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BE LAME GAME


Hungry ghosts believed to be unleashed from hell... they are appeased with food delicacies, not necessarily a blood bath.

“If you would be a leader, you must claim every disgrace of the state
Take all the offenses of the state as your own burden
How can you be honored if you run from dishonor?”
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

“Think globally, act locally.”

PITO ang mga kapatid na barako sa Tanauan, Batangas na lupalop ng balisong at tirong— katumbas ng ronin o lagalag na samurai ng Japan. Pulis ang isang bayaw sa kapatid na babae… idagdag pang naglipana sa hanay ng mga pinuno ng pulisya—karamiha’y nasa Metro Manila-- ang iba pang kaanak sa panig ng aming ina.

Kaya bahintulot at tamilmil pumiyok hinggil sa tatawagin kong “Luneta Lunacy” nitong Agosto 23… baka may masagasaan lalo’t makakantiyawan, guys, you’re all tough as nails so we ought to call you Philippine Nail Polish. Tiyak na magkakaharap kami sa maboteng usapan—in vino veritas, truth serum ang alak pa—at tiyak na makikipagpambuno nang hubad sa usapin…

Pag-iinitan ang mga tinatawag sa China na e gui – multo o kaluluwang gutom—na hayok lumantak ng mga bangkay at dugo… ipinagdiriwang ang “Hungry Ghost Festival” tuwing Agosto, pinaniniwalaang pinakawalan sila mula impiyerno… at inaalayan nga namin ng unang tagay ng hinebra marka demonyo para hindi kami masapian ng demonyo.

Mababanas sa ground commander—think globally, act locally— lumilitaw na punong lungsod pala ng Maynila! Nincompoop judgment call for a local action that had global repercussions…

Higit na titimo sa ulirat ng mundo ang hinagpis yata ni Walt Whitman, oh Captain, my Captain Rolando Mendoza kaysa sablay na sabi ni Venus Raj, no major major mistake.


Santanong sansagot lang ang inasam ni Mendoza sa Ombudsman, siyam na buwan daw pinag-aaralan kung tanggal o tanggap pa siya sa serbisyo… pag-aaralan pa raw uli… kung buntis, siyam na buwan ang pagdadalang-kaso, tiyak na mabubulok ang dinadala… patay pati nagdadala.

Nakasupalpal sa aking Facebook account…“that man from Batangan could have staged the same tragedy over at the Ombudsman, emptied several clips at the schoolmate of AB-ZTE-FG, and... set off a micro nuclear warhead at the adjacent squatters' area... and the world entire would have applauded.”

Kailangan pa ngang magtindig si PNoy ng Truth Commission, sa gawaing dapat gampanan ng Ombudsman… na pati nga pahimakas na paghahabol ni Mendoza, tinulugan pala.

We ought to spare PNoy—he has barely warmed his seat in Malacañang-- from the onus of a botched handling of a local hostage crisis… the take-charge bloke, the ground commander and his ragtag crew of operatives can smear themselves with ashes, don sack cloths and howl to the heavens for forgiveness.

Every mortal engagement, as Sun Tzu would have it, begins in the mind—the battle to be fought unreels employing hsing-I, fist of the mind. It’s not the gun, not the man; it’s the steeled still mind that is decisive in an engagement’s actual outcome.


In rising above such life-and-death engagements, there are those who have trained (and we believe they did under Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s nine-year tenure)… there are those who try.

In the Luneta Lunacy, the ground forces tried.

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