April 25, 2024

(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 March 15, 2015).

Once upon a time all that the women wanted was to be granted the right of suffrage, marching and holding hands together to show unity of purpose.
When the privilege of the right to vote and to be voted upon was extended to their gender, that marked the beginning of more marches to come; marching for many other worthy causes, and more than anything, the seeming inequality between men and women that favors the men in near discrimination against the women.


Today the women want to take over from the men, who apparently lost all moral right to lead, concerned with more personal gain and power, practically neglecting the rest of their fellowmen.
This is practically true in the Philippines, where the men have greatly contributed to the ruin of the nation, and now it is up to the women to put the country back together – slowly but surely falling apart – before it is too late.
Whether the women will be up to the task remains to be seen, but maybe it is time for the women to show what they are capable of. Hopefully, it won’t be jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
We pray not.


As per biblical yore, it was Eve, the first woman, who struck a deal with the devil disguised as a serpent, and later on, using feminine wile (disguised as love and affection), convinced Adam to partake of the forbidden apple, and that was how we lost paradise. Who is to blame? The devil, the fruit, Eve, or the weakling Adam?


But following the theory of evolution, men evolved from the ape, and ribs had nothing to do with the creation of women.
But wait up, biologically, men and women are different in form and body, and procreation requires that the men be on top. Here again, the women are reversing positions, not really for the pleasure of the act, but for the thrill of it, so the men will know who is the real boss. Cunning versus gullibility, targeting macho men who do not know any better.


Whatever, in nearly everything – politics, business, sports, education – the women are about to dethrone the men. Serves them right for erroneously thinking that they are better than the women, good only for making babies and taking care of household chores. But on second thought, isn’t that the whole point?
Alas, today’s women are turning things around, and that the word husband should be changed to houseband. Anyway, let’s just keep our fingers crossed, and see what the women can do once they take charge.


What do Bontocs and Muslims have in common, derisively referred to by ignorant souls as intruders from the North and South? Both Bontocs and Muslims put up a common front – the Bontocs vote as one, and the Muslims unite together to repel a common enemy – Christians and government forces alike, one or the other.
For example, while some Bontocs loudly grumble against Mayor Mauricio Domogan in the interim, claiming he is no longer the Domogan they used to know, yet every election year, the Bontocs scribble his name on their ballots.
As for the Muslims – some or many of them anyway – consider the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, the latter an MILF splinter group, reputedly feuding with each other, but in Mamasapano, they put their guns together to make sure none of the 44 SAF officers would come out of the encounter alive.


Here in Baguio, why are not the other ethnic groups uniting together to at least have a fighting chance against their Northern kin? Because a meeting among Ibaloys, Tagalogs, Ilocanos, and Pangalatoks will only result in bitter intramurals, the Ibaloys making a lot of noise, while the Ilocanos and Pangalatoks fight tooth and nail for leadership, and whoever wins will be joined by the Tagalogs, if not offering themselves as compromise candidates in case of a stalemate.


In other words, sitting down and listening, and finally agreeing, is almost impossible. The Ibaloy is not known for agreeing to anything that leaves him out of the picture, but too scared to wade into the fray for fear of rejection. All that noise for nothing.
But the really funny thing is that the disgruntled will likely move over to the Domogan camp. Guess which tribe is often disgruntled?
C’mon people, you want your city back, then you need to swallow the bitter pill. You can bicker later after the enemy has gone on the run. If you do not, given some time, it will be the Muslims against the Bontocs in all future major tussles, relegating all others to the background. So what else is new for the Ibaloy?