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Showing posts from August, 2004

Hitman's ground

A JOURNALIST colleague plied me with questions a few nights ago. “Is it not a fact that triggermen are a dime a dozen in your home province? The gun-for-hire is a perennial cottage industry in those (accursed) parts, isn’t it?” He received a death threat. He was apprehensive that a hireling from Nueva Ecija would be sent for him. Oh, not all hired guns come from Nueva Ecija. Told him the gung-ho protagonist Johnny Rico in the sci-fi classic, “Starship Troopers” hails from those inclement parts-- although I’m told the surname Rico is rooted in Pangasinan. Yes, the devil-may-care butchering man-of-arms celebrated by Robert Heinlein is a Tagal-speaking Novo Ecijano. So is the patsy hireling Rolando Galman unleashed that fateful August 21, 1983 to do in ex-lawmaker Benigno Aquino, Jr. So is the ensnared hitman from Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija who, in broad daylight a few weeks back, did in tabloid newsman-broadcaster Arnel Manalo in Bauan, Batangas. What makes ‘em tick? They’re time bombs, set

Mainitang taltalan, pagtatalo -- talo!

MADALAS na nakasungaw ang kakatwa na bungkos ng salita, "nauwi sa mainitang pagtatalo" bilang pasakalye sa mga kasong serious physical injuries, homicide o murder. Gasgas na nga ang "mainitang pagtatalo" sa pahinang panlunsod at panlalawigan ng alinmang peryodiko-- sa aking bansa. Pilipinas. Ganoon ang palaging panimula ng krimen. Payak ang tinatawag na operating parameters o balangkas na napapalooban ng pagtatalo. Laging pagtatalo. Hindi kailanman naging talakayan. Hindi kailanman naging paliwanagan. Masisipat na susulpot lagi sa balangkas ng pagtatalo ang natalo at nanalo. Win-loss ang tuwinang kahihinatnan ng pingkian ng magkasalungat. Hindi kailanman nagbunga ng win-win o parehong nagwagi ang dalawang panig, pwe-he-he-he! (Now, let me share my two cents worth as a cold-blooded reptilian. You read that right: reptilian. A highly evolved sort of reptile akin to the serpent, the basilisk, the dragon, the dust-crawling kind. See me as something less than t