My Japanese balae, Keiko Miki of Kobe, Japan |
May I wish all of my
blog readers a Happy New Year and the choicest blessings from the Lord in 2017.
May He smile on our country, keep
it safe from disasters, man-made or natural, this new year.
We mourn the horrible shooting on New Year’s Day in a swanky nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, by a lone gunman dressed as Santa Claus, who killed 39 revelers and injured many others. Here in our country, there have been several violent episodes lately too that killed a number of people such as in Hilongos, Leyte and in Midsayap, North Cotabato.
We mourn the horrible shooting on New Year’s Day in a swanky nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, by a lone gunman dressed as Santa Claus, who killed 39 revelers and injured many others. Here in our country, there have been several violent episodes lately too that killed a number of people such as in Hilongos, Leyte and in Midsayap, North Cotabato.
In this new year let’s pray
that killings of all sorts---EJK or not---would not occur. Let’s pray, too,
that we draw away from the culture of death and violence, as symbolized by the
pending bill on the revival of the death penalty in the House of Representatives,
authored by Deputy Speaker Fredesnil Castro, that allies of the President intend to ram
through by the middle of this month.
May true peace and love reign in our hearts and may we also find meaningful solutions to the grinding poverty that afflicts a great number of our people.
May true peace and love reign in our hearts and may we also find meaningful solutions to the grinding poverty that afflicts a great number of our people.
XXX
Speaking of poverty, some
friends high in government narrate that when President Duterte visited Singapore
last year as part of his swing around ASEAN, he wept when he saw the
glittering progress of that city state---in stark contrast to our grimy metropolis. That visit to Singapore, aides noted, only highlighted for the President dthe poverty that afflicts a great
segment of our countrymen in the countryside, but most especially in the cities
where they pour in from the rural areas in the hope of lifting themselves up from
their abject situation.
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CBCP President and Archbishop of Lingaven/Dagupan Socrates B. Villegas |
Very much related to the poverty of our cities and towns is the prevailing criminality which the President's allies now propose to tackle by reviving the death penalty. But as CBCP President and Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan Socrates Villegas who leads the campaign against death penalty, argues, such move would only afflict the poor as they suffer from the imperfections of our criminal justice, most notably its corruption. He cites, for instance, how only rich offenders can afford good lawyers and thus escape punishment, whereas many of the poor end up rotting in jail even for petty crimes. I’d also like to stress that to begin with, the poor are truly the victims of society’s injustice rather than its abusers, as they suffer from woeful lack of opportunities for adequate education and skills training.
In this connection, Speaker
Pantaleon Alvarez was quoted warning the Catholic Church against interfering in
the passage of the death penalty bill “lest its proponents leave and look
for another religious group.” Alvarez
stressed that the Church should respect the separation of Church and State as
provided in the Constitution, but he should also realize that the death penalty
is first and foremost a matter of morals and very much within the purview of
the Catholic Church and other religions.
Besides, 126 countries around the world have abandoned death penalty as a deterrent to crime, while in the US, many states have also given it up even as that country as a matter of official policy still employs this punishment.
Besides, 126 countries around the world have abandoned death penalty as a deterrent to crime, while in the US, many states have also given it up even as that country as a matter of official policy still employs this punishment.
XXX
Driving from Makati to my
brother-in-law’s house in QC last New Year’s Eve for our clan reunion was a breeze---slight rain but no traffic. What’s even greater was that the showers
helped Mr. Duterte’s campaign vs. the big deadly fireworks, so that by just
past midnight things had quieted a lot and the atmosphere remained relatively
clear---unlike in past years when thick dirty smoke would envelop the
metropolis for at least two hours past midnight, forcing drivers to put on headlights.
Thus, the drizzle and Mr.
Duterte’s campaign helped the metropolis get away from what
former senator and Climate Change Commissioner Heherson Alvarez called the
“fireworks mentality,” resulting in our kinder treatment of the
environment. There were also far less episodes
of patients with near-severed fingers.
XXX
In this connection I was
thinking of what my Paris-based friends, Aquilino “Jun” and Lilia Opeña, had
told me over a skype call: how the Paris city government sought to
combat the terrible pollution in the City of Light during the Christmas season
by discouraging use of individual cars and vehicles. The alternative offered: making public
transportation, such as its fantastic subway system and buses free of charge and
operating till the wee hours of the morning.
We cannot do that sort of thing here, however, as public transport is
woefully inadequate. If car owners stop
bringing their cars, chances are, they’d be stranded or have to walk for kilometers
on end.
Driving through deserted
EDSA after midnight of Dec. 31 also made me realize how many provincial bus
terminals line that major metropolitan thoroughfare on both sides---more now than in
earlier years. I counted easily over a dozen of them! This has added to the
horrible traffic on EDSA as those big buses
maneuver in and out of the terminals and people flock to them. Sometime in his first six months President Duterte had said he’ll move those bus terminals away
from EDSA. Let’s hold him to his word.
XXX
Each country and people has
its own way of celebrating milestones like Christmas and New Year. There’s one
New Year’s Day lunch that I remember quite vividly from many years back.
My Japanese balae from Kobe, Keiko Miki (her
son Keiichi is married to my daughter Christine) and her husband, Osamu (he’s now
departed), had spent the Christmas season here and Keiko
prepared a traditional New Year’s lunch for my husband and me and our children
in their condo unit.
Dressed in a kimono, Keiko
whipped together the lunch as we watched it blow by blow: the traditional ozoni soup (which was
not miso-based as is popular in western Japan, but clear soup handed down by Keiko’s
mother from Nigata in the eastern part), mocha (sticky rice cake), fish paste,
dark beans called mame, veggies such as seaweeds and some egg-roe and of course, some Kobe beef which we washed
down with sake (rice wine). What was great was that Keiko brought ALL THE STUFF
FOR THAT NEW YEAR LUNCH FROM KOBE, and I learned that each item stands for
something, like a good wish.
XXX
I learned that it’s traditional for the Japanese housewife to put food in a basket for the next three days (in bento boxes, called osechi) so that she doesn’t have to do a lot of cooking---a kind of recess for her---except that Keiko logged them all from Kobe to Manila.
XXX
I learned that it’s traditional for the Japanese housewife to put food in a basket for the next three days (in bento boxes, called osechi) so that she doesn’t have to do a lot of cooking---a kind of recess for her---except that Keiko logged them all from Kobe to Manila.
I described the entire New Year traditional lunch prepared by Keiko Miki painstakingly in my column in the
Inquirer next day and later that evening, a call came from Senate President
Jovito Salonga. “Bel, I enjoyed VICARIOUSLY the Japanese lunch you had
described,” he said in his sing-song voice, “but had you invited me to join you, I
would have come as it seemed such fun waiting for each turn of the traditional meal
ceremony.”
I wish I had invited him.
I wish I had invited him.
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