Marcos' Weak Leadership

Something my dad mentioned over dinner gave me food for thought.

Our conversation revolved around the fallout from President Noynoy Aquino’s decision not to allow a state funeral for the late dictatorFerdinand Marcos. Part of the basis that he gave was that the Marcoses have never apologized for their father’s crimes against the nation.

In reaction, the dictator’s son, Senator Bongbong Marcos retorted that other Presidents have never apologized for events such as the Mendiola Massacre (during President Cory Aquino’s time) and the so-called Hacienda Luisita massacre (during President Gloria Arroyo’s time), so why should they?

Senator Marcos also insinuated that his father was not responsible for what happened during martial law. Instead, he blamed former Defense Minister and current Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and former Armed Forces chief and President Fidel Ramos for the excesses of human right violations during martial law. Interestingly enough, it was these two men who triggered the fall of the dictator in 1986.

Marcos loyalist Cherry Cobarrubias also took a similar tack in her reaction to President Aquino’s statement. She claimed that it was the military who were responsible for the human rights violations, if at all, since Cobarrubias apparently believes that the communists were the ones who did the torturing.

Going back to my conversation with my dad, my dad observed that Marcos must’ve been a weak leader, since a lot of things were beyond his control during his 20-year hold on the country.

In a way, then, Senator Marcos and Cobarrubias are doing the late dictator a disservice, since they both claimed that someone else during Marcos’ time was responsible for the crimes committed. Ergo, President Marcos could not control his Cabinet officials nor could he control the military which backed his imposition of martial law on the country in 1972. Hence, he was a weak leader.

Come to think of it, there used to be a lot of talk that Marcos would not have been so bad if it weren't for his wife Imelda. So, not only was he a failure as a leader, he was also "under the saya."

As to Senator Marcos’ assertion that other Presidents have not apologized for tragic events that occurred during their time, he should remember that while events such as the Mendiola Massacre were tragic, nothing compares to the systematic rape of the country that happened over the 20 years of Marcos’ rule. To this day, our country still feels the effects of that era, from the entrenched corruption in government, to the abuses committed by the military. Until Senator Marcos and his ilk can come to terms with that, and apologize on behalf of their father’s rule, their denial of the past is what is keeping our country from unity and reconciliation.

Pregnancy Food Trip - New Discoveries

With the promise of new life arriving next year, it’s been a pregnancy food trip for me and my wife, Hazel, as she searches for food that won’t upset her. Along the way, some old haunts were revisited, and some new ones were discovered along the way. This will be a multi-part post, I suspect, since the first trimester isn’t quite over yet, and we’ll probably wind up eating out for some time to come. As a result, it’s likely that we’ll discover new places to eat as the weeks go by.

New Discoveries

1.       Countryside Barbeque (Katipunan Ave. extension)

Hazel had a craving for kaldereta, and I remember my friend and food blogger, Lori Baltazar, mentioning that Countryside Barbeque had decent kaldereta, so, after Hazel’s tests at Makati Medical Center last Tuesday, we made a beeline to Countryside. As luck would have it, the parking space right in front of the restaurant was newly vacated, so we didn’t have far to walk; normally, there’s a long line of cars parked along Katipunan Ave., where Countryside is located, and I was afraid that we’d have to walk a long way.

At any rate, Countryside is somewhat like a glorified turo-turo, where the food is on display right at the front, and one places his order there. Unlike turo-turos, there is a spacious dining area in Countryside.

We ordered the kaldereta, which is a meaty stew with a tomato sauce/liver paste base; the meat is normally either beef or goat. In this case, it was beef, and the dish came with two chunks swimming in a spicy sauce. I liked the sauce, since I’m fond of spicy food, but the beef itself was on the stringy side (my piece, anyway. Hazel’s cut of beef was nicely tender.).

We also ordered the adobong pusit (squid stewed in vinegar), which I also liked, and two sticks of pork barbeque, which were decent, although I thought there was a slight hint of lighter fluid in my first bite.

2.       Pino (Malingap Street, Teachers’ Village, QC)

Maginhawa Street in Teachers’ Village is a potpourri of holes-in-the-wall, with a wide variety of cuisine. Perpendicular to Maginhawa is Malingap Street, where one can find Pino and Don-day.

I was first introduced to Pino when I ate there with my friends, so I thought Hazel would enjoy it. Pino offers Filipino cuisine with a bit of a twist, such as the kare-kareng bagnet (peanut stew with deep-fried pork belly is the closest translation I can come up with), or the adobong tadyang (traditional Filipino dish with beef instead of pork).  Hazel tried the bagnet, which she liked, and I can’t remember what I had then, although I had the tadyang my first time there. We also ordered wasabi onion rings, which came with a wasabi mayonnaise dip that cleared my sinuses.

Pino also serves vegetarian and vegan cuisine, although I haven’t tried ordering that. For more on Pino, Lori’s write-up is the one to read.

3.       Don-day Korean Buffet (Malingap Street, Teachers’ Village, QC)

After my friends and I played in the VTES ACC Qualifier, we went to pick up Hazel with the intention of eating at Pino. Unfortunately, when we arrived at Pino, it was full, so we decided to transfer to Don-Day across the street. (Side note: This was also the day that Lori was there at Pino, to sample the food for her write-up. I thought the short-haired girl fiddling with the camera was familiar. :D))

Don-Day is one of those buffets wherein one can cook his or her own Korean barbeque right at the table. Add the line-up of Korean cuisine, and it’s a veritable Korean feast.

4.       Jett Burger (Holy Spirit Drive, QC)

Technically speaking, I visited Jett during the weekend that I was on my own, since Hazel brought the kids to Iloilo for her mother’s birthday. The burger I had at Jett was at par with other higher-end burger joints such as Brother’s and Wham!. What I like about Jett hamburgers is that there is a fair range of toppings that I can have on my burger for free, and the prices for other toppings such as bacon and blue cheese are fairly priced. The fries are also nice, being crunchy on the outside and mealy soft on the inside.

There are other dishes at Jett, such as their sausage sandwiches and buffalo wings. The first time I was at Jett, I ordered their schueblig, which was a tad on the short side, although it was flavorful.

5.       Felicity (Holy Spirit Drive, QC)

Felicity is run by a co-teacher friend of mine and his wife, and is a great place to hang out while I wait for my daughter to finish her Enopi session across the road.

Felicity offers a fair range of dishes, from breakfast items such as longganiza and tocino, to pastas, to entrees such as steamed creamy dory (one of my personal favorites), and chicken masala.

The dessert choices vary from day to day, but a staple favorite is the frozen brazo, a yummy concoction consisting of traditional brazo layers (light meringue and egg yolk custard) on top of a block of vanilla ice cream.

6.       Hap Chan Tea House (SM North EDSA Annex)

One of the dishes Hazel’s into, perhaps because it’s fairly neutral, is congee, the Chinese rice porridge. Since Luk Yuen, which we feel has great congee, hasn’t moved north of SM Megamall, looking for an alternative can be problematic. Hap Chan Tea House in SM North EDSA Annex has decent congee, along with decent dim sum.

No to Marcos State Burial: Better Late Than Never

My only reaction to President Noynoy Aquino's assertion that the late dictator, former President Ferdinand Marcos will not be buried with state honors during his term, is: it's better late than never.

After hemming and hawing, going through the process of having his Vice-President study the issue, President Aquino finally found the courage to put his foot down, and said no to burying Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, and to burying him with state honors. As President Aquino asserted, burying Marcos such would be disrespectful to the Filipinos who were affected by Marcos' martial law rule.

Of course, the Marcos family and their sycophants were loud in their discontent. Senator Bongbong Marcos stated that the President "wasted the opportunity to unify the nation." Marcos loyalist Cherry Cobarrubias flatly stated that Marcos "was a true icon of democracy for declaring martial law," a statement that can only be described as "delusional".

As it has been stated in the past, there can be no true reconciliation without repentance, and the Marcoses,  their cronies, and their loyalists continue to deny any wrongdoing committed by the Marcoses during their rule of the country. As long as this denial exists, there can be no true unification of the nation, since what will be done if the Marcos' stand is accepted is the sweep everything under the rug, and forget about the past.

Of course, this may actually spur Senator Marcos to run for President in 2016, in order to completely rehabilitate his family, and bury his father in the way his family wants. If that should happen, that would be a tragedy, as it would emphasize how woefully short our memory is. As I've stated in the past, it would be like Germany extolling Hitler as a paragon of German leadership. The evil of the Marcoses should never be forgotten.

Catching Up

Just to let you know I'm still around.


A number of things came up over the almost two weeks that I'd been out, first and foremost of which is the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Jobs, who passed away last week due to complications resulting from pancreatic cancer, leaves behind a legacy of showmanship and superior technology. He will be sorely missed.

Another issue that has hogged the headlines is that of the gun issue involving Presidential adviser Ronald Llamas. Llamas, whose bodyguards were apparently apprehended with an assault rifle, has denied any complicity in the matter, and claimed that he needed the guns for protection. A pistol, maybe, but an AK-47? That seems a little excessive.

Llamas has stated that he continues to serve "at the pleasure of the President", but, at the same time, President Aquino has always maintained that the Filipino people are his "bosses". If people call for Llamas' resignation, shouldn't he have the delicadeza to at least offer to resign, and not wait for marching orders? Llamas' statements regarding the resignation issue are eerily similar to government officials during the previous Arroyo administration. Unless President Aquino is truly serious about his "tuwid na daan", it appears that it is still business as usual in Malacanang, where officials seem to have a superglue-like grip on their positions.

4-Peat!

It took a while, but the end result was the same.

For a time, it looked as if Game Two was going to go FEU’s way, but the Ateneo Blue Eagles regrouped in the second half, and won their fourth straight championship, 82-69.

The game started with the Tamaraws and the Blue Eagles going head-to-head, trading baskets, and playing tough defense on one another. However, by the middle of the first quarter, Ateneo had taken the lead, and, by early in the second quarter, Ateneo was up by 10, 28-18, which was what FEU’s lead was around the same time in Game One.

Then, the Tamaraws turned on the heat, went on an 18-7 run that put them up by one at the end of the first half, 36-35.

At the start of the second half, the Ateneo players played patient basketball, not letting FEU break their composure and it paid off, as Ateneo regained the lead early in the third quarter. The lead see-sawed for a while, until a short jumper by Rookie of the Year Kiefer Ravena gave Ateneo a 3-point lead with around seven minutes to go in the quarter.

The Tamaraws, hounded mercilessly by a tight Ateneo defense, continued to miss shot after shot, and were forced into committing turnover after turnover, including 2 24-second violations. Just a little after the four minute mark, Ateneo had rebuilt its lead back to 11. A 3-pointer by Tonino Gonzaga pushed the lead up to 14 with 47 seconds to go in the third quarter. Ateneo outscored FEU 22-9 in the third quarter, to lead by 12, 57-45.

It was more of the same in the fourth quarter, as the Tamaraws never got their game back, and even allowed the Blue Eagles to lead by as much as 19 points, with a little more than four minutes to go. Ateneo coach Norman Black pulled all of his starters as the minutes ran out, and when the buzzer sounded, the whole team and its coaching staff swarmed onto the court as Ateneo had won its fourth straight championship, joining La Salle, UST, and UE as the only schools in the UAAP to achieve this rare feat.

For Ateneo, it was an emotional win, especially for graduating players, Emman Monfort, Bacon Austria, and team captain Kirk Long. With the win, the Ateneo Blue Eagles showed their strong spirit, powered by tough defense and disciplined play. From the looks of it, Ateneo is in position to enter uncharted territory, as it still has the talent to go for an unprecedented fifth straight title. Expect Kiefer Ravena, Greg Slaughter and Nico Salva to anchor the Blue Eagles run for this goal.

As for the FEU Tamaraws, they played well, but were hampered by poor shooting. In particular, sophomore guard Terence Romeo, who was the only Tamaraw to score in double figures in Game One, was a non-factor in Game Two, shooting miserably (3-15), and fouling out in a lost cause. Add the numerous injuries (Pipo Noundou, J.R. Cawaling and Christian Sentcheu) to the Tamaraws' woes, and it was clear that FEU simply did not have the manpower to match up with the Blue Eagles.

With the end of the season, FEU will be saying goodbye to perennial Mythical Five forward Aldrech Ramos, Jens Knuttel, and Noundou, but still retain enough pieces to make another run next season. Of course, with Ateneo still strong, and other teams such as UST and NU on the rise, the Tamaraws will find next season to be a challenging one.

So ends another chapter in the UAAP men’s basketball wars. For basketball-hungry fans, there’s still the NCAA wars ongoing, and after that, the Champion’s League, where perhaps the Ateneo Blue Eagles can continue their glorious run, and add another feather to their cap before this year is over.