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.

They lied to us

In Max Soliven's show, GMA finally admitted that the Jose Pidal accounts had campaign contributions for vice presidential campaign in 1998. That it's all private contributions not government funds, and that it was all right to use aliases when the accounts were opened, and that they closed them when she came to power, these are not the issues. All she's saying now does not hide the fact that they lied to us before.

Then Ping was right all along. Will GMA now admit Vicky Toh, the US homes and accounts, etc?

The pattern of deceit

I'm afraid the new round of jeepney fare adjustments (they prefer to call it that, instead of fare increase) will bring in more confusion than necessary. First, they say the base is shortened from 5 to 4 kilometers. I don't remember who made it 5 km again. Marcos (or Cory) brought the base down to 4 km years ago. So it's a trick. Then the LTFRB chief says the fare is only 63 centavos but won't mind if drivers round it up to 75 centavos as long as the passengers agree. Whaaat? That's allowing the jeepney operators to raise fare if we agree. If we don't then 'bahala kayo mag-away!' The new fare adjustment means that the minimum is still P4.00 for the first 4 kms. Pero dati na yun. Inuuto lang nila ang drivers. Pag-aawayin lang nila ang mga driver at pasajero

The government is buying time before it really acts on the fare issue. It does not want to allow any fare increase before the elections, but at the same time it does not want to antagonize the whole jeepney sector, knowing that it can only pay off some leaders but not the whole force. Again we see the pattern of deceit in its dealings.