A welcome respite

The Holy Week is indeed a welcome respite. The air is less polluted and the surroundings is less noisy because of the less traffic. We have less bad news and that's good news. Even the criminals rest, I suppose. But I fear this rest only winds the spring. By Easter Sunday, the bad news would uncoil. We'd have the candidates again foisting themselves on us. GMA would be refreshed and be at it again. I expect her to proclaim the MRT-2 to be her gift to the Filipino people, ala Erap. I hope she realizes that the only gift that matters is if she's out of Malacanang by July. Can't we have a Holy Week at least every quarter?!

The Passion

I watched 'The Passion' today with Vito. I had to fork out Php192.00 for 2 tickets, another Php 115.00 for a bucket of popcorn and two glasses of iced tea. If the wife and my other son joined us, I would have spent more than Php600. No wonder people patronize film pirates.

I admit I watched the movie, despite the scandalous ticket prices, because of the hype. They said there's too much gore and blood that it's rated R (actually R-13 here. I think we're the only one with the R-13 rating. Can our kids take violence and gore more maturely than foreign kids?) Imagine an R rated scriptures-based film on Christ. It's not Scorsese (Last Temptation of Christ) and its R? This I have to see, and so we went.

This is not the typical religious movie. Old movies on Christ shown on TV have that serene, calming, almost boring quality. Sometimes Christ's face is not even shown, giving that undescribable effect, na pang-bibliya. Watching 'The Passion' is another experience. You know the story. You anticipate the subtitles. You listen to the dialogue even if its spoken in dead languages. You know what's going to happen. But still be enthralled and anxiously wait for the next scenes.

Real life, movie/TV, mass media violence, cenaculos, penitensiyas, and too much 'Faces of Death' have desensitized me. But the movie reinforces what has been force-fed us over the years, that Christ is the Savior. It should remind every Christian, especially the convenient Christians, that His death should not be for naught.

A world-class MRT

I took a free ride at the new MRT-2 plying the Santolan-Avenida route when they tested the system today (April 5). Wow! The trains are wide and long. The stations are big and clean. The ride is smooth. This is better than the MRT-3 (North Ave.-Baclaran). Definitely world class. This system promises a very good alternative to the jeepneys which are further slowed down along Aurora Blvd. by (ironies) the construction of the MRT.

Throngs availed of the test rides. When word leaked that the rides are free, many, even those in their house clothes trooped out to the stations. And all seemed satisfied with the quick ride. It took less than 15 minutes from Santolan to Legarda. Imagine doing that on the jeepney. It's not possible even on midnight of Good Friday.

The MRT-2 is slower but very similar to the MRT system in Malaysia. I wonder if its also driven by computers. Sana huwag ma-baboy ito kapag ginagamit na.

Here's a suggestion to the opposition

All opposition presidential candidates run because they think that GMA should be replaced and that they will be better presidents and they can do much with the flowing campaign funds. All these reasons are true, but there will only be one winner. So i suggest that they pool all their resources and withdraw in favor of just one candidate. That candidate would be the one with the biggest chance to win, FPJ. It will then be just a one-on-one fight. The others who withdraw now will not be covered by the one year ban on appointments. They can be immediately appointed to cabinet positions in an FPJ presidency. Roco can retake his Education portfolio or the Justice department or the COA. Ping can return to the Senate or better still be a very effective DILG secretary. Eddie V. can work at the DSWD. We must remember that the whole point is we should not allow GMA to have another 6 years.