Football na!

By Fernando Almeda Jr. / June 17, 2006

THIS must be the happiest time of my retired and retarded life. I’ve nothing to say––nor write about. I’m just rocking in my chair looking at a sign on the wall that my wife hang before she left for work: Shut up! Think not!

I commend this state of bliss to all noise-makers––and opinion-makers. In silence, there’s eloquence. In a hush, there’s peace. It’s the noise that drives us all crazy. The mouth was not made for noise. It’s to give us a voice. Noise and voice don’t mix. Noise is anarchy. And disturbance. Voice is freedom. And responsibility––the very heart of democracy.

In the stillness of my room, I can clearly hear the Brethrens telling their Chief: "Tahimik ka! Bakit ang dadaldal mo?" That’s generally what others are saying, too. Serves him right for opening his mouth with nothing to say. When you open your mouth that way, noise comes out. Followed by a foul odor.

Most law professors, until they become justices themselves, say the Supreme Court is a factory of judicial errors. It’s majority decisions are written when the justices are sound asleep. They need sleep because they’re nearly all in the age of senility. It’s the dissenting opinion that gives the high court it’s finest moments. Be that as it may, our Supreme Court is the last remaining public institution that our people respect and truty believe in. Even crazy lawyers, quite a few of whom are representing an ousted President, go there to relieve themselves. Our judicial system, already under siege, will collapse without the Supreme Court. So would our tenuous claim to democracy.

There are fools in the Supreme Court––and idiots. Perhaps, many of them are "under-di saya." But what did you think? They’re only human beings like all of us. Legal gods, yes. But all with feet of clay. But it makes no sense to destroy its credibility. Even it is infallibility. Kill the Supreme Court and you kill a nation. The Chief Magistrate should keep his mouth shut. I hope we don’t have to give him a lethal injection to do that. His colleagues, to a man, I think, would say that, that would not be a judicial error, but a defining act for the Supreme Court.

I didn’t say anything yet. I’m just almost angry. Here’s what I really had in mind as of last week before I got a bit of amnesia.

What should our national game be?

Basketball? No. We’re too short for that. And we don’t know how to shoot the ball well. We keep missing the goal, especially during crucial moments when our aim should be true and unerring during the championship.

What about volleyball? No, also. Our serve is not strong enough and our teamwork is weak. Include tennis here where our service is no good. So with our netplay.

And running in track and field? Sorry. We’re too slow. So with high jump. We don’t go high enough. Boxing, despite Manny Pacquiao, is not also our choice. We easily get spoiled by celebrity attention. And we are light and small enough to be a heavyweight. Physical games, which require strength, speed and stamina, are not for us. We’re almost malnourished.

It should be chess. That’s the game of the mind. But we’ll only be so-so here. Our minds are not really that creative and capable of the infinite combinations that would be needed to score a victory in the world arena. Sometimes, we’re even mindless. Like the Chief Justice, it seems. And worst, we hardly spend to develop our players in chess or in boxing and mountain-climbing, where we’re 56 years and 1,500 climbers too late to the top. We spend only when it’s time for a blowout and picture-taking. But not on training and sports development.

Anyway, my grandson who’s only 5 years old, says that our national game should be football. He’s been watching on TV the World Cup play in Germany. So am I. It’s the biggest hoopla of the year worldwide. Turn to any global network and it’s all there in full color with all the excitement. I’ve watched the match between America and Czecholovakia where the latter was clobbered until the wee hours of the morning. The South Korean. Japanese, Australian, Swedish teams, etc. victories over their rivals thrilled me no end. Most especially that of 5-time World Champion Brazil which is a national treasure to their people. Football sends the entire world into a frenzy; makes the world forget its trouble and unites the whole of humanity in celebration of man’s glorious capacity for excellence. It’s here that we become like the gods.

We should be in Germany. We should all be there where the rest of the world are gathered. But we’re not there. We have no world-class football team. As always, we’re not with the very best at a time and place where it matters.

And so why football? Simple. If we develop the skill to kick the ball, we’ll soon hit our goal. We’ll soon kick those rotten government officials, bogus public servants, fire and brimstone preachers, dogmatic and bigoted leaders in and out of government and all sorts of scalawage out! Imagine, if the ball we use are the heads of those who made life miserable as hell for us. Football na! That’s should be our national game. That’s the only way to get rid of evil. Kick them out, for good!

To have more or less

By Fernando Almeda Jr. / June 8, 2006

IT’S a hard choice: whether to write a speech which I’ll deliver at a Rotary Club in Davao City or my column this week, deadline of which is just three hours away. I’ve decided to do the latter. I hope I’m wrong. But I was convinced by a Lion that Rotarians sleep through a good speech. But listen when the speaker has nothing to say. A Rotarian however protests: Have you forgotten that a tarsier’s brain is bigger than that of a lion? Here, if you write something that’s funny, readers will take you seriously. One reader told me: how come I can’t laugh? Enough of Rotary and Lion rivalry. Let’s go on.

I got this email which I’ll pass on to you gladly. It’s entitled 14 ways to good health. There are more ways, of course. If you have the money. But don’t be too ambitious. Ambition has killed too many rats. But going back, here are some tips on how to live a healthy life––all guaranteed and proven to work wonders, if not miracles:

1. Less words, more action

2. Less greed, more giving

3. Less worry, more sleep

4. Less frowns, more smiles

5. Less driving, more walking

6. Less crying, more laughing

7. Less anger, more love

8. Less politics, more religion

 I’ve decided not to mention the other ways like, "less eating, more chewing," following the less principle. Besides, I’ll have nothing original anymore to write here. Now, should you not ask me what are the 14 ways to live life otherwise? That’s the fad now. These are likewise guaranteed to work and make life miserable and definitely shorter. Here they are minus six.

1. More words, less action

2. More greed, less giving

3. More worry, less sleep

4. More frowns, less smiles

5. More driving, less walking

6. More crying, less laughing

7. More anger, less love

8. More politics, less religion

  Isn’t that ironic? And does it make sense? If you have less, you have more, if you have more you have less. It’s all one coin with two sides though. The choice is really ours to make. I recommend less to my friends. And more to those who are otherwise.

 Our people should likewise chose whether we should have more of politics, more of anger, more of greed and more of words. And end up having less. Our country is in a quagmire. We have more children than we can feed. More poverty, suffering and violence than we can handle. In the words of President Manuel L. Quezon, ours is a government run like hell by Filipinos.

And what about more of killings and murders, especially of journalists? The killings can go on and on. We shall have less and less of a face to show to the world. And that flag atop Mount Everest will be a flag that no one wants to look at because it’s soak in our own blood. Shame on us!

Lead the way

By Fernando Almeda / June 1, 2006

I CAN’T make the deadline if I write another piece. It’s so hard to be funny. So I’ve decided to ‘‘deliver a speech’’ about Rotary and leadership in Rotary here instead.

Spare me the rotten eggs, please!

My dear friends:

I have not forgotten or taken for granted that friendship is the main reason of Rotary for being and still is its greatest hallmark as an organization. Service and the countless of good things that Rotary has done for mankind over the last century and one year are only the offsprings of the bond of friendship that was forged one cold night in Chicago, Illinois, by a few lonely men in search of fellowship.

 I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again now: the finest expression and manifestation of friendship should spell magic instantly whenever and wherever Rotarians are gathered. Let us lead the way in spreading love, friendship and fellowship. These are the bedrock of Rotary.

 We are at the threshold of our longest day. As Rotary leaders we will soon be put to our toughest test––the test of facing the days ahead leading the way into the unknown. But we shall do so together. I will not ask you to do any task or sacrifice that I or anyone in our district team is not going to do or is willing to. We shall share our work including our fears. But more than that, we will share our willingness to be of service to our fellowmen despite our fears and hesitation––our hopes and dreams for a better and newer world.

We should serve, as past RI President Bhichai Rattakul of Thailand said, with courage and daring. "Daring is different from courage. Courage is the ability to endure danger, adversity and suffering resolutely. Daring, on the other hand, is the willingness to take a chance, to engage in the unknown, to risk the future and failure while pursuing success, and to undertake an adventure."

We are truly embarking on a leadership adventure. As another writer, Eudora Welty, observed, "all serious daring starts within." Let us begin then with a firm belief in ourselves and our ability to succeed so that we can take the chances necessary to lead a daring life without a moment spent in complacency and timidity. Rotary is an unshakable faith. We will conquer any obstacle along the way because of our faith in Rotary.

Our theme, "Lead the Way," is an expression of this abiding faith. All of us are here today because we love Rotary and want to see Rotary grow and thrive. All of us are Rotary leaders, and we all know what Rotary leadership entails: sacrifice and oftentimes scorn. But let it be. The greatest leaders before us, if you scan the pages of history, have all traveled down this road. We are in distinguished company.

Being a Rotary leader means putting the clubs and Rotarians first. It means recognizing that, in Rotary, no member is even more important than any other member. Some of us have greater responsibilities, but no one has greater value. Each club member, club President, District Governor and each RI. President is equally a part of Rotary’s present and future. Rotary is truly a friendship of equals.

The profundity of our theme this year can be appreciated better when we realize that as "Rotarians, we are not nor should we be content to let matters stay the way they have always been in our clubs or in our communities. We are not and should never be content with the status quo, and we should not look at any problem only to say someone else will or should solve it. We are the ones who should ask why not us? We are the ones with the skill and desire to build a better future. We are thus the ones who must lead the way. The challenge is in our hands not elsewhere.

As Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations once said: "Things get better when enough people decide that they themselves should get better and do something instead of waiting for others." So let us take the initiative in making change for the better happen during our watch as leaders and pave the way for others to follow in the years beyond. But don’t get me wrong. We’re not alone as we venture into the dark. That’s not how it is with Rotary. What we speak of is shared leadership and shared responsibility. Empowerment is at the heart of our leadership value.

Even with the enormity of Rotary’s resources, we are always confronted with their inadequacies. We can’t afford to be reckless and careless with how we implement ventures on a global scale. We must get maximum return from every project. Thus, our President ‘Bill’ Boyd has wisely chosen to continue and sustain concerns that are attainable and yet urgent, fundamental and truly essential in making human life safer, healthier and happier.

A stranger no more

By Fernando Almeda Jr. / May 25, 2006

THE lost poet I wrote about and the author of that poem I printed here last week is Virgilio F. Florencio. He was born on April 29, 1908, but died in Cantilan, Surigao del Sur, on January 1944 at age 36 just when the dawn of liberation was breaking during World War II.

A few of us who studied in the 1950s will probably remember him if they bothered to read the "Philippine Prose and Poetry." Along with the works of other literary giants of a lost golden generation, Floresca’s epic poem entitled: "The Battle of Mactan" occupies a prominent presence there.

He wrote another war epic entitled: "The Battle of Agincourt" but "Mactan" is by far his most popular work. This won the prestigious Commonwealth award for poetry before the war and arguably made him the "Poet Laureate" of the Philippines. Then, he disappeared.

It turned out that love had bewitched him. He ended up in my hometown of Cantilan after he married one of its beautiful maidens there named Juanita Almeda whom the poet affectionately called "Janet," although she was locally known as ‘‘Juaning.’’ Yes. She was my Auntie. So that made Virgilio my uncle.

After graduation from High School in 1956, the only poetic lines I could really memorize were these lines from "Mactan": "He saw in the eyes of hate, the darkness of his faith as he laid in wait" describing the last conscious moment of Magellan as Lapu-Lapu standing over him in the shores of historic Mactan was about to deliver the fatal coup de grace to his fallen, arrogant, Spanish foe. The other lines were from Archibald MacLEISH’s ARS Poetica: "An open doorstep, a maple leaf" which speaks of the eerie loneliness of abandonment and decay of homes, palaces and even civilizations. Remember "the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome"?

I’ve always wondered what happened and where did all Floreca’s poems go. More important, I kept asking who he was? This went on for some 50 years. But I never let go of my search. I knew I would soon find him and some of those lost literary treasures.

Then, by a happenstance and the strange magic of serendipity, a friend of mine had guests from Manila recently and needed company for civilized conversation over suman and puto with green mangoes. I did rise to the occasion despite my serious sense of humor. As it turned out, his distinguished visitor, married to someone from Cagayan de Oro, was a real flesh and blood poet who had a book of poems to his credit and is possibly one of the leading, living Filipino poets today. He has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Chicago and is a professor at the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of the Philippines. Good company, indeed: He’s Dr. Gemino H. Abad.

Imagine his surprise when I told him that way pabor pabor my favorite Filipino poet was and is my uncle: Virgilio F. Floresca. I told him about my long, seemingly endless, search for this lost poet and his works not knowing if he knew him or even cared at all. Eureka! After a few days, here’s portion of a letter I got from ‘‘Jimmy,’’ as the professor is known to his friends:

" I still regret my ignorance, I could have met with Juanita Almeda! I have (some) poems of Floresca. They were collected by my research Assistant from magazines in the ‘30s."

The few poems of Floresca are thus in my treasure chest at last, courtesy of ‘‘Jimmy.’’ More will come because the existing poems of Floresca are compiled in a work entitled "Man of the Earth" (Ateneo University Press, 1989) including the bio-sketch and notes. But sadly enough, hundreds or even more than a thousand of his other poems are lost forever, especially the sonnets he wrote in Domolog (actually Domoyog because we prefer "y" for "L" in most of our noun words. Example: bayay (house) for balay. Thus, Surigao is known as the land of "buyakyak at payo-payo!" Anyway, forgive my ignorance also. The poem "Quacks at Helicon" which I printed here was written in 1933 not during the war in Domoyog.

I can’t go on and on and bore you with a crash course in Philippine poetry. But ‘Jimmy’ would feel I’m intruding into his domain, if go far enough. Let me just say that the uncle I never met by his life and works was my enduring inspiration. Now I know a little bit of him. He’s an uncle too far no longer. Nor a stranger.

I wish I have the time and space to share with you what I and the critics hail as his greatest historical poem, greater and grander that both the "Battle of Mactan" and the "Battle of Agincourt", entitled "The Spanish Governor." Here’s a portion though:

I am a faithful son of Spain,

Spectre now walking in vain

This darksome hour the riven stones

That heard my haunting wail, my groans.

A Governor who ruled was I

But in this loneliness I sigh,

Yet pride to think that I did good

Against the friars brotherhood

Thus, I perished here,

A beggar, that once had no peer!

Art thou, art thou? -

Memory

Forgot the whims of history,

Twas dawn, and the glimmering stars

Were retreating in Night’s wars.

Art thou…?

Then as he flew, cried:

‘Saddest Corcuera!"

Ah memory! Just the same we forget the lessons of history. We have forgotten Floresca and others like him and their immortal and lost works. What would Philippine literature be and Nick Joaquin’s unchallenged dominance of the field had Floresca lived long enough or had his prodigious output of lost poems been published?

So now we turn to Yoyoy Villame— even for history and poetry. Thus, have we far advanced and prospered as a people. What an irony.