(Editors’ note: The Courier is reprinting the columns of the late Atty. Benedicto T. Carantes as a tribute to one of its long-time columnists. This piece was published on April 29, 2018).
Following nearly three months of cold and nippy weather, the sun was quick to assert itself when the month of March rolled in.
As the days got hotter, and because Holy Week in Baguio usually signals the start of summer, everyone thought summertime had arrived – you know, when the going is easy, as the creole song goes.
Oops, not so fast folks, Pagasa said, it isn’t summer just yet, even if all the signs say so. Wait for the official announcement, thus declared the weather bureau.
And last week, as per word from Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, summer was at last here.
What summer? The month of June, when the rainy season begins, is still a summer away, but the rains are early.
Like clockwork, in an hour or less after noon, the trickles serve as a warning that all the clothes hanging out to dry be gathered quickly. If you tarry, it could mean doing the wash all over again.
Moments following the drizzle, the rain suddenly falls in torrents, catching summer strollers off guard in the downpour, all scampering to seek shelter in the nearest building.
It wouldn’t be so bad, since the rains water the plants and greens, but every day it rains. And the wait is long. By the time the rains stop, nightfall begins to set in.
There is a lot of debate going on concerning the city government’s plan to put up two or three parking structures right in the very heart of the country’s best loved park, and the public outcry is – have you no love for Baguio left? Isn’t it enough that you have cut down all the trees and neglected the green and flowers?
A concrete jungle is the last thing we want. Leave things as they are, please.
While I personally favor the need for parking buildings, I suppose we need to listen to the voice of the people. It is their city, after all.
But what’s this I hear that even while public consultations are going on, happenings are afoot to proceed with the plan, it’s a done deal actually, and once again, the wool is being pulled over the eyes of Baguio lovers.
The Philippine National Police, under its new head, sends a warning to “politicians” involved in drugs not to seek public office, but that is exactly the whole point.
Filipinos do not go into politics to serve constituents, they are there to protect their personal selfish interest, legal or otherwise. The focus is always money.
If you take a closer look at the set of candidates running for barangay chairman, they are not exactly the most respected persons in the community, but get elected anyway because they have cohorts and money working for them.
Once one has gone through the full three terms limit, he becomes overly ambitious and will try to make a bid to be elected to City Hall.
During regular elections, none is more spoiled than a barangay chairman, more so if the voting population in his district is the biggest.
If a particular barangay is drug-infested, you can be sure the officials are somewhere there in the thick of it.
If a foreigner takes part in rallies condemning not the government, but the abuses being perpetrated by whoever, the alien becomes an enemy of the State, for trampling on our sovereignty.
Mr. Xi of China occupies a property belonging to us, and he becomes a business partner and political ally, even a personal friend.
We are losing all our marbles, and I guess so is our beloved leader.
He should go and visit his mom more, and talk to her like all children do even if their moms have gone ahead to the heavens.
Maybe he will become more enlightened.
Like my son tells me when I lose my top, “Dad, I am not your enemy, I care for you a lot with all the love I can muster, but it’s hard doing that if you keep up with your bluster.
“Your enemy, old man,” my son educates me, “is no one but yourself.”
Too much pride was what made Lucifer fall from the graces of the Almighty.
Relax and laugh more, your jokes may be corny and sometimes offensive, but at least they sound better than your expletives.
Enjoy your rainy summer!
