At the End of the Day

THE ENORMOUS FIGURES of seized ivory smuggled "through" the Philippines--5.4 tons in 2009; 6.1 tons from China in 2006; 7.7 tons in 2005--prove the huge market of ivory in the country. It may be argued as a mere transhipment affair; but from all indications, it may not be so alone (why in the first place would smugglers from China passes through the Philippines? Does that make Philippine shipments to China safe by reputation?). By these figures alone we can surmise that these smuggling activities happen year in and out. With 2007 and 2008 reporting no cease or seizing of shipments, you can only presume that the supplies reached their intended receivers. I noticed in Brian Cristy's National Geographic article "Ivory Worship"  the perceivable excitement in the Catholic clerics he interviewed when speaking about the ivory icons. The reports from icon-makers in Manila on the regularity of Catholic clerics, religious and laity in their shops to purchase icons

IN THE ANCIENT magical arts, alchemy involved the use of myriad substances blended together in order to produce a special potion that witches and wizards use in their tradecraft. It is believed at times that using invisible ingredients can produce something out of nothing. That is, something visible out of things invisible. At least. Today, political journalism in the Philippines has a way of conjuring things from thin air. Sometimes to the shaking heads of readers who felt aghast at such violation of what is rational versus the propagandist slant in newsmaking. When senior Supreme Court associate justices had been bypassed in the appointment of Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno as the new Chief Justice, attendance in the flag-raising ceremony every Monday seems to transform from a mundane routine in the High Court into an exercise "abundant" with political interpretations; a politico-alchemical conjuring, so to say. Should the absence of certain justices

I CAN ONLY describe the hilarious development in the appointment hearing of former senator Mar Roxas at the Senate Committee on Appointments as kadramahan sa buhay Senador , so heart-pounding and drama-filled worth the best soap opera in television today.   Early today as she did yesterday when concluded her controversial probe on resigned DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago short of calling all the fires of hell to descend upon Roxas for not attending her Committee's hearing. She considered his absence as a "snob" of her invitation. And today must be her chance to make do her threat of blocking the appointment of Roxas as Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government.   But like an opera written with the versatility of a virtuoso in placing with the viewers emotions, the story shifted from drama, and potentially an action, into a fascinating comedy. Santiago indeed filed her motion to block the Roxas appointment. And