IMELDIFIC

the LADY!!!!

Earlier, Ate Malou gave me an early call. Early call would be 5 in the afternoon for me. She knows that its my off from work, so she has a right to drag me anywhere. She called me, forced me to get up and break off from my dreaming to watch "IMELDA" in Glorietta. Well, its IMELDA! I had no reason to say no. So, I got up. Took a quick bath and by quarter to eight I'm already in G1.

At first, I felt sorry for Mommy Meldy being shown here in the corners of Glorietta. I'm expecting something like a G4 extravagance but hey! It's a documentary film, people won't bother to be in line to watch Imelda. They'd rather do it for Will Smith in I ROBOT.

Anyway, I've been hoping to watch the documentary since it was shown in the States last year, then I got frustrated when Imelda herself went berserk and decided to put a TRO on the film when it was about to be opened here in Manila. Finally, the TRO got lifted and Imelda is back in the limelight.

Of course, as expected the documentary is nothing but about IMELDA, and Imelda herself is doing the talking with just some clever "TUHOG" and sidelights, which contradicted every word she said.


I am not a Marcos baby, rather a Cory one. So my knowledge about the Marcoses is brought about by stories from my parents, history books and classroom lessons. But even though, I had a clear picture of a better Philippines during their reign.

The film struck me in a way that I never thought that the Philippines reached that kind of grandeur, which everybody around the world envied and respected. The film contained rare footages and interviews from the past. How the Marcos couple played around with so much money and the economy is very much controlled on the palm of their hands. Infrastructures were built that even as of today couldn’t be matched. After all the developments and all the spending for the Philippines, "I still have $100 Million to play around with," Imelda said. With so much money and with so much power, whether it is for good or bad, they made a name for the Philippines. No doubt about it, it was the golden age of our country.

I saw the different side of Imelda, the Imelda that cared, the Imelda that served, the Imelda the is wise contrary to the monstrosity she was described by most of the people today. I don't know if that is the purpose of the film or what. Even so, I would know if the film is just a political brouhaha trying to brainwash the younger generation but the film is balanced. The film also showed the other side of the coin, the side, which we are all familiar with.

Well, aside from that, of course the film wouldn't be titled such if it didn't probe on the woman herself. It focused on the beauty, extravagance, and grandiosity of the woman behind the most powerful man in Asia next to Mao Tse Tung.

Imelda was and still is beautiful and she did not put that beauty and charm to waste. She used that beauty and charm at its most advantageous way. Flaunting it to the outside world and making them realize that the Filipinos at that time were not still in their "bahags". She was like a queen and she made not only a name for herself but also a name for the country she is representing. She said that that was her job. To serve as a role model for the rest of the Filipinos. "If I can make it here, so can all of you", she said. Having tea and going to the opera with the President and the First Lady of the USA is already a big thing to do for the country. There is even a footage that showed Imelda going to Libya and meeting with the Libyan President Janjalani, trying to talk him out from supplying weapons to the Muslim separatists. The Libyan President said, "I like you", to Imelda. With her charm, Janjalani agreed to no longer send weapons to the Muslim separatists in the Philippines.

Beauty, extravagance and grandiosity were never a question to Imelda. Of all the backlash and condemnation thrown at her, she didn't deny the fact that she is beautiful, grand, and extravagant. She claimed that being beautiful is the essence of her life . . . . . the center on which, her body, mind and spirit revolve around. That made an impact on me. I never thought that Imelda would hold such a philosophy so dearly and with the fact that she has a philosophy in life after all. I always thought that she is a woman, rich and beautiful, void of anything else. And what struck me the most is that she never even mentioned the word power and authority in the film. (I just realized, is there any person in politics who would?)

After all, I learned a lot from her. One statement from her that made such an impact on me was, "There is a thin line between being wise and being a crazy person." And also when she said, "I'm just being misunderstood".

I don't know but I admire the woman whom after all those tumultuous events in her life still manage to speak up and express herself. Having dignity and philosophy. Being able to stand up for what she believes in. In the end, after hearing such person, there are only two conclusions we can draw from her, its only either she's wise or she's crazy. I won't cast my verdict, know for yourself.

In the end, we would realize that indeed there is a little IMELDA in all of us, not only because we adore shoes, not only because we put beauty with high regard, not only because we're vain and all but also because we are all human beings, susceptible to all mundane things and most of all, because sometimes we are perceived as crazy even though we know for ourselves that . . . . we are just being misunderstood.

A TWIST OF “FAITH”

A TWIST OF "FAITH"

Few years back, I have been very well indulged in books that deal with the occult and most especially books that can be regarded and perceived mostly as "anti-christian". In fact I came from a pure Catholic family. Both of my parents have religious bloods. However, the faith on the catholic church was not effectively passed on to the next generations. I am not saying that my catholic faith has a very weak foundation, in fact I even aspired on becoming a priest. In my younger years I had embraced and practiced the dogmas and the morals that the church had set for me to follow. But I guess that the age of innocence had ended in my lifetime. Time came when I started to question, time came when I started to not believe, time came when I sought for answers, I did not find it in the place or institution, which I long thought would enlighten me and clear my doubts away. Fortunately, I found my answers in my quest for the truth. It is not in the faith that some people hold dearly, it is not in the church where I found my answers. Answers to the question that you would be forced to ask when you face the greatest troubles of your life. Questions that you utter unconsciously in the middle of a dreadful event. Questions such as "Does God exist? If he does, where is he in times that I needed him?" I know that these questions can be considered as FAQ (frequently asked questions) and there are a hundred and one answers to these. But I am not merely looking for answers, answers that are based on "holy" literature, what I was looking for is proof, what I was looking for were solutions. It is true, and I am not afraid to admit it that I once had an extreme animosity against the Catholic Church, one-time I could even brand myself as an anti-christian. Then, I became an atheist but later on as I try to mend my angst and found more answers through philosophy and life itself, I went on becoming more subtle and subdued.

Anyway, this entry is about a book that I can't get my eyes off for the past few days. I first heard of the author some time like two years ago with his bestseller "The DaVinci Code", (that time I really never thought that it will make it bigtime) but I just shrugged my shoulders in response to some recommendations, I even chuckled to the fact that somebody is writing a fictionalized novel based entirely on what I have been reading few years back. Last Thursday out of curiosity, on my way to meet Ate Malou and Kirk in Seattle's Best in Megastrip, I came across a book of Dan Brown, the acclaimed author of DaVinci Code, in Powerbooks. Out of curiosity and maybe just a lack of something worthy to read, I got my hands on his prequel to the "Da Vinci Code", the novel is called "Angels and Demons".

I am not a fan of suspense-thriller paperbacks. I am very choosy when it comes to reading paperbacks, of course, Grisham would be an exception. But I did not choose him that time in powerbooks even though I saw that he has a recent novel "Bleacher". I just thought that I'm becoming to old for a Grisham. Well, I am not saying that Grisham is for teeny-boppers, what I'm trying to point out is that maybe it would be the time to graduate from his courtroom-suspense thrillers. Finally, I decided to get "Angels and Demons" and from that point onwards, I never put my eyes off it.

I tried to first look into Dan Brown's website to have enough information for me to be oriented as I read the book. Brown made it clear to his readers that the information that he had provided to serve as the framework of the story is completely non-fiction. They are facts. He just used the facts that he has to form a story and the plot. And the plot is more than what interests me, the destruction of the very foundation of the Catholic Church, the Vatican City, by a long-gone underground brotherhood that the Catholic Church had condemned centuries ago, the "ILLUMINATI".

Eventually the book turned out to be a good read. Gripping, should I say. The main point of the novel is the battle between science and religion. Some of us may agree in saying that it is the age of science and religion has become a pigment of our past. It is because science is able to answer all of our questions while religion on the other hand relies merely on how we believe. It is fact versus faith all along. So the big question is . . . . Is science the new god?

The main character of the story is a man named Robert Langdon, a Harvard scholar who specializes in symbology. The story began when he was awakened by a phone call coming from the director of CERN in Switzerland asking for his expert advice with regards to the death of a certain scientist with an esoteric symbol branded on his chest. The scientist by the way made a very remarkable and phenomenal discovery of the century or maybe of all of human history. The scientist just discovered how he could prove the Genesis by making something out of nothing. He had found the answer on how the universe was created, and he had discovered it in his lab. Like God, from his experiments, he eventually made something out of nothing but unfortunately the something would be all too dangerous being highly volatile once exposed. He had made a tiny globule of "antimatter", the something, and it would be a perfect energy source and at the same time, if fallen at the wrong hands, may be used as a weapon for mass destruction. From then onwards as soon as Langdon sat foot on CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, it seemed as if he couldn't get enough of surprises or maybe, surprises couldn't get enough of him.

Later on the book divulges the reason behind all the events that had unfolded, which resulted to:

First, the death of the Pope

Second, the occurrence of the conclave wherein all the cardinals around the world gathered up in the Sistine Chapel to elect a new Pope from the four Prefiritis (best candidates for the Papacy).

Third, while the conclave is not finished yet, the Camerlengo (Pope's Chamberlain), is in command of the whole Catholic Church, especially the smallest country in the whole world, the Vatican City.

Fourth, a newly discovered bomb, which was stolen from the dead scientist in CERN, was placed in an unknown location somewhere inside the Vatican City. The bomb has a 24 hr lifespan and if ignited, the quarter of a gram globule will explode as strong as a nuclear explosion, destroying the whole Vatican City.

Fifth, the kidnapping of the four Prefiritis, and their gruesome death in every hour, being televised worldwide.

These and more are the events that would unfold in front of Robert Langdon as the story moves on. However, in the end it would all be the same thing. There would always be a litany on how the church is crumbling at the foot of modernization and how the fate of the people is clouded because of their lack of faith in the Church. Most specially, how the Church would soon be replaced by science.

That is a very delicate matter that Dan Brown tackled in his book ANGELS and DEMONS. SCIENCE and RELIGION, what's the angel and what's the demon? Basically the book dealt with the church's survival in the modern times. At the end it is for us to decide on which to side, but of course there is still the option of believing in both. We can accept the facts at the same time not lose our faith on whatever or whoever we believe in.

If you are really interested in such topics MELCH recommends:

1. Holy Blood, Holy Grail
2. The Second Messiah
3. The Hiram Key
4. The Templar Revelations
5. The Woman with the Alabaster Jar
6. The Dead Sea Scrolls
7. The Apocrypha
8. The Messianic Legacy