bad president – PATHLESS TRAVELS

Editorial note: This piece was first published under my “Pathless Travels” column in the Nov. 30, 2003 issue of the Northern Dispatch (Nordis) Weekly. It is obviously out of date as it referred to Fernando Poe Jr.’s candidacy in the 2004 presidential elections. I’m reposting it here, with slight revisions, because I believe the main points I raised remain relevant today, as the country starts to be gripped again by election fever.

IN THIS WEEK’S column piece, I will make an exception to a self-imposed rule to write mainly on Northern Luzon concerns, especially “light topics” with a broad environmental, socio-cultural, or historical bent.

IRAIA thoughts

Today I will make a pointblank commentary on the swirling, relentless political talk that has seized the country since Gloria Macapagal Arroyo bared her plan to run for the presidency in 2004, followed by Fernando Poe Jr. formally declaring his own presidential bid a few days ago. Continue reading “Much ado about presidential credentials”

I will put the choices very simply for you.

You’re riding a bus from Baguio to Sagada. You notice that the driver is a brash young boy, most probably inexperienced, perhaps even a college brat out for kicks. The bus already had a few heart-stopping near-accidents just out of Sayangan, then in Buguias, then again in Sinto and after Mt. Data–all because of the amateurish driver’s carelessness.

IRAIA thoughts

Then, as the bus negotiates the steep trail to Sabangan, it happens. The driver goes into a hairpin turn, barely manages it, finds out the brakes are no longer working, careens inches away from a ravine, and is finally stopped–only through sheer luck–by a short upslope road grade.

The driver insists that the bus can still make it to Sagada, or at least to the Dantay junction. But most passengers want to get down, catch their breaths, hopefully flag down the next bus, perhaps even walk to the next junction where they can hire a jeepney instead. Continue reading “At the bottom of a ravine”