WIFE'S KNEECAP SURGERY

Woke up early in the morning and took a bath. Just hours away from wife Estelita kneecap surgery at the Redlands Community Hospital. Last night, she called friends and relatives of her scheduled operation. She called Simonie but she has not arrived from the Philippines, according to Fe at the end of the line. Now praying for the successful two-hour surgery scheduled at 10:00AM. Two days ago, Estelita, son Anib and me attended orientation of surgeries at the Joint and Spine Institute section of Redlands CH. Most of those to undergo surgeries are women, at different dates. The room was full.

November 25:
The surgery was performed by Dr. Peter Elsissy, son of Egyptian immigrants, a smiling young man, who prayed to the Father for the successful operation that would replace Estelita's kneecap with stainless steel. We had gone early to the Redlands Community Hospital along Terracina Blvd. in Redlands, at least an hour away from Menifee.

Anib and I left her at the room where he had been dressed for the operation complete with white cap. She would later  on be wheeled into the surgery room.  We went to the waiting room in the same floor and spent almost an hour after we had breakfast at the cafeteria at the basement. Dr. Elsissy entered the room before 10:00 AM and informed us that the surgery was done and that Estelita was doing fine.She would be taken to the recovery room at the fourth floor.

THAT NIGHT IN PARIS

129 dead, 352 injured
on Friday night, by ISIS terrorists
in gay Paris

Let us weep for them, let us weep for them, let us weep for them...

how does one not remember
the blind anger
spewing as live bullets
as searing fire
tearing apart the hearts
of the innocents?

****

how did the prophet Muhammad look?
is it a racial slur to display his photo or caricature?

sometime in a middle of a walk to Walgreens
i would ask myself: did i share anything to a girl
when i was a young man. if i did, where?

so many things in the old mind
each time i see young couple--with golden heads--
jogging on the other side of Newport road.

***
daydi daniw a kayatko a basaem

nagpukkawak a nangipasimudaag
iti kaaddak iti batogmo, iti balayyo, 
ngem naliday a nagsubli ti timekko,
awan arimekmek, napaumel
 dagiti kuriat,
makaalliaw ti ulimek ti rabii 
naglumen dagiti bituen iti tangatang.

the silence, breathing, was eerie, an enemy/umang-anges ti ulimek, kabusor 
and i walked away thinking of you,/ket immadayoak, pampanunotenka, 
the rose in your ear,/ti rosal iti lapayagmo,
my feet heavy,/ nabantot dagiti sakak
my heart drenched in sadness./ti pusok nadarugsoy iti liday

i wanted you to find a little time/kayatko a maaddaanka iti sangkausit a tiempo
to read my poetry--about you ascending./a mangbasa iti daniwko--sika a sumang sang-at
the padsan, a water jug on your head,/iti karayan padsan, nagsusuon iti sangmalabi a danum
a round red sun in the gabu sky/ti nalabaga nga init iti law-ang ti gabu
a breeze whipping a lock/maysa a nginabras ti buokmo
of your tender hair./lalailuen ti angin

FRAMING THE ISSUE OF "THE ALTERNATIVE TRUTH"

The 1986 Edsa Revolt in the Philippines was not our metamorphosis.

Yes, Edsa I did not achieve whatever it wanted to achieve. Led by the Roman Catholic Church, rebellious soldiers, political activists, senators, the bloodless revolution ousted the strongman Ferdinand Marcos and installed as president Cory Aquino, who was declared as "icon of democracy" even is she was not at the forefront when the martial law regime was toppled down.

That was more than thirty years ago.

Freedom and democracy did not usher in "new minds, new manners" that would have catapulted the so-called Pearl of the Orient Seas to greater heights and maintained its position as second to Japan in economic development. The aftermath merely preserved and expanded the oligarchies like that of the Aquino-Cojuangco business empire that martial law aimed to dismantle.

And the Edsa (Epifanio de los Santos Avenue) political heroes like Fidel Ramos, Juan Ponce-Enrile, Gregorio Honasan have feet of clay. They enriched themselves while in office, Ramos as Philippine president, Enrile as senator, and Honasan, who led seven unsuccessful military coups against the Cory government, as member like Enrile of Congress which has been dubbed as the abode of the biggest criminal syndicate. (The lawmakers dipped their dirty fingers  on the state coffers, through a scheme involving their pork barrel funds.)

Meanwhile, misery, deprivation, widespread poverty stalk the land. The heroes watched and watched and amassed more wealth while political dynasties like the Binays, Singsons, Dys, Ortegas among more than 80, rear their ugly heads. Needless to say, they wallow in riches and live in mansions and gated subdivisions like Forbes Park, while a great number of Filipinos are homeless and eat once or twice a day.

(For a look-see, go to Manila and observe people who live under underpasses and bridges, the Royal City of Spanish Times, now ruled by the convicted economic plunderer Joseph Estrada who was ousted in an impeachment trial. He was supposed to have been banned from running in public office, but the law allowed him to gain power,  a reason Filipinos don't understand.)

During her time as president of the country Cory Aquino, the so-called icon of democracy, a false description on the Filipino minds by the Yellow Media, did nothing but bashing Ferdinand Marcos, an almost paranoid activity. Her watch was a monumental failure just like that of her son whose intellectual and moral orientation has been heavily criticized.

And what's the use of whipping and whipping a dead horse like Ferdinand Marcos? Or passing his sins to his son, Ferdinand, Jr., who is running for vice-president of his country in the 2016 May elections?

Begging for alms in Baguio City (top) and thatched roofs of houses in Cordon, Isabela.