Simplicity of character

Butch Bagabuyo

“Simplicity of character is the natural result of profound thoughts.” – Hazlitt

PILLORIED by the selfighteous high society hypocrites for constantly cussing in public, Davao Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte a.k.a. “Punisher” exemplified erudite and immensely discerning character when he spontaneously replied, “I wish her the best.” It was his reaction regarding the almost equally divided Supreme Court verdict on the disqualification case of self-admitted foundling, Grace Poe-Llamanzares.

Instead of using profanity which is expected of a man coming from and for the masses, upon being apprised of a clearly unsound if not, impeachable decision, the few hypocrites were undoubtedly disarmed with Mr. Duterte’s presidential stance. And because Mindanao’s man for president is a tough-talking former city prosecutor in Davao City, the four other “presidentiables” were definitely caught off-guard when he showed class rather than the expected unprintables.

Now with the highly questionable partisan vote of the Supreme Court, Mindanaoans, and all the poor people of the archipelago, are left with no other choice but to hold on firmly as we walk the extra miles in producing the first ever President of our country coming from our very own paradise-like islands of Mindanao. We should even thank the Lord, our God, all the more for listening to our fervent prayer. The truth is that if the rule of law and jurisprudence prevailed, then the petition brought to the Supreme Court by Poe-Llamanzares would have been dismissed. Consequently, most if not, all of the officers and members of the Liberal Party would have been pushed to the wall, as a matter of speaking, and forced to work even harder because VP Binay’s chances would have tremendously improved, thereby causing a chilling effect among the “Hyatt 10,” the financiers of the lobby for Grace and PNoy in the Supreme Court. With the throwing out the window the rule of law and prevailing jurisprudence, Binay’s chances hugely diminished. Like it or not, now, Binay, has a strong competitor in the “yellow votes.” Poor, Mar Roxas!

Because of the Supreme Court verdict upholding the right of a foundling to run for the presidency despite the very clear constitutional definition of who are natural-born citizens, a tsunami-like backlash has become a certainty.

Now, the moneyed-businessmen cronies of the PNoy administration who are less guilty of cornering the multi-billion government infrastructure projects, would now look for a godfather to the Duterte-Cayetano tandem if only to ensure that Binay does not make it to the presidency, otherwise, they would end up in the Veterans Memorial Hospital, if you know what I mean.

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To repeat, with the aim in view of flexing its political muscle come the start of the campaign period for the local elections, the PDP-Laban hierarchy has called for a special general assembly tomorrow afternoon, Saturday, 12th of March. The PDP-Laban Council here, through its duly elected secretary general, Marlo Tabac, announced that the forthcoming special general assembly would be held at the covered-court of the Barangay Gusa. The assembly  is sanctioned by the National Secretariat in Metro Manila. The special general assembly will elect the voluntarily vacated posts of the president and the two vice presidents. And on the 19th of this month, the Misamis Oriental provincial council would also be revitalized and made prepared for the local elections campaign period starting this Easter Sunday, 26th of March.

With the fully revitalized PDP-Laban and the energetic and compelling support of the 14 million voters, more or less, of Mindanao, the longest oppression imposed by the trapos and the filthy rich in Mindanao and elsewhere is definitely coming to its fatal end.

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“Skepticism means, not intellectual doubt alone, but moral doubt.” – Carlyle, Heroes and Hero-worship

Needless to elaborate, Filipinos have become even more skeptics after the 1986 People Power revolution.

And now Poe-Llamanzares is qualified to run for the presidency, a good many voters are wary of electing a foundling whose husband and family are American citizens.

Now, the nagging questions are:

Would Pinoys trust a foundling, who is married to an American and whose children are all Americans?

What would China think and do?

Certainly, China would not just fold her hands akimbo in the unlikely event that the Filipino voters, God forbid, would elect a president married to an American and whose children are all Americans.

What do you think?

Even now, millions of Filipinos are asking aloud: how come the family members of Grace Poe Llamanzares remains Americans to this day?

How about you, what do you think?

Bear in mind that Poe-Llamanzares was nowhere to be found at the time when her famous adoptive father, FPJ, needed her the most in the grueling 2004 presidential elections. And what is nauseating is the glaring truth that during the whole grind of the 2004 elections, Poe-Llamanzares selfishly chose to enjoy to the hilt in the comfort zone of her American husband and American family who remain undoubtedly Americans even to this day.

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Today, some blue-blooded Ateneans, relatives and friends, led by his bereaved widow and family, heard Mass at the beautiful Immaculate Concepcion Chapel of the Xavier University-The Ateneo, to pay their last respects, and honor the late Roy Chaloner Gaane, a brilliant bosom friend and a towering icon of the very few and dying breed of selfless “men for others.”

Roy was indeed among the very few academic standouts of our time. But I would like remember him as one who went out of his comfort zone to look for and find willing contributors for the hollow blocks required for the construction of the aforesaid beautiful Xavier University-The Ateneo Chapel inside the main campus in Divisoria.

Thank you, Roy, for the legacies you left behind, foremost of which is your most profound humility who “did not seek so much to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love… for it is in giving that we receive… and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.”

We shall miss you, Roy!