Time Out for Richard Rorty

Our concerns for electric power in Occidental Mindoro is not only a complex and multidimensional issue and judging from the recent posts and comments from respected opinion writers in on-line discussion threads, this misunderstanding pushes us all at the verge of disunity. The energy problem each day (especially during night time) already devastated us and our common dream for a concerted attempt to solve this crisis which started only-God-knows when.

Nasty words flew from all angles and directions but no matter how intelligent, rational, logical and sane they are, they are empty to me. In the sincerity of my silence (meaning not involving in these exchanges, which I think the most rational thing to do in the middle all of those unfriendly gestures), I took part in the recent initiatives towards the realization of our common goal for a sustained, reliable and affordable electricity for our locality. But making public what we do now would be premature. We intend to announce it at the right and proper time and venue. Please bear with us.

Reflecting on the current negative exchanges between my Facebook friends compels me to write this piece. The exchanges made me realize that the will to be objective certainly WILL always remain subjective. Even the most sincere and truthful witness or whistle blower under oath cannot set aside his or her biases in his/her statement. We as netizens have our own biases over issues especially those that can be rooted to politics and politicians. This is no doubt can rightly be considered a political issue for it concerns public welfare that involves our rights as consumers and whether we like it or not, it involves political personages. So it must be elevated from emotional to gut level discussions. As posters in discussion threads, we all risk out commitment to objectivity and we must always expect response from others, be it positive or negative. It is very easy to accept this fact.

Their recent exchanges were full of wisdom, yes, but devoid of taste, to say the least. This includes some comments from the readers when they join the fray. They are like medicines in bacteria-infected vessels, so to speak.

Nobody has the complete grasp and conclusion of this problem that caused the frequent power outages resulting to economic and productivity losses and missed opportunities and untold misery and insecurities of the citizenry. The “whole truth and nothing but the truth” in whatever issue, will always be elusive and no single person or group can claim that s/he has it all.

So, this discussion about power problem in our province cannot be treated as a singular event. This is connected to all other socio-political dimensions: legal, personal, physical and technical. Be it moral and even spiritual. Though relying only from my background as a former church worker, I am into opinion that our friends and acquaintances judge our spiritual growth and worth not only on how we respond to approvals or agreements, but also on refutations and disbelief, both coming from our friends or enemies. The words we use and the tone we set. Intentionally or not, one cannot afford to be a fool who always endears himself to evil structures and systems and the devils who are the roots of this hellish debacle that we are experiencing. We must not fall to the temptation of evil,- the grand great snatcher and concealer of truth and half truths, the grand master of divide and rule tactics. By muddling the issue, by misdirection, we serve, knowingly or otherwise, as Devil’s acolyte.

We have to work together for Richard M. Rorty once said, “One cannot be irresponsible toward a community of which one does not think of oneself as a member.”  I believe too that overly finding or stressing the truth here is not of vital importance. Rorty, my “newly found” philosopher once said, “Insistence on the existence or the importance of truth seems to me empty, at least by comparison to insistence on the need of freedom." Our utmost need in this particular case is no other than freedom from power crisis, personal differences are just peripheries! 

  

Rest assured that this will be my first and last reaction on the heated arguments between my friends that saddened me. Hope they’ll put an end to this word war soon.

This is just a sort of request for perpetual time out from a teammate who just read Rorty's thoughts...

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(Photo: olponeline.org.)

A Reply to Fr. Dick

Last week, Fr. Dick Guillermo, a friend and a compadre (He's one of my Sophia's godfathers), wrote a very meaningful albeit long overdue reflection on the present thorny journey of our local church, the Apostolic Vicariate of San Jose (AVSJ). I have read his piece from his Facebook Wall and it’s called “An Appeal on Father’s Day”. The author, a diocesan clergy, firmly and courageously breaking his “deafening silence” and publicly revealed, though not naming names, that a priest, I assume the present Vicar General, filed a case before the Prosecutor’s Office, against two of his fellow clergy in our diocese and Fr. Dick calling it an “insane” move!

He recalled from his memory the initiatives they have done to extinguish the small fire before becoming beyond control. To my mind, in almost four centuries of existence of Catholicism in the Philippines, there was never been an instance such as this. A priest brought to a civil court a case against his brother priest(s). The young priest from Mamburao aptly posed urgent questions and challenges for our reflection and consequent action as people of God:  “So where will AVSJ heading to? Perhaps what is happening now is more than enough reason to despair, to give up and to lose hope. After all, where can we find the solution? We all have been hurt and healing is nowhere to be seen. The future is dark, sunrise is not yet coming.” I am writing this as another reflection aside from the reflections I wrote since 2011, about the burning or DZVT and the Chancery Building and the close shop of the Saint Joseph College Seminary (SJCS) and every sad memories about the Social Action Center/Social Services Commission where I worked as a lay employee and spent half of my life in the pastoral program that once sustained me and my family, both materially and spiritually.

I firmly believe that the laity is part of this insanity, as what Fr. Dick calls it. This is in no way only about the priests involved in the case. We the laity are sinning by spreading around rumors that cannot be verified by records or facts. The influential and the powerful in our midst want to keep the Church out of social-political concerns. Majority of the church-goers prefer to be generous to celebrity and healing priests over our homegrown fathers and the fate of vocation of our very own seminarians.

Now more than ever, let us anchor ourselves to our theological method or Theology Spiral of See- Judge- Act which is a useful way of working to ensure the balance between reflection and action. I am inviting every member of the Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) and mandated religious organizations, personally and in the silence of our actions to reflect, stand and act on this issue to settle all of these through dialogue. If the laity is part of this problem, we are truly also part of the solution. Or, as I have said, we will be the doomed flock of Zechariah. To be silent in this present predicament makes us midwives to what the devils have bore upon us!

I am inviting you all to first reflect on these essential questions: What sort of message does it send to the fallen away Catholics who are already overly suspicious and skeptical whenever there is wind of anything adverse either brewing or potentially brewing within the Catholic Church?  And more importantly, what sort of message does this send to Jesus, Who, in fact is our Church? But let not be passive. Let us reprove and expose them in gentle but gallant manner (Ephesians 5:11). If I could be of help in whatever concerted action in the future, I am just a PM away.

To end this entry, allow me to echo Fr. Dick's hard as steel words: “I appeal for prayers and understanding. I appeal for reason. I appeal for change.” Amen and ditto…

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(Photo: Grabbed without permission from JD Guillermo’s FB account)

  

The (Mega) Voice

A young boy from Sablayan named Mega Frandio Oane (You Tube erroneously listed his family name as “Dane”) participated in The Voice Kids Philippines aired over ABS-CBN Channel 2 last night. Mega was not able to spin the seats of the judges-mentors namely, Lea Salonga, Bamboo and Sarah Geronimo. With the right choice of song, the little boy, they say, could have won the competition. But he succeeded by having a great fighting spirit to follow the footsteps of Jireh Lim, another homegrown talent, the original composer of “Buko”, the song Oane have rendered during the show's blind audition. No matter what, the people of Sablayan, the tourism capital of Occidental Mindoro, is so proud of you Mega. Keep on trying and we pray that next time you’ll land on the big, mega, league!

But all roads lead to Rome they say.

In Italy, the mega nun Sr. Cristina Scuccia topped her country’s version of The Voice last Friday in her rendition of “Flash Dance…What a Feeling”, that clinched her victory among the final four competitors during the four-hour finale. Watch her rendition of the song HERE. The 25-year old nun who sing and dance garnered a convincing 62% of the votes but not without some negative reactions from some quarters even from Catholic circles.

While Mega Frandio Oane is a son of the owner of Mega Pinoy Beach Resort in Sablayan, Suor Cristina became a novice in 2009 and reportedly worked for two years with poor children in Brazil before formally joining the order although she still has to take her final vows.

Of her wearing of habit and crucifix during the show, some viewers and fans raised concerns and question whether such exhibitionism is appropriate for a nun. Critical viewers see it as a gimmick to win attention and ultimately win the contest. I will leave it at that. When asked what’s up next, she said to the reporters: "I will go back to my priorities – prayer, waking up early in the morning, school service. That's fundamental for me to be able to begin something new later on." Sister Cristina was born and raised in Sicily.

But singing nuns are not new in the entertainment field (or call it “dimension” if you wish). There was once a song about Saint Dominic that made it to the mainstream musical world. I was singing the song when I was 8 or so but it was only 10 years later I did realize that it is actually an inspirational or religious song. It even outsold Elvis Presley during its stay on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is entitled “Dominique”. “Dominique" is a 1963 French language popular song, written and performed by Jeanine Deckers of Belgium, better known as Sœur Sourire or The Singing Nun. So, Jeanine Deckers was the original sin,..err, singing nun.

To every great artist, this is the mega truth: Our talents are gifts from God.

Win or lose….

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(Photo: SBS.Com)

Donaire-Vetyeka : Lutong Macau

Bagama’t umiskor ng Unanimous Technical Decision sa ikalimang round ang ating kababayang si Nonito Donaire para sa WBA Feather Weight Title kontra kay Simpiwe Vetyeka na isang South African, napanalunan ng una ang kanyang ikaanim sa apat na weight class sa boksing. Dalawang bagay ang nalagpasan ng The Filipino Flash kagabi: ang mga suntok at pang-uulo at below the belt punches ni Vetyeka at ang kapalpakan ng reperi ng laban na si Luis Pabon, isang taga-Puerto Rico. Ginanap ang laban sa The Venetian Macao sa Macao, China.

Hindi ko alam kung ano ito para sa inyo. Pero para sa akin, Lutong Macau ang labang ito. Ang kusinero kumbaga, na nag-spoil ng brooth ay walang iba kundi si Luis Pabon.

Ano ba ang “Lutong Macau” sa diksiyunaryo ng karaniwang Pinoy lalo na yaong mahihilig sa isports? Ito sa matuling sabi ay ang resulta ng isang laban o kumpetisyon na ang kinalabasan ay hindi mula sa performance ng isa o dalawang manlalaro o koponan. Dayaan kumbaga na maaring sinasadya o hindi, may dahilan man o wala. Dalawa lang ang malinaw: ang resulta nito ay kontrobersyal at ang mga manunood, ang fans, ang tunay na talunan sa mga labang Lutong Macau.

Bago pa man ang Donaire-Vetyeka, ito palang si Luis Pabon ay may rekord na ng mga paglabag sa dalawang mortal sins na magagawa ng isang referee: ang manood na parang isang ordinary spectator sa labang kanyang inu-officiate at i-break ang isang aksyong hindi naman dapat na i-break. Yung tipo bang nakukumutan ka ng absentmindedness habang ginagawa ang tungkulin. In short, lack of concentration. Imagine, tatlong head butt at isang low blow kay Donaire at isang knock down (dahil sa pagsaklay ni Vetyeka sa ring) ang hindi tinawagan ni Pabon!

Akalain ninyo, sa labanang Marco Huck-Alexander Povetkin sa isang heavy weight fight noong Pebrero 25, 2012, kabaliktaran sa kanyang mga non-call sa Macau kagabi, sa Huck-Povetkin match naman ay para siyang nagpapapuri at kahit hindi pa man dapat na mai-break ang isang tagpo ay pumagitna na kaagad ito. Hayun, ang nangyari, nasapul siya sa isang punto ng isang ligaw na suntok at mabuti naman ay hindi solido ang tumama sa kanya. Nangyayari lamang ang mga kapalpakang ganito kung papagitna ka sa dalawang boksingerong nagtatangkang manuntok o nagsusuntukan na hindi naman dapat kang mamagitan.

Bago pa man ang Donaire-Vetyeka sa Macau, may isang isinulat si Pabon tungkol sa pag-rereperi na mababasa natin DITO. Sabi niya, “Many times we see situations during the fight that may lead to wrong decisions or involuntary mistakes. A good example is when a referee doesn’t see a head-butt or illegal blow.” Baka ito nga ang nangyari sa kanyang pag-o-officiate sa laban kagabi ni Donaire.

Pero dagdag ni Pabon, “This can happen to anybody, but this excuse cannot be used as an easy way out when we make mistakes. Although we are not God, we must try hard to avoid mistakes at all costs. This can only be accomplished with concentration. I say this, because when the referee does not see something during the fight, he simply says “I did not see it”, “I am human”. This is unacceptable…” Unacceptable nga para sa akin ang mga non-call ni Pabon.

Bagama’t ligtas na naman si Donaire at wala namang aksidenteng nangyari sa Macau, kahit Lutong Macau ito ay patatawarin ko na si Pabon. Tutal nanalo naman kahit papaano si Nonito at may malaking posibilidad pa ang rematch.

Pero sa totoo lang, sa mga kapalpakang ganito ko na mi-miss ang husay ni Richard Steele…

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(Photo : eastsideboxing.com)