Accomplishment required

Sometimes its nice to read readers’ feedbacks and sometimes you wonder. Just before checking into the Philippine Heart Center, I received four long emails from four men who all have had angiograms, angioplasty, by-pass and or valve replacement. All the emails were meant to educate me and prepare me for my own procedure last Saturday but to be honest they were all a bit of a jolt because they were too similar in account.

Each writer had their first angiogram at around age 57 just like I did, resulted in double angioplasty except for one who needed three. Then five years later (+/-) they needed another angiogram and three-part angioplasty just like I did. The scary part was five to six years later they again needed angioplasty, after all that two guys needed by-pass then one needed a valve replacement. All those emails were sobering and life changing as I realized that cardio vascular medicine may have vastly improved but advanced age and lifestyle seriously impair our system. This made me realize that after my recent trip to the hospital, I would soon have to save up for the inevitable as well as radically changing my lifestyle if I wanted a better fighting and spending chance. Now more than ever I am convinced of the need for cardiovascular exercise, a plant-based diet and a “Heart fund.”

Unlike my first angioplasty that was done through the femoral artery in the upper thigh, my recent surgery was done through the wrist, which was fantastic because I was able to move around six hours after the surgery. I was fortunate that Dr. James Ho, the director of the CardioVascular Lab and my cardiologist Dr. Marlou Mendoza, were once again in-charge of the procedure because this time it was more complicated due to the location of the blocks. Aside from the onehour quick procedure, I also experienced staying in one of the 5th floor private rooms because the regular rooms were no longer available. The rooms were really spacious almost like a hotel room, had access to an outside common terrace and would surely meet the wants of patients who want to avail of the Heart Center’s expertise but with private hospital amenities. Someone should advise President Duterte to “Honk his horn” or check who he might unnecessarily run over when he makes sweeping criticisms or attacks. In one of his recent speeches the President touched on the matter of church donations or what is biblically referred to as tithes. While the President was attacking the Catholic Church, he may have forgotten that many other “religions” or churches teach and seriously practice tithing.

While the Catholics are the more visible, they are not necessarily the most giving or compliant. In fact many priests softened the Biblical instruction of 10 percent and replaced it with “whatever you feel led to” or “as long as you give cheerfully.” The INC or Iglesia Ni Cristo are probably the most giving and compliant of the 10 percent rule. The Born Again, Protestants, and Evangelicals do promote the practice of tithing although statistics indicate that among these Christians, only 30 to 35 percent observe the 10 percent rule on tithing.

When the President took a swipe at the palatial churches, I had no doubt that the President was recklessly treading on dangerous grounds because he was inadvertently drawing attention and comparison of all religions, churches especially those who have standard architectural designs for uniformity, engineering and construction efficiency as well as history. The Catholics, INC, Mormons, Latter Day Saints all have similar styles. Yes, the President is after the Catholic Church for whatever reason he really truly has. But he is well advised to choose his words and honk his horn because he may be running over those who made him president. What do you do if your senior officer requires “accomplishment reports” that involves “extrajudicial action”? I learned of this situation where a law enforcement official faced such a dilemma. The officer knew of four barangay captains who were all confirmed drug dealers or coddlers of drug pushers. Their case build-up has been thorough and they were simply waiting for an opportune moment to either entrap or raid the said officials. But it seems that the officer’s senior official felt pressured to submit accomplishment reports particularly against drug dealers and narco-politicians. Trying to find some answers, the officer went to church one Sunday hoping to find answers or a way out of his dilemma. He of course heard what he expected: “Thou Shall Not Kill.”

In another situation, a local politician was just murdered in broad daylight and a high-ranking police officer suits up and takes over the public information duties for several days. It seems that many officers in the PNP have forgotten the first rule of crime scene investigation: “No Comment” especially when you are just a few hours into the investigation and there are still too many things to check. Unfortunately, in this particular case, the possible suspects were alerted when the PNP immediately shared details about getaway cars etc.

These two situations partly reflect how ambition and desire for quick promotion have become the driving factor among some law enforcers to break rules or violate procedures of law enforcement. In spite of the pronouncements of PNP Chief Albayalde and NCRPO head Eleazar, so many mistakes or abuses have been committed especially during the antiTambay campaign simply because officers were more interested in scoring promotion points than properly following orders. I hope PNP Chief Albayalde can immediately put up a review board as well as a “no names – no questions asked” feedback mechanism where junior officers can also report illegal orders being shoved upon law enforcers.