Brilliant
I have to admit, I was one of them, unworthy of the name we both share.
When Erap files his certificate of candidacy next month, the appealed case would be in the Supreme Court already, and Lozano can claim that as a supervening event of the filing so he need not re-file with the COMELEC again.
That would save him (and actually us) A LOT of time (of re-filing and arguing orally and in writing) with the COMELEC. With that move, he bypassed the COMELEC's processes (which could take ages), saving him and all of us a lot of time.
Had we gone through the normal process, we would have filed the disqualification case with the COMELEC. Then COMELEC would require Erap to answer within a period of time. Then, the parties would probably file their replies and rejoinders. Then, go through oral arguments. After that, the COMELEC will decide and that decision would be elevated to the Supreme Court, where the entire process would be repeated.
But with filing the disqualification case now, there would already be a COMELEC decision up for review by the Supreme Court, hence legally bypassing a necessary but time-consuming step.
But of course, that move is a double edged sword. He may or may not be disqualified, we don't know how the Supreme Court decides. At least, we will know quickly.
So Atty. Lozano may be a lot of things, but not stupid. As a matter of fact, it was a brilliant move. That's a move that I admire. The maneuver that appears to be stupid at first, even at the point of mockery, but in the final analysis, was really brilliant in the first place.
So okay, he is worthy of the name we both share.
Flood veteran
Most of my friends don't know about this but I have survived several flood incidents back in my younger years.
I grew up in an area of Pasig/Cainta that floods every year. Fortunately, we had a second floor and the water only gets to about hip-high. The flooding there was so common, we already built a high ramp to put our cars so they were dry when the waters rose.
We were still high and dry and we somehow got used to flooding. The flood then was localized in our particular area so there were times I still had to go to school as classes were not suspended. I remember wading in waist-high flooding for a long distance to get to my dad's office, where the car was. And from there, we cleaned up and headed off to school. I remember I really had to attend classes then because we had our quarterly exams. Leptosyrosis was unheard of then.
We got used to it. But it came to a point where we got fed up with the annual floods in the area. So we headed to Quezon City.
When I got married, we settled again in Pasig, in a place called Pinagbuhatan. It was a a swell place back then. Since we lived near the city market, it was a place that never sleeps. During the wee hours of the morning, the delivery trucks came to unload their goods. It was fascinating.
We moved out of that place because, ironically, water was scarce. The local water supply was unreliable at best and we went for a few months there without water in the pipes. Imagine having to haul water to the fourth floor.
Then, it was back at Quezon City, in a place called Northview.
When I got unmarried, we went back to my parent's house. You know that bit...
And then these floods came...
Never have I seen floods on such a wide area. And all the places I have lived got severely flooded. The flood waters went up to the second floor in our original house. My old house in Northview got flooded all the way to the ceiling. And the now infamous Pinagbuhatan, it's still flooded until now... and the waters have turned sewer black...
Fortunately, my present place was spared. But we were stranded in Nico's school that day. As we tried to find a route to go home that fateful day, we even attempted to pass by Barangka, Marikina, only to turn back when we heard on the radio that we cannot pass through Nangka anymore.
As we tried to go back to Nico's, we even passed by the now infamous Provident Village just mere minutes before the flood waters there rose. We literally saw the waters in Marikina that day turn from transparent to mud.
We were lucky to have made it back to Nico's school that day. Any time difference we would have been flooded in our car with nowhere to go...
So we consider ourselves lucky and are grateful that we came out of that "adventure" alive. We know it could have gone either way.
Labels: family, flood, grateful, Ondoy, veteran
