AN ORDINARY FARM BOY

by Earlie Doriman 

Life in the countryside. That’s what I yearn to have again. Simple. Straigthforward. Beautiful. Abundant. Most of the delightful memories of my childhood stayed intense and pulsating. More than three decades now but I could still smell our farm. I could still hear the rustling leaves while trees are dancing as the wind blows their natural serenades. The mooing cows and carabaos, and chickens dashing around the backyard. I could not ignore the birds chirping their happiness. And as the sun slowly fades from the heavens, the serenity of life becomes apparent on every living organism, except for diverse and eerie-sounding insects, that weave the nights with bits of unruffled creepiness.

I was a ‘farm boy’ at a very young age of five. I was like my Tatay’s (dad’s) buddy at the farm. I regularly went with him to a piece of land that we looked after, some kilometers away from our home. Everyday, around four in the morning, my Tatay never failed to wake me up, made me a hot drink ( usually a home made coffee with condensed milk plus a dish of locally made sweet square biscuit). And as he sand his machete, I would gather small rounded stones from the front yard, put them in my net bag, and set on the slingshot round my neck before we kicked off to the farm.

White Easter

by Earlie Doriman

  

Definitely it is not going away, just not yet….I mean the winter weather of Britain, as it continues to spill sub-zero temperature across the country.  The ‘White Easter’ as they call it, will stay around for few more weeks and the forecast warns of a more unpleasantly cold days. Indeed awful!!

Spring is actually just around the corner as the daffodils and tulips have started to show, but it seems like it has not gained enough momentum to push the winter away. Shower of white bits and flakes suggest an entirely different picture of Easter, rather too extreme from the Holy Week in the Philippines which I always imagine at this time of the year, where the weather is not only warm and sunny but hot, burning and dehydrated.

POVERTY & REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH BILL

by Earlie Doriman

The Philippines’ consolidated RH Bill (HB No. 4244 & SB No. 2378) called “An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Policy on Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health, and Population Development and for other Purposes”; is a challenging subject of debate not only between the legislators but also amongst ordinary Filipino citizens. Observers and writers consider it as a ‘culture war’. The bill intends to guarantee a convenient access to modern methods and information on birth control, maternal and child health.

 To mention some of its important provisions, the RH Bill mandates the government to promote, without bias, all effective methods of family planning both natural and artificial; those that are medically harmless and lawful. It calls for the inclusion of reproductive health and sexuality education in the national curriculum from Grade 5 (11 years old) to Senior high school (16-17 years old). And under the bill, it will authorize a multi-dimensional approach to integrate family planning and responsible parenthood into all government anti-poverty programs.

ROBREDO’s SUBLIME LEGACY

by Earlie Doriman

DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo  ( May 27, 1958 – August 18, 2012)

                     Photo: yahoo.com/file photo of DILG Jesse Robredo

 Here is a man who provides us a paradigm of sublime public service. Honest. Dedicated. Empowered. A rare asset to a democratic government. A servant who never learned to abuse his political influence. Humble, Hard-working, and remained steadfast to his commitment to the country until the end.

Jesse Robredo’s tragic death is a massive loss to the Aquino’s administration. His competence is a wasted glory of a country which is always scarce of truthful politicians.   He definitely left a vacuum at the Department of Interior and Local Government, and certainly enough, his demise has an enormous blow to the encouraging image that the DILG has established during his leadership, however short. He is an immense loss to the Filipino people.

In my own prayers for his safety and the rest of the plane crew, I asked God why do people like him has to be taken too soon? Why not the Arroyo’s? Why not the Ampatuans? Why not the corrupt and unscrupulous? Why doesn’t the country deserve good leaders like him? Isn’t it too paradoxical?