Goodbye OT, run Koko run!

nothing to do with the IPU).

We may yet withdraw from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But, human rights are truly universal. The universe should interfere whenever and wherever they are violated. For instance, Saudi Arabian Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi’s body parts were found scattered all over. The world is intervening, and rightly so.

I am reminded of by Vince Flynn which has an account of how David (no last name) took four slices of pedophile Iraqi general Hamza’s genitals and lopped off his tongue. The book has unsavory references to the Philippines. It mentions a mythical woman President Quirino ( a quaint choice of name). It also mentions a General Moro (ditto) of the Philippine army, characterized as a rat taking bribes from the terrorists holding an American family as hostages.

The ill- advised insularization makes us an island entire unto ourselves (John Donne) — another big step in the wrong direction.

And then there is the Supreme Court insularizing and insulating itself from interviews by the Judicial and Bar Council. The justices prefer making public speeches and attending congressional hearings, so unlike during my youth when they were only read, not seen nor heard, as a general proposition. Making to the Bigger House was the pits. Abysmal. Justice TonyCarp educating us on West Philippine Sea. Celestial.

Back to another final journey home. Regrettably, for me, it is not only OT Balgos leaving this week. Yesterday, Randy Angeles, a friend and neighbor of ours in Pasig, was buried, insulating him from our petty differences and foibles. Such as a South Korean businessman being murdered right under the nose of then PNP Chief Bato de la Rosa in Camp Crame, now matched by Khashoggi’s departure in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

crossed Bato’s mind but which he dismissed. Masakit.

Now Bato is running for the Senate; can he see beyond his nose? There is hope for the Motherland but those who have given up I can try to understand. Do we now have nationwide martial law (ML)? Can the Prez order the arrest of anyone, a power Macoy exercised after inflicting ML? That power he shared with Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile for a while. But I am not for jailing Manong Johnny. What I would like our lawmakers to look at is the humanitarian practice in Spain and Italy, no jail time for septuagenarians (such as I; selfserving?), only house arrest and community service.