- Advertisement -

Herbie Gomez

IT saddens me to see a great statesman like former Senate President Jovito Salonga leave. He was the poster boy of “beyond reproach,” and I am proud to be among those who voted for him when he ran for President in 1992. He lost that year.

- Advertisement -

It also saddens me that most people who would be voting for the nation’s next president know so little or have no idea about how Salonga lived the life of a true public servant. What is really unfortunate is that none of the five candidates vying for the presidency today comes close to Salonga in terms of brilliance and character. Name one, honestly.

This year, Malacanang is going to be occupied by a naive elitist who pretends to be someone he is not in order to win votes, an opportunist who changes her citizenship as fast as she takes off her lingerie and who is clearly a poor judge of character, a thug of an untutored and uncouth human being with a tendency to circumvent laws to suit his wishes, an ailing public intellectual with a like-aoller-coasteride state of mind, or a professional politician who could not, even for once, disprove that he and members of his family are robbers.

This generation is seeing a brain drain in Congress, more particularly in the Senate that is metamorphosing like never before into an exclusive boys’ club for celebrities, aging science illiterate athletes, children of bigoted televangelists who have shamelessly turned their gullible followers into instant political workers, and the other who’s who in Philippine society. There are about 100 million Filipinos, and only they think that the seats in the legislative branch are their birthright. Sadly, there are no more brains and characters comparable to Salonga there.

Then we have a Supreme Court that has no qualms about making decisions that insult the intelligence of lawyers and offend even math teachers, and flip-flops on its own rulings like loyalty comes first before law. (Just how many times did these gods change their minds on the controversial “cityhood” laws?)

What we are seeing is a crisis in the supply of great Filipinos in all the three branches of government. I really worry that this nation is (excuse the word) screwed.

I stumbled on a link to an article about a galaxy very, very far from us. Respected news sites carried stories about it, and when I checked Nasa’s site, it was there.

This is fascinating in that the light from this galaxy, the farthest humans have documented so far, travelled for 13.4 billion years.

To understand how far it is from us, know that it takes a little over eight minutes for light from the sun to reach us. This means that whenever we look at the sun, what we are seeing is what it was eight minutes ago. But the light from this galaxy known as “GN-Z11” is 13.4 billion years in the past. Let me repeat: not eight minutes but 13.4 billion years. Yes, that far.

First, the discovery gives us an idea of the vast reaches of outer space that may not be possible for us to explore.

Second, our planet can’t even qualify as a speck in this immense celestial concoction. That means that we are so “insignificant” that the universe can exist with or without Earth.

Third, the universe is old—really old. And anyone who says it all began approximately six thousand years ago is an ignoramus. (Make no mistake about it, I actually heard this nonsense being taught when I was a kid.)

On Facebook, I see many people posting links to “news stories” that are suspect, and they seem to swallow everything they read hook, line and sinker.

First, check the author. See if there is a byline or a tagline. If there is none, chances are whoever wrote that didn’t want to be held accountable for what he or she wrote.

Second, check the site. Is it owned by a group that is objective or is it advocating for a particular cause?

Check, too, if there are similar news stories in credible sites. If there is no credible news site that carries that story, start suspecting because it is very unlikely that no journalist or news agency in the world has bothered working on a story like that if it is really a big one. If it is really a big story, there should be plenty of follow-up stories from various sites.

This applies to all subjects, from scientific or archaeological discoveries to politics.

Lastly, use a little common sense. The reason why a lot of people in this world are still being fooled is because they are willing to suspend their critical thinking abilities.

Pastilan.

Disclaimer

Mindanao Gold Star Daily holds the copyrights of all articles and photos in perpetuity. Any unauthorized reproduction in any platform, electronic and hardcopy, shall be liable for copyright infringement under the Intellectual Property Rights Law of the Philippines.

- Advertisement -