For one, Myanmar has just become the most persistent customer of the United Nation Security Council today, as its sentencing of freedom icon Aung San Suu Kyi to an 18-month of reclusion has earned it another ticket towards official condemnation. It used to be Israel, staunch raiders of territories of its neighbors, Lebanon and Palestine.

Fortunately for Myanmar, veto-wielding countries China and Russia posed stumbling block to the United Nation condemnation with China issuing statements that the western world should respect Myanmar’s sovereignty. And accordingly, other neighbor countries like India and Thailand forms a belt of protection and easement with China and Myanmar rest comfortably on this. But this is pointed out to be most economic in nature as Myanmar remains to be among the few countries in the eastern hemisphere to have been able to preserved vast portion of natural resources, in terms of lumber and minerals, and definitely China depends on this so much that now it gives the global lip-service.

This must be what colonialism looks like nowadays.

Conspicuously, the ASEAN secretariat is mum on this latest political storm brewing from the land of pagodas. Perhaps, it’s starting to get tired of Myanmar’s troubled ways.

Everybody gets tired somehow. Maybe the United nation will soon get numbed on Myanmar’s irreverence that it may just leave the issue there stale and unattended, to keep a blind eye. I hope not.

Now that the foremost modern-day icon of our democracy has passed away and in sojourn towards eternal peace, I now remember how Madame Corazon C. Aquino, plain housewife who in a matter of moments became singular bastion of democracy in our country, unifying a devastated people to yearn and ultimately strive for the freedom negated for more than two decades of repressive and ineffectual dictatorship under the late Philippine president Ferdinand E. Marcos.

I was merely in highschool years when the EDSA Revolution of 1986 occurred and despite the youngest of mind, I remember seeing her on television, then just a lean and unassuming woman, speaking for votes towards radical changes for our country, in that year’s snap presidential elections.

She spoke like a gentle mother overseeing her suffering children and truth to be told, as indeed history reminds us, as history forever endears her to all of us, she became ultimately the mother of modern-day democracy that we are all having privilege of. And to this, we must all be thankful and offer Madame Cory Aquino the highest of salutations.

I remember now also, that when in 1999, the eve of a new millennium spurred every media outfit to recollect on a decade that was, outlining the highlights of a century that saw two gargantuan world wars, the rise of new social ills such as terrorism and global frauds, epidemics, world-shaking political assassinations, newfound glories  and modern-day revolutions, I had for one took a keen observation on CNN’s graphical graffiti of events that unfolded and was so distraught that the EDSA Revolution of 1986 was not as much as put into the proper perspective as was other events of the decade, like say the fall of the Berlin Wall or the Chinese people uprising in Tiananmen Square in 1989. I reckoned that the People Power Revolution and Madame Cory Aquino for that matter, as a bastion of modern-day world democracy, the TIME’s Person of the Year for 1986, should have gained more focus and deserved more retelling than most of the events of the 20th century, as collated by the CNN news people.

In my mind, the EDSA Revolution of 1986 had brought forth and opened up opportunities for many nations of the world in those times towards the achievement of more palpable freedom and democracy, affirming in fact that a bloodless revolution like that in the Philippines could in fact be possible, and that it augured in an entirely new mindset for the entire political world, that authority of the state and governance need not be as merciless and unreasonable as was in past decades or centuries, that a new wind has finally come, where authority should indeed emanate purely from the people it seeks to govern, and that people in authority should not take possession of power when popular opinion comes to a point that it should be taken away and changed hands.

We could not point out to any evidential matter or a direct correlation of the events unfolding after EDSA Revolution in 1986, but it wouldn’t take much of a genius to note that prior to 1986, a street mass protest should be in no way to become an effectual scheme of disowning a rogue government, they always had to be military or forceful in means and methods.

But after the People Power had gained such surprising success, bringing down what could have been an immovable force in Ferdinand Marcos through mass protest in the streets, without any escalating warfare, and thereon had gained worldwide exposure, being such a phenomenon not really happening in years beforehand.

No one would admit that the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Chinese people finally braving tanks in Tiananmen Square also in 1989, was heavily influenced by the People Power Revolution in 1986. But I felt so intensely that they were.

Bringing forth a new wind of democracy throughout the world, a new era of freedom and democracy not seen ever in previous history, that at least now, the New World Order is much more acceptable and tolerable than the past Cold War Era and of course much much more appreciated than the repressive colonial years when Europe devastated the whole new territories, from Latin America and throughout Asia and Africa though economic exploitation and political enslavement.

Now we could say, that Madame Corazon C. Aquino --- and the People Power Revolution, had single-handedly reversed the Domino Effect Theory, where instead of the spread of communism that had been feared before, the EDSA Revolution of 1986 had spurred in another kind of domino effect, where one by one, socialist states had gone to the streets, from East Germany, to Ukraine and Belarus, to Georgia and China, they finally embraced the harboring embrace of democracy and of freedom.

(This one section of an unfinished autobiography) 

You could fall in love in such tender ages this I realized when I stepped into first grade. Those feelings might have been merely infatuations. I was not sure. Nothing is so certain with emotions especially that of a child.

I could always write "C-H-A-I-R" or "U-M-B-R-E-L-L-A" when our teacher instructed us to identify things on the board. That was how Julie chose a seat beside me. She was like a leech poring into all the answers I have got on my paper while I was always ever willing to share them. She was there with her angelic face looking perpetually it seemed at my paper. In such closeness, I could study the gentle features of her face, the wide-eyed girl who also happened to be a neighbor of ours although their house was far enough that she was not with the regular kids I play with every afternoon.

Julie had a face of dolls my cousins used to play and she wore dresses like those dolls wore. With flowers and sunbeams in them embroidered like badges. Her hair was always prim and her shoes shiny. When rainy seasons came, she was the only child who carried to school an umbrella made for kids while we carry the larger ones, whose length were nearly our heights, making us looked laughable and tragic it seems.

Even in the gardening activities, I would be the one toiling for her that it felt good to be so needed while she enjoyed being so dependent. At that age, the littlest of vocabulary in our minds never allowed us much conversation that what I did was merely stare at her face and wonder how it attracts my attention so much. In the afternoon, I would go home ahead so that I could again examine her face while she walked past Hadja Saniya's house.

One day she shook the entire class as she narrated to us, while we were playing in the fields, how she had a dwarf friend that she had put in the bottle. I inquired so earnestly if the dwarf was still there and she said that in fact she had spoken to one of them in the morning.

We all grouped around her for dwarf stories and she would tell them with so much energy that she had sweated sometimes.

From then on, she was so full of dwarf stories that my classmates proceeded to disregard her --- thinking she's just full of empty tales.

Perhaps, bandwagons were a fact of life even in those tender ages I also started to sway away from her --- what with all those dwarfs.

She then became a little bitter with us and became often in argument when she was chided about the dwarfs. Until one day one of the dwarfs died --- as she had narrated one early morning in our class--- and it seemed that she was so affected by that happenstance that she never spoke again about them dwarlves and became all the more introspective and isolated.

In the second grade, she had changed classes but I continued to examine her face whenever she was around. As she grew older, the dresses she wore disappeared and started to wear jeans and t-shirts, and before we knew it, she had developed lesbian tendencies and became silent.

This new charter change hullabaloo is proving to be a fiercer attempt at amending our constitution and at creating such a political firestorm that now it's even seriously threatening the economy as local stocks tumbled down on jitters created by all these happenstances.

I was watching Cable TV several days ago when I chanced upon a live coverage of the Congress in session, and it was this very issue that they were so absorbed in, particularly about House Resolution No. 1109, a bill intending to amend or revised the 1987 Philippine Constitution through the formation of a constituent assembly, composed of the present members of the House of Congress.

What is being contemplated is the composition of a constituent assembly --- consisting of the very members of the Congress itself --- which should be approved by at least 2/3 of the members of the Congress, voting as a whole, where even when every senator would not concur to this particular proposal, enough number of votes may still allow such plan to amend the constitution coming from among the members of the Lower House.

Currently, there are 242 members of the Lower House and 23 members of the Senate, for a total of 265 individuals all in all. Under the proposed bill, all members of Congress ---- that is, all congressmen and senators --- would sit in session together one day (which is being planned just before the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would give her SONA on July 27) and vote on whether or not to proceed with the plan to form a constituent assembly for the purpose of amending or revising the constitution.

The magic number is 177, which is two-thirds of 265. It doesn’t matter if all senators would vote in the negative---as it is presumed that most of them would have their own presidential ambitions thus making them most inclined to thwart the bill as much as possible.

If enough votes are gathered, a constitutional assembly would be convened, and such body would compose the enumeration of proposed changes. After such procedure, it would be submitted for approval in a plebiscite. (Section 1 (2), Article XVII or the 1987 Philippine Constitution)

Or, there is a more direct manner by which Congress could amend or revise our charter, by directly enacting in a bill, for changes in the provision of the constitution, and the Congress as a whole would vote for its approval, with a minimum of 2/3 votes. Still, the proposals would still have to go through the litmus of a plebiscite. (Section 1 (2), Article XVII of the 1987 Philippine Constitution)

See the full constitutional portion on amendments and revisions:

ARTICLE XVII, AMENDMENTS OR REVISIONS

Section 1. Any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution may be proposed by:

(1) The Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its Members; or

(2) A constitutional convention.

Section 2. Amendments to this Constitution may likewise be directly proposed by the people through initiative upon a petition of at least twelve per centum of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least three per centum of the registered voters therein.

No amendment under this section shall be authorized within five years following the ratification of this Constitution nor oftener than once every five years thereafter.

The Congress shall provide for the implementation of the exercise of this right.

Section 3. The Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of all its Members, call a constitutional convention, or by a majority vote of all its Members, submit to the electorate the question of calling such a convention.

Section 4. Any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution under Section 1 hereof shall be valid when ratified by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite which shall be held not earlier than sixty days nor later than ninety days after the approval of such amendment or revision.

Any amendment under Section 2 hereof shall be valid when ratified by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite which shall be held not earlier than sixty days nor later than ninety days after the certification by the Commission on Elections of the sufficiency of the petition.

Imagine the circuitous process and imagine the whole economic cost. Its enormous and besides we are not even speaking about the social and political cost that it might entail, at this point, when the presidential elections is just around the corner, its unimaginable.

If these congressmen only realize what kind of toy they are toying with right now, with this so vicious game, they would even be thinking about it in the first place, the amount of time and its political and economic consequences may just tear this nation into ruins once again. They should stop their being fancy about the constitution. They should seek another more convenient time, like perhaps after the 2010 presidential elections.

And besides, the constitutional provisions intended for making changes in our constitution is so general and highly-unrefined, where implementing laws or even mere guidelines have not yet been instituted.

A 2006 attempt at people’s initiative was struck down by the Supreme Court due to the lack of implementing laws that the Congress should have been dutiful enough to enact so many years ago---but it didn’t.

[Note: I am kinda busy at present and at the same time, I was thinking that I might just post some of my personal favorites (in terms of blog post that is) and most I can think of is this one, "Caveman 2007", first published on July 13, 2007 ]

By tomorrow or a day after that, as I am estimating in my mind, I might be packing my bags and bundle some important things as I would be heading for some place else, somewhere that I have been to before but somewhere not many have seen yet or have known previously.

I have decided to leave the city for good. This plan had been in my mind for sometime now and I must assure you that this very drastic move on my part is far from being hasty---in fact it is to be done with very deep contemplation and scheming that I have etched in my mind for so long now.

I have learned before how to drive nails effectively into wood and I reckon now that I have learned such task fairly well. My grandfather used to do some carpentry work and I used to have observed him so closely doing woodwork when I was so little, putting in mind every phase of the activity, from handling so tightly the wood to be nailed and towards the part when finally the nail is about to be hammered with reasonable precision, or else the hands would be greatly harmed.

Some of my uncles are pretty good too at this kind of work that I would have no doubt that I could do it by myself, hammering nails into wood. By that, I can safely assume that I’d be able to put up a small wooden shelter all by my lonesome when I get to the place that I am planning to go as of this moment. I’ll have thatches as roofs because many have opined how it would help ensure a cooler indoor environement, especially in rural environment. Having thatches as roofs is also one situation that I have been in before, right about the time while I was so young and our family could not then afford a better place to live in, as my father then was just earning his take as a humble mailman. My mother used to tell us stories how my father---who is a native of the far away Province of Tawi-Tawi---couldn’t articulate so effectively the local chavacano (a broken Spanish) dialect being spoken here that in some days, while he was still learning the tricks of delivering somebody else’s letter to somebody else’s house, my mother would come along with him for she was far more proficient in the tongue spoken here and therefore could communicate more easily with the mail recipients and also was more familiar with streets names and baranggay locations here.

Now let us go back to this plan I am presently having in my mind---no reminiscing for now. I really do have a particular place in my mind, one that is far from the honky-tonky noise of the city streets. It is a place near or at the heel of a very prominent mountain known here as the Pulongbato, a stony mountain whose façade is so majestic that it could be seen from any point in the city, from east coast and west coast, from south side and perhaps in some part of north side. It is so strong and mighty like an honorable beast that have decided to sleep for a thousand years and still sleeping as I write now.

Below this mountain is a gushing river and a forest so lush that when years ago I was trekking this area with a number of friends from college, I have almost stepped over a striped multi-colored snake, climbed two small waterfalls, fell from a low cave wall and fell into cool river water, trotted into knee deep gushing water to reach a giant stone in the middle of the river and smoked to my heart’s delight as twilight had enveloped the forest, while the trees slept hummingly like old warriors, and had even eaten eels we caught from a calmer area of the river. Nature is so varied there, and so abundant too.

I reckoned that while I am there, I would ensconce myself in the warm embrace of Nature as Nature would show me a beauty that I have seen before but still looking for since then. I won’t go thirst there for the river that runs through it is so crystalline like diamonds in our hands. And I won’t go hungry either for even sweet bananas---as I remember all too well now---grow so wildly and I bet the rich riverways contains fishes that becomes so scrumptious as roasted on a brimming campfire, and the smell coming from it would just be gorgeously sublime. Out there, there’d be no time to keep up and catch up with. Industrial fumes are of no issue and the crazy sound of rushing vehicles won’t bother me no more. Could this plan of mind work? What do you think?

I had wondered deeply if ever my family would follow me there even if things wouldn't be as easy in a sense that there’d be no school there, no fastfood to drive-by and order hamburgers and fried chickens. There’d be no education to attain there, and then no occupation to profess. And there’d be no roads to where we could drive our humble car. So perhaps, that small car would have to stay undriven for so long, or for eternity most possibly.

Could I say to them that we could have our own education there? That we can be teachers and students by ourselves? Nature is by itself an education and I can sense that it’d be an education that is similarly worthwhile, if not more propound. But I don’t think I could explain this to them efficiently and sell them the wisdom hidden beneath this idea.

And the air, yes the air there is so fresh that once I had thought of putting them in a bottle and sell it as pure purified mountain air, just like what they do to water nowadays. I have read once or had seen in a television show how in some part of Japan, air or the purified version of it had been contained by some enterprising souls there and had raked in some money for it.

The noise there could be so minimal that often, the chirpings of birds and the momentary shrieks of monkeys coming from tall shrubberies far beyond becomes calming to the senses and it is certainly the best anti-dote for stress and worry that most urban dwellers suffer and that for sure, it is a situation so ideal for those who long for peace of mind so desperately and to those who seek ultimate freedom from anxiety. Long walks in the mountain side would be a luxuriant activity and sipping hot coffee beside a cool rushing water, while the sun is just about to set into the horizon, is not a far-off idea anymore.

Ooops, I just heard City Hall’s siren wailing and it’s about time for me to go and bring my third son Yuri to school. And by the way, I was just daydreaming a while ago and none of the plans narrated here is to be carried out any time soon.

Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno speaks his mind today without any let-up or anything to hold back, concise, clear and direct.

In fact, he hits directly to the bone of our national sickness by pointing at the oligarchy in our midst as the main, if not the primary culprit, as he launched today the upstart Moral Force Movement.

“The Philippines remain in the control of the oligarchs because the government is beholden to them”, Chief Justice Puno says, headlining the country’s most read newspaper.

Nothing should be truer than this. You could say, it is like seeing the sun in broad daylight, and Justice Puno has just to point that out clearly.

Puno enumerates the main problems of our nation today as “the lack of morality, the weakness of our ethics, the problem of inequitable distribution of wealth, the problem of poverty and the problem of peace and order.” And that the wealth of the nation is merely held by the rich few while the multitudes suffer.

The honorable Chief Justice shows why he is so incredibly different from his predecessor, and that is such a good thing for us. He becomes concern with morality and social imbalance and that could provide as a guiding post within the judiciary, becoming a role model to a very critical sector of our country, the men of laws.

I must agree to all his concerns and to supplement his views, I all see how vital is his role now, where the judiciary and the legal people could be imbibe to take a more participative role in nation-building, becoming agent of change and progress themselves. For all we know, lawyers and judges are certainly a congregation of sharp-minded and highly-capable individuals and our nation needs them, the people could look upto to them to keep in touch with the nation’s ails and fallings. A strong and responsible judiciary could eventually initiate a change that could spread easily towards other sectors of our society, for a nation to be strong and progressive; its laws should be strong and forceful, not lain within the hands of mischief and dire intentions, such as self-interest and nonchalance to the well-being of the public.

I am a bit concern if Chief Justice Puno should be a step beyond the realms of his public duty, for being so patently political despite being the highest ranking official of the judiciary, yet that could become lesser of our concern for a time that the Chief Justice shows extreme concern for the suffering of the people is so rare, and may not come again.

There are many talks that he might be running for the highest position of the land, and nothing should be improper in that. He is described in his Supreme Court official website profile as a man of prose and religion. I also think he is also a man of great concern to the plight of the Filipino people.

Substantial cognizance if I only have,
Of the house where you once forgot your name,
Intentionally, maliciously or otherwise,
I would have spared no minutes nor seconds
In order to stand before you and beside you,
And thereupon render my pleadings and other inquests,
Of which you were certain already even from the beginning
And which is a mystery no more.

I would have scoured the Earth from all ends,
Towards the East and the West, the North and the South;
Into the darkest and narrowest of caverns and underground cages,
Where fiery serpents slitter and savage beasts dwell,
Into every territories of water, into the graying Lake of Lochness,
Even into the bottomless pit of the Marianas.

I shall leave no earth unbounded and unsurveyed,
Untravelled and untresspassed, and no atmosphere unstained
By the heaviness of my desire.

Be informed finally my dear
That I have even summoned all the winged horses in the heavens
So that I may reach the farthest constellations,
To the very end where these stellar bodies remain
Unnamed and unseen even by the scooping eyes of men.

Thereupon, I shall vest title to these constellations
With names I could merely infer
By the deepness of your eyes.

 From my collection of poetry.