AND so the die is cast for Mar Roxas and the Liberal Party, and President Aquino’s “straight path” program in government. Officially, Mar is now Aquino’s choice, and the Liberal Party’s presidential candidate in 2016. But will he be the choice of God? Has God destined him for the presidency? And, does he have an agenda for God? I am confident that for 2016, at a time when the signs of the Second Coming continue to be fulfilled, God will choose a leader from this country who will have an agenda for Him, a leader who has fear and love of Him, and who listens to Him and obey His commands. Biblically, this country and its people have a mission for God, particularly in proclaiming His Word and being an instrument of power and salvation, not only in the Philippines but in the whole world during the end time, so that He is going to make sure that His next leader for his chosen country will have a heart that is righteous and spiritual. •• Filipino lawyer Marlowe Camello who is now based in the US has a proposal towards the election of senators by district or by region. Let’s read it: “In order to equitably speed up evenly the economic progress nationwide at par with Luzon, it is only fair tha tthe election of senators be done by districts. “This will fairly equalize the bargaining power of each region through their elected senators to achieve a fair money allotment to support essential projects in each region around the country. The Senate shall then serve as a political glue to bind the central government and the regions like they do in the US… “Once economic prosperity is achieved in the other remote regions, dense population and traffic congestion in metropolitan cities, such as Manila and Quezon City, shall greatly ease. Commerce shall spread evenly between regions, provinces and cities that will equally benefit all segments of the country. “At present, the country has already been apportioned into seventeen regions. All that is needed is to designate such regions as senatorial districts. Each district shall then be represented by two native born senators. This will guarantee that all regions, such as the poorest regions of Caraga and Armm, among others, will be loyally represented in the senate. “To achieve the purpose of this proposition, there would be a need to amend Article VI, Sections 2 and 3, of the Constitution to increase the number of senators to 34 in the Senate. The increase is justified because of the tremendous population growth of the Philippines since the first composition of the Senate at 24 was established. Election at large of senators should be abolished. “To prevent the build up of political dynasties in the Senate, no person shall be nominated for senator if he has any relative within 3 degrees of blood or family or adoptive relationship who holds a political, appointive or judicial position in any national or local government office, otherwise, his nomination and/or election to the senate shall be void even if he shall have taken his oath of office for violation of this rule…” •• Luis R. Mauricio, my deceased uncle, wrote a column (one of so many, actually) that was entitled “Wayward Media” under the pen name “Crisostomo Ibarra III”, which highlighted booboos in the way news stories and photographs were written or captioned, particularly in using wrong grammar and tenses. I am reminded of this on July 29, 2015 when I read the headline story of the Philippine Daily Inquirer on that day, which went this way: “Mr. Aquino mentioned the killing of… `Marwan’… but said nothing about the 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos who were massacre during the operation against Moro rebels that took out the Malaysian terrorist in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province, on Jan. 25.” Surely, the “commandos who were massacre” on January 25, 2015 could no longer be around to complain because they were indeed massacred and killed? I am happy to note however that the editors corrected this booboo, at least in the Internet version of the Inquirer hours later. Then, in The Standard July 29, 2015 issue, I noticed a caption about Sen. Francis Escudero and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez which read (past tense): “… Romualdez meets with Senator Francis `Chiz’ Escudero at the session hall of the House of Representatives minutes before President Aquino delivers his last State of the Nation Address on Monday. Escudero on Tuesday resigns from his chairmanship of the Senate finance committee.” I am aware that captions are supposed to be written in present tense (which explains why in the caption in The Standard, the congressman “meets” with Chiz), but then, was it grammatically correct for the same caption to have said “minutes before President Aquino delivers (present tense) his last” Sona, and that “Escudero on Tuesday resigns (present tense) from his chairmanship”? Would it not have been better if the caption went like this: “… Romualdez meets with Senator Francis `Chiz’ Escudero at the session hall of the House of Representatives minutes before President Aquino delivered (past tense) his last State of the Nation Address on Monday. Escudero on Tuesday resigned (past tense) from his chairmanship of the Senate finance committee”? Just asking. •• I would like to extend my condolences to the family of veteran newsman and editor Neal Hilario Cruz, who, at the time of his death on July 28, 2015, continued to be a very active columnist of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and host of the longunning and martial law born-news forum, “Kapihan sa Maynila,” even if he was already 85. Neal was my editor at the defunct Daily Express, starting when I first became a neophyte reporter in 1978, up until the newspaper was forcibly closed by the Cory Aquino government in 1987. In fact, Neal was responsible for my entry as a reporter in the Express, then known, rightly or wrongly, as the mouthpiece of the Marcos regime, owned by Ambassador Roberto Benedicto. I had just graduated from the UP in 1978 when, while serving out my term as a “sales promotion officer” of the Acebedo Optical, I decided to apply as a reporter. Neal assigned me to cover a preaching by a religious group at the Araneta Coliseum, to write a story about it. I haven’t really written anything before that, but Neal printed my story in the front page, with my by-line. Thanks, Sir, and so long! E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com