Give peace a change

Netnet Camomot

I don’t have a TV set in my room anymore so I’ll have more time to read. For news, I now rely on newspapers and on Facebook (FB).

FB is a tricky source of news. One has to learn which sources are legit and which are satire. He can’t possibly believe former Pres. GMA is finally free, can he? Oh, wait… She’s free! O my gas.

If her freedom is the kind of change you’re expecting from the new prez, then, yehey. But say that ever so slowly: Yeeeah. Heeeeey.

The Bilibid has no more perks, Manila’s Divisoria has no more illegal street vendors, and the barangays have no more drugelated challenges? Wow. These used to be a wish-ko-lang for every Pinoy. If all these will become our reality soon, yehey! And that’s the fast-forward yehey, uttered with conviction: Yehey!

Pinas’s new normal seems to be the dead peeps on the streets. Alleged to be drug pushers and users, only the one with the best investigative skills will know for sure since, as the saying goes, Dead men tell no tales.

I think I saw a meme on FB about a war on drugs supposed to produce more drugs. True? We will find out soon, as long as the new prez’s war on drugs goes on and on.

For Western Mindanao, though, the new prez wants peace, not war.

These talks on war and peace can be confusing to the Pinoy who has awakened only today from his hibernation in Siberia: Ano ba talaga, kuya, war or peace? The choice of which I hope won’t be reduced to the easier word to spell, say, How to spell peace? Hmmm, P-I-E-C-E… Nope, that’s piece! Oh, P-I-S-S… Nope, that’s… So, you go for war since it has only three letters. Like choosing a rose over a chrysanthemum.

If only choices are as easy as picking the shorter word. But, usually, it’s way more complicated as you weigh the pros and cons, the yeses and nos, the ons and offs. Although there’s that moment when all you have to do is to listen to your gut instinct, and everything will be as clear as the waters surrounding Camiguin’s White Island.

Pres. Rody Duterte will deliver his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) today, and he will talk about change, of course. He must have relied on his gut instinct, too, in finalizing his speech. But that’s the least of his concerns, what with drugelated cases now ending up in funeral homes which are complaining because most of these dead people can’t pay for funeral services. And I don’t think any druglord will now dare leave his cave and offer to pay for those services.

Despite the daily news on dead people, the president’s approval ratings continue to rise, and they say that’s proof of the Pinoys’ go signal for more war on drugs.

But there are Pinoys who say the war on drugs won’t work, and they’re basing their opinion on the results of the war on drugs in other countries. Well, the only way to find out if it works in Pinas is to have that war here? Hmmm.

Still, we thought by this time we would be used to seeing photos and videos of dead bodies. They’re on the front page, sometimes even above the fold. They’re on FB. They’re on TV. And these dead bodies are not a unique phenomenon for Pinas. They’re also in the US, Paris, etc. You start to suspect a human being has no more value in this oh so cruel world.

But the new prez himself has seemingly given up on the three million drug addicts in Pinas. He sees no future for the brains damaged by shabu. He said those cooked brains would only lead them to commit crimes.

The government’s vow to banish these drug addicts to, hmmm, eternal hibernation has inspired the latter to surrender. And, thanks to the surrender, the government now has a list of drug pushers and users. Kung sa Bisaya pa, Bright!

They can now go back to that list each time they catch a drug pusher or addict. There’s a promise of jail for the one who surrendered but still returned to swimming in shabu. And jail is the better option, he should take that, instead of waiting for the worst-case scenario.

The one who doesn’t read and watch the news and has no FB account is the luckiest one of all. He remains clueless on what’s going on in the world and that will probably give him peace of mind. That is, if he’s not into drugs.