Gollum in the mines

I always thought that “Gollum” was a fictional character and in no way reflects or resembles any person in real life. That was until I learned about the unsavory characters within the mining industry and just how low they would go to keep their “precious” way of life in the bowels of the earth.

“Gollum” as many know, was the original owner of the Third and last Ring of Power in Tolkien’s literary trilogy. It gave whoever wore the ring the ability to disappear and act stealthily, to move about unseen and unexpected much the same way that Black Ops people from the mining industry have been working to discredit and destroy the reputation of DENR Secretary Gina Lopez. The problem with the Ring of Power is that it possesses the soul and mind of whoever has the ring for too long, much like some people in the Mining Industry whose minds have been possessed by the wealth they have amassed and who like Gollum are willing to “kill” or destroy anyone who takes away their “precious” from them. They are also very sure that they can conduct Black Ops or black propaganda against Secretary Lopez without being seen.

Last week one of those possessed souls sent me an email referring to a court case involving a MINOR namely Regina Lopez. This was supposedly a case in the very start of the 1970’s Martial Law era. The sender would have us believe that Regina had a troubled past, perhaps a drug history and dealings with a controversial Yoga sect. The fact that someone would dig up a person’s childhood issue, share it with members of the media as a tip or “fake news” in the hopes that someone would pick it up and go to town with it is SICK. How low would you go “Gollum” and how low do you think of us in the media?

The fact of the matter is that the case file has no bearing on Gina Lopez’s ability and qualification to be Secretary of the DENR or her decision to deal with illegal, corrupt or fly by night mining firms owned by politicians, retired generals all with the surname “Gollum” written in their hearts. Gina Lopez has shown more courage and more sense than many people who have gone before her.

While I can “understand” the behavior of “Gollum’s Sons” because its all about business, I find it tragic that certain PR or public relations people as well as members of Congress would sell out their dignity and patriotism and join forces with Gollum to destroy Gina Lopez the Crusader. As “Heneral Luna” pointed out in the movie: Pera, Pamilya O Bayan? We can excuse or understand a prostitute for selling her body to feed her family. But a pimp? There is no excuse for that. Even Gollum is not that low.

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A parent should never have to bury their child. In a few days, 14 sets of parents if not more will be burying their children all because of an “accident” that resulted from a camping trip required by a school in compliance with what they call national service.

I honestly don’t know which to hit at first, the stupid idea of having to REQUIRE if not force students to go camping in order to qualify for National Service or the fact that 14 kids or more died because schools are given the liberty to organize money-making field trips to some of the most dangerous or inane places such as TV stations and theme parks. Several of the parents featured in the news report expressed so much anger at being pressured or forced to send their kids to their death for fear of not passing.

For four years I have driven up and down the same road to Tanay every Friday and even in the best and newest vehicles, that road is not one to take in second hand buses full of kids because many parts are steep, curving and generally out of the way, not to mention susceptible to encounters or mis-encounters between government forces and the NPA. Why on earth did they have to go way out of town to go camping when there were other options all over Metro Manila? Why camping and not community service? I just hope the members of Congress will actually do something and come up with something more than condolences and expressions such as: “Sayang, ang ba-bata pa nila.”

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Many people were shocked to read or hear about the Korean businessman who was murdered inside Crame, cremated by his murderers and then his ashes flushed down the toilet. Well I recently learned from two informants about a long on-going scam involving some cops, local officials and hospital staff of government facilities. The victims are usually criminals, crime victims or drug suspects who after being killed end up with their bodies being “turned over” to a funeral parlor owned or patronized by policemen and corrupt local hospital officials.

No next of kin is informed or consulted or asked if the body can be or should be turned over to a funeral parlor. So the family not only loses a loved one without them knowing, they now have a missing person whose body technically ends up being kidnapped by the police or the funeral parlor, who in turn demands a ransom of P15,000 to P25,000 for processing the body WITHOUT permission. After all of that happens, some local government officials join in like vultures in a feeding frenzy. They act like benevolent patrons helping out the poor penniless victims by shouldering part or all of the cost being claimed by the funeral parlor using taxpayers’ money. What we never imagined possible was that some of these Ghouls would pay P15,000 but demand a receipt for P25,000 and make an easy 10 thousand pesos from every dead body. We can call it DEAD-TONG instead of Pa-tong.

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