Feeling naked without guns

My favorite broadsheet reports that many Filipinos are dying because of lack of doctors. Looks like the medical doctors are now outnumbered by the doctors of philosophy. We have more Ph. D.'s than M.D.'s.

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I don't know if it's true. I have been hearing some people say that the Department of Education has more doctors than the Department of Health.

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There were flashfloods in many parts of the downtown area last Tuesday. Again they blame the poor drainage and the clogged up canals. Millions of pesos have been spent to check these causes of the flood but it seems that every cent just went down the drain.

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I asked a government engineer if there's no one who knows how to solve these drainage problems which has been with us for years and years. He just smiled, put an arm on my shoulder and said: "Ayaw kaguol anang baha oy. Mobaha ra man kun kusog ang uwan."

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Many civilians are fleeing their homes in North Cotabato because the Moro marauders are engaging government troops in gunbattle and burning their houses. And top officials in the Palace continue to talk about peace with the Moro rebels. What optimism! They seem to believe in the Italian saying: "Since the house is on fire let us warm ourselves."

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"Do you believe that these Moro rebels want peace? I don't. They talk peace but at the same time attack villages and burn houses. They kill people who need the peace they talk about." This is an e-mail from Teodoro Amistro of Cagayan de Oro City whose father was a Muslim trader from Lanao."

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Mr. Amistro who e-mailed his views not from Cagayan de Oro or Lanao but from Los Angeles, Calif., laughs at the statement of a Luzon politician who said on tv that the Moros should be disarmed. "He sounds funnier than my favorite showbiz comedian," he says. "Firearms are parts of the Moros' attire. They'd feel naked if you take away their guns."

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I sympathize with my good friend Brod Soc Fernandez, the mayor of Talisay City. Because of the published abuses of his son, he is now the butt of nasty remarks from a lot of people including some from the religious community. One remark I heard from a member of a women's group: "Kini gud si Brod Soc dunay mamon nga kasingkasing." I hope Brod Soc will soon be able to rein in his son who is feared even by the cops.

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As I write this (4:30 am yesterday) my copy of The FREEMAN came only to announce to me (through its bannerhead) that our last gold hope in the Olympics has fallen: "Tañamor Bows to Ghanian Foe." One by one our best bets fell. But let it not be said that they didn't try. They did try. But, well, the opponents also tried and, maybe, harder. Me, I bow to Tañamor even as he bowed to his African foe. So he won't tell me: "Ikaw diri o sayon ba."

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BOBIT SAYS: "One of God's greatest gifts is LOVE. He made it so unique that the more you give of it, the more it grows in you." (So JVJ says: "Let's love one another, let's not love another one.")

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