‘Sic transit’

AFAMOUS

practitioner of the law ran in the 2016 elections for a seat in the Senate. Extremely qualified, articulate, with a head on his shoulders and a heart where it should be, he was cheered on by friends, acquaintances, kindred spirits and strangers when out of the blue he pulled out of the race just when things started to get interesting.

But why, was their astonished reaction. First chance I had to collar him, he told me, “I found out I was no longer being myself. The more people who surrounded me, the more I realized I was beginning to sound like them and I was giving them answers they wanted to hear.”

I was just as astonished when he filed his COC in 2019, for one of 12 seats that were up for grabs among a mad and merry bunch of 62. What happened in the three intervening years to change his mind? A political reorientation, a personal/professional challenge? Sadly, he failed to make it again this time, his eminent qualifications notwithstanding.

The failure of this candidate is the fault, for want of a better word, of democracy. You cannot assume you can read the minds of millions of people. As an example, those post-election day analysts could not have forecast the downfall of this and that dynasty; they were good at reading the outcome, after the fact.

For years to come, the fall of the Estrada clan will be the subject of analysts doing their thing, now that May 13, 2019 is history.

History is mankind’s way of dealing with its past, as astrologers apply their own unique knowledge in linking past to future. According to astrologer Zenaida Seva, the Estradas’ 49 years in power is a reflection of the law of sevens. Each power cycle is good for seven years; accordingly the ex-movie star, exmayor of San Juan, ex-senator, ex-vice president, ex-president, ex-convict, exmayor of Manila enjoyed seven cycles. (Count those titles – seven of them!)

Ms. Seva notes: “The seven-year cycle’s limit is 84 years (12 cycles), sometimes extended to 96 or 103. Real power could last 250 years, as empires and civilizations do.” Sic transit gloria mundi.