The principle of life

The Negros Press Club is going to have its annual elections tomorrow, Saturday, at 2 in the afternoon. It's supposed to be 70 years old and some people claim it's the oldest in the country. Nobody could prove that for sure but it's nice to think that the Negros Press Club has survived a hundred vicissitudes over the years.

Diosdado Macapagal then Vice-President who was campaigning all over the islands was the NPC's principal guest of honor in the induction of the 1958 set of officers. His wife Eva was with him and I had the honor to accompany them to Bago to visit the venerable senator and secretary of Labor, the renowned Ramon Torres.

The Negros Press Club is one of the few clubs that have erected a permanent memorial to those writers and other media personalities killed and murdered by those who cannot tolerate the exercise of press freedom. A contest for the best tribute on the marker brought in numerous submissions. The winner, I understand, is now a lawyer. The memorial is right in front of the NPC building in the plaza.

I am saddened by the increasing attacks on the lives of newsmen. The guys are as great heroes as those who fought in the trenches during the war. In fact, the newsman fate is more dire. A soldier is armed and can in theory, defend himself against an attack. The newsman on the other hand is practically defenseless. He does not know where the bullet or dagger will come from. His death can happen anytime even in the precincts of his home. Surely, we the public, owe those who have fallen. We can only urge the police authorities to increase their efforts to nail the dastardly assassins. Our throats have become somewhat hoarse.

In connection with the NPC elections tomorrow afternoon, I had a chance to talk with Doulat Parmanand, an Indian resident of Bacolod way back in the 60's. He ws a businessman who also sidelined as a photographer for Ange Lobaton's weekly which qualified him to membership in the NPC. When Osing Magallenes was NPC president, Doulat was secretary or something.

Anyway, Doulat now is 81. He is blind and bed-ridden. But his voice over the phone was booming when he intoned: "I'm still alive." Indeed, Doulat's voice sounded 31 years old rather than 81. Doulat's defiance of time is admirable. It is the essence of the human spirit to declare that he persists even when the body is crumbling. The difference between us and the animals is that the animals don't even know the full extent of death but humans have explored every nook and cranny of the event. From this has come great literature --- immoral nobels, inspired poetry.

"I'm still alive" could well be the battle cry not only of the 81 years old, bedridden Indian, but the rest.

Doulat expressed his deep affection for members of the Negros Press Club so I said to him: "Likewise".

* * *

I had a shock when I went in the Food Court of the Robinsons Place. About one half of the eateries have closed down. Dodong Bascon's place closed down and so have some well-known names.

So is it any wonder why crimes have proliferated. Even the small vendor in the sidewalk get robbed I hear. Nobody bothers to report thievery. I have lost three car radios so I am now content to just hum tunes.

It would be difficult to convince the public that the economy is booming. Come February and they will add two percent to the EVAT, another nail in the economic coffin. To what extent can one squeeze the money out of the pockets of the people. Taxes have been a traditional way to produce income for the government. However, when we see billions wasted in the form of handouts to politicians, what can we expect people to feel about their government?

I know that those who are backing cha-cha portend a brighter future. I would hope so. But it does not really matter if you get fiddled under a parliamentary or a presidential form? The tragedy is that people have lost faith in their leaders and the way things are run in our country. You may create by means of propaganda an aura of progress but if they're just castles of words, the first winds of reality will blow them away.*

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