ON MY WAY TO LUNETA TODAY, 30TH OF JUNE 2010

On my way to Luneta today, the 30th of June 2010, the inauguration day of the new President Benigno C. Aquino III and Vice-President Jejomar C. Binay, I was thinking what I could do to remove the boring time of walking from Taft Avenue to the Quirino Grandstand. Why, I found myself reciting a poem: "The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep." Robert Frost who wrote this could not have been less right in describing we, Filipino people would like to do. We want to rest and enjoy our life but then we have many things to do, to keep aright our political life.

Then I also recited Christina Rosetti's "When I am dead my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me, Plant thou no roses on my head, nor shady cypress tree..." From a sense of responsibility to death seems to be our lot -- as we face our life seriously, it seems it will entail sacrifices though death becomes real.

Then I sang, "What a Wonderful Life," and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" all American songs sang by Louis Armstrong and Judy Garland, and I asked myself, why can't we write lyrics that could speak of the beauty of life?

True enough, we heard an earful of Noel Cabangon's nationalistic songs, and the campaign songs sang by Ogie Alcasid and Regine V. together with the Kundirana, as well as the Apo Hiking Society. Our life is so deeply immersed in problems all related to politics that even our music could not but be tied up with what is happening in our midst.

But what truly shocked me was that "Pamulinawen," the favorite Ilocano folksong of Marcos opened the inauguration of P. Noy, while "Dahil Sa 'Yo," Mike Velarde's piece, Imelda's signature song was played before he took the rostrum to speak. Of all songs to be selected why did the PPO picked them? Were they insinuating something here like the perpetuation of a dictatorial rule - which they could have wanted the audience to sink in our minds?

I hope I could be wrong in my reading.

Anyway, the inauguration had very good sounds -- compared to Cory's rallies at Lawton during the Marcos' days when she was bidding him goodbye. Today, the sounds were clear, with high fidelity to the voices of the emcees- Mae Paner and Jim Paredes. Even the symphonies played by the PPO were brilliantly sounding -- as if every instrument had its own microphone and amplifier.

Over-all the speech of P. Noy was straight to the point, no holds-barred. He called a spade a spade, without naming names, but whom the audience knew by heart referred to the last administration's leader.

By the way, when I saw the No. 1 car pass and stop in front of the grandstand, my breath became very difficult. I saw the person responsible for all our broken lives and dreams of ten years. And she was smiling without remorse at all with what she and her cohorts and had done, as if she still deserved a regal farewell. Then I saw P. Noy leave on the other side, and I felt a relief, knowing that a new era is dawning.

While P. Noy was speaking, suddenly I felt weak and my body shaking as if I was going to drop dead. Then I knew I had suffered a heatstroke. I walked back a few feet to the side of the media platform, right of the Grandstand stage facing it, where I had taken a good viewpoint of the proceedings earlier. Kind souls helped me cope with it. A female media practitioner offered water and also rubbed my back. Then a male mediaman offered me wipes which I then sprayed with perfume for me to smell. Thus I felt relief all over and was able to resume listening intently, recording the speech of P. Noy through my celfone, and shooting photographs of the scenery.

After the inauguration, I walked towards the Manila Hotel to get my ride along Bonifacio Drive. Then reality set in. Elderly men and women in barong and long gowns were walking past rows of urban poor people, eager to view who's who, dressed in short shorts, tee shirts, rubber slippers and holding yellow ribbons.Some had gone to sell mais, buko juice, taho, mineral water in plastic bottles, tusuk-tusok fishballs and quail eggs. Others could have gone to googoo eye their favorite stars -- I saw Sharon Cuneta who has grown sinfully obese, her daughter KC, Ai-Ai de las Alas, Albert Martinez who walked to the grandstand together with a woman wearing a mini white dress and five-inched high heels, and the producer who gave us all the sex movies when the movie industry was in the doldrums. Truly, star-struck fans can always be counted upon to brave threats of rain and heat to see their faves.

And thus it went, this historical moment in our country. I am glad I was able to watch it upclose as I had felt the energy of the people in wanting and having changes in our socio-political, economic and cultural lives.

Actually, what we witnessed today is the end of a shattered democratic rule and the shaping of a new democratic regime that hopefully and prayerfully shall live up to all its pronouncements and promises through six years. But what I look forward to really is the strengthening and stabilization of our democratic institutions, which P. Noy mentioned as the central point of his administration.

This will be his greatest legacy to the Filipino people, the culmination of the sacrifices of his parents.

As a Filipino president, P. Noy who spoke in Pilipino was sensitive to the poorest of the poor of our country who probably would not have understood his speech had it been in English. He did not use high falluting and abstract terms but rather a kind of language which could be read even in the tabloids with conscience. For someone who was much maligned during the politcal campaigns, he now presented himself every inch as a respectable president of our country.

We would be proud to have him going around the world, representing the interests and ideas of our people in having a peaceful, prosperous, democratic, just and equal world to the international community.