Bolshevik-looking Maia and sexy Maria

“Tennis is a perfect combination of violent action taking place in an atmosphere of total tranquility.”   Billie Jean King

By Alex P. Vidal

IF Maia looked like a Bolshevik warrior, Maria looked like a sex nymphet.

Both were Manila visitors in different epochs.

And they spoke Russian.

Serena Williams did not anymore excite us as we are already familiar with her conquests in the United States.

Serena’s and sister Venus’ dominance of the ATP women’s single and double—both in the clay and grass courts—is already beyond imagination.

We’ve seen Serena, the world No. 1 tennis player, in Beverly Hills and even mistook her for a WWF wrestler because of her muscles and unique physique.

We were more interested on Maria Sharapova.

A high-ranking PNP official we met at the Sarabia Manor Hotel and Convention Center in Iloilo City last November 28, reminded us that Sharapova, et al were at the Mall of Asia (MOA) arena in Manila for the IPTL (International Premier Tennis League).

The PNP official, a tennis enthusiast, said tickets were sold at astronomical prices, thus he didn’t regret missing the big tennis event even if some of his colleagues and their families flew to Manila to watch the tournament.

Ilonggo tennis fans who watched the IPTL made the preparations months earlier, said the PNP official.

“Aside from the event’s expensive tickets, they had to book for their flight earlier to avail a fare discount. Plus their hotel accommodation and other expenses,” the PNP official said.

Sharapova was not the first prominent individual star player in world sports from Russia who displayed her talent before a Filipino crowd.

CHESS

In 1991, FIDE women world chess champion, Maia Chiburdanidze, came to defend her title against Xie Jun of China but lost by 8½–6½.

At 14 years, Maia’s reign was the third longest behind only that of the first women's champion, Vera Menchik, who reigned for 17 years from 1927 until her death in 1944, and that of Nona Gaprindashvili 's 16 years from whom she took the title in 1978.

At the MOA, fans preferred to watch Sharapova over any other ATP world-rated players divided into two teams: Singapore Slammers and Manila Mavericks.

Pinoy fans remembered Sharapova’s roller coaster romance with Slovenian cage star Sasha Vujacic more than her dramatic defeat to Serena Williams in the finals of the women’s single during the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

She resembles more like a fashion model and a Miss Universe bet even before she turned professional at 14 because of her long legs and golden hair.

WTA

She would not have been recognized as a world class tennis player if her father did not bring her to Florida when she was 9, the age where Sharapova started to show her tennis savvy.

Although many Russians excelled in tennis, it was in the United States were potential players can easily get corporate support.

When she claimed her first WTA victory at the 2003 AIG Japan Open and reached the fourth round at Wimbledon on her first attempt during the same year, Sharapova became a household name all over the world.

In 2004, success became the benchmark of her young career when she won the singles title to become Russia's first woman Wimbledon champion.

She added the WTA Championship title to her achievements at the end of 2004.

She was ranked No. 4 at the start of 2006 and that year won the US Open.

Dayot’s mind

“We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” Buddha

By Alex P. Vidal

IF it were Salvador “Doy” Laurel, instead of Mrs. Corazon “Cory” Aquino, who became president via EDSA Revolution in 1986, Ilonggo lawyer Ernesto “Ernie” Justiniani Dayot would have been appointed as chairman of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP).

“Or, panyero Ernie would have been given an ambassadorial position,” the late lawyer Joselito “JT” Barrera once told a group of journalists, while hosting then visiting senatorial candidate Frank Chavez.

Barrera was one of the few Ilonggos privy to Dayot’s closeness with Vice President Laurel, the fifth Prime Minister of the Philippines until his position was abolished.

Barrera said Laurel was most impressed with Dayot in one of the Nacionalista Party (NP) events they both had attended because of the latter’s intellect and photographic memory especially when narrating historical events.

When Laurel was secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs from March 1986 to February 1987, he would invite Dayot and other Ilonggo NP leaders to a private dinner.

“Politics were mentioned occasionally during the private dinner, but we talked mostly about our girlfriends,” lawyer Pascual Espinosa Jr., founder of the Save Our Nation Movement, said in jest.

Dayot, 80, always believed in the power of the Ilonggos to excel in arts, science, academics, sports and politics.

SUPREMACY

“The Ilonggos have always strove to regain their economic supremacy like in the past when the port of Iloilo was at its busiest and that time Iloilo City was dubbed the ‘Queen City of the South,’” Dayot averred.

Dayot, a native of Dingle, Iloilo but now resides in Brgy. Nanga, Guimbal, Iloilo has identified “a major stumbling block” in the Filipino politicians’ propensity to engage in patronage politics.

Delays in implementation of big projects were blamed for the snail pace of Iloilo’s development in the past.

“Delayed construction of the infrastructure like roads and bridges has taken a heavy toll with the viability of other economic projects government or private that could set high the gear of production for the ultimate progress of Iloilo,” he lamented.

Because of this, Dayot stressed that the economic growth of the province and city has to depend on the management of the powers-that-be.

He pointed out that there is the linkage of the economic growth and the political power, a kind of partnership most common and prevalent in developing countries.

“Like horse and carriage, they are complimentary,” Dayot said.

Like many Ilonggos, Dayot believes that there are more positive and great things to be proud of in the city and province of Iloilo, which boast of intellectual and political landmarks.

ILONGGOS

He cited the following achievements of Ilonggos:

-Molo was called “the Athens of the Philippines” as it produced senators and jurists in the land and abroad;

-Chief Justices Victoriano Mapa and Ramon Avancena graced the Supreme Court of the Philippines;

-Raymundo Melliza sat in the Cuban court;

-Delfin Jaranilla was appointed after the war in the international tribunal that tried war criminals;

-the three senators produced by Molo district, Iloilo City were Rodolfo Ganzon, Esteban de La Rama, Jose C. Zulueta;

-other Ilonggo senators were Fernando Lopez who became vice president; Oscar Ledesma, Ruperto Montinola, Tomas Confesor, who became a famous guerrilla fighter as governor of Panay and Romblon in the darkest hours of the occupation;

-Governor Confesor’s letter of reply for an offer of surrender to the Japanese Imperial Army was a classic defiance of the might of the enemy, and a great display of valor that reverberated in the Halls of the U.S. Congress;

-in the revolution against Spain in 1896, the patriotic fervor of the Ilonggos was never wanting as it was tried and tested in the battlefields;

-the Ilonggo resistance was led by Gen. Martin Delgado of Sta. Barbara, Iloilo and ably assisted by Gen. Adriano Dayot Hernandez of Dingle, Iloilo and hosts of other generals and officers in command;

WORLD WAR

-in World War I, Sergeant Ramon Sobejano of New Lucena, Iloilo was a recipient of the most decorated soldier fighting in Europe;

-in World War II, Captain Jose Calugas of Leon, Iloilo received the most coveted and highest medal of honor in the U.S. Army, the Congressional Medal of Honor.

“As ideas make history,” sighed Dayot, “Iloilo had its height of intellectual activities; it was a beehive of several local and national daily newspapers that projected the burning issues of the day.”

Dayot said from the rank and file editors and writers, came the names of Flavio Zarragoza Cano, the “Ilonggo Cervantes” whom Senator Claro M. Recto had the profound admiration and respect.

He also cited Ezequil Villalobos of Manila Bulletin; Rex Drilon, a political scientist and writer and the first Filipino president of the Central Philippine University (CPU); Stevan Javellana, whose book, “Without Seeing the Dawn,” was translated to several languages. It’s about a story of the Japanese Occupation in the country.

“The Ilonggos today, wherever we are, can look back with great pride of our legacy of greatness,” concluded Dayot.

Broca’s Brain

“They were apes only yesterday. Give them time. Once an ape–always an ape. No, it will be different…Come back here in an age or so and you shall see…” -- THE GODS, DISCUSSING THE EARTH, IN THE MOTION PICTURE VERSION OF H.G. WELLS’ ‘The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936)’

By Alex P. Vidal

IF we think we are a gift to mankind because we possess extra-ordinary geniuses, will we allow our brains to be stored in formalin to retard spoilage and displayed in museum after we die?

Many of us today probably possess brains that are qualified to be preserved for purposes of research and benefit of science.

Like Broca’s brain.

In his book, Broca’s Brain, reflections on the romance of science, the late astrophysicist Carl Sagan discussed the exploration of the universe; that is, it is about science.

Sagan analyzed diverse topics–from a crystal of salt to the structure of the cosmos, myth and legend, birth and death, robots and climates, the exploration of the planets, the nature of intelligence, the search for life beyond the Earth.

“But, as I hope will emerge, these topics are connected because the world is connected, and also human beings perceive the world through similar sense organs and brains and experiences that may not reflect the external realities with absolute fidelity,” explained Sagan.

In all of our four-billion-year history of life in our planet, in all of our four-million-year history of the human family, Sagan said, “there is only one generation privileged to live through that unique transitional moment: that generation is ours.”

MUSEUM OF MAN

During his visit at Musee de l’Homme or Museum of Man in Paris in the 70’s, Sagan saw a container from the shelf and examined it closely. The label read P. Broca. “In my hands was Broca’s brain,” quipped Sagan.

P. Broca was Paul Broca, a surgeon, a neurologist and an anthropologist, a major figure in the development of both medicine and anthropology in the mid-19th century.

Sagan said, Broca performed distinguished work on cancer pathology and the treatment of aneurysms, and made a landmark contribution to understanding the origin of aphasia–an impairment of the ability to articulate ideas.

Sagan described Broca as “a brilliant and compassionate man” who was concerned with medical care for the poor.

“Under cover of darkness, at the risk of his own life, he successfully smuggled out of Paris in a horse-drawn cart 73 million francs, stuffed into carpetbags and hidden under potatoes, the treasury of the Assistance Publique which–he believed, at any rate–he was saving from pillage. He was the founder of modern brain surgery. He studied infant mortality. Toward the end of his career he was created a senator,” Sagan disclosed.

Broca founded a society of “freethinkers” in 1848. Almost along among French servants of the time, narrated Sagan, “he was sympathetic to Charles Darwin’s idea of evolution by natural selection.”

GRATITUDE

T.H. Huxley, “Darwin’s Bulldog,” remarked that the mere mention of Broca’s name filled him with a sense of gratitude, and Broca was quoted as saying, “I would rather be a transformed ape than a degenerate son of Adam.” For these and other views he was publicly denounced for “materialism” and, like Socrates, for corrupting the young.

Broca died in 1880, perhaps of the very sort of aneurysm that he had studied so brilliantly, disclosed Sagan.

At the moment of his death he was working on a comprehensive study of brain anatomy.

He had established the first professional societies, schools of research, and scientific journals of modern anthropology in France. His laboratory specimens became incorporated into what for many years was called the Musee Broca.

Later it merged to become a part of the Musee de l’Homme.

“It was Broca himself, whose brain I was cradling, who had established the macabre collection I had been contemplating,” recalled Sagan. “He had studied embryos and apes, and people of all races, measuring like mad in an effort to understand the nature of human being.

“And despite the present appearance of the collection and my suspicions, he was not, at least by the standards of his time, more of a jingoist or a racist than most, and certainly not that cold, uncaring, dispassionate scientist, heedless of the human consequences of what he does. Broca very much cared.”

We won’t be condemned to repeat the past if we remember it

“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” Thomas Jefferson

By Alex P. Vidal

ALMOST all political and social scientists have said this lengthily in classrooms and public discussions.

The hypothesis of Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana (1863-1952) that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” has lost all its depth in becoming a cliché.

Usually heard in the form “Those who do not remember the past…,” it has been reduced to advice on a proper curriculum.

“Learn your history, boys and girls, or the next time (insert atrocity here) comes along, you won’t remember what happened the first time,” Michael Macrone wrote.

Not that this is false; it’s just not what Santayana meant. According to Macrone, Santayana chose the word cannot for a reason—namely, because he meant “are literally unable to.”

Such is the fate of infants and “savages,” for whom every day dawns anew, the experiences and lessons of yesterday having been forgotten.

It is not that such people (one could argue with the term “savages”) choose to be ignorant; it’s that they are incapable of historical thought.

In this condition of forgetfulness, a person is unable to make any informed decisions or to advance himself.

He will simply continue to act according to instinct and reflex, which are by their nature repetitive.

Every day is more or less the same day, which is what Santayana means by “repeating the past.”

LARGER

Santayana’s larger point is that progress requires a certain stability and “retentiveness” in individuals and societies.

This is the basis for human evolution, which is modeled on Charles Darwin’s evolution of species: Educated behavior, based on experience, is more likely to succeed in the face of changing conditions.

Thus is, we will get better and better at dealing with the ever-changing world if we are both “retentive” and “flexible”: conscious of the past and yet adaptable.

The larger context for Santayana’s speculations is his “naturalism,” better known as “materialism.” Man, in his view, is wholly and completely the product of nature; and the mind is nothing more than the natural activity of the brain.

Given the nature is constantly in flux, so too is what we call “human nature.”

The beliefs, values, thought processes, instincts, and desires of the ancient Greeks are very different from those of medieval Europeans or contemporary Africans.

There is no such thing, therefore, as a “universal law,” if by thatwe mean rules applicable across time and space.

Yet at the same time, in any particular time and place, men and women do share beliefs, values, thought-processes, and the rest.

Otherwise there could be no communication at all. And such a particular human nature has a potential “ideal state,” in which it is everything it can be: ideally suited, within its limits, to the time and the conditions.

IDEAL

Each individual has his or her own ideal, which has nothing to do with what the majority of people think, feel, or do.

In fact, Santayana believed deeply that people are unequally graced with reason and talents.

It might just be the ideal of some to work on assembly lines, while it is the ideal of others to run the state. He was not, therefore, an enthusiast of democracy.

In his view Nature herself is undemocractic; some species die off while others flourish and evolve, and this is because some species are superior to others.

In men and women, sharpness of reason and remembrance of the past are suited to progress and self-realization, to achieving one’s ideal.

Interesting ‘conflicts’ in City Hall

“Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.” Ronald Reagan

By Alex P. Vidal

WHEN we covered the City Hall beat during the administrations of the late former Mayor Rodolfo “Roding” Ganzon (1988-1991), former Mayor Mansueto “Mansing” Malabor (1991-2001), and now Iloilo City Rep. Jerry P. Trenas (2001-2010), the clashes happened usually between members of the legislative and executive branches.

Ganzon sprayed with water the seven recalcitrant members of the City Council using the hose of a fire truck at the Freedom Grandstand.

The maverick Ganzon, a former senator, was at loggerheads with most members of the local legislature that his administration was marred by legal skirmishes and interrupted by preventive suspension orders.

He even went as far as padlocking the office of Councilor Lorenzo “Larry” Ong.

City hall could not find peace as long as Ganzon was at the helm and the seven city councilors: Trenas, Ong, Edgar Gil, Rolando Dabao, German Gonzales, Eduardo Penaredondo, Cirilo Ganzon refused to assume sycophantic roles.

Malabor and his minions in the executive office were constantly under the watchful radar of former Councilor Perla Zulueta, who is now Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog’s executive assistant for finance.

LAMBAST

Each time firebrand Zulueta lambasted the executive office in privilege speeches and media interviews, Malabor’s blood pressure skyrocketed.

His legal chief, Atty. Mary Milagros Hechanova, always had plenty of paper works to review to save the king.

The clashes normally occurred in the name of check and balance.

It was always a healthy sign for democracy when the Mayor’s Office and the City Council were at each other’s throats and not singing a chorus when it comes to policing their ranks.

The City Council under the Trenas administration was not as adversarial compared to the previous administrations, but Trenas also had his own share of goose bumps from feisty councilors who refused subservient functions.

Today, Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog’s relationship with the City Council appears to be sweeter than real life sweethearts.

The honeymoon is expected to extend until probably their terms will expire; and the bacchanalia, so far, has not been interrupted despite veiled differences in the choices for presidential candidates in 2016.

While everything has been going on smoothly between Mabilog and the City Council, civil wars occur from time to time within Mabilog’s inner circle, involving his key factotums.

KITCHEN

City legal chief Jose Junio Jacela got out of the kitchen when he could not anymore stand the heat after his appointment was rejected by the City Council.

The City Council rejection was not the one that wounded him most: it’s the Brutuses and Cassiuses who kept on planting thumb tacks in his back.

Until now no one can tell if Jacela and former Vice Mayor Victor Facultad, also Mabilog’s consultant, can still see each other eyeball to eyeball.

Spokesman Jeffrey Celiz’s wings had been clipped at the time when he was making mincemeat of Mabilog’s detractors.

In frontal combats vis-à-vis the mayor’s critics, no one can match Celiz.

Intrepid, brilliant and consistent, Celiz can single-handedly neutralize if not clobber all of Mabilog’s deadly detractors in debates and other verbal shootouts.

Why we haven’t heard of Celiz for awhile only the mayor knows.

Most recently it was Zulueta and City Legal Chief Daniel Dinopol who figured in a heated exchange of words in media.

So far, no heavy bombs have been unloaded. Only powder puffs and brickbats.  

If the apparent cold war between Mabilog’s two top lieutenants won’t be settled soon, it has the potential to escalate into ugly proportions.

Boy Abunda in PN’s thanksgiving party

“Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn't know the first thing about either.” Marshall McLuhan

By Alex P. Vidal

I would like to thank Panay News Editor-in-chief Danny Fajardo and Managing Editor Herbert Vego for personally inviting me to grace the paper’s Product Launch, a thanksgiving party for PN’s 33^rd year in business at Sarabia Manor Hotel and Convention Center last November 28 night.

It was a very successful and much-ballyhooed affair attended by the metropolis’ who’s who mostly from the business, marketing/advertisement, government, and media/entertainment sectors.

The program, very innovative and colorful, was arranged by the indefatigable CEO, Daniel Fajardo II, and marketing manager, Lei Fajardo, as well as VP-corporate affairs Maria Fajardo.

I left immediately after guest speaker, Eugenio Boy Abunda Jr., finished talking on “Print Advertising vis-à-vis Public Relations and Media Celebrity.”

No more selfies. No more photo-ops. 

It was at around past 8 o’clock in the evening when Abunda, partner of presidential sister Kris Aquino, entered the hall when everyone had finished eating dinner.

He was not around during the cocktail party in the poolside that kicked off the program at 6 o’clock in the evening.

Abunda would have met a lot of prominent Ilonggo businessmen and media personalities had he made himself available during the cocktail party.

BORACAY

Mr. Vego introduced me to La Carmela de Boracay hotel owner Samuel “Boy” So, Abunda’s event factotum and real life best friend, while Abunda was not yet around.

It was So who later tapped my shoulder to indicate that the guest speaker, a rumored senatorial wanna-be in 2016, was already walking behind him as they entered the hall, thus I was able to greet the visitor, “hi Boy.”

He replied, “hello po.”

I wanted to hear how Abunda would dissect national issues as a prominent member of the nation’s entertainment and media world.

After being introduced by society columnist John Castigador, my media colleague for over 25 years, Abunda buckled down to work.

He read a prepared speech and recalled important national and international events leading to PN’s birth as a weekly newspaper in the pre-EDSA years.

Abunda also praised highly “those behind the Lapus Calami,” PN’s most popular column, saying “they should go to heaven.”

He told the PN family and guests that he read the paper regularly in Metro Manila.

CHANGE

Abunda hailed the constant change in the paper’s layout and presentation of news and features saying “it constantly whets the appetite of advertisers and readers alike, thus keeping it competitive.”

The top-rated TV host cited PN’s success story to disprove the notion that the Internet would weaken the print media.

A writer cannot be credible overnight, he emphasized.

A writer cannot attain instant credibility with only one or two articles.

He must be able to prove himself by writing more stories and he must not be afraid to commit mistakes, Abunda exhorted.

Abunda has the material to serve the government. He was reportedly offered the Department of Tourism portfolio after President Nonoy Aquino assumed office but turned it down saying he was happy where he was when the alleged offer came.

Will he run for senator in 2016? He denied it but in politics, only fools don’t change their minds, as the saying goes.

In Metro Manila, the grapevine says Abunda is being considered as one of the administration’s bets for senator.

Atty. Ade Fajardo, PN CEO, led the awarding of plaque of appreciation to Abunda.

The Epic of Gilgamesh in Penguin Classics

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” Benjamin Franklin

By Alex P. Vidal

Penguin Classics has produced a 127-page English version of The Epic of Gilgamesh by N.K. Sandars for a price of $2.25.

Luckily I got it only for P15 in a book sale.

Because of the proliferation of book sale stores in malls and shopping centers that offer affordable “used” books, we are now able to have dates with Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, Copernicus, Charles Darwin and Queen Elizabeth.

We can now travel back to the ancient civilization, revisit the Trojan War, relive the Glory that was Greece and the Grandeur that was Rome, and review the Ages of Gaia.

We can now, more or less, understand in the English version The Epic of Gilgamesh.

Miraculously preserved on clay tablets which were deciphered in the last century, The Epic of Gilgamesh is at least 1,500 years older than Homer, the volume contains the English version of the adventures of the King of Uruk in his fruitless search for immortality and of his friendship with Enkidu, the wild man from the hills.

Also included in the epic is another legend of the Flood which agrees in many details with the Biblical story of Noah.

Let me share briefly why The Epic of Gilgamesh is a must read for lovers of religion, archaeology, history, literature, political and social sciences.

SON

Gilgamesh was the son of a man and a goddess and king of the ancient Sumerian city-state of Uruk.

He was also the strongest and most handsome man in the world.

But his assets have gone to his head, and he spent all his time wearing out the young men of the city with endless athletic contests and sexually exploiting the young women.

When the citizens of Uruk couldn’t take it anymore, they prayed to the gods for help.

The god Anu heard them, and commanded the goddess Aruru to create another human who will be a match for Gilgamesh.

Aruru created Enkidu, an uncivilized wild man, and placed him in the woods.

There, Enkidu had several run-ins with a trapper who uses the same watering hole.

TRAPPER

Terrified, the trapper went to Uruk for help. On Gilgamesh's advice, the trapper went back to the watering hole with Shamhat, a temple-prostitute.

When Enkidu showed up, Shamhat enticed him to have sex with her.

Afterward, Enkidu found that he could no longer keep up with the animals, but that his mind has been opened.

He started living with Shamhat, who initiated him into human life. When she mentioned Gilgamesh, Enkidu realized that he wanted a friend—and that he wanted to give Gilgamesh a beat-down.

Gilgamesh had been dreaming about getting a new friend, too.

Soon enough, Enkidu went to Uruk and faced down Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh won, but there were no hard feelings, and the two warriors became best buds.

One day, Gilgamesh decided to go to the distant Cedar Forest and killed Humbaba, the monster who guarded it. Against the advice of the elders of Uruk and Enkidu himself, the two friends set out on their quest.

Once they made it to the Cedar Forest, the sun god Shamash helped them overpower Humbaba, who started pleading for mercy.

GRANT

Gilgamesh was about to grant it, but then gave in to peer pressure from Enkidu, and killed him.

The friends cut down the tallest tree in the forest, which Enkidu planned to dedicate to the god Enlil.

They built a raft and sailed home down the River Euphrates, taking Humbaba's head along for the ride.

At this point, the goddess Ishtar developed a crush on Gilgamesh and asked him to marry her.

Gilgamesh rejected her, pointing out that all of her previous lovers have come to bad ends.

Seriously pissed off, Ishtar borrowed the Bull of Heaven from her dad, Anu, and sent it to earth to punish the friends. But they killed the Bull, and, when Ishtar appeared on the ramparts of Uruk, Enkidu threw one of its legs in her face.

Not long afterwards, Enkidu dreamed that the gods have decided that, for killing Humbaba, chopping down the cedar, and killing the Bull of Heaven, either he or Gilgamesh must die—and that Enlil picked Enkidu. In no time, Enkidu fell mysteriously ill, and died after much suffering.