Lent is soon with us and we should be preparing our hearts for it. The preparation should include baskets of colored eggs to be hidden in the gardens in the Orchidarium for the kids to hunt. And let us not forget to pray for Haiti, in its aftermath of the tragic earthquake. Bill Clinton, the boss of the recovery recently underwent a heart operation.

And then our own Gerry Evangelista of our Centennial had a stroke. Counting one hundred people to please, he also overused his heart.

If I almost resigned from the Centennial, it is because somebody stole one of my dogs. They did not know that he was 16 years old because he was so handsome and clean. He was not even fat, or if they ate him, they would have been very disappointed. And he was too old to eat, please return him to me if he is still alive, he is so gentle and very tame.

His name is Shadow, please return him.

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The little people were shouting and laughing as if something was being lifted from their shoulders. Yes, something was lifted, the famous and destructive political joke of two political partners of rushing their stupid act of merely changing positions as congressman or mayor as their term expires. They also made themselves the wealthiest politicians in the Cordillera. Nothing is impossible between the two, our elders say softly and gently; “God knows the truth but waits.”

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The politics is not getting heated up in our Cordillera, the people now are catching up with the times. The people now realize that their environment is really their own and if they neglect it, they will suffer. The people of the interior are now talking about nutrition and education. They are now done talking or doing tribal wars. Even Abra seems to want to behave. The educators in the interior are starting to start their own higher education in order to preserve their language and culture. They now have technical people among them and cultivating their art. With the help of Kabunian, our name for God, let us pray they will continue improving.

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The whole world is really endangered. There seems to be destruction everywhere: Earthquakes, floods, tsunami, fires, and wars, every day. Let us do what we can to arrest the destruction of our planet. Let us eat less rice, less meat, and less fish. Let us stop destroying our rivers by dynamiting their big rocks which is needed to protect their beds. Most of our rivers in the Cordilleras are dying because they take away their beds of rock. The Bued is dying and so is the Chico. The infamous Balili River is now a sewer system of Baguio and La Trinidad. What is happening in any part of the world every day is a sign.

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March is dedicated to our women, the most wonderful inhabitants of our universe. When they came to escape the hunger and slavery of China, they also brought with them their game of mahjong which was also made a gambling method by our rich and idle women. The Chinese women took care of our children as amahs. From the Chinese ladies they also copied their loose pants which we use tighter and thicker. I think our women will never return the pants to their men. Our women and other women of the world enjoy the sexy pants and the power it seems to give them. The women in the Cordilleras have given up their tapis for them.

It is worth noting also that our politics is now being invaded by our women. Most of them also use money to win a position. In fact more women these days win in elections because they are known to have earned and saved some. Concluding that women are more honest and qualified than men is not true. I know of several women who are candidates but have not seen the Local Government Code of 1991. Our women do not read and study. They just want to be smart which is different from intelligence.