Hopeless Uneventful Friendly Frustrated Frustrating Happy Sad Loving Loved
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A new leaf
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Unexpected Welcome In transition Forever Hopefully
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Canned Fruits Are Sweet To
Princess Dawn Mercader: Nothing I can say would equal the feelings I
have for you. Nothing I can do would justify why I am so in love with
you. Thank you, so much, for making me feel this way again; no, for
making me feel more than I've ever known before. :D After a year of
friendship, after a year of waiting, after all the hopelessness I've
felt, you're here now, and I hope that we count years, decades--eons
together. I love you so much!
The Group To
the Humpday Wednesday Group, my brothers and sisters: To the new guys
Pao and Randy, and to Dex, Rowi, Abe, Jen, and Patty, thank you for
still being part of this year, as we have part of each other's years in
the past. Even though we don't convene that often anymore, I know we're
not going separate ways that easily.
New Friends and Acquaintances To
the new friends I've made in School, Cess Rodriguez, Nikki Gevana,
Vince Foz, Mars Tuano, Tani Guiam, Geschelle Manuel, Gel DeMcCuttac,
Joan Mendez and Luisa (sorry I forgot your surname @_@) and all the
others, thank you for making my stay at the De La Salle College of
Saint Benilde more fun than it was.
I've been doing this for three years now, and I still am not going into the new year without my yearned litany. :p
I'm in a writer's block right now, so I won't make it that much of a litany. I would next year, maybe, though. :D
While I'm one of those guys fascinated by warfare and weapons
technology, attracted by books that glorify the untied states'
armaments, and moreover practicing strategy over war games (read: red
alert series, rise of nations) that present true to life weapons of
countries, I hate war, and I hate the United States of America.
There. I said it.
This
country, often dubbed the global police (surpassing the International
Police of the United Nations), or "The Greatest Country on Earth" which
most of the world detests but cannot voice them loud enough for fears
of retaliation and desolation. This is how we keep the little peace we
have on earth: we keep mum on how we abhor the power. Much like how we
would just shut up to keep the conflict at minimal. Islamic countries
call them otherwise: "The Great Satan"
And then we're all too vocal on how we hate terrorism, and, at points of racism and religiosity, Muslims.
Fundamentalism
isn't at all bad, don't you find? We all root for something to achieve
and would do everything under our command to get. This is their basic
philosophy. And this isn't about how Allah is so much better than
Yahweh, God or the God of Abraham. What they're rooting for is the
birth of a nation impervious to the effects and control, or attacks
thereof of the western world: the European Union and the United States
of America. It's not that easy to deduct; they've been shouting it all
over. Locally, they've been fighting for a separate Mindanao; a country
by itself. They almost had it, too, read: MOA on Ancestral Domain.
The
Hamas is a Palestinian group based on the neighboring countries to
Israel; the city of Damascus in Syria being one of its bases. For a
little background on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it's all about
territory. They're fighting over land, that was once occupied by
Palestine before the superpower U.S. of A gets into the conflict and
roots for Israeli people to be back on their land. Thus the war.
Over
the past few days the Israeli military has been on the move to crush
these fundamentalist islamic people. They say it's about time they
retaliated after years of Hamas rockets hitting their soil.
I
wouldn't go into details because they're readily available in any media
right now. What I would want to point out is that, if you take away the
support, the ties of the United States to the Mossad and the nation of
Israel, there would actually be no war to speak of. Just maybe a truce
or an agreement between two peoples.
Take away the greed of
its incumbent president, and the United States would've left
Afghanistan alone. Take away the policing of Arabian waters and the oil
it provides, Bin Laden might have not considered attacks on the United
States.
Terrorism has its reasons. And its reasons aren't at
all illogical and fallable. What we need to do is listen. Listen
clearly. What we're doing right now is killing unreasonably.
When every single Beauty Pageant candidate says "world peace" I would say "mum the U.S. That's how you achieve peace.
Friday, December 26, 2008 The world has gone crazy. So, I just had the worst day of my life.
At
around 1:30 PM today, at Valley Golf and Country Club, Antipolo City,
Mayor Nasser Pangandaman, Jr., Mayor of Masiu City, Lanao del Sur, his
father, Secretary Nasser Pangandaman of the Department of Agrarian
Reform, and company, beat my defenseless 56-year-old dad and my
14-year-old brother to a pulp because of some stupid misunderstanding
on the golf course.
This is a golf course. I have been a golfer
all my life, and I have never seen anything like this. NOTHING. This is
hard to comprehend. And it happened to my own father and my own brother
too. Right in front of my eyes.
My brother and I were playing
golf at the South Course of Valley. We were on the 3rd hole, and we see
two golf carts going past us, overtaking our flight, and setting up to
tee off on the next hole. My dad goes up to them and asks them why they
would do that, why they would overtake us without even asking for our
permission. Golf etiquette 101. One of the guys says that they're with
the flight in front of us. (So what? That doesn't give them the right
to just pass us WITHOUT asking.) So, we go to the 5th hole. The flight
behind us catches up with us, and asks us what caused the hold up. We
said that this flight just slipped in front of our flight. So we
complained to the marshall. We play the 5th hole and walk towards the
next hole, where there is a teehouse, and both the flights in front of
us were there, talking with the marshall. The mayor of Masiu City,
Lanao del Sur talks with my dad. Things get heated up. Voices were
raised. But never, in my wildest dreams, did I ever imagine that
someone would pull out a punch. Apparently not. He attacks my father.
His flightmates, maybe 2 or 3 of them, rush to his aid and beat up my
father. My 56-year-old father. My younger brother and I could not just
watch. We rushed to break the fight. My younger brother pleads to the
mayor to please stop it. To not hurt my dad. To just stop. His words
still ring through my head..."Sorry na po, sorry na po...tama na...tama
na po..." With his hands in front of his chest in a praying position.
PLEADING. The mayor socks him in the face. My brother defended himself.
My dad is still on the ground getting clobbered. My brother is the same
way. I try to stop the fight, but all I can do is stop one person.
There were 4 or 5 of them attacking now.
Someone breaks up the
fight. I thought it was all over. The mayor shouts to his caddy: "Hindi
nila kami kilala! Sabihin mo nga sa kanila kung sino ako!" And believe
me, I had no idea who this person was. But now I know. He's the person
who, with 4 other men, beat up my 56-year-old father and my 14-year-old
brother. He's the person who sacks a pleading 14-year-old kid in the
face. He's a person who, I am sure, is gonna rot in hell.
I lash
out, but my dad held me back. I was screaming my lungs out, shouting to
this mayor, telling him about what he had done. I said: "Nakakahiya
kayo. Singkwenta'y sais anyos ang tatay ko. And kapatid ko kakatorse
anyos. Anong ilalaban nila sayo?"
The mayor looks at my brother,
point to his face, and says, "Tatandaan kita!" And he tells me that my
brother has a bad attitude and that I need to watch him. WHAT THE
HELL?! So, my brother's bad for defending his father?!
We leave.
We walk to the clubhouse to file a complaint. My brother asks for a
doctor. My dad could barely walk. Their group comes to the clubhouse,
sees my brother. Once again my brother pleads, says sorry, and is
crying. He was CRYING, for crissakes. But no. The relentless mayor
still punches him in the face, and then sees my dad and goes after my
dad again. Him and his friend pull my dad to the ground, pulls at his
feet, and steps on him like he's dirt. I run to him and try to hold him
back, holding him back by his shirt, while this other guy and this girl
tries to stop me. She tells me to just stop it. I scream in her face
"they're beating my father up and you want me to stop?!" I pull at his
shirt--I don't let go. All I can see was my dad being trampled on. I
didn't even see my brother getting beat up.
People pull them
away. I get my dad, and I saw my brother. His right ear was bleeding. I
freaked out. I told the receptionists to bring my brother to the
clinic. I pull my dad away. People were separating us.
My mom
and my older brother come. I tell her Bino's right ear is bleeding.
They both look like they could kill. My dad holds my brother off, I
hold off my mom. When I finally got my mom under control, my older
brother gets away and I hold him off. Two of the mayor's bodyguards
pull out guns. I embraced my brother from the back, just holding him
back, crying. The receptionists came to us, crying, hugging me, my dad,
and my mom, whispering to us to just leave. "Maam, umalis na po kayo,
may mga baril sila...Maam...umalis na po kayo please..."
I am
pretty sure the Secretary of DAR did not take part in the fight, but he
just watched all this happen. He watched two of his sons, as we figured
out, the other guy was his son, too, beat up my father and my
14-year-old brother. He didn't do anything to stop it. And this person
is what now? A cabinet member. A politician.
Sounds like
something out of a movie, doesn't it? But this is what happened. TODAY.
The day after Christmas. To my family. And all I ask for is JUSTICE.
The people at Valley Golf did not seem to want to help us. None of the
security guards even tried to stop the fight. Right in the clubhouse. I
came back after the fight was over and talked to the receptionists.
They say they did not see anything. The general manager of Valley Golf
would not give us the names of the men who made my brother's ear bleed.
It took him an hour. Maybe even more than that. He seemed to not want
to help us. Because, we were against the SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF
AGRARIAN REFORM and the MAYOR OF MASIU CITY, LANAO DEL SUR. They were
all scared.
The world is has gone crazy. Two politicians beat up
a defenseless 56-year-old father and his 14-year-old son. At a golf
course. I swear to God, I thought golfers were decent people. You would
think politicians were decent people. I guess not. I guess they gang up
on 56-year-old men and beat up pleading 14-year-old kids.
Please
pray for my dad, my brother and for my whole family. Please pray that
we get JUSTICE. Oh God, please, give these people what they deserve.
Life's to enjoy.. so let's just continue to laugh through the hits and misses.
It
was a long ride for 2008.. but it'll never be an easy one for 2009 if
you keep your heads low. Gear up people and put a smile on your faces
as we welcome another crazy road ahead of us.
Life is such a
long road... with open possibilities and endless yet great
opportunities.. Take one path, make wrong turns, find your way back,
and continue on. Never be afraid to laugh through slight bumps and
misses.
Happy 2009 to everyone at sama sama pa din tayo sa road trip ng buhay ah... =)
