to appease them.

Such spoiled kids they seem to have become and now that the eldest is already in his initial years in the elementary school, it dawns on me that maybe its time to put some disciplinary measures on them, inculcating in them the very important fact that goes ‘you can’t always get what you wanted’.

When I was a child as small as them, I was a favorite grandson of my grandfather Unih and it had seemed then that whatever I want, I get; I can always get what I wanted—shoes, clothings, toys, chocolates, you name it and I’ve got it. But when finally my grandfather passed away, it was hard—very, very hard actually—to readjust to new realities and conditions and it felt so really bad to suddenly realize that from that moment on ‘I can’t always get what I wanted’. It was a very frustrating realization and I think I have become sort of depressive for most of my college years because of that, living a different life without my generous grandfather. So I don’t want my kids to become maladjusted in some point of their future life, that it’d be wise to teach them some lessons as early as now.

Back to the concert.

Just as I thought it would be, the APO concert was so enjoyable that I could say I got more than what I had paid for. I was laughing all evening and they were as funny as they had been years ago, or perhaps I can even say that they are funnier than ever. I had already attended three Apo Hiking Society concert so far. The first one was when I was in Dumaguete City as a freshman student in Silliman University and the second time was when they had last performed in this city in 1994 (Danny Javier had pointed that out during the concert), the one that was held in Ateneo de Zamboanga Brebeuf Gym.

I remember that it was one lazy Saturday afternoon in Ateneo when I was walking just casually with some friends when suddenly we saw the three members of the Apo Hiking Society just outside the Brebeuf Gym. Of course, we were so surprised. That day, the whole campus was closed in order to give way for rehearsals of the upcoming APO concert. We were lucky that we were members of the school paper and we were allowed to enter the campus on the ground that we had some important press work to do. So the three members of the Apo Hiking Society was just standing by, perhaps taking a short break from the rehearsals, and if I remember well they were drinking sodas on bottles—I just could not be specific now. But I recalled for certain that there they were in casual wear—jeans and shirts—like they were merely common and ordinary people and not superstars that they are. My friend suggested that we approached them and I thought why not, maybe if they’d run away, it wouldn’t be a crime and we can’t be arrested for that. Fortunately, they didn’t scuttled away and had in fact conversed with us in a very casual manner. I could not now remember all too well how the conversations went—what topic and subjects it had—but it was so easygoing that they were in fact just kidding us around. The smiles of their faces was the ones I could remember very well and I realized then that despite their popularity and status in life, the three members of the Apo Hiking Society was so down to earth in personal, like they were not celebrities at all. And they weren’t as tall as they appear on TV or on stage, especially Buboy, the smallest amongst them.

And how I love their music that when I was a child, I could sing each and every song of theirs from memory. My cousin Rose knows that for we were so crazy with their music when we were just small kids.

So months before last night—when posters announcing their concert started to come out—I had made sure that I’d be attending the musical event and had been so excited thinking how funny they can get with their stage antics and of course, how their music could be so sublime when heard live. And for one, I thought that it was one opportunity for me to see in person one fellow blogger in Jim Paredes (I should have been linking his prolific site Writing On Air but for some reason I am not. So I’ve got to ASAP.) Truly, a night with the Apo Hiking Society is always a night to remember.

On Valentines Day, I was driving all day since Uncle Bert (my mother-in-law’s younger brother) and Auntie Pat came visiting all the way from Chicago so I was offline all day—in fact I wasn’t logged into the net for nearly three days.

And due to that, I wasn’t able to blog about this landmark deal that got North Korea surrendering its nuclear ambition ; in exchange for aid. Who would have thought that it only takes merely 50,000 tons of fuel oil for Kim Jong Il to stop creating nuclear fusion and end months and months of wearisome stalemate on the negotiating table?

50,000 tons of fuel oil—nearly 13 Million gallons of oil— may not be that huge for a nation struggling to ease out of its present economic predicament (many experts believed that North Korea had suffered widespread famine sometime in the latter part of the 90’s) but apparently, it was enough to finally stifle the terror brought about by repeated missile tests conducted by Pyonyang into the Sea of Japan. For 50,000 tons of fuel oil, Pyongyang decided to close its Yongbyon nuclear reactor in 60 days time and agreed not to reactivate it again.

I am not able as of the moment to estimate the money equivalent of 50,000 tons of fuel oil but I am sure, even if the price is steep, countries like Japan, South Korea and other nearby countries—as well as the United States of America—should have no qualms at all of meeting this economic demand; they may even augment the whole amount of aid to North Korea just in order to have a locked on its commitment to stop any nuclear development. For the real price (or cost) of peace is immeasurable.

Thus on Valentines Day, North Korea finally backed down and consented to permanent discontinuance of its nuclear development. How permanent it is should be another question and I do personally hope that this time around, North Korea would stick to its commitment.

For me, this is a landmark occasion for all of us—we, the people of the world. One less nuclear threat means a whole lot, especially now that this world is already burdened by other threats to human existence like global warming and widespread wars.

So on Valentines Day, the world was given a gift of peace, and perhaps of love.

Maybe other nuclear active countries like Iran, India and Pakistan—and even the ‘huge’ ones like America, Russia, France and the likes— would follow suit. That way, we all can make a brighter day (as that 80’s popular song goes).

And so, Uncle Bert and Auntie Pat finally boarded a Manila-bound PAL flight this afternoon and everyone at home felt a little saddened that they had to go away for now. Every time they are here, the kids always had such a good time, including me of course. It would be until next year again before they go visiting again. I just want to wish them a happy voyage back to their wintry but wonderful Chicago home.

Iron Curtain. Gulag. KGB. McCarthyism. Spies. Propaganda. These are the terminologies that often come into our minds when we are reminded of the ‘Cold War’ era. I would like to add to that. ‘Endless bickering’ is a phrase that could totally sum up that era where leaders from both America and the red giant behind the iron curtain—Union of Soviet Socialist Republic—had rapaciously squabbled against each other, over and over again, for a long period of time. And the most lasting image of that era for me is when Cold War USSR leader Nikita Kruschchev pulled out his shoe all of a sudden and banged it on the table after Filipino United Nation delegate Lorenzo Sumulong had accused the Soviet Union to have had double-standard on the issue of colonialism—pointing to the USSR domination of Eastern Europe countries appertaining at that time.

Now, ‘cold war’ memories may be rehash again as Pentagon Chief Robert Gates charged Russian President Vladimir Putin as trying to put up another ‘cold war’ scenario and saying that ‘one cold war’ is (already) enough. Now, now…Gates must have been too quick on the trigger. One unenthusiastic comment from Putin should not have been construed as an invitation to ‘endless bickering’. The Russian president spoke out yesterday how America as “one state, the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way.”, citing that the U.S. campaigns in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq and in Somalia to be instigator of insecurity among nations, pushing them to seek nuclear armaments and thereon start a more rapacious arms race, one fiercer and scarier than the one appertaining during the Cold War Era.

In my mind, Russian President Putin was just speaking out his mind, of what he actually perceives about America, and guess what, such perception is to me, very general and rampant among political analysts across the globe and as well as among leaders and peoples of the nation. In fact, China had been systematically upgrading its nuclear arsenal as a cautionary tactic in its silent conflict with America, concerning primarily about Taiwan which the latter is wont to protect, even to the extent of sending the 7th Fleet into the Taiwan Strait every time the China military conducts exercises on the coast fronting the Pacific Ocean. And Putin should be right on this.

Perhaps, behind North Korea’s ardent nuclear ambition is similarly caused by this ‘insecurity’ that America had allegedly created. To be sure, the arms race (nuclear at that) between India and Pakistan is the result of peace insecurity between these two nations, as well as surrounding circumstances in the world.

Such perception (America inciting the need for a new arms race), may actually be valid and the Russian president may be excused of any malice at all.

However, it is just sad that such stark commentary about America comes from a leader of a nation who is so very active in exporting not only nuclear power technology, but as well as nuclear arms equipments and know-how. Russia has a live contract with Iran worth $800 Million and had been active in China’s nuclear power and arms build-up. With a lackluster economy for the past number of years, Russia seem to be honing its nuclear technology so well that even President Putin himself goes out all the way to defend countries like Iran, “for having a right to pursue nuclear technology for peaceful means”. Such euphemism should be the new phrase that should mark this nascent ‘arms race’ among nations, together with the modern term “neither confirm or deny’, when visiting American battleships are asked whether or not they are carrying nuclear armaments.

In that sense, Putin becomes not entirely sincere and correct about his pronouncements although it is not hard to agree with him when he said that America had somehow overstepped its limitations and had created a peace insecurity in many nations.

Ultimately, Russia itself should stopped peddling its nuclear expertise and equipments to other nations like Iran and China. That way, Putin could ultimately be right about his idea of America.