Secretary Gonzales' Big Mouth

Secretary Gonzales is at again. GMA's court jester can't help keep his deepest obsessive compulsion to run out of his seemless tireless mouth. I think he has this predestined burden of responsibility to be always have the media's attention and that is why he needs to pick a fight with anyone in random who is in his boss' critics. And the lucky Gonzalesean flavor of the month? The University of the Philippines.

From INQ7.com: "This time, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez has picked on the University of the Philippines school system, saying it mainly produces militant protesters and fraternity men and women who run around the campus naked. " (to view the rest of the article, click here.)

Personally, I can't blame him for this. Raul Gonzales is first and mostly, a politician; a very shrewd and a giant political operative at that , if you ask me. He knows the golden rule of politics: "Offense is the best defense." He knows that UP is one of the biggest thorns on his boss' side. He also knows that UP was a constant thorn to anyone who held Malacañang. Not that people from UP knows how to run this country better, but they know that they have the historical responsibility to be in the forefront of any battle that puts ordinary people on the losing side of the fence (who obviously pays for their tuition fees, and not the government which Gonzales preaches).

However, I think that Gonzales has grossly underestimated his appointed bitch-of-the-moment. Don't blame him though, he made a very brave move. Nobody in this Republic's history who has a sane mind, locked horns with this country's premier university. Yes, a brave move, but he might as well be writing his own political obituary.

It's not because UP is untouchable. UP, had it's share of shady characters from time to time that permeated the society (His boss, for one, got her PhD for economics in this university). The reason why Gonzales made the mistake of picking on UP is that because UP was on the right side of the debate. Up to now, his boss wasn't able to clear up her "victory" in the previous polls and the numerous killings made by Gen. Palparan and his merry men were not given light and justice. All should have been well if they have gathered all their balls and faced the inquisition and come out clean instead of hiding inside the skirt of a big word called "technicality."

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who will guard the guards? This is how history ordained UP. It could have been any other institution. But history ordained UP this responsibility since the Martial Law. However, UP does not wish to keep the responsibility for themselves, in fact, they want all the others to share this responsibility. UP has lent its halls for symposiums , its bastions for mass actions, and its people for voices so that the public may know. UP does not claim a monopoly for truth either, that is why it's inviting everyone for debates and forums and fights for constitutional exercises like the impeachment not to be derailed, so that the truth, whatever it is, will get out and will ultimately set us all free.

What Sec. Gonzales did was a textbook move from the Art of War. It is expected of him and noble to be the first one to put the shots. However, as history teaches, UP never backed out from any fight nor any war. It is a war for the truth. Sec. Gonzales sure does need to check which side he is on.

Missing a Coupled Life

Friday yesterday, I went home tired from a long day of working and not to mention going home through an onslaught of ravaging weather. Also, I still feel a bit slurred since I just survived from a flu throughout the week while I was doing may day job as a PR guy side by side with my hidden identity as manager of a rock band who is currently having their recording from a place so remote, we need Global Positioning Sattelites (GPS), 18th century-made maps, and shirts worn wrong-side-out just to get to the studio and not to get lost.

Anyway, going home is a welcome feeling, so I thought until I opened up the gate and went in.

I notice that our garage was flooded. I was puzzled where all that water came from. I suspected that it came from the rain, however, living in that house for more than four years now, that would be the first time that thing happened. Also, yes the weather is bad but not that bad enough for our street to be flooded. Mysteriously, only our house was marooned.

I tried to trace the source of the water and I found out that the water came inside our house... INSIDE THE HOUSE !?!? I immediately got my keys and unlocked the door and when I opened it I saw the inside of our house, in all its glory, flooded.

When I say flooded, I didn't mean like the floor was wet or something. Flooded as in water inside the house was like a centimeter deep. Perfect for sailing paper boats which obviously was not my mood at that moment. The first thing that came to my mind is to do the most logical thing to do, to panic.

Panicked I did. I called everyone I can call to help me solve the mystery of the marooned house. While waiting for them, I did the initial clean up. Still in my work clothes, I grabbed a stick broom and tried to dislodge the water by sweeping it out of the house. The house looked like it came from the set of the James Cameron's Titanic without Leonardo Di Caprio... or more importantly, without Kate Winslet.

Everyone arrived thirty minutes later. Good thing I practically did everything from the inside so that they can be spared from the shock I felt when I first saw it. However, the proof of the flooding is still in the garage, the only place I was not able to start sweeping. Everyone tried to be Sherlock Holmes and tried to find out where all this water came from. It couldn't be the rain because there were no leaks in the ceiling. My brother then realized that our water tank is empty. Now as if everyone got hit by a truck that instant, we all knew what is the culprit. An unclosed faucet inside the bathroom.

Now, that solved what is the culprit. But who is the culprit, that is another story.Who was the last person to leave the house? Everyone looked at me.

Yes, I was the last one who left the house but I defended myself that I bathed using the water stored on the container because when I took a bath, the village already turned off the main tank. However, that even more incriminated me since it can be easily deduced and assumed that when I turned the faucet on to see if there was water, I forgot to turn it off. And when the village turned the main tank on... well the rest is history.

I really don't know what to feel at that time. Obviously it was my fault. Nobody scolded me though because I was the one who pays the water bills. However, since I know I will be paying a lot higher this month, I wanted to be mad at the culprit. The doggone moron just wasted money and precious water due to his stupidity. Obviously, I cannot be mad at myself.

Anyway, coming to terms with myself, I suddenly missed the feeling of having special. Because times like these when you know that you made a very stupid thing and feel very bad about it, just feeling the warmth of a hug from your special someone erases everything. No words need to be spoken, just a tight hug. It's funny, being with someone you love makes time stop and go fast at the same time. Just being sitted on the same couch with her, and do nothing just co- couch potatoes watching TV makes bad feelings like those go away.

I need to find my caveman club and look for one now.