More GK houses for Bacolod?

Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Calderon was reported to be exulting that crimes had reduced during his first 100 days in office. Don't hog all the credit, sir, give some where it is due. Admit that you got a lot of help from Typhoon Milenyo.

***

Are we off on another evacuation spree again? With the recent confirmation of North Korea that it has perfected and tested its own nuclear weapons, Filipino overseas workers in that country and, possibly, also in its Southern side, are chafing to flee and return to the Philippines. Maybe the Foreign Affairs Department will not have so much difficulty in doing it this time. We've had a lot of experience in it already - in Kuwait, in Iraq, in Lebanon, etc.

***

It is ironical, though, that when North Korea flexed its muscles for the world to see, the person who is in line to take over the presidency of the United Nations from Kofi Annan, is also a Korean, but from "the other side". A sure bet for the post is South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon, who is said to be a popular choice. Will it be Ban Ki-Moon who will impose the sanctions on the North that are being contemplated by the outraged members of the UN?

***

But North Korea is not daunted, its leaders are threatening "physical" response in the event that the sanctions will be imposed on them. What does physical mean, that they will go around tossing nuclear bombs everywhere? Now even its former ally, China is disgusted. Obviously the North Korean leadership couldn't care less. Now it is not only terrorism that the peaceable nations are confronting, it also a show of force which, if countered in the same manner, could end up with the annihilation of the human race. God forbid.

***

Perhaps the North Koreans do have an idea of what being sanctioned by the U.N. and the other countries could mean. A few years after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, the latter was also sanctioned and they surely felt it. While attending a conference in Hamburg, Germany, the Iraqi delegation issued invitations to the media people covering the meet to attend a press conference. I was one of the first to arrive and was surprised that there will only two of us, one a Frenchwoman. The Iraqi foreign minister and the education minister were there, looking uncomfortable, possibly because previous presscons called by other countries had full attendance. Later three or four more came and we started. The ministers began reciting the woes they were suffering with the wicked sanctions from the U.N. which, they stressed, was being controlled by the U.S.

***

They launched into stories of children deprived of medicines, school needs, and so many other deprivations. Oh how they focused on the children, how pitiful they were, and how heartless the Americans were. Strangely, none of us bothered to ask questions, as is usually done at presscons. As for me, as I listened to them, I also remembered how mournful the Kuwaiti officials had been when they were showing our group a scale model of their oil wells and installations that had been bombed and destroyed by the Iraqi. And that is what happens when countries - and even people - resort to hostility and firepower at the slightest misunderstanding.

***

Tuesday night, I was chatting with Bambi Borromeo at the STAR office when his cellphone rang. It was the father of Gawad Kalinga, the Magsaysay awardee from Bacolod, Tony Meloto. I talked to Tony later and we recalled the days when we were virtually neighbors in Bacolod. But I forgot what else was mentioned when he happily announced that he had very good prospects, with pledges and all, of building about 150 GK houses in Bacolod soon. Bless you, Tony Meloto. Your mother and father would have been so proud of you!

***

I was requested to issue a warning here about a new modus operandi of swindlers in the city. A young woman riding in a jeep was suddenly told by a co-passenger: "Miss, there's some dirt in your hair." The girl promptly took out some tissue paper and tried to wipe her hair. When she finished attending to it, she looked down saw her handbag, her cellphone and her co-passenger gone. The moral lesson: Don't let yourself be distracted by such tricks, and keep your eyes on your things all the while.*

back to top