The Fourth Perspective

Not because I lost my sight I will not see; Not because I cannot hear I will not understand; Not because I lost my teeth I will not smile; Not because I lost my hair I lost my will; Not because my body is frail I lost my strength; Not because my limbs are numb I cannot sense; Not because I can no longer walk I will not reach; Not because I have lost this mind I have lost a spirit; Not because I have lost this body I have lost a soul; Not because I am no longer around I want be near; All because I will live in you and you in me;  because you will see beyond you and these letters, because you will peek at the three sides of the coin;  because your thoughts will be beyond physics; because your mind will venture the sub conscious;  because you will draw vigor from heaven and earth;  because you will extend your arms for truth,  and   because you will live by and die with it. Never fear … I will be near…..

How many times have we heard of phrases like sorry I can’t make it, my car broke down; the plane crashed because of engine trouble; I wasn’t able to call because I have no more credits; the fatal accident happened due to brake failure…..and so on…. The human instinct of self preservation always comes into play amid tragedies and misgivings. It is a means of escape. In the absence of other animate, the tendency to proclaim inanimate to be the cause, as if it has a mind of its own would not be an exception. The aim is to convince himself and others that if ever and when there is a human factor in a tragedy, it is of lesser… much lesser degree. This human attitude is a natural manifestation of bloated ego and fear of punishment. It is docile to benign, as it is instinct driven. It is not premise on motive or pre-determined result. If ever it, the recent event in the US was a terrible tragedy and no amount of words can described the feelings of the families of the victims, all...

Presidential Decrees has the force of law, unless otherwise repealed and that includes Presidential Decree (PD) no.1081 that placed the entire Philippines under Martial Law on September 23, 1972 . Though formally lifted there may still be, technically and as a matter of law (“de jure”), a  Martial Law. The subsequent Presidents after Mr. Marcos may  issue directives and decrees (now termed as Executive Orders or EO’s)  on the basis of PD 1081  with the force similar to  those that was proposed, deliberated and passed by the both houses of congress and the senate. In effect, the Philippines may actually have two lawmaking bodies, the Legislative Branch and the Executive Branch. A situation that this venue and anyone may find inconsistent with the spirit of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, specifically on matters like check and balance. Although not all executive orders issued by Presidents subsequent to Mr. Marcos pertains to creation of new laws or amendmen...

“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted- Albert Einstein”. The post fight interview of Manny Pacquiao right on top of the ring just after he got sober from a knockout punch showed an inconvenient reality. Right after the few questions and responses the interview ended and Manny Pacquiao turned around and saw that no one were near him or were even around. He was looking for a supporter and maybe some of his friends. He had glanced to the both side of the ring but not a soul can be seen. Gone are the back patting friends, the people that steals the moment of Manny’s fame by inserting their faces in front of camera lenses. Gone are the people that squeezed themselves to be identified in those glorious moments of the past. Not a soul, not even one had waited for him till after the interview. I saw the look on Manny’s face, the feeling of abandonment. To me it was a pathetic sight, not because of the knock-out, but because of the q...

It’s a line from an old BEEGEES hit song that poses a very relevant question. Can a wounded heart be mended? While watching the recent Pacquiao-Marquez fight on live TV, my daughter can’t seemed to find the right place to sit and watch from… for her at that moment it seems that every chairs and floors on the house were littered with cayenne chili pepper. Finally, when that moment came that Pacquiao kissed the canvass, she had bitten the pillow she was holding and sank her face unto it, with exasperation and weariness she declared that her heart was in pain. She was and probably is still broken-hearted. Like most Filipinos and foreigners who witnessed the fall of an idol, it was indeed a shattering feeling expressed in various ways. All of us somewhere in our lifetime will or had experienced a similar pain. The pain of a wounded heart.  A wounded heart is devastating to some and a learning experience for others. It is a given from the start, pain will and is a part of ever...

A lmost everyone was petrified upon seeing Manny Pacquiao hit the canvas face down. Manny’s arms were limp before that fall, indicating that he had a total lost of consciousness even before he keeled over. Everybody was asking in muted fashion, “what happened?” Well, I believe that the same people that wondered what happen did actually saw it coming. It is just difficult for them to face with candor the end of the path Manny Pacquiao has been taking. Manny Pacquiao had multi-tasked. He took roads heading towards directions that do not intersect. Roads that are distant from each other, unrelated destinations…at most perhaps in some ways, and even more were opposite from each other. He even tried to do it within the same time frame, and along the way it drained him. It consumed and confused him. He had lost his priority. He faltered and it diminished the consistency of his grip. He  lost focus…like a light that loses heat when dispersed. It was and it is a gospel truth, no ...