Emotional

“It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.”
--Buddha

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Sr. exhorted candidates in the Sangguniang Kabataan and barangay elections on May 14, 2018 to control their emotions.
Even if they want to, most of them can’t control their emotions.
Even if they need to, many of them won’t control their emotions.
Elections are an emotional event; candidates always fear defeat and everyone wants to win.
For the reelectionists, there is no substitute for victory; there’s no room for defeat.
For their challengers, victory is right around the corner; as harbingers of change, they aren’t supposed to give up.
When candidates, especially those vying for position of punong barangay or village chief, are running against a friend, a kumpare/kumare or a relative, emotions are at all time high.
The restlessness and bitter feelings are shared by their relatives, as well.
Emotions are at fever pitch especially during the campaign period when mudslinging and accusations fly thick and fast, and after the election results have been known when egos and pride are totally wrecked.

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Because of the size of a barangay, candidates find it hard to avoid each other physically after the elections’ final reckoning.
Some of the candidates are, in fact, neighbors if not colleagues in a religious organization.
Unlike in the elections for mayor, governor and congressman where the protagonists don’t meet face to face immediately for a long while in time for the wounds of campaign bickering to heal, candidates in a barangay election can sometimes rekindle their fresh political rivalry when they bump each other in coffee shops, barbershops, bakeshops and nearby alleys the morning after the tough and excruciating electoral slugfest.
"An emotion is a complex psychological state that involves three distinct components: a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral or expressive response," according to the book, Discovering Psychology.
This probably explains why it’s so impossible not to get emotional if you are involved in the elections as a candidate on Monday, May 14.

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As a journalist, I go with the Tulfo brothers in their feud with politicians like Senators Bam Aquino, Antonio Trillanes IV, Nancy Binay, and Kiko Pangilinan who sought for a senate probe on the scandalous P60-million Department of Tourism (DoT) advertisement to PTV-4 that ended in the block time program of Ben Tulfo, brother of resigned (or dismissed) DoT secretary Wanda Teo.
While it is their duty to call for an investigation, many of them are probably only trying to get even with the embattled Tulfo brothers after they have been criticized in the radio and TV programs of the hard-hitting brothers in the past.
But on the question of propriety or delicadeza, I disagree with the Tulfo brothers and former Sec. Teo that there was no conflict of interest in the doomed deal.
Based on the paper trail of how the P60 million was released (three trances), the transaction reeks not only with fish, it was done in bad faith from the very start no matter how they tried to sugar coat it.
Teo was right to resign, err President Duterte was right to sack her.

Iloilo always survives

“We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection.”
--Dalai Lama

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- In every economic and political upheaval in the Philippines, Ilonggos always survived since time immemorial.
When political situation turns wild and woolly and deteriorates in Metro Manila, the Ilonggos are unfazed; capitol and city hall officials offer their shoulders for one another to lean on.
This has happened during the turbulent moments of administrations before and after the EDSA revolution.
When natural calamity hit the country, Ilonggos are ready lock, stock, and barrel for any emergency assistance in terms of manpower, goods, and food supply.
Ilonggos are deeply religious and they attribute every thing that provides them relief and comfort to the Divine Providence.
Also, unlike other elected officials in the Philippines who justify immorality -- and even paraded their inamoratas in public -- Iloilo city and province have been blessed with mostly “morally upright” leaders.
We remember 18 years ago in a speech during the “Kruzada Kontra Sa Druga” at the Iloilo Amphitheater on September 14, 1999, Gov. Art Defensor warned the Ilonggos that a country, a territory, a city or province, can only deteriorate if it is already in the threshold of moral shambles.
Defensor was talking about the period of the Principate, which was the age of moral decay in the Roman Civilization.

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Divorce among upper classes was so common as to be scarcely a matter of remark.
According to the records, there were 32,000 prostitutes in Rome during the reign of Trajan, and, judging from the testimony of some of the most famous writers, homosexuality was exceedingly common and even fashionable.
While political corruption had been subjected to more stringent control, crimes of violence appear to have increased.
This was the period when shabu and other illegal drugs weren’t yet common.
Moral indictment became serious which can be brought against the age.
It was the further growth of the passion for cruelty; the great games and spectacle became bloodier and more disgusting than ever before.

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The Romans could no longer obtain a sufficient thrill from mere exhibitions of athletic prowess; even pugilists were required to have their hands wrapped with tongs of leather loaded with iron or lead.
The most popular amusement of all was watching the gladiatorial combats in the Colosseum or in the other amphitheaters capable of accommodating thousands of spectators.
Most of the gladiators were condemned criminals or slaves, but some were volunteers even from the respectable classes.
The Princeps Commondus, the worthless son of Marcus Aurelius, entered the arena several times for the sake of the plaudits of the mob.

Never-ending ‘cleansing’ appeal

“The police are not here to create disorder, they're here to preserve disorder.”
--Richard J. Daley

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- When will the final cleansing in the Philippine National Police (PNP) end?
In the first place, is there an ongoing and protracted cleansing process?
Every time a PNP director general will retire and a new successor will take over, the battle cry of incoming PNP chief has always been, “We will cleanse the PNP with scalawags and bad eggs”; “We will reform the PNP”; “We will dismiss the rotten apples”, etcetera.
Since the PNP was formed on January 29, 1991, Chief Supt. Cesar P. Nazareno, the first PNP big boss since the Integrated National Police and the Philippine Constabulary were merged pursuant to Republic Act 6975 of 1990, was already parroting “reforms” and promising to kick out from service undesirable policemen.

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“My first instruction to incoming PNP chief Oscar Albayalde is to go after PNP personnel who are a disgrace to their uniform, especially those who are AWOL, sleeping, non-performing, and drinking on the job. All of them should be dismissed from the service,” Interior and Local Government officer-in-charge Eduardo Año said over the weekend.
After 27 years, the PNP wasn’t yet reformed?
Scoundrels in uniform weren’t yet terminated?
Año added: “I told General Albayalde to cleanse the police ranks of bad eggs in order to make the DILG the best department in government. The PNP leadership should conduct more of the surprise inspections so that we can weed out the non-performing police officer.”
It seems the PNP is the only organization in the world permanently embroiled in a long-lasting appeal for “internal cleansing” and “reforms.”

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Tourism officials in nearby provinces should come up with master plans to promote their respective tourist destinations and take advantage of the six-month closure order imposed by President Duterte on Boracay Island in Caticlan, Aklan effective April 26.
Some tourists who have canceled their reservations in Boracay might be interested to explore in neighboring Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros where there are prestine beaches, waterfalls, and world class resorts like Boracay, aside from their magnificent parks and islands, especially this summer.
Now is the right time to mobilize their resources and show to the world that Boracay is not the end-all and be-all of tourism wonders in Panay Island.
They may take a cue from the recent announcement of Iloilo Governor Arthur “Art” Defensor Sr. to establish a Northern Iloilo Tourism Authority (NITA).
Defensor probably intends to attract those who have been tantalized by Boracay’s beauty to take a closer look at Sicogon Island in Carles, among other beaches with potentials in world tourism in the coastal territories of northern Iloilo.

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Was President Duterte wrong to fire Undersecretary Maia Chiara Halmen Valdez of the Office of the Cabinet Secretary exactly a year ago?
Valdez was fired because she was supposedly seeking to overturn the denial of rice importation. National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Jason Aquino had been pushing for more rice imports.
The President has ordered Aquino to proceed with rice importation amid the dwindling supply of government-subsidized grain, exactly a year after giving Valdez the boot.