20100830

Dear darlingest Annelies Marie,

Good morningest, my sweet darlingest Miyang.

I'm writing two letters today, my love. One for PNoy and one for the people of Hong Kong. Much of what I've written here with you as regards to the Quirino Grandstand Hostage Crisis were directed to my nation hitherto.

I'm putting these two letters down here, my Miyang, and then I am posting them on to my facebook account as well as to PNoy's and also to the We Pray For The Victims Of Quirino Grandstand Hostage Taking facebook account.

Letter to PNoy

Dear President Noy,

Peace be with you.

2009 ushered in a new season under heaven. It is a season of peace and the preservation of our nations. In particular, Mr. President, I am writing to you about our nation: This is our time.

I believe that the best Country in the world is one that works. And we are trying to make our Country better as best we can - together this time: Nation, State, and Common Market.

All good and worthwhile endeavors of Country is a labor of the generations. It is a work of peace and this peace is evidenced in the life and the prosperity of her people - her nation.

It takes time and sacrifice. You yourself know this, sir. And we've only just begun.

The recent hostage-taking incident at the Quirino Grandstand is very unfortunate. But if we are vigilant about the things we need to do to obtain from God what He is presenting to the eyes of our faith, in terms of bettering ourselves as a Country, I am quite convinced that this crisis may only serve to temper our hopes and deepen our commitment to both God and Country.

I am with you, sir - all the way.

I shall be in communication with you from now on. And I shall try to write us something about this on a weekly basis, Mr. President - for your own personal consideration as well as our encouragement (@ Citizenship with Fidelity).

Sincerely,

=^.^=

Letter to the People of Hong Kong

To the people of Hong Kong,

Peace be upon you.

My people - the Filipino people - grieve with you. Know that I grieve with you. As a citizen of my nation, I hoped with your hopes, and prayed with your prayers during last Monday's hostage-taking incident. I trusted with my one Filipino nation and held our collective breath hoping for a favorable resolution to the crisis.

Of paramount personal concern to me and to most of my Filipino compatriots during the entire incident were the lives of your own compatriots.

As tourists, I appreciate what contribution they represent to our struggling economy; as guests, I appreciate what interest they have shown for my Country; as human beings, I appreciate what their presence have through their personal interactions with my own people contributed towards stimulating our culture by enriching our sense of diversity and shared civilization.

And I still appreciate all of this even now. They are to me as the Biblical strangers written in the Bible - those who God especially requires as being deserving of the special care and protection of my nation.

Thus, it was in this spirit that I held my breath with my nation and hoped with your hopes and prayed with your prayers and trusted - one to another - that the lives of those innocents would be spared.

And as things went awry, I was left with a loss for words. For I can neither stop believing out of sheer frustration in my own endeavor of Country nor condone the manifest criminality of what had just transpired before my eyes on live television.

I had to really struggle to obtain for myself intelligent answers to the questions that this incident had left for many of us to answer - in your nation, in mine and in many other nations. These are questions still that is yet to be satisfied with answers in the coming weeks and months - answers that both justice and humanity requires.

And so I appeal to each and every one of you. I humbly ask for your patience and understanding knowing that we - the Filipino people - are one with you in your grief and your quest for justice.

Let us allow our governments to conduct their investigations into the matter. But my appeal is to you, the people of Hong Kong.

There is a lot of blind anger out there. Justice is blind but not in this way. For justice must also require that we undertake to consciously preserve the good will that exists between our peoples. Let us not give evil another victory on this account and let patience be the rule over anger.

Let us think it through as I have thought (and am still thinking) it through. And then let us pray about our hopes together as I do.

I especially appeal for the safety and well-being of our long-suffering Filipino overseas workers in your own territory. Please understand that they too want a better Philippines for ourselves and our generations and are a vital part of our collective efforts toward national recovery. They are just as much victims of this tragedy as you and I.

Again, my deepest condolences go out to all of the families and friends of those innocents whose lives and promise were so abruptly taken from their midst and to those victims who have now been scarred for life, my peace and to all the people of Hong Kong, the peace of my own people - the Filipino people.

God be with us all.

Sincerely,

=^.^=

There you go, my love.

---<--@

Good Journalism

What is good journalism?

This is another topic that bears important relevance in the wake of this tragic incident, my love. I've tackled this with you before, my Miyang. I just need to take another look at our old writings and re-think them through before I re-write them here, my darlingest, with you.

It would indeed be good to put them down here so we could at least add our two cents worth to the necessary conversation about the matter.

But that's for later, my Anne.

---<--@

For now, I just need to proofread and post these letters and then after lunch, I'm going to take a walk at the local mall with an old friend from work and perhaps go to the arcade, relax a little.

I love you so much.

=^.^=

"Pathwalker, there is no path. You must make the path as you walk."

- Antonio Machado (1875-1939)

20100829

Dear darlingest Annelies Marie,

Good afternoon, my darling Anne.

Confusion

There is a very confusing war of words that is being presently fought by angry people over last Monday's hostage-taking incident, my love.

People are reacting to the hurt and the fear that we all feel as human beings in the aftermath of a tragedy. The only different thing about this is that we are not just reacting as people, we are also reacting as nations.

And in this much greater and more abiding sense of human belonging, we are becoming confused. Because we have never in time felt this sense of an emergent global awareness before.

Where each our responsible states used to exclusively represent our collective values as distinct national communities, we now have found that we as nations have come to possess the technological and spiritual capacity to discover for ourselves what sets us apart and perhaps even more importantly, what joins us together.

It is through the lens of this perspective that I view what is now happening between the peoples of my own national community, the Philippines and the Filipino diaspora, and that of the Chinese national community in Hong Kong and across the width and breadth of China: We are communicating.

And in remembrance of those eight innocent Chinese lives - human lives - that were so abruptly taken away from our midst, I implore those of us who have ears to hear that we make good on these hopes and try to truly discover for ourselves what values our two nations hold in common with each other more than to forget what goodness there is for the sake of passing things as anger and hatred.

For all evil things are passing things - as all lineages of honorable religion will attest - but what goodness for us has wrought will stand the test of time.

Goodness will not only endure in the end, it shall prevail. So let us be ever reminded of this, O my nation, that our spirits may be roused to both courage and good cheer as we enter together into another working week.

Let us each be vigilant of heart that we may see through all of this confusion and follow where we must all be led -

If we shall give war an inch,

my beloved friends and constant companions,

if we shall willingly allow

a segment of our shared humanity

to become vulnerable to evil things,

if we freely and recklessly abandon

our Lord's poor,

in the weak, the defenseless,

the displaced, the dispossessed,

the widow, the stranger, the orphan,

we shall indeed soon find

that war and the ambition of war

has again overtaken us all

with the final defeat which is its curse.

For what war does to one, war does to all.

So let our one peace forever remain, one whole one.

- Salutation #4

Having said all of this, my fellow Filipino compatriots, let us not forget to pray for our leadership in the responsible state as well, especially PNoy, his Vice-President and the Executive Branch, most especially Secretary de Lima of the Department of Justice (DOJ), Secretary Robredo of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Secratary Romulo of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

---<--@

My Analysis

The only favorable outcome in a hostage-taking scenario is the rescue of the hostage/s.

Because of this, it is of a paramount operational concern to the incident commander that the separation, both physical and mental, of the hostage-taker/s and the hostage/s be effected as safely and as decisively as it is immediately possible utilizing all national resources at his or her disposal.

This was not clearly manifest in my own limited personal review of the operations that were conducted on behalf of the hostages and their families and friends last Monday.

I especially appreciate the interest that these tourists from Hong Kong have shown for our Country, they should never have had to undergo all that pain and loss. I will not forget them.

Justice requires that a thorough investigation be conducted on behalf of all those who have been affected by this crime. And there is a great deal many people who are affected by it.

---<--@

Today is National Heroes' Day here in the Philippines, my love - "Araw ng mga Bayani".

O Soldier of the Peace!

Noble defender of Country

You are life preserving life itself

For what is Country but life

Know you not why you respond

When duty calls you to battle?

Vague at times may reason be

Especially amidst the desolation of war

And the darkness of war's attendant evils

But forget not what you love

And forget not why you live

And none shall forget you if you fall

For in Country is your longevity

Life itself shall be your resting place

And God will forever love you

His Peace shall forever honor you

For the time you have given others

More time for building,

More time for sowing,

More time for loving,

More time for hoping,

For kinder days to come.

- The Last Fading Away

---<--@

I love you.

Always to always,

=^.^=

20100825

Dear darlingest Annelies Marie,

A Day of Mourning

PNoy declared today as a day of mourning, my love. By this, the President invites all us Filipinos to stand in solidarity with the grieving people of Hong Kong and across China.

Indeed, we mourn with them, my Anne, for the sheer senselessness of it all.

Too, I have listened and am still listening to the silence within myself, telling me that the waters of our common humanity has been disturbed. And people - everyday people - are speaking up in my own nation, my loveliest, because they can feel it too.

Even before PNoy issued his declaration, I have heard from ordinary citizens how shocked and saddened they were at the events that two days ago now had unfolded in front of the Quirino Grandstand near Luneta Park - the place where our generations (of this nation) inherited the hopes of many of our martyrs, above all, our Dr. Rizal.

And as the ripples of this event travel afar, affecting those other nations, above all Hong Kong and across China, in various ways the question is being asked by many of us - "why?"

There are those questions we can as nations answer, my love. And indeed, there is much work to be done here to make sure that the hopes of those who were taken from us are preserved from evil. But there are also those questions that may only find their natural solace in the Presence of the LORD, the one Sovereign of all nations. The latter is the reason why we are all invited by the grace of Divine Providence to spend some quiet time this day.

And the best way for those Catholics among our citizenry to respond to this call is to go to Holy Mass. We shall then pray together as one community of Christ for the requisite strength to do with God and with each other all the necessary things on behalf of those innocents and improve on the way we conduct ourselves as a Country, a work of His Hands.

---<--@

Tree of Remembrance

You know, that chestnut tree of yours, my loveliest Miyang, fell over a couple of days ago. In spite of efforts to preserve it, my darling, it was toppled by a storm.

The tree was simply too old, my love, but the timeless substance of what it now represents - if we are vigilant at heart and if we ponder about it here within - may only be multiplied by this act of God.

That old chestnut tree represents (yes, in present tense) your hope for better things, you know. And because this is a hope that is shared by all of humanity, it has a definite resonance that can not be toppled by any temporal storm. So why not plant a new one, my darling, nurture it through the years, and let the generations (of our one family of nations) rally themselves in time through it?

Let us plant a lineage of these trees to stretch to the shores of forever and let our allied generations be fostered by it.

After all, remembrance is forever. Remembrance is what holds vigil over the sheltering wings of our peace as nations. If the tree speaks of remembrance, it can never be toppled.

---<--@

Pretty Cats Rule!

Finally, thank you so much for throwing us a curve ball, Billy Baldwin. Congratulations to you, Ate Venus, for placing within the top 5 at the Miss Universe 2010 pageant in Las Vegas, mabuhay.

Pretty cats rule! That's why I love my Miyang.

You know, there may be people who are prone to misunderstanding how this friendship I share with you works, my darlingest Annelies Marie, but that's only because they're not putting first things first. I myself at one point in my life had had to ask God how must I love you, my Anne Frank.

Then again, there may be those who will never understand, and that's fine. That doesn't change things for me, for us: I love my Miyang. PERIOD.

---<--@

I love you so much.

Always to always,

=^.^=

20100824

Dear darling Annelies Marie,

Hello, my darling Anne.

Quirino Grandstand Hostage Crisis

There was a hostage crisis in Manila yesterday. The whole nation was gripped by it from 9AM till about 8:30PM. I'm still quite affected by this incident, my love. I found out about it at around 3PM and watched the situation unfold on live TV right on through to its conclusion.

You know, my darlingest, there might be a lot of things to be said and done about this but right now I am at a loss for words. I've been trying to write something since this morning. To be sure, we have to deal with the aftermath of this tragedy - together as a nation and also together with our one family of nations.

But the time for grieving is not yet past. Now is a time for silence.

My deepest sympathies go out to the families of the victims and to those victims who are still affected by the violence of it all. Peace be unto each and everyone of you.

And to those who have gone to God, Godspeed.

---<--@

I love you.

Always to always,

=^.^=

This does not represent the ideals of my people.