Even Noli does
not like P-1017

What now? Police Director General Arturo Lomibao has declared that there was no plotting in the house of former congressman and now Philippine Olympic Committee chairman Peping Cojuangco. He did not also say that all those who went there only had a tea party, but what does this make of the Time Magazine reporter who wrote the story for the special issue of the newsmagazine, and who claimed to have witnessed it all?

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Well, as expected, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez is calling on the Time writer to confirm the report, but, so far, nothing has happened yet. There is also a report that the lawyer of the reporter has advised his client not to comply. Does the power and authority of Proclamation No. 1017 not apply to them? What about the next one, General Order No. 5? No also? Of course it could be that, or the fact that the reporter is not a Filipino citizen, although names and appearances can be deceiving.

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As for the chances of P-1017 being lifted soon, your guess is as good or bad as anybody else's. The President says she has asked her three stooges, I mean, her three trusted men, to study it and recommend what should be done, but, from what we have heard, they all say it can be lifted, but it's still up to her. We will know what happens when this volleyball game is over.

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But wait. Vice President Noli de Castro has come out, speaking in Pilipino, also urging GMA to lift the unpopular measure already. And guess what, the Kabayan presented a very good analogy in making his statement asking for the end of P-1017. He said that if the country were a patient in the intensive care unit, that would be an emergency. But since they are saying that the situation has improved, or the patients is out of danger, then it is time to move him to an ordinary room. Well the hospital analogy is okay, but sometimes doctors, and hospitals, as well, insist on keeping the sick person in the ICU because he would be paying more, buy more medicines from their pharmacy, and dish out more in doctors' fees.

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As for the stories about the coup plotters and all those revelations about the discovery of plans, minutes and other documentary evidences, I say any plotter who is stupid enough to bandy about such sensitive matters really deserves to be charged and convicted. Like that one who had the list of his fellow-plotters on his person, why, does he watch only telenovelas? In the movies, spies and rebels, always swallow the evidence when there is danger of being caught. Even kids who read comics know that.

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Meanwhile, a group of researchers from the University of the University of South Carolina in Wilmington have discovered a lost civilization in Indonesia. The place called Tambora had been buried by a volcanic eruption on April 10, 1815, and about 88,000 people were believed to have been buried by the lava and mud. It is said to be even worse than the eruption of Krakatoa in East Java that took place in 1883. The researchers were able to locate Tambora through radar, and diggings have, so far, unearthed human bones as well as ceramics and other items from that age.

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The report about Tambora saddened me because I saw a parallel between it and our own tragedy in Barangay Guinsaugon, St. Bernard, Leyte. Searchers have given up hope of finding survivors and the search has been officially ended. So what will happen now to the bodies of hundreds of young children and their teachers? Will they, too, lie there, underneath the tons of mud until another century has passed? The latest reports have identified most of these who are believed buried. All the teachers in the elementary school, except for the one for Grade II, are there. The Grade II ma'am survived only because she was out of the province at the time.

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But it is somewhat comforting to know that the provincial government is going to have the site declared a shrine, and will set up a tall Cross that can be seen from a distance to mark the area. Perhaps it will not only serve as a memorial for the dead, but also as a reminder to the living that they owe respect to Mother Nature and always protect their environment.*

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