Four Seasons

Cha-cha has come out in the news again. Charter change, that is. Opposing Philippine politicians are in a brawl once more, debating the need to shift from a presidential, bicameral system to a unicameral, parliamentary form of government. So, which is preferable? Should the Filipino people retain this current presidential form of government or should we try the parliamentary system? Here is my viewpoint on the issue, which the press people, either print or TV, have been feasting on for so long now. Changing the present form of government into parliamentary is not beneficial at all. It cannot be denied though that most of the countries in Southeast Asia, if not all of Asia, are into the parliamentary system. Except the Philippines. If one listens to the elected government officials in the administration camp, they'd spiel that the proposed system is better than what the Filipinos have at present. Would we swallow their words if these public officials say that all progressive cou...

Mama told me not to build castles in the air, but of bricks. She was the one who constantly pushed me forward and stirred me to strive to be the best that I can. In the countless times that things went south and continued to fall apart, there she was, a wonder woman standing by my side swift to shield every unwilling part of me from the falling debris. She was there in each tear that was about to trickle or a smile that was about to break into laughter. She was there where superman failed to show and when any other superhero fell short to save. Unlike Papa whose character could be likened to a silent harp, Mama harps her subterranean emotions out. The day when she defended my older brother from a wrongdoing and said how much she loves both of us and shed a tear afterwards, I cried with her. Mama is full of love and the abundance of that gift is what I see in her. When I gaze at my mom, I see strength only the strongest person could be blessed. When I gaze at my mom, I see t...

I was browsing for some graduate study links online and found an interesting post from The Chronicle about the declining number of American Ph.D. degree holders. What is the trend? The U.S. is luring foreigners into taking graduate studies. You most likely notice it in action with all the foreign students eagerly wanting to get their graduate degrees in SDSU. But why the decline? Why would a young American hate science and brush aside the big opportunity of having a Ph.D. degree? The answer is simple: it does not pay! Here are some statistics between 1993 and 2001 as gathered by E. Rubenstein, a financial analyst, economics journalist and consultant: • The number of U.S. citizens enrolled in graduate science and engineering programs fell 10 percent • The number of foreign citizens enrolled in graduate science and engineering programs rose 26 percent • The number of engineering Ph.D.s awarded to U.S. citizens rose from 1,887 in 1987 to 3,516 in 1996. But in 2002, only 1,890 engi...

I am a Filipino. I was born in Argao. The place has yet to be swayed by civilization and advancement or exploitation perhaps. In that southern part of Cebu, Philippines, houses are situated beneath green slopes, mostly concealed under a lush shade that seems to have existed long before my great-grandfathers. My own home lies up the field, a kilometer or so away from the town proper and across meadows. So what's worthy of reminiscing about a hometown with no street shops filled with popular goods or karaoke bars or KTVs to spend the night away in? Sizzling disco houses are still big dreams for the place even. No neon lights that light up the streets at night. No coffee shops that clone the coffee mocha at Cottonwood. Huge bats circle the trees at night. Unpaved roads are traversed on barefoot. Trisikads (three-tire motor vehicles) roam the place in great numbers. Horses gallop in unison. And where can you find five people clinging to just one motorcycle, holding their breath a...

Fr. Paul mentions something about people who seem to be so attached with work that they forget and set aside God. I wrote something about this before. Ora et Labora (translated as Prayer and Work) are ancient monastic values. The values are for busy people who, because of their tight schedules, have sporadically affected their time of silence and prayer. For many of us, labour has become our existence. People see us on our feet frequently moving, or more appropriately running, like there is someone catching us up from behind. We become more of pursuers than just plain dreamers. More often than not, we were reminded by friends to take an hour off on a Sunday afternoon to chill out from a tough week of pure working. Nonetheless we never learn. We often do this and that, this and that again and juggle time like the world would end any moment. From the Mystery of the Ordinary, the writer wits: "To stop and rest is to trust that the world will go on in an orderly fashion withou...

I pondered on how God has viewed our being individuals whose moment of stillness has not been so apparently fulfilled. The line in the bible that says “Be still, and know that I am God” really means, in its complete contemporary biblical setting, “Cease, relax, and shut up! Spare time for me and know that I am God”. In one of Fr. Paul’s homilies last holy week, the same verse came out and I was taken back to the time when I devotedly listened to God in the stillness of my heart. Knowing that I haven’t read anything religious printed in the Collegian since I started writing late last year, I thought that this will be the start of something different. Few days ago, someone close to me asked, “Are you not reluctant to write about God in your column?” “With what God has done for me all these years, writing won’t even be enough”, I answered without reservations. Few years ago, a dear friend gave me a book called “The Purpose Driven Life”. I heard that it was a bestseller – students...

Do you know the stories behind your old photos? I just looked at mine and, yes, I do. There's one good reason why this week I metamorphosed into an archaic-photo enthusiast. A short meeting with a fellow Filipino in Brookings weeks ago got me into thinking to scan my old pictures and salvage them from further wear and tear. Each photo in her stack of albums, she insisted, carries brilliant stories of long ago that should not be expunged simply through waning and yellowing. In as much as she wanted the photos to be reinstated to their original grandeur, there was nothing so much she could do but to clean them from lizards' debris, having been concealed in the filing cabinet for quite a time. Hours later, inside my room, I brushed and scraped. There is this box I brought along from the Philippines that is full of old photos of me and my family. It has been in my drawer for over a year already and, today, it grinds its teeth and spews eruptive magma of displeasure saying, ...

Cha-cha has come out in the news again. Charter change, that is. Opposing Philippine politicians are in a brawl once more, debating the need to shift from a presidential, bicameral system to a unicameral, parliamentary form of government. So which is preferable? Should the Filipino people retain this current presidential form of government or should we try the parliamentary system? Here is my viewpoint on the issue, which the press people, either prints or TV, have been feasting on for so long now. Changing the present form of government into parliamentary is not beneficial at all. It cannot be denied though that most of the countries in Southeast Asia, if not all of Asia, are into the parliamentary system. Except the Philippines. If one listens to the elected government officials in the administration camp, they'd spiel that the proposed system is better than what the Filipinos have at present. Would we swallow their words if these public officials say that all progressive...

I thought it would be timely to write about death. A lot of crying has been covered lately on TV and prints for the death of over thirty students at Virginia Tech. In the Philippines, the list of journalists being killed is growing and leaving pictures of families left behind wailing in grief. There was this news about an innocent 2-year old child that was hit by a stray bullet while sleeping in the comfort of his room. Yes, in this column, I will be detailing a chronicle of death. Unless you are not afraid of the word, stop reading. Few years ago, the surprising death of my young professor in law school made my classmates and I realized our own vulnerabilities. He was just as strong as anyone else the day before he died, laughing and throwing his daily punch lines in class and even joked about health. Little did we know that he’d die the next day. His passing confirmed the verity of how susceptible anyone is to death. Having already experienced the death of my grandpa’s sis...

How to live life happily? Most often, I’d get suggestions like: make a contribution by working hard in a work you love; be in the know and intelligent; gather a surplus; love your family above your friends, your cellphone, your dog, your career; and progress in the firm and gain high title and salary, stock options, benefits. Everyone I know agrees: this is life’s joy. However, happiness is not at all about being paid, or living in luxury, or getting wealthy, or having a blue-collar job and finding a partner. I am more convinced that happiness goes beyond any human reason. Convincing took place in a more unanticipated way. Years ago, I met Carmen, a German national who came to Cebu to complete a study on the city’s garbage condition. Visiting garbage dumpsites almost everyday on her three-month stay, the research goal was just as noble as her. She is a dainty lady whom I thought had already been endowed with a life so uncomplicated and painless in her home country in Europe, yet in...