The perils of field trips

Immediately after President Benigno Aquino III announced that he had renamed the area being coveted by other countries as the West Philippine Sea, Taiwan immediately reacted and declared that it was not recognizing that tag. E tu Taiwan? But what can we expect? The area even has to call its athletes “Chinese Taipei”, or else. I bet nobody there remembers who was Chiang Kai Shiek, founder of their island state.

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In the meantime, let us leave the Chinese and the Japanese to do their own squabbling, also over territorial matters. China has claimed that Japan has stolen a piece of its territory, while Japan insists it bought it. So the Chinese are protesting near the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, and Japanese cars are reportedly being set on fire in the streets. So far, however, no Japanese diplomat has been harmed, and let us hope it continues that way, just some fire and noisy fury.

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The couple who are being charged for the maltreatment of their household helper to such extent that the girl has practically lost her sight, have been arrested and jailed. Earlier, the two had appealed to be detained at the NBI Bureau of Investigation, because of fear that they will be attacked by the inmates in the police jails. They were probably frightened by reports of the chanting women at the prison who claimed that they already had their “plantsas (flatirons)” ready. One of the complaints of the abused girl was that her mistress used to apply a flatiron to her face whenever she was not able to do exactly as she demanded. We don’t know, though, if the flatiron was hot or not.

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We don’t want to prejudge the couple, as the saying goes, a person is innocent until proven guilty. It will still depend on what transpires at the trial, since the mistress also has her own excuses and explanations. She has even claimed that the girl’s teeth were broken, not because of blows she got, but because she was fond of biting ice! Another claim was that the scars were from self-inflicted wounds. One thing that puzzles me, however, is how come the girl did not ever attempt to flee, or seek help, even just from neighbors, all the while that she was being abused? She does not sound stupid while giving her statements, you see.

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Senator Miriam Santiago is fuming because her colleagues did not join her in the probe of former Local Government Undersecretary Rico Puno. I bet she was very exasperated at the deadpan expression of Puno who just answered yes or no, or “I don’t know”. La Miriam must have been disappointed at his reactions. She even said she could get a heart attack dealing with him. It looks, though, that this Puno has got her measure, and knew how not to provoke her and also how not to get trapped by her. But later, he let go during a press conference which, I hope La Senadora had not seen or heard.

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The grandson of a former congressman from Cebu and his Korean friend, both teenagers, drowned in a waterfall pool in Morong, Bataan during a school activity. The boys, aged 14 and 13, came from the International School in Cebu and, I understand, the grandson of former Rep. Jose Gullas, was an only child. What a pain that must have been to the family. Earlier, there was also a report about some kids who were hurt during a school field trip. No wonder the Education Department is now mulling over the idea of stopping field trips.

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I cannot but agree. Our family had a helper who came to work for us after graduating from high school and we encouraged her to go on college. So she enrolled, and even if it meant that we were deprived of her services several hours a day, we put up with it because we felt we were helping somebody get a better life. On her fourth year in college, there were a lot of field trips she claimed were prescribed for them, and, trustingly, we allowed her to join them even if they involved going to Iloilo and other towns.

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Shortly before graduation time came, a member of the family noted that our “scholar” was gaining a lot of weight. To our horror, she soon confessed that she had a boyfriend, and was already four months pregnant! How could we help suspecting that the deeds must have been done during those field trips?*

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