Goodbye to a dying year

Don't look now but it appears that the year 2005 is about to become history. As with every one else, we rate years as good, bad or indifferent ---- good in seeing some of our personal goals realized, bad in that 365 days went by like a whiz, a confused hodge-podge of time bringing little except that we've become a year older and indifferent ---- a mixture of the good and the bad, bits of sunshine and some showers. We're glad however that no great harm has been done to us, or we survived the calamities. We have become survivors.

Last December, right after Christmas day, a "tsunami" reared its terrible head somewhere in Indonesia, drowning thousands of people in the neighboring islands. Foreign tourists enjoying the beaches in parts of Thailand, discovered to their horror this mountain of water cutting, not only their vacations but even their lives. The tsunami was an absolute democrat, treating everybody equally --the ugly and the beautiful, the rich and the poor, the bright and the not-so, the good and the bad.

We therefore began the year 2005 with a taste of fear and trembling. We were impressed by the fragility of life.

Not the kind of atmosphere to start the year. We do, we can not, however choose the circumstance. We have to humbly accept what's given us.

So what event or events flavored 2005? A no brainer. The Garci --- GMA conversation, the fatal hello colored the year. The collateral events like the actual taping of the colloquy by some people in the Armed Forces still stir up headlines.

I bet my last centavo that the Garci affair will spill over to the year 2006. Had GMA known that her admission of the conversation with Garcillano would result, not in forgiveness, but in a balance of related questions, she would have zippered her mouth. The tongue, the Bible suggests, is an unruly instrument.

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I had a telephonic chat with "Babes" Alvarez who's on a warpath against people he believe are cooking up a constitution without informing the people fully or getting their inputs or opinions. In an open letter published in this paper the other day, Babes, bewailed the fact that the Commission studying and proposing the constitution failed to sample the opinions of Negrenses, as they did Iloilo. Maybe those guys think we have identical ideas and opinions with out Ilonggo cousins. Or maybe the consultation being only a symbolic gesture, they might as well be honest and not waste their time and ours.

But what Babes wanted was for me to answer the question: what's the IBP Chapter's position on the constitutional change? I told him I really don't know. William Mirano is a friend. He's a good guy. For all I know the chapter is preparing a position paper on the proposed constitutional change. Babes added that the Cebu IBP had stuck its neck out by making resolutions. I'm not surprised, Cebuanos by nature, are ever non-conformists. Look what they did to Magellan. Magellan under-estimated the valor of Lapu-lapu.

I had better end this disquisition.

Anyway, more Filipinos according to the latest Pulse Asia poll are opposed to amending the constitution. About 55 percent. A substantial number expressed the opinion that unless we change the people manning the government, we'll be stuck with the same problems.

For all this, public opinion doesn't seem to faze the official proponents of constitutional change.

The comic side of this is like you come in a restaurant to eat. But there is no menu. The waiter says there's no need for a menu because the cook has already prepared the most wonderful dish that will take your breath away. You ask the waiter what's this dish? What are the ingredients? The waiter is getting impatient. He wants to serve the dish, no questions asked. I told Babes that he is one of the few men who are still passionate about the proposed constitution. According to Pulse Asia, about 7 out of 10 Pinoys don't know enough about the Charter. Maybe the government should spend money and time to inform the rest of us. But to tell the truth, the people are really not that ignorant. They're just cynical.

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Well, maybe this is the writer's last column this year. Next week, after the usual X'mas fetes, the writer may be too torpid to write. The pen needs a break. See you next year.*

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