“The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.” (William Ross Wallace, 1865). Mothers rock!

Happy Mother’s Day to mothers everywhere!

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Sometimes there can also be good new.

First, legal costs have always been high. This has prevented many in their quest for justice from pursuing their cause. Relief to the problem has recently been provided by DOJ Sec. Leila de Lima.

On orders of the Secretary, fees at the level of the Prosecutor’s Office have been abolished. When City Prosecutor Glo Agunos first assumed office, we complained and asked her to look at the prohibitive cost of filing complaints with her office. Fees of various kinds were collected for various reasons.

Even if Glo agreed with our plea, she said that she was helpless because it was a department order. Now Sec. de Lima has lifted the charging of fees. It’s a small relief but is welcome news anyway.

Yehey! De Lima for senator!

Now we hope Glo will also look into the problem of why the Prosecutor’s Office requires the submission of numerous extra copies of complaints filed with her office. That adds to the costs of litigants, particularly if the annexes to the complaints are voluminous.

Yehey! Agunos for councilor!

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Another good news deals with the problem of naming party-list groups.

If you noticed, there are many party-lists with names beginning with the Number “1” or beginning with the letter “A.” Examples are: 1-Utak, 1 Care, 1 Ganap-Guardians, 1 Abaa, 1 Kabagis, A Tambay, Aasenso Sabungero, A Teacher, AA Kasosyo, AAmbis Owa, Aasenso Tayo, and Agbiag, to name a few.

There was reason for adopting those names. That is because in the sample ballots and lists of parties prepared by the Comelec and posted in polling places during the elections, the parties were listed chronologically by numbers or alphabetically.

Those beginning with “1” or “A” are found at the top of the list. Voters who were lazy to go through the entire list would just choose from those listed first, if they did not have any previous personal preference.

If the name of your party-list is “Zero Party,” you will be listed at the bottom and you may probably get zero votes. The voters will not read the entire list long enough to get to your name. Their time inside the booth is limited.

The good news is that the problem has been solved. The Comelec has decided to “randomize” the list. That means that the order of listing shall be done by random choice of a computer and the alphabetical or numerical order will be discarded.

That means that my favorite parties – “Saranggola ni Pepe,” “Katribu” and “Ladlad” have a chance of landing on top of the list.

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On a personal level, we also received good news last week.

My daughter Noelle who sometimes wrote this column for me, and who just finished her first year college at the Ateneo, has been admitted as staff member of the Guidon. That is the official student publication of the Ateneo University. Only two applicants were admitted in the last selection.

Both her oral test and written works were praised by the screening committee. We have to thank the training she got at Brent School, where she was Brentonian, editor-in-chief, and also this paper for printing her occasional columns in my absence.

She has initially been asked to write on sports but will also work on other topics.

We wondered what other topics are there to write about at the Ateneo and she said there was this protest that the Ateneo, Miriam College, and the Loyola Heights community had launched against the SMDC (SM Development Corporation). What?

It seems that SM is building a huge 42-storey high tower at Loyola Heights. It is taller than what the current city ordinances allow and so the QC council has conveniently amended the guidelines to give SM an exemption.

Oh no! Does that not sound familiar? It looks like even now that she is now down in Ateneo my daughter cannot escape SM-related problems.

SM calls the project the Blue Residences. And so the battle-cry of Noelle’s friends is “No to SM Blue.” Drinkers have no reason to worry. They are not referring to your favorite drink.

When asked about the matter, Quezon City officials were reported to have said that the SM project was part of their vision of “welcoming more investors into the city.”

Doesn’t that also sound familiar?