Netnet Camomot CHANGE is here. It all began last July 1. Will it be the norm in Pinas for six years? Hmmm, depends on how you embrace change. Change can also go through the six stages of grief: shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The last five were originally from psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. But the real stages of change (www.cpe.vt.edu), though, are these: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation/determination, action/willpower, maintenance, relapse. Yes, relapse. How many of you had stopped smoking, only to realize it's indeed a hard habit to break, and no snow or rain could stop you from going outside? And nothing could stop you from walking to a designated smoking area even if it's in Siberia. The determined smoker. You na. But let's see if smoking can go through the grief stages. Starting with shock, possible when you're in grade school and taking your first puff: Oh my gas, I'm a grownup now, I can smoke! Denial: Dad and Mom will kill me if they see me smoking. Stop now while not addicted yet. Anger: Darn! I spent all my baon on cigarettes! Bargaining: Better ask Dad for more baon. What will be my excuse this time? Depression: Dad is not giving me more baon. Acceptance: I'll utang cigarettes from the sari-sari store. Now, let's use the real stages. Precontemplation: Should I stop smoking? Contemplation: I wonder if I can stop smoking. Preparation/Determination: I'll stop smoking tomorrow. Action/Willpower: I've stopped smoking! Maintenance: I chew on candies each time I have the urge to smoke. Relapse: I'm building my own smoking area. Now na. Well, with Rody Duterte as the country's president, more smoking areas are required, for the smoker now has to stay outside while puffing away under this La Niña weather. The Pinoy smoker is lucky there's no winter here, otherwise he has to smoke outside with snow piling up on his cigarette. Vices are not a man's best friend in Pinas nowadays. Smoking is allowed only in designated areas or outside, drinking has a curfew, there's a plan to curb some forms of gambling, people involved in drugs would rather surrender instead of waiting for fate to find them. "Eternal Flame" is playing on the radio while I'm writing this. How apt. This was my theme song in Davao eons ago when I met Duterte at a bulalo place at the ungodly hour of 2 am. Or was that 3 am. I wrote about this before so please excuse the deja vu. We had a mutual friend, and he was the one who introduced me to the new Davao City mayor who, of course, doesn't remember this now. He was all alone then, sitting there, waiting for his order of bulalo. Who would have thought then that a city mayor could be the country's president eons later? And he could be experiencing the five stages of change now: Precontemplation: Should I stay in Malacanang? Contemplation: I wonder if I can transfer Malacanang to Davao. Preparation/Determination: I'm going back to Davao right after the inauguration. Action/Willpower: Malacanang is now in Davao! Maintenance: People who need my words of wisdom are now going to the Malacanang of Davao. Relapse: Who's about to occupy Malacanang?! Tsk tsk. OK. Back to the real palace, now na. A friend was teary-eyed while watching Duterte deliver his inaugural speech. I was, too, and I'm sure his rabid fans felt the same way. But I was also teary-eyed when PNoy delivered his speech in 2010. A deja vu for me as I recalled my reaction to the speeches of former presidents Gloria Arroyo, Erap Estrada, Fidel Ramos, and Cory Aquino. Each of them gave us hope for a new Pinas, and that's probably the reason we shed tears of... hmmm... joy? But the Marcoses were back at Malacanang, to listen to Duterte's speech, and their presence made some Pinoys shed tears of... hmmm... definitely not joy. Meanwhile, Vice President Leni Robredo delivered her own speech in a place far far away from Malacanang. It was only on July 1, the day after their speeches, that they finally met each other. Oh, well. The post-speech celebrations for both had simple Pinoy food--no lechon please. Yup, no lechon. Bawal ang kumbira. Darn. But the simplicity of both occasions has not stopped the peeps who were invited there to wear their crisp barongs and Filipiniana attire. Even Duterte wore a barong, made by Cagayanon Mimi Parrel-Pimentel. Still, you can feel the change happening, despite the usual barong and butterfly sleeves. And it's not in sukli form.