Until now, I can still recall vividly how my grandparents looked out for the “tubong” everytime a new year began. I think “tubong” translates to “equivalent” or “counterpart”, because our grandmother explained that they, and other farmers, look out for the weather on the first 12 days of the year. If January 1 was sunny, that means the whole of that month would be the same. And if January 2 was cloudy, February would be cloudy, too, and then if January 3 is rainy, it will be rainy in March. And so on and so forth. My sister and I were Doubting Thomases, and marked out the months according to their predictions, and really, they were about 50 to 60 percent right!
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I forgot about that this time and was not able to mark out in my calendar how the weather had been on the first 12 days, and now it’s too late. But as all of us may have noticed, those first 12 days were mostly rainy, weren’t they? Anyway, we all know about the old saying “unpredictable as the weather” that describes people whose actions we cannot anticipate. Of course weathermen will scoff at those old beliefs, but I wish they were more consistent in furnishing media outlets their forecasts so people could adjust their plans accordingly.
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Why are we talking about the weather as if there is nothing to think about these days? There is, for one, the news that the vaccines against the COVID disease are virtually unavailable to poor countries because they are being cornered by the wealthy ones. What about our own country, have we gotten a supply of it for our people? But will the supply be enough only for those who can afford it? Let us all hope and insist that our government will be able to acquire enough for all of us, and that it will be administered free.
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One country whose people must have taken COVID off its winds is the United States where the political climate is in turmoil is the United States where the outgoing president is being suspected of having been behind the riot that killed four persons at the capitol. Of course there are suspicions that it was instigated, if not by President Trump himself, it must have been some of his followers. As far as I have noted more arrests have been made, but it was too big a group to have been thought up and assembled by only four persons. Let us see what their Federal Bureau of Investigation can further unearth.
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But we sympathize with the Indonesian families whose loved ones were on that plane accident last week, killing all 50 passengers and 13 crew members. The plane, a Boeing 737-500 reportedly lost contact three minutes after take-off and sank into the sea. So it must have been on Indonesian skies yet when the crash happened. Among the findings were that it had a very high speed rate, but who is to blame now because all aboard sank with it? For sure, efforts are being made to, at least, recover the bodies, but to the bereaved families of those passengers, I believe, not even hope is left.
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As of this writing, I have no idea yet what the American people have decided about the president they had elected whom they are now trying to get rid of. Seems there already was an impeachment case before against Donald Trump, but it didn’t work. Now a lady senator, Nancy Pelosi, is said to be initiating such moves because Vice President Mike Pence must have felt it unbecoming of him to do so. So a woman has taken the helm and let us see what Trump can do to remain in the White House.
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I am sure many Filipinos are alarmed at the news that California is now one of the hardest hit by the COVID in the United States. On Tuesday alone, it had recorded 50,000 new cases according to TV reports. I think it is one of the states that has a big Pinoy population and this has worried a lot of our kababayans here. But what can we do, except to pray for them and caution them to be faithful in observing all protocols that could protect them? Those from Bacolod should know that people here are so faithful in avoiding crowds and wearing masks, with shields, too, so we have a lower number of casualties than other places.
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When I turned on the TV yesterday afternoon, what was being covered was the deliberation on the vaccination program of the country. That’s good to hear, but I hope not all the members will want a chance to expound on the subject so that approval of the plan will take several sessions – and more victims – before it is approved and implemented. Let’s do away with the oratory, and get on with the action, please! This is a time for immediate action, not an opportunity to get in the news. Please!*
