Selective Memory

Rocket Kapre: Fantastic Filipino Fiction

2009-09-08T14:14:00.000-07:00

We have lift off ladies and gentlemen.

After months of planning, I'm proud to announce the official launch of Rocket Kapre Books and rocketkapre.com.

Rocket Kapre Books is a digital publishing imprint dedicated to bringing the very best of Filipino-made Speculative Fiction (Fantasy, Science Fiction and other works of a fantastical nature) to a worldwide audience by means of affordable and accessible ebooks (stories contained in digital files that can be read from computers, smart phones or ebook readers).

Rocketkapre.com endeavors to serve not only as the online headquarters for the imprint, but also as a home for creators and fans of Philippine Speculative Fiction, incorporating an active blog that will showcase interesting links as well as generate exclusive content such as interviews, contests, writing tips and original fiction.

So come on over and join the fun! For launch day we've got a round table discussion of our favorite Filipino-created fantastical stories, a preview of the ambitious Mind Museum going up at the Fort, and an interview with Kate Aton-Osias regarding the upcoming Farthest Shore anthology. And hey if you want a more complete explanation as to why I put up Rocket Kapre, you'll find that there too.

Hope to see you there! And please, spread the word: feel free to use our banners and promotional comic strip to get the message out: there's a new home for Fantastic Filipino Fiction.

Ozine Fest 2009

2009-04-04T04:43:00.000-07:00

Visited my first ever anime convention while searching for local komiks/ indy manga/ doujin. I've got two posts on this: the more professional article is at Bahay Talinhaga while the more rambling, personal impressions (and more pics) are at my livejournal account.

More on the Book and the Launch

2009-03-31T20:45:00.000-07:00

I put the event post up on Bahay Talinhaga but I did have some more personal thoughts on the launch of "A Time for Dragons" as well as the book itself. Since they were more personal in nature, I put them up on my livejournal account instead. It has a picture of my super special "reversal-of-talent-signed-edition" :P

Enter: Bahay Talinhaga

2009-03-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

So, my resignation takes effect this Friday, after which (between what I hope will be semi-regular writing/lawyering gigs) I will be doing a lot of planning, a lot of research, and a lot of writing. When I made the decision to put up an epublishing house and finish my novel, I knew I'd be spending a lot of time in libraries doing research into old books (partly for the story, partly to find some old tomes which I might conceivably acquire the e-rights to) and I thought it'd be a shame if I kept all that data to myself. That was when I thought about putting up a site that would gather my research into, say, Philippine mythology, (from my own books, the interwebs, and my library raids) and make it available for anyone else interested in an organized format.

From there the idea kind of... morphed, as ideas tend to do: The more I thought about putting up a site, the more I thought that it would be cool if it would not only serve as a dumping place for my research, but also if it could be something of a Tor.com or io9 (though obviously not of the scope of such professional giants) for those interested in the "Filipino Fantastic" - books, art, games, comics, shows and strange news of interest to people who make or are fans of Philippine works of sci fi and fantasy. I think that we're pretty much covered when it comes to news sites for prose and comics (what with Bibliophile Stalker, Philippine Genre Stories, Philippine Speculative Fiction, Komikero Comics Journal and Komiks News Now Philippines) but I think it'd be great to have a place where we could geek out over stuff like Trese and the Mythology Class and, yeah, downhill wooden scooter races.

So, without further ado, I present to you Bahay Talinhaga.

So far I have three articles up (not counting the intro) on google book search, Filipino deviantartists and the Igorot wooden scooters. I'll have a review for the first 6 stories of PSFIV up within the week as well, then hopefully I can fall into a T-Th-S routine.

If any of you have any ideas/suggestions or want to volunteer to write anything, let me know! (And let me know if I screw anything up site-wise too... It's a bit more complex than a typical blog.) Hopefully in the future I can beg/borrow/buy stuff like the short-short stories on Tor.com for the site ^_^

Persona 4 - Hesitating at the Finish Line

2009-03-13T05:37:00.000-07:00

Last December, when I first got my grubby not-so-little hands around a copy of Persona 4, I positively lived and breathed the game. I spent most of my free time either playing it or thinking of what I would do the next time I could play it – how I’d try to solve a murder mystery while simultaneously learning how to juggle treasure hunting and persona fusing with girl-wooing and good old fashioned studying; one would almost think I was trying to fall into the TV world myself, by sheer dint of the number of hours I spent glued in front of the television. By January, I’d reached the end game, and I knew I was only a few hours away from culminating what, to that point, had been a truly exemplary gaming experience.

Two months later… and I’ve barely touched my PS2.

This isn’t to say I don’t want to finish the game, because I do. I like being able to wrap up a narrative, tie up the loose ends, and have some sort of resolution that makes me feel that the journey I (for in Persona moreso than even other RPGs, it is “me” who is the protagonist) have undertaken has had some weight, some consequence in that other world. There are other advantages as well to finishing the game: I can move on to another game for one thing, and I’d be safe from any game-end spoilers I might encounter in forums or fan fiction.

And yet… I hesitate. I tell myself that there’s no real rush, that I can finish it anytime I want to, when I’m not too tired or too stressed to fully appreciate the ending, when everything is “just right.” There’s always something just a little bit more urgent to be done: work to finish, a show to watch, a friend to visit… and then, lo and behold, months have passed.

I think that the more I enjoy a game, the harder it is for me to write finis to the whole experience. Of course I could always replay it, but while Persona 4 certainly does offer a lot of replay value, I’m a man who plays games primarily for the story, and while the depth and breadth of the narrative may change on subsequent playthroughs, the climax and the “truth” of the narrative will – except for games with truly divergent multiple endings - remain largely unchanged. In Persona 4, I can do different things during the year of gametime – but no amount of variation in my playing will give me a story which happen after the events of the ending.

In Neil Gaiman’s “The Graveyard Book,” an adult explains to the young protagonist the distinction between the dead and the living as a matter of potential: the living have an infinite amount of it, and the dead have none. I suppose in some way, I feel that in completing a game, I “kill” it – I have fulfilled its potential, seen all it has to offer. The characters who I’ve grown to love will never again say or do anything I haven’t seen before – oh sure different dialogue choices may lead to different responses for them, but I have to “reset” their lives to see these alternate possibilities – their growth as characters has stopped. The end of the game is the limit to which I can follow the lives of these characters, these friends… and as long as I don’t reach it, their potential remains; their life remains.

I will finish Persona 4. It is too good of a game, of a story, for me to relegate it to the ranks of the never-finished: one can only hold off completion for a certain amount of time before one forgets the details of the story, and the ending loses its impact. Soon, I’ll return to Inaba, put on the glasses, and call out my inner selves one last time…

But not before I will have hesitated at the edge; and, when I do take the plunge… not without a trace of regret.

Empathy

2009-03-08T04:03:00.000-07:00

[There's a bit of graphic detail here. Please proceed at your own discretion.]

They found the body of a twenty year old girl near an irrigation ditch last Thursday. She'd been kidnapped the day before, then tortured, then killed.

I read it in a newspaper article Saturday afternoon, while my wife and I were having a late lunch. My mind didn't really process the information until 2 a.m. the following morning.

They found the body of a twenty year old girl the other day. She was tortured.

The article stated that she was the daughter of one of the leaders of the New People's Army in the South. The family blamed the army. The army denied involvement. The mayor of Davao vowed to personally arrest the perpetrators. The NPA stated that they would launch no retaliatory attacks against the families of soldiers.

The facts seemed completely unrelated to the truth.

They found the body of a twenty year old girl the other day. Her body showed signs of beating, stabbing, and laceration of her genitals.

Her mother asked: "Where is justice?"

Where is justice?

At mass today, the priest started his homily with a story: he related how impressed he was when he visited the convent run by a group of devout nuns: apparently they had moved into the convent - which would also house children and elderly in the care of the nuns - recently and had been shocked by the state of the comfort rooms - because they were too comfortable. So they had the comfort rooms changed, to be more in line with their teachings regarding the utility of suffering.

I almost walked out of the church.

I believe that Christ died on the cross for our sins. I do NOT believe, that the only way we get to be virtuous people is by actively seeking out nails to ram into our palms. Good can come out of suffering... but suffering MUST be alleviated whenever possible.

There are too many people suffering. Too many people willing to inflict it.

Who tortures a twenty year old girl for the sins of her father?

And what the hell can we do about it? Guy Davenport once said that "Distance negates responsibility." If so, knowledge can negate distance: That's the problem with the internet age. In a world of instant access to information and 24/7 news, every statistic can have a name, every name can have a face.

They found the body of a twenty year old girl the other day.

Steinem was right. Empathy is the most revolutionary of emotions.

Even when the same can never come close to the reality.

WATCHMEN

2009-03-04T20:53:00.000-08:00

... is out now. As in, today. Here. (Just called Podium to confirm)

What the hell cinemas? If you're going to show the movie of the year one day early, at least tell us @_@

A Declaration [Up the (Main)stream Without a Paddle (Part 2)]

2009-02-27T01:15:00.000-08:00

I love stories. I love science-fiction and fantasy. I think a lot of us here in the Philippines love it. I’ve read some of our cracks at the genre – and I really like what I’ve seen. I want to see more of it. I want more people reading it.

Yesterday, I gave my thirty-days notice; come the 28th of March, I will cease being an associate at the 4th largest law firm in the country. (Hence the reason why I couldn't post these thoughts with Part 1 of this entry @_@)

Come the 28th, two things happen: first – despite whatever odd jobs I may need to pull to keep from having to mooch off my wife - my primary vocation, my primary occupation will be that of a writer. I have an urban fantasy novel that needs finishing.

Second, I set about trying to establish a publishing house. A digital publishing house, with a special place for novel length Philippine Speculative Fiction.

The other week I attended a seminar on Publishing in Cyberspace, sponsored by the National Book Development Board (NBDB), in partnership with the Book Development Association Of The Philippines (which I heard of at Philippine Genre Stories). The publishers in attendance were affable, intelligent sorts, but many of the representatives seemed to be at a loss with regards to the full potential of the Internet (with the exception of those who sent younger representatives). This shouldn’t come as a surprise – many big US publishers seem to flounder a bit in the ebook realm.

Yet, the ebook market is here, and it's steadily growing. Lots of people all over the world already read reams of stories online, on their computers - just look at how popular fanfic is. Mobile devices that can read ebooks will only become more prevalent: the iPhone has apps like Stanza – which is free – which can read most ebook formats (though there are some formatting issues) and can receive files via wifi. The Kindle 2 has just been released, and late this year/early next year, the plastic logic reader might finally come out. In a year where traditional publishing struggled, Ebook sales increased - by quite a bit.

Back at the local level, at the Publishing in Cyberspace conference, a representative from yehey revealed some telling numbers: around 27 million internet users in the country, 83% of whom were part of a social network (1st in the world); 90% of whom have perused blogs. Even just limiting ourselves to the Philippines, there are a lot of eyes on the internet, a lot of people before whom we can display our works. I think there’s an audience here for genre fiction: look at the number of people who flock to the SFF section of Fully Booked – the people from all social classes who splurge on complete collections of the works of Rowling and Meyer; the number of fans drawn by Neil Gaiman whenever he’s in town; the droves who descend upon Komikon; even the popularity of story-intensive RPGs.

There’s room for growth in this market I think. As I said last post, I think there would be a market for homegrown SFF novels and serials… These are the type of stories I’ve always loved to read. These are the type of books that create not only readers, but FANS. Let’s go make some.

Of course, going digital also means that whatever the state of the market here may be, we don’t have to limit ourselves to our own shores: the accolades received by the Philippine Speculative Fiction Sampler of Charles Tan and Mia Tijam should be encouraging. In the United States, the number of people reading fiction is on the rise. Books can do well even during a recession – all the more when they are so much cheaper than other entertainment forms… as ebooks have the potential to be.

That doesn’t mean that the author will be getting less – ebooks can allow an author to get a larger slice of the revenue pie. Ebooks allow the author to do things which would be difficult (high def color photographs on every other page) or impossible (experimentation with audio files, or hotlinking, or what have you) with a physical book. We could even experiment with visual novels – the Ren’Py Visual Novel Engine is free and, from personal experience, I know there’s a great community that supports it. This is a great time to be an author.

There’s a lot of work to be done yet: a business plan to make, investors to convince, bandwidth to purchase, editors and codemonkeys to hire, marketing strategies to figure out. It will be hard work. It may fail horribly – but if it does, I hope others will learn from my errors and push forward.

But for now, I am throwing my hat in the ring. I am 29 years old and from now on I’m setting out to cross out quite a few things from my list of potential mid-life regrets. If I don’t end up contributing anything to the development of Philippine Speculative Fiction… well, at least no one will be able to tell me I didn’t try.

I’m betting on us – us as readers, us as writers. If you like the odds – or, hell, if you don’t like them but want to spite them anyway, then welcome aboard.

Let’s do this.

50 Odd Eucharists: Week 3

2009-01-11T01:08:00.000-08:00

[Valle Verde 5; 10 am]

On the First Reading: Is 42: 1-4; 6-7' I'm not a literal-minded person, but how I wish this passage could be replicated literally. If only justice could be brought forth without any shouting, or crying out, or voices on the street. If only it were that easy...

On the Second Reading: Acts 10: 34-38; "In truth, I see that God shows no partiality." Would that we could say the same for his church and his creations...

On the Gospel: How many people nowadays could take on John's role? One who can achieve so much yet acknowledges that he is but a harbinger of a better man. In the realm of leadership, political or otherwise, rare is the person who would willingly seat himself or herself at the end of the table - and rarer still would be someone recognizing that and moving the humble guest to his proper place of honor at the head.

We've had our share of purported Saviors - did they fail because we had a surplus of saviors, and a famine of baptists? Do they fail because they try to do too much instead of laying the groundwork for those that come after? Or do too many cooks simply spoil the broth?

On the Homily: As a believer, I do admit that I find the idea of a smug atheist looking down his nose at me to be irritating as hell. That being said however, I think the priest needs to learn that one cannot refute the argument that "the Bible is wrong - there is no God" by saying in turn "God is real - see, our 2,000 year old Bible says so!"

I did however like his prayer for the poor - not the material poor, but the poor in spirit.

Other Notes: "The Lord will bless his people with peace," we chanted during the responsorial psalm. Let it be so. Let it be soon.

50 Odd Eucharists: Week 2 (Epiphany)

2009-01-04T00:54:00.000-08:00

[Tiendesitas, 11 a.m.]

On the First Reading: Isiah 60:1-6; Any mention of Jerusalem and the Israleites (read as: practically any Old Testament reading) cannot but evoke images of the ongoing strife in Gaza. No signs of the conflict dying down any time soon as of my last visit to CNN.

On the Second Reading: Ephesians 3:2 - 3:5-6; I wonder if we Christians truly realize the significance of Paul's statement here. The focus is usually on the part of the reading which states that we Gentiles are co-heirs through the Gospel. What I find more significant is the statement that this revelation "was not made known to people in other generations..." Something for people to remember when they cling to the immutability of doctrines and interpretations made centuries ago.

On the Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12; I suppose that the prophecy regarding a ruler coming from Bethlehem wasn't really known widely amongst the Israelites: otherwise I find it hard to imagine why ambitious people would leave anywhere other than Bethlehem.

The Gospel also contains one of the dream-warnings that are so often used in the Bible. Not that I'm complaining in any way about the result, but I tend to wonder what circumstances justify such intervention, and whether the world might be a better or worse place if it happened more often.

On the Homily: There's something to be said about a homily which hits not one, but two of my "weak points" in a span of less than 20 minutes.

Almost right off the bat the priest says something to the effect that "while some theologians seem to suggest that other religions such as Islam and Buhddism have their own saviors, I remind you this is inconsistent with Catholic doctrine. Jesus says he is the way the truth and the life - not that he is A way." (At which point I am tempted to stand up and say: "But he didn't say he was he ONLY way either" but I don't think the priest would have appreciated my attempts at a legal construction of scripture.)

Now, this kind of statement seems completely at odds with the inclusive and welcoming tone of the readings, and the very symbolism given to the three wise men, who represent the fact that Jesus came to save all people. The attempt at straightjacketing the good news in literal word play also pointedly ignores the underlying message that I personally got from the readings - revelation is subject to growth and change. In the old testament, God was pretty clear about the Israelites being His chosen people, but nowadays Christians feel free to re-interpret many explicit old testament passages as referring not just to the Israelites, but to all Christians - something which we can probably safely say was not the literal meaning of those passages, as Christianity had yet to exist.

The second issue I had with his sermon was that old chestnut that when bad things happen, they do so because of some sort of fault on the part of the afflicted. It's strange really - he started off by saying that as Christians, we don't (or rather, should not) believe in karma (which I think he meant in the "ma-karma ka sana" sense rather than the complex Hindu sense). He says that the disasters that befall us are not God's vengeance against us, which I agree with, - but then goes on to say they are instead the natural consequences of deviating from His will, which I disagree with (rather strongly). He illustrates his point by saying that the origin of the word disaster comes from the greek words dis + astra, which appraently means to deviate from one's course (as determined by the stars).

Putting aside the accuracy of the etymology (some web sources instead interpret that combination as meaning something bad happening due to a misalignment of the stars [i.e. fate]) if that kind of correspondence between godly acts and good fortune existed, then I think there would be a lot less prosperous crooks, or incidents of the saintly dying young. Don't get me wrong, I do think that we all reap what we sow - but not necessarily in this life, and never through anything but human agency. If a thief gets put behind bars due to dilligent cops, that is a consequence of the crook's actions. If that self-same crook falls in a manhole and breaks his neck, the only way that is a consequence of his actions is if he stole the damn manhole cover.

Why would God go through the effort of giving us free will if he was going to go all Pavlov on us?

Other Notes: I think it adds something to the atmosphere of the mass when there are animals in attendance. Particularly when they come in the form of cute Shar Peis.

Word of the Day: Religious Pluralism: "The Second Vatican Council states that salvation includes others who acknowledge the same creator, and explicitly lists Muslims among those (though it refers to them as Mohammedans). The official Catholic position is therefore that Jews, Muslims and Christians (including churches outside of Rome's authority) all acknowledge the same God, though Jews and Muslims have not yet received the gospel while other churches are generally considered deviant to a greater or lesser degree."

50 Odd Eucharists: Week 1

2008-12-31T06:03:00.000-08:00

(One of my new year's resolutions is to try to write a short reflection after every mass I attend for 2009.)

[Mary the Queen; 8 p.m. (anticipated)]

On the First Reading: Numbers 6:22-27 It's sad and ironic to hear the Israelites mentioned in the first reading, given the on-going turmoil in the middle east. Being more exposed to American media and analysis in the past, I've always been more than willing to give the Israeli government the benefit of the doubt. Yet... it's hard to see how the current offensive can be justified (as opposed to understood): Barack Obama has compared it as answering rocket attacks to his home, but I don't see how one is justified in retaliating to this by a missile that kills the innocent along with the guilty (if he's lucky).

On the Second Reading: Psalms 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8 Wasn't quite sure what "Abba" meant so I did a little research. it apparently means "father" in Hebrew. In that case, I don't understand what "Abba Father" means...

On the Gospel: Luke 2:16-21 Not to argue against Catholic tradition and feminist inclinations, but it's always bothered me somewhat that St. Joseph gets such short shrift in the Gospels. Mary is Mother of God because of her relation to Jesus... Surely that makes St. Joseph Father of God in the same way? Is this just not recognized because somehow it would dilute or confuse the doctrine that God was the Father of Jesus? Yet is God not both Father and Mother to Jesus? I sort of envisioned Jesus being created solely by God, not using Mary's DNA or chromosomes but simply making a body for Jesus, with Mary bearing him in her womb. That of course makes Mary's involvement with the child - like all mother's - more intimate than St. Joseph's, but surely not enough to warrant such a disparity in their veneration?

On the Homily: The priest mentioned the current situation in Gaza (thankfully), and linked that sad state of affairs with the fact that January 1 is World Peace Day. The rest of the sermon was a little vague and scattershot, but he spoke clearly and exhuded the simple, gentle faith that is so magnetic in a priest, so it was alright.

Other Notes: I find it ironic that the final song was "Seasons of Love" from the musical Rent. I sincerely hope that people who sung it/heard it took the time to think long and hard about the message of tolerance and acceptance in that play, and contrast it with the party-line of the Church on homosexuality.

20 November 2008

2008-11-19T08:38:00.000-08:00

Today I:

Worked like a dog yet felt like a slacker
Let my wife assault me with a nose strip

17 November 2008

2008-11-17T19:37:00.000-08:00

Today I:

Watched a Senate President get deposed;
Discovered that the way to find my penguin was to find the fluffy tummy. (When I was a kid, I had books that taught me words and numbers, not sounds, smells and textures @_@)

The Pros and Cons of Transparency

2008-11-13T21:33:00.000-08:00

Newsbreak is reporting that the JBC has decided against an open voting process, in which the public would gain access to information as to who voted yes or no for each nominee.

While my knee-jerk reaction to this news was to bemoan - as the article seems to - another loss in the campaign for a more transparent and accountable government. However, as with any argument over substantive issues, it is more prudent to give proper attention to the other side of the argument.

The problem cited with open voting by the dissenters stems from the theory that allowing others to see who voted what for whom would increase the pressure on members of the JBC. I interpret this to mean an adherence to the principle that secret voting makes it easier to vote with one's conscience as opposed to voting according to what would be acceptable to one's friends or social circle etc.

Secret voting does have its benefits - however, it should be noted that the entire thrust of secret voting is to assure that otherwise hesitant people would vote their conscience; this means, it seems to me, that it would be a system best adopted in a body where there was a substantial danger that people would NOT vote as their consciences dictated. Whether or not that is the case with the JBC I am in no position to know, but I would assume not.

Another problem with secret voting is that while it ups the chances that people will vote their conscience, it prevents anyone from knwoing if they actually DID, since only the JBC (or its individual members) would know who voted yes or no to a particular nominee.

With regard to the pressure that could be exerted if the JBC adapted open voting, three points could be made. First, unsavory elements who want to influence the proceedings will apply pressure anyway, regardless of whether the voting is open or closed; second, should a JBC member feel particularly pressured, or believes that a vote he casts might be seen as suspect, he should be allowed to inhibit himself from proceedings, similar to judges in the court - a group of people not strangers to the weighing of transparency and external pressure; third, if allegations of bias or external pressure do arise, and the truth was that the member voted against that supposed interest, open voting would allow him to show this through the record of the voting.

So, in the end, I think the JBC decision here was not ideal; which was, of course, my first reaction in the first place - but its always good when I can arrive at the same conclusion via rational argument. (Because retractions are embarrassing as hell...)

Plenary Twittering

2008-11-12T18:58:00.000-08:00

(Paraphrased) Quote of the day (well, of last Tuesday anyway): "I had prepared individual amendments for the bill, but I am afraid that the distinguished sponsor will accept these amendments and I will look unreasonable if I vote against the bill afterwards. So I won't propose any amendments and just vote no."

I've been wracking my brains about this and honestly, I can't think of a single reason why this needed to be said. Maybe someone needs to introduce Twittering to the Senators, so that they can have other venues for documenting their though processes...

That Same Old Revolution

2008-10-28T04:17:00.000-07:00

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) recently issued a statement entitled: "Corruption: A Social and Moral Cancer"which, as you might expect from the title, is a denunciation of corruption in the government in light of recent studies showing that the Philippines has almost cracked the top 10 of the world's most corrupt countries, while remaining on top of our game, so to speak, in regards to poverty and hunger.

As a concerned Filipino Catholic, I read the statement - and then I remembered why I rarely read such statements. I thought about it, and rather than just comment here on the blog, I thought I'd attempt to engage my church's hierarchy in a bit of dialogue. Let's see if anything comes out of it.

I think I got my main issue about the statement off my chest, but here are a few minor points I'd still like to raise (though I didn't do so in the comment, since I didn't want to distract from my main point):

First, this bothers me. A lot:

Asked whether the statement is a call for the public to organize a move to oust President Arroyo, Lagdameo said it is up to the public to decide on what course of action they want to use.

“Kailangan ang taong bayan ay magsama-sama kung paano sila mag-response together dun sa sulat namin na sinabi naming communal discernment and communal action," he explained.

Now, I am a fan of nuanced responses and shades of gray, but there are some issues wherein you simply cannot take a position on the fence. If someone asks you, as an influential religious leader, whether or not something you yourself wrote means that you are asking people to "organize a move to oust" a sitting President, I don't think you should be allowed to wash your hands and basically say "bahala sila."

Second, why did they subtitle the piece "Quotes from Prophets of Hope"? The people they cited do, I think, qualify as performing a prophetic function, speaking truth to power and all that - but, er, none of the quotations used seemed particularly hopeful. I don't think I'd call a doctor who diagnosed me with cancer as a "prophet of hope."

Life Changing Books

2008-10-21T00:54:00.000-07:00

Read an interesting excerpt of an article over at the PGS Blog (via Village Idiot Savant) and I thought I'd make a post out of my somewhat truncated comment at Kyu's.

While the gist of the excerpt was that most if not all of the books we've read that changed our lives were books we read when we were children, I think I might be strange in the sense that there have been several books I've read since coming of age (so to speak) that have changed the way I view life - or at least, have tinted the way I view it. That's probably because my reading habits expanded beyond genre fiction as I grew older, and a lot of non-fiction out there can really expand your horizons. Here are a few:

* The Canon by Natalie Angier

If science had been taught to me with this much verve and enthusiasm, wonder and playfulness, I might have been very tempted to walk down the path of a scientist rather than a lawyer. The book does a masterful job of allowing the reader to wrap his head around the beauty, interconnectedness and sheer scale of science. (It's genius that one of the first chapters discusses calibration and scale, so that the reader begins to have an idea of, for instance, just how small a gene really is.) When you realize that a good 90+% of any object we see is actually, well, emptiness, it's hard to look at anything in quite the same way again.

* What Jesus Meant by Gary Wills

Being Filipino and having basically reared by the Jesuits, I've been a part of the Catholic Church practically all my life. As I grew older though, that self-same Jesuit education that gave me my Catholic foundation early on, was the same education that allowed me to scrutinize, question, and eventually disagree with certain structures, teachings and traditions of my church. Mr. Wills was the first author I read who could articulate these discomforts, these cognitive dissonances if you will, and still remain a Catholic. I don't think I quite agree with certain consequences Mr. Wills reads into his interpretation of the Gospel, but he's certainly given me the theological grounding on which to source my own disagreements with the One, Holy and Apostolic.

* The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

The death of a loved one is not something I bear thinking about - but reading this book was, for a newly wed like me, urgent and necessary. I don't think there is any more effective way to enable yourself to truly savor each moment you have with the one you love, than by allowing yourself to be be drowned in the memories and emotions, the grief and loneliness, of one for whom those moments will never come again.

This isn't to say that genre fiction hasn't exerted a pull on me as well, but usually it's a particular scene or even a particular line in the book that will color my viewpoint from then on. The most recent one I can recall takes place in "The Curse of Chalion" by Lois McMaster Bujold, when the protagonist is explaining divine grace using a metaphor of an upturned cup.
I have to admit though that, by sheer dint of having been read during my formative years, many of the early books which influenced me, had a profound influence, mainly in terms of giving me a certain outlook on ethics and faith. The early God-Tales books by Nil Guillemette allowed me to form a kinder, gentler relationship with God than one reinforced by the threat of eternal damnation (They are a series of short 'parable' type stories, quite a few of which take on elements of sci-fi/fantasy). The book that moved me the most however, was "A Plague of Angels" by Sherri S. Tepper:

Even as a child, I could not quite reconcile how an All-Loving, All-Powerful, All-Knowing God would need to make his Son a sacrifice (as I understood it then) in order to forgive the sins of men. While I can't say that this book had the answer to that question (and yes this is a genre book, not an outwardly religious one), the beautiful ending - and the questions asked therein - continues to this day to color what I understand by the term 'Sacrifice'. Plague of Angels remains to be the only book that ever made me weep - not cry mind you. Weep.

Hm... I'm sure I'm missing a few (a lot of the philosophical books I read in college, especially in Eddieboy Calasanz's class), but these are the ones that stand out the most at the moment. It's strange looking at that list now and seeing how the aspect of my life most often impacted by books was my relation to God and the church - but then, that's one aspect of life for which I found it hard to go to my traditional sources of guidance in my youth. (Jesuits may be amongst the most open-minded priests I know, but I somehow didn't feel that they could be entirely objective with me should I choose to discuss the logical fallacies I perceived in the concept of Hell. Same goes for my Mom.)

That's Some Contingency

2008-10-19T09:05:00.000-07:00

So... a retired PNP officer and his wife were prevented from leaving Moscow on October 11 because Russian airport authorities discovered he was about to carry out more than €10,000 currency limit - a small sum of €120,000, or about P7.7 million actually.

In defending the officer, Chief Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome stated that the money was merely a "contingency fund."

Three questions then:

1) Were they somehow unaware of Philippine and foreign laws requiring the declaration of such large sums of money?
2) Were they aware of the obscure modern conveniences called "credit cards" "ATM cards" and "banks"?
3) By contingency, do they mean the sudden inexplicable urge to, say, buy a house? It was a 3 day conference! With free meals.

I Can Imagine the Filing Fees...

2008-10-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

Oh Norby... you say the most adorable things...

And by adorable, I mean absolutely-deplorable.

For once, as tasteless and ill-handled as it may have been, the administration has the law on their side on this one. Of course, the law itself will say that even if you have the legal right to do something, this doesn't mean you can abuse that right without consequences...

Still, it comforts me to know that even when the administration does something that is, not strictly speaking illegal, I can always count on ol' Norby Gonzales to say something that will make me feel completely justified in hating their guts.

Enough with the Vilma-Pallin comparisons (and not just because these are eminently unfair to Vilma): it's the eerie Norby-Cheney similarities that should be making the news.

UPDATE: (9 Oct 08) Norby, Norby, Norby... if you simply must engage in inappropriate verbal abuse at least use the right word: the only way you could say the Hultmans are hypocrites would be if they facilitated the pardon of someone who murdered your child in perhaps the most unsympathetic and abrasive way possible, then told you to alternatively complain to Jesus or jump in a lake - and then had the gall to call you to task when you did the exact same thing.

Stories and Genres

2008-10-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

Apparently there's been a bit of a discussion going on (the Philippine Genre Stories blog contains links and a roundup to the pertinent posts), and while I find the back and forth of ideas (or, as is more common in the internet, the near simultaneous barrage of ideas, coiling and colliding in a kind of babble-ferment) interesting, I am nowhere near to being enticed to contribute.

I've always had a bit of a problem with being critical and analytical when it comes to literature - it was probably why I didn't last long as a member of Heights, and why I find it difficult to criticize the substance (as opposed to the form - grammar, tense, etc.) of another fiction writer's works. I just can't really get beyond the story, and I know a lot of my taste in stories is subjective. It's sort of like my taste in food: I'm sure that shark's fin soup is a delicacy (moral-environmental issues aside of course) but I still prefer a can of vienna sausages, I have to admit. That doesn't mean I think a can of Libby's counts as high cuisine, but it also means I can't very well give an accurate answer if someone asked me if it was better or worse food than, say, duck l'orange. I can say whether or not I liked a story, but not whether it is or isn't better than another because of so-and-so literary mechanism or genre trope.

Promotion of Philippine Spec Fic as a genre is fine with me as long as it spurs more good stories - and I think any new emerging market for stories will do that (I still await with bated breath the Philippine baby zoo animal slash fiction genre). Could such a label be abused for marketing purposes? Sure it could - but the discerning reader won't be fooled, and the non-discerning reader will be happy either way, so I don't really see the harm.

Godly Love

2008-09-28T01:53:00.000-07:00

Ah, Jesuit masses... how I miss you...

This afternoon I heard my first significant homily in what seems like ages. The priest (freshly ordained last April apparently) mentioned the tragic suicides that took place recently involving the Ateneo or Ateneans. He related an incident where, during one of the wakes being held for one of the deceased, he was approached by a woman who admitted that she was surprised that masses were being held, as she had been of the impression that the Catholic church does not hold mass for people who commit suicide.

The young priest told her that this policy had already been changed, but more importantly he then gave her what he saw as the reason for this: God is perfect love after all. Who are we to limit the depth and breadth of this love? To make sweeping statements as to whom it does and does not apply?

I agree with the sentiment completely. It is a sad irony then, that more often than not, it is the church hierarchy which places God behind man made borders, failing to understand this elemental fact: The source of love is not found in the worthiness of the loved, but in the the virtue of the lover.

Of Voltaire and Corruption

2008-09-26T03:09:00.000-07:00

Well, lest I re-read my previous entry at some later point and think that my Senate experience wasn't good for anything but hair pulling, let me record a pair of truly amusing moments.

The first was when Senate President Pro-Tem Jinggoy Estrada paraphrased Voltaire during the session. Now, I know that contrary to what many may think, Jinggoy is a smart cookie, but I just found the sight of him actually breaking out of his neutral stance (as is proper for a Speaker) to quote a Philosopher (though not one beloved in my alma mater) distinctly amusing.

The second instance was during one of Senator Lacson's many speeches, which I shall paraphrase below with my (mental) comments:

Senator Lacson: "This is one fight I will not run away from. Just as I have not run away from any other fight."

Mental Me: (If you've never run from any fight before, what's the point in singling out this one?)

Senator Lacson: "I fought corruption even as the head of the PNP..."

Mental Me: (Yeah? And how did that go?)

Streamlining the Senate

2008-09-26T02:16:00.000-07:00

I've had the rather dubious pleasure of having a ringside seat to quite a few of the Senate sessions dealing with the "double entry" issue raised by Senator Lacson a few weeks back. While I don't find that my proximity to the senators made me any more enlightened about the current controversy, the experience did serve to enlighten me as to how the Senate actually operates... and, well...

As I told my friends afterwards: the best argument for unicameralism is to watch the Senate at work.

While I admit I'm hardly an old hand at observing the "upper house," in my humble commoner mind, there are a few things I'd suggest to perhaps give taxpayers more bang for the bucks that finance our esteemed Senators:

(1) Do away with the singing/performance at the start of the session: I only witnessed this once, but I was told it was a common thing to invite, say, student choral groups, and have them do a rendition of the national anthem and perhaps one more song. While I'm all for culture in general, most of the Senators don't even listen - save the poor songbirds from the patronizing applause and shave a few minutes off the amount of time it takes to start the sessions by doing away with this please.

(2) Do away with the first reading: Yes this would probably require a constitutional amendment, but I really couldn't see the point. All that happens is that the title is read and the bill is referred to a committee which had already been decided on beforehand - its a purely ministerial task that shouldn't take up half an hour of the session. Send the bills straight to the committees then just bring them to the floor for the committee reports and interpellations.

(3) Do away with the privilege speeches: Not completely - just don't use up the sessions time on matters of "personal and collective privilege." Let's put aside for a moment the fact that some senators have a rather inflated sense of privilege, which results in them feeling "compelled" to speak about some thing or other at every available opportunity. The real source of the uselessness of privilege speeches made on the floor is that the target audience are not the senators (even in accusatory speeches like Lacson's) - it's the media, and the general public. In the first place, many senators don't even attend the speeches, and in the second place, they are unlikely to be swayed by whatever they hear. The real 'swaying' happens when the session is in recess, and the senators huddle together in little circles and do their private negotiations. Since the speeches are aimed at the media anyway, senators with something to say should just go directly to the media, and not waste the taxpayer money funding legislative sessions. 3/4s of the sessions I attended failed to address any substantial legislative business because of these speeches, and that's just unacceptable.

(4) Do away with insipid interpellations: One positive side effect of taking the privilege speeches out of the sessions would be the elimination of the incessant and frequently useless interpellations made by the other senators. While incisive questioning in the vein of a cross-examination does occur, these seem rare when compared to the number of times a Senator will stand up and spend twenty minutes praising the senator who made the speech and expressing his complete agreement with the latter. No wonder applauding is prohibited in the galleries - the Senators would get no praise from the audience that they don't already give to themselves.

(5) Do away with multi-tasking: I get that Senators are busy people, concerned with many urgent matters. yet their main job, their primary job, is LEGISLATION, and they really should not be allowed to treat sessions like high school students treat the classes of their favorite (i.e. most lenient) professor. For most of the session, even while someone is speaking, Senators are walking in and out of the hall, talking on their cell phones, joking around with the guests i the gallery or clowning around in their little cliques. I saw only two Senators consistently paying attention to what was going on (when they were there at least)... given that there are 24 Senators (well, with one being excused on account of, er, jail time) that is a pretty dismal average.

---

I don't know if any of my suggestions are feasible, or even if they would be as effective as I'd hope. As I said, I'm no veteran Senate watcher.

One thing I do know for sure however, is this: we need to demand more from our leaders. To paraphrase a pasty faced terrorist... We deserve a better class.

Little Big World

2008-09-10T22:53:00.000-07:00

"Small world" is more than a ride in Disneyland nowadays - it's a fact of life. With the advent of cellular phones, the internet, and reasonable airfares, the distance between people is shrinking fast.

I wonder if we can handle it.

As small as the world may become, for most of us, our World - the part of the planet and it's people we actually have a true emotional, personal investment in - has always been small. It has to be, as a survival mechanism. Everyday, somewhere out there in the world-at-large - an injustice is occurring, a tragedy transpiring. While knowledge of such fact, gleaned from the news or word of mouth, may pull at our heartstrings, compel a few tears - it is only that which occurs within our World that truly moves us to action.

Our family, loved ones, close friends, maybe even those directly in front of our eyes (if we are raised right) - around these we draw the line, the boundary. That which transpires outside it may inspire sympathy - but should that line be transgressed, we will act - quickly, decisively.

When the injustices of the world-at-large are brought so easily within our knowledge, so tantalizingly within our reach - how will we deal with it? Will our World constrict all the more... or will it embrace all that it can within its boundaries...

And when that happens, when even distant acts of cruelty and indignity are felt to be personal... How long must we wait before we take arms against it?

Soldiers and the Media

2008-09-09T02:52:00.000-07:00

Read an article on the GMA news website, and it got me to thinking about a couple of things.

First, the headline: "Military washes hands off civilian fatalities in air assault" - spelling/grammar weirdness aside, it seems to me that they could have gone with a more neutral/equitable headline. Off-hand, I cannot think of a single non-hygiene related instance where "washing your hands" of something is considered a good thing. (See: Pontius Pilate, Lady Macbeth)

That being said, and I realize that they aren't trained for this, but the military brass might need some lessons in how NOT to appear like you're engaging in the aforementioned washing of hands. Whether or not the military made a mistake, there are better, more palatable ways of defending your actions than:

* Blaming someone else: "He started it!" is just not the most sympathetic of defenses.

* Pre-judging your own investigation: Here's a tip - if you say: “We are not seeing any lapse but I do not want to pre-empt any investigation." - then uhm, you're giving quite a good impression of pre-empting the investigation.

And finally, for the moment of zen: "The military leadership has directed field commanders to limit use of artillery assets and air strikes in deference to Ramadan. Such firepower, however, could be used in case of overwhelming enemy force."

If this is about limiting possible civilian injuries/deaths then this should be the Rule and not some sort of Ramadan 'bonus'. And if this isn't about civilian injuries/deaths, then I don't really see the point, unless it somehow matters during Ramdan whether you die directly by a bolo to the head or indirectly by a shrapnel to the heart.

Once More, With Feeling

2008-09-08T01:52:00.000-07:00

...

Well.

Obviously this isn't going to work out so well with me doing long posts.

Let's try this again...

Hyperinflation and Hyperbole

2008-02-17T00:48:00.000-08:00

I suppose that most anyone, if 5,000 people showed up at a mass in support of him/her, would get quite a bit of an ego boost, especially if the mass was attended by political bigshots such as Cory Aquino, Frank Drillon, Alfredo Lim and JDV. Yet, understandable as it is, I do wish Mr. Lozada would keep a tighter reign on his metaphors and hyperbole.

Make no mistake - assuming that Mr. Lozada is telling the truth, and assuming that he is indeed telling the truth for the sake of the country, this is a very brave and laudable act, for which he must be duly applauded. Yet if he truly has the good of the country in mind, I respectfully submit that the last thing he should be doing is lionizing himself, or making himself out to be a savior of the nation - and it's hard to interpret "I didn't know I was saving the soul of the nation" as anything but that, whether he intended this or not.

Why so?

First, because it assumes too much. For all the fuss and bother at the Senate, nothing concrete has yet to come from his testimony. What that testimony did was to give more evidence to a belief held by a lot of our countrymen that, surprise surprise, the government is corrupt. The particular individuals accused of impropriety remain fairly well entrenched in power. Even should they be removed, the structural problems that allow for that corruption still remain. Make no mistake the testimony is helpful - but primarily only insofar as diagnosing the problem is concerned... as far as creating a solution... not so much.

Second, because it gives him too much credit. Again, consistent with the assumptions above, Mr. Lozada has done a good, brave thing. Yet even should a solution come about, it would be improper for him to claim even a majority of the credit. Should he play Chavit Singson to GMA's Erap, he would have been instrumental in her downfall, but would hardly be considered its singular cause. And again, even a change of administration will do nothing if the underlying causes are not addressed.

Third, because it plays straight into the hands of the administration for Mr. Lozada to set himself up as a hero. The administration has adopted the strategy of making the ZTE issue seem to be about Mr. Lozada's virtue and character... something even Mr. Lozada has admitted to be far from spotless. Statements like those he gave at the mass only serve to galvanize the administration, and aid in their attempts to divert attention from the truth or falsity of the allegations. Mr. Lozada's greatest gift to the country is, if truthful, his testimony. Any attempt to use public sympathy for his plight to heighten his personal stature only serves to divert attention from that testimony, in favor of an idol with feet of clay.

Again, I should repeat, that given the usual caveat as to truthfulness, Mr. Lozada does deserve support and affirmation. But the moment he gives in to the urge to make this about him, and not about his testimony, the moment he engages in the hyperbole and rhetoric of a 'hero' - at that point, he ceases to do service to the nation.

My Lenten Readings

2008-02-14T01:31:00.000-08:00

Like the vast majority of Filipinos, I was born and raised a Catholic, by a family for whom faith has always been felt, but lived. I was also born and raised in a city, taught by my mentors (many of whom come from my family) the value of reason, logic and critical thinking.

Ah, the olde Faith vs. Reason dichotomy, some of you will say.

Not quite. Think more Religion vs. Reason.

It is the Catholic Church, with its doctrines and hierarchy and ancient traditions, with which my reason struggles. Not because I have a little "Creationist" angel and "Evolutionist" devil perched on my shoulders and shouting imprecations at each other - the mainstream Catholic Church is not quite as literal in its interpretation of the Good Book (anymore) I think.

What I do have trouble with, is reconciling my discerned moral values on issues such as birth control, homosexuality and individual rights with certain positions adopted by my Church, and clothed with the aura of immovable authority. Even more difficult to reconcile is a structure wherein I can be told by members of the hierarchy that my discerned moral values are wrong, without engaging me in any discussion and debate. I've never dealt well with "arguments from authority" - just ask my mother.

One does not however, simply discard one's religion, nor can one shrug off as irrelevant the teachings of a Church that have passed through the hands of some of the most brilliant - and radical, for their time - thinkers the human race has ever produced.

What is a Concerned Catholic to do then? While many will have their own methods, mine has been engraved in my bones from years of Jesuit education: pull up a chair, open a book, read it, and discern.

Fair enough.

Right now as my Lenten commitment (I hardly consider reading a good book to be a 'sacrifice') I will be trying to go through two "textbooks" that have gone unread for too long: "Doubts and Loves" by Richard F. Holloway, retired Bishop of Edinburgh in the Scottish Episcopal Church. The second is "Why I Am a Catholic?" a Pulitzer Prize winning author, and one of the few Catholics I know who writes critical, researched books on the Church while still being in the Church.

I hope to find through Holloway's book a distillation of how far the general Christian religion can be reconciled with modern conceptions of values. I read the book of Wills to see how he answers his question... and whether such an answer will apply to me.

Sergio Apostol and the Seventeen and a Half Toes

2008-02-12T00:08:00.000-08:00

I think enough people have vented their ire at Sergio Apostol for his brilliant and insightful [/sarcasm] opinion of how best to deal with the ongoing testimony of Mr. Lozada, such that I need not do more than express my solidarity with the head-shaking and tongue clucking in his general direction.

The use of the derogatory word "intsik" is not my real beef - there are many people who sadly do not even realize that such a word is a slur. (I abashedly admit that I myself as educated on that matter only recently.) In the interest of fairness, it should be noted that apparently the phrase “simpleng probinsiyanong Intsik" was used by Lozada to describe himself... But of course this does not give license to others to use the word - just look at how acceptable it is to use the "N-word" to describe an african american, if you yourself are not of a fashionably Denzel Washington-y skin tone.

The phrase “[b]agay sa‘yo i-deport, magulo ka dito" though.... well. That consists of at least 3.5 feet-in-the-mouth.

The first foot-in-mouth consists of the fact that it is logically wrong, an ad hominem fallacy, to reply to the argument (testimony in this case) of another by simply insulting that other person. As an Atenean (or so I've heard), Apostol should know better.

The second foot-in-mouth consists of the fact that it is legally wrong, since as far as I know Lozada is a Filipino citizen and not subject to deportation. As a lawyer, and as presidential legal counsel, Apostol should know better.

The third-and-a-half foot-in-mouth consists of the fact that saying such a thing in an interview with the media is mentally wrong. Given that you wanted to defend the administration Mr. Apostol, the last thing you should have done was something millions of Filipinos (in every way that counts) would find despicable.

In his apology Apostol claims it was an "emotional outburst." For someone who harps on Lozada's tears, I think Apostol should realize that his own lack of control might have done far more damage to the administration than an ocean of tears.

Everything Old is New

2008-02-10T06:01:00.000-08:00

Springing to the defense of one's family is an honorable, laudable thing.

I mean, hey, it's a commandment right? Can't go wrong with them commandments.

Maybe though, just maybe, there are better ways to do it Mr. Arroyo, better ways to phrase it. I mean, I understand that you might find it difficult to keep from criticizing a less-than-totally-blameless witness bringing up allegations of corruption against the administration in a venue other than the courts of law and all...

... but hey, do you perhaps remember the last time a less-than-totally-blameless witness brought up allegations of corruption against the administration in a venue other than the courts of law? Sometime around, oh, 2000-2001 perhaps? Old guy, likes sunglasses, name rhymes with Tingson?

So. Three questions:

1) How can Lozada be faulted for testifying in the Senate instead of the courts, when it was the Senate who ordered him to appear?

2) Shouldn't the question we should be asking at this point be: "Is he telling the truth?" and not "Is he a nice person?"

3) How are Lozada's accusations less deserving of a hearing than Chavit Singson's?

And if you think the answer to number 3 is because the Impeachment was a judicial and not a political proceeding... well, then you probably didn't watch the same parts of the Impeachment that I did.

Darth Venecia?

2008-02-07T06:35:00.000-08:00

Ah yes, the "return from the dark side" - a staple of narratives throughout the years. You have your evil empire and its (by definition) evil leader, then the evil (in a more immediate sense since evil leader seems a bit distant at times) peon who at one point, usually near death, realizes making amends for the rest of his/her life... which usually lasts about five minutes in the movies (not counting the gurgle-gurgle-death-rattle-I'm-sorry-I-love-you-all expiration scene).

A part of you has got to cheer for the reformed peon... but another part of you wants to strangle him/her because of how much easier everything would have been had that change of heart come a mite sooner... and one final part, one little rebellious Sweeney Todd little part, still wants the peon to pay.

I won't know if any of the things JDV will end up saying about the administration are true tales from the sordid underbelly of power, or spiteful retaliatory fabrications. One thing I do know though, is that I have three questions for JDV:

1) How long have you had "first hand and second hand” knowledge of corruption in Malacañang, the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Cabinet?

2) Why are you only acting on this now and not when you were in a position to really do something about it? (For an example of what a House Speaker can do to a President he's not all that into anymore, please see Exhibit A: Manny Villar)

3) How do you expect us to view both you and your words now, when in effect you are telling us that you've known these things all along and yet chose to keep silent?

The real tragedy is, IF there is truly corruption in the administration and IF JDV really has intimate knowledge of this, he could really have been a true hero - a surprise revelation from someone presently (as opposed to 'formerly') in the President's confidence would have been worth a hundred "Hello Garci" recordings.

As it stands... the revelations will most likely appear to be just another smear of black in the war between the "alleged" pot and the "supposed" kettle.

I Lit a Candle At Both Ends...

2008-02-07T01:22:00.000-08:00

http://www.senate.gov.ph/photo_release/2008/0207_00.asp

I believe in the power of prayer. Honestly I do. But is it just me, or does it tend to get used as a bludgeon an awful lot nowadays?

Can someone refresh my memory again as to the gospel for today? I seem to recall it being the one about, oh yes, here it is:

~~~

(But) take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.

When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.

But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,
so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.

But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

~~~

Ah, sweet irony. I don’t begrudge the intent – wouldn’t it be nice if finding out the truth about ZTE was as simple as someone actually coming forward and telling us about it?- but I’m unsure as to why they can’t do their speeches and marching in public, and their praying in private.

And, yes, I do realize there was a lot of public praying during EDSA I. Then again, that would seem to me to be a natural reaction if you’re standing in front of the muzzle of a tank.