Bad eggs and right conduct

It is so easy to throw back barbs at the activists who threw eggs at Esperon in the form of condemnation and outright indignation, as one's sense of academic decorum is disturbed by the very vivid and graphic activity.

However, the condemnation can dangerously morph into uncalled-for anti-communist hysteria and McCarthyist red-baiting, as is being done by Alex Magno and his friends in the seats of power in Malacanang. In his intolerant column supposedly written in defense of free speech and intellectual tolerance in the university, he equates the incident to fascism and “communist terrorism”. Unfortunately, this only parrots and tows the military's dangerous –and fallacious--reasoning that unarmed activists are no different from their NPA targets.

Equally dangerous is the opinion that activists must have deserved being targets as they behave “badly”. This is not a case of fighting fire with fire. The AFP has guns. Students have only eggs and words. Esperon and his men have outrightly taken part in electoral fraud and have blatantly tolerated the abduction, torture and killings of unarmed civilians. Nothing can be more shameful than simply letting go of such iniquity. The activist students certainly put that difference in power in a graphic light with the pelting that happened.

This is the same General Esperon, mentioned a few times in the Hello Garci tapes, which is the reason he is also called a Hello Garci general. He is one among a few generals who helped in the cheating for Gloria in the 2004 elections. You can verify that by studying the contents of the Hello Garci tapes. There was a new book launched last Monday at the UP College of Law called FRAUD which documents the cheating in the 2004 elections.

This is the same General Esperon, who has made public in several instances his total absence for respect for the peace process. Did he not welcome with open arms "President" Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's declaration of "all-out war" against the Left, and the accompanying grant of an additional P1-billion budget for state forces to use in the counter-"insurgency" campaign?

The "all-out-war" declared by Arroyo, by the way, is not specifically against the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People's Army, and the National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) -- which as organizations are engaged in armed struggle with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) even as it strives to talk peace with its foe. It is against the Left -- a broad term which can be taken to include legal cause-oriented organizations like the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and progressive party-list groups like Bayan Muna or even progressive individuals that earned the ire of the leading clique in power. There is no distinction between guerrillas and unarmed activists then.

This is the same General Esperon who continues to hide the Mayuga report. Is he scared that the Mayuga report will expose his role in Arroyo's massive cheating, and that he got his job not because of merit, but because of patronage? Yet he is being fast tracked in promotion over more senior staff in the AFP.

This is the same General Esperon, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff who said at the Melo Commissin that the military and Palparan are not the ones who committed the more than 750 extrajudicial killings of activists and civilians. Instead he was saying that the Left themselves are killing their members. He did not lift even a single finger touch Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, Jr. while the latter was calling Karen and Sherlyn members of the NPA.

With that, he has dismissed the charge that the two UP lady students, Karen Empeño and Sherylyn Cadapan, (abducted by the military in Hagonoy, Bulacan 2 months ago and still missing) and effectively saying that they were really not abducted by the military. Some of those students who attended that forum were friends of Karen and Sherylyn and you can very well imagine how they felt about it. Yet, despite these, the students have had decorum enough to throw only eggs.###

Modesty Aside

"Modesty aside"
Si Mommy: Pinakamamahal na ina, asawa, kapatid at kaibigan

Gaya ng lahat ng bagay, ang buhay ng isang tao ay may dalawang di-mapapaghiwalay na bahagi para matawag nating buo. Ang umpisa-- ang pagsilang, at ang hantungan nito, ang pagkamatay. Ngunit gaya rin ng lahat ng bagay nasa proseso ng pagunlad at pagbabago ang makabuluhan at mahalaga sa yugto ng buhay. Nasa mga nagawa ng isang tao ang halaga ng kanyang buhay sa mga naiwan at kanyang pamilya.

Ang buhay ni Mommy ay isang mabunga, masaya at fulfilled na buhay. Mula noong kabataan niya bilang isang anak, madami na siyang kwento kung paano sila lumaki sa isang bubong kasama ang kanyang siyam pang mga kapatid. Mula sa mga kwento sa ilog ng Oroc-osoc, sa panahon ng Hapon hanggang sa pagoorder ng french orange juice sa Aristocrat--- masasaya ang kanyang mga ala-ala at kanya itong inuulit-ulit sa amin kahit na hanggang sa mga huling sandali.

Nagmula siya sa Caramoan, Camarines Sur at nakapagaral sa Maynila. Malaunan ay nakilala niya ang aking Daddy at noong sila ay ikinasal ay dito na sila tumira sa Malolos. Madami siyang kwento kung paano ang isang di sanay magluto ay nageeksperimento sa kusina, kung paano maglalakad ng naka-high heels mula sa highway hanggang bahay, kung paano siya tumitingin sa train na dumadaan pag umaga hanggang sa mga kwentong panakot na may paa sa puno ng mangga. Dito na rin siya nagpakahusay bilang isang optometrist na nagumpisa lamang sa iilang mga frames at sa isang maliit na opisina. Sa kanyang clinic nakilala niya ang marami sa inyo.

Iniluluwas pa niya sa Maynila ang mga salamin para doon ipagawa at siyempre kasama kami kapag ginagawa niya ito. Sa Avenida ang matingkad na mga ala-ala ko kay Mommy, pagkababa sa Philippine Rabbit kakain muna kami sa isang soda-fountain bago pumunta sa may Quiapo.

Doon kahit wala nang pera si Mommy ay kanya pa ring pinagsisikapan na pakainin kami ng pinakamasasarap, binibilhan kami ng pinakabago na mga damit at pinababayaan kaming bumili ng mga pocketbook at libro kahit na siguro kulang na sila sa budget.

Sa personal, ako ay binilhan ni Mommy ng mga science books at encyclopedia--- paisa-isa bawa’t buwan. Hulugan. Dahil alam nya na gusto kong magbasa at magtanong. Kung wala siguro ng mga librong iyon, di ako magkakainteres sa agham at baka di ako nag-physics, di nag-PT si Jay at di nag-medicine si Gennette.

Hindi kami tinipid ng aming mga magulang. Hanggang sa nag-Saudi si Daddy bunsod ng krisis sa ekonomya, naipaparaos nilang dalawa ang aming mga pangangailangan sa eskwela at sa kabahayan. Mayroon na siyang high blood kaya madalas din sya noong magkasakit. Pero kahit sa iba ay tumutulong pa rin siya at nagbibigay ng kahit maliit na makakaya kapag lumalapit ang nangangailangan.

Pero sa harap ng mga ito, gaya ng kanyang palaging sinasambit “modesty aside”, naipagtapos niya kaming tatlo sa mga pinakamagagandang iskwelahan hanggang maging mga propesyonal. She is always proud to tell everyone how her daughter and two sons are, most probably knowing that we are a living proof to all her achievements despite her sacrifices.

Naenjoy ni Mommy ang kanyang huling mga taon. Nakapagikot siya sa US kasama si Daddy, nakita ang kanyang mga apo, sila Bea, Tyrone at Abby. Napakasal niya ang kanyang mga anak, nakita nya na maayos ang aming kinaroroonan sa ngayon.

Totoo, mamimiss ko si Mommy pero hindi ko na siya hahanapan pa ng iba— naibigay nya ang lahat sa amin, pagmamahal, kagamitan at pag-aaruga. Paalam nga ito para sa atin pero ang bigat nito ay mula sa pagiging makabuluhan ng kanyang buhay para sa ating lahat. Masayahin si Mommy at hindi niya gusto ang maging malungkot tayo sa kanyang pagkawala. Dapat lamang na maging masaya tayo na si Mommy, si Asela, ay naging bahagi ng ating buhay—bilang ina, asawa, kapatid at kaibigan.

Maraming salamat po sa lahat ng dumalo. Isang masigabong palakpakan po ang ibigay natin kay pinakamamahal na si Mommy. ###

Eulogy delivered on September 9, 2006
Barasoain Church, Malolos City