Strike

I am writing this column today Dec. 12 because of the threatened transport strike on December 13 and 14. My secretary, if the strike occurs, can not come to the office where this column is typed, usually on Thursday, and submitted to this paper in the afternoon. This column appears on Fridays.

The strike is a symptom that the high price of oil is impacting on transportation, especially the public transport sector. The fare has gone up, I am told. Probably, it could still go up depending on the price of oil. The howl now comes from the drivers. Soon, the passengers may start to howl and the government may be forced to subsidized transport cost, possibly, by lowering taxes on oil.

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Right after my column entitled Trillanes came out last Friday, my wife got a call from Lita Cruz. Lita said there maybe inaccuracies in my column. I gave Lita a ring and this is what she told me – The Oakwood incident happened during the era of GMA, not Cory. The coup that happened during Cory's time was attempted by Honasan. In fact, several were killed during the coup. None were killed during the Oakwood incident. The Honasan caper also resulted in an allegation that Cory hid under the bed. It resulted in a libel suit against two columnists who luckily were acquitted.

Thanks Lita. I stand corrected. Curiously, while two male presidents, Marcos and Erap had been hounded out by giant demonstrations, two female presidents, Cory and GMA had been able to hold on inspite of attempts to unseat them.

Maybe in the end, women are stronger and more tenacious than the males. Maybe we should turn over the running of this planet to them. Who knows they may be better at it.

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This column notes the B-day of RTC Judge Ramon Delariarte who has reached the age of 70. Ramon is happy to have reached such venerable age and which is also the compulsory retirement for judges. Judge Delariarte therefore celebrates his birthday and says goodbye to the cares and burdens of public office. Before I close, the happy event is tomorrow, Saturday.

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A note in the national papers indicated that child malnutrition in our province is 49 percent. If correct that's one in every two kids.

I hope that there are extenuation circumstances, some plan to really deal with this rampant Philippine problem. Remember that famous skeletal picture of a child way back in the Martial law days? Well, that kid was a home-grown one.

FROM RALEIGH TO RENO : We followed Interstate 40, the road we had been hugging through six states but when we reached Flagstaff (Arizona) we had to transfer to Interstate 17 that wind southward to Phoenix .

Before reaching Flagstaff , you have to pass through the area of the Petrified Forest , famed for huge trees, now fallen and broken. They have existed 150 millions years ago. The chemistry of time has turned them into stone.

Flagstaff itself is located on a plateau, about 8,000 feet above sea level. Not too far away is the San Francisco Mountains .

Leaving Flagstaff , we went by the town of Sedona , famous for its startling red rocks. A pile on the nearby hills was in the shape of Snoopy, the dog in the comic books. I stare at it at and yes, it looked like Snoopy, alright. Another pile of rocks resembled a court-house and thus it is called. Once before, we had climbed a hill there, led by Martha who believed that the place was a vortex, a place of meditation, a source of power. New Age stuff.

Sorry we had to speed through to Phoenix . I don't blame my brother Kits and his wife Martha. They had been on the road too many days and I guess they're tired.

Myself, I was tired too. And when we finally arrived at their house in Sun Lakes , I lost no time locating a comfortable chair and dragged it to the porch back of the house.

Goodness gracious, the golf course was still there, golden in the afternoon sun. The birds were there, some of which looked like herons from a distance. In the morning, I'll probably be up with the sun and hike the familiar pathway, free of golfers that early.

But there were changes since the last time we where there. More houses. Has the golf course shrunk a bit? But the little artificial lake was still there. I gave silent thanks to the One above.*

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