Everything Has To End

Charlie Señase csenase@yahoo.com

The vogue saying that nothing is permanent but change holds true among mortals till now. And as perceived, people come and go from generation to another only to finally sigh adieu. Like Dr. Jose Rizal’s incredible feat as the country’s leading national hero had to leave us with his unforgettable last farewell in Mi Ultimo Adios.

Early this week, a close tennis buddy passed away in his late 70s. The peaceful adieu of lawyer Melquides “Milky” Cedeno brings to mind the much earlier parting of three other colleagues Jose “Ping” Estaniel, Wilfredo “Willie” Bueno and Dr. Rogelio “Roger” Chua. We were like siblings of old mingling and sharing sports, professional and social issues of concern for decades, and now leaving us nothing but memories of them. As it is written, all visible things are temporal but the unseen things are eternal that we have to prepare while still up-and-about.

As residents of Cotabato City, the recent performance rating of City Mayor Mohammad Ali “Bruce” Matabalao is praiseworthy to be the PH’s Top 6 performer with a rating of 70 percent compared to last year’s ranking of 15th place. Congratulation is in order, but Matabalao has yet to improve his peace and order program to surpass his predecessor, the first and only city mayor of Cotabato from the distaff side to have ruled with impact.

Former City Mayor Atty. Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi was so impressive that during her tenure, it was the “safest city” in Mindanao and second only to Puerto Princesa in the whole country. The Sayadi accolade was considered a breakthrough at a time when the city had been tagged as the PH’s “killing field and kidnap capital.” This is a challenge for her male counterpart to surpass such feat now that the city is again marred with frequent shooting incidents and other lawless violence as reminiscent of city’s past monicker. Sayadi’s deployment of the PH Marines had contributed greatly in the restoration of law and order as perceived by the national government.

Cotabato City which is now the sole regional seat of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Government with some villages in Lanao Norte and North Cotabato under its administrative control, police and LGU reports of ambuscades and shooting incidents appeared to have worsened.

At midweek, a Kidapawan City resident was killed and a Moro companion was seriously injured when their Toyota Hi-Lux was ambushed at Barangay Kayaga in Kabacan, North Cotabato.

Based from the official Bangsamoro Police Regional Office report, it showed a total of 211 shooting incidents in 2023 from January to May 9. And accordingly, these incidents were either motivated by intense political rivalry as village polls near, vendetta or personal grudge, land-ownership dispute or labor-employment conflict.

PRO-BARMM Chief Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza said that out of the 211 shooting incidents, 13 were meant against local government officials. This prompted his command to tighten security after a National Irrigation Administration local staff was shot to death recently at the Kabulnan irrigation range. This was followed by an assassination plot that killed a lowly public utility driver in Sultan Kudarat town of Maguindanao Norte.

Oftentimes, people ask: What’s new and Who’s who in the news today? And their next query is: Why and How? It’s about time that we ought to know that everything has its time and purpose in life as in – Time to congratulate and time to condole for the living to realize that what we sow or plant we will surely reap on harvest time for earthly life is sunrise and sunset. MC

LastMay 5th to 17th, 2023, the eleven member Southeast Asian Countries ‘athletes converged at Phnom Phenh, Cambodia for the 32nd SEA Games . Athletes from 11 nations compete for medals across 37 different sports with 581 medals dominated the competition, garnering 205 golds, while the Philippines had only 52, putting us on the 4th place, below Thailand, and Indonesia. The last time the Philippines hosted the SEA Games was 2019, held simultaneously in several places in Luzon. The Motto:”

We win as One” so inspired our athletes that they dominated in practically all events of the games. The host Philippines emerged as the overall champion for the first time in 14 years breaking its own medal count record in 2005. Vietnam, Thailand Indonesia, Cambodia are the frequent competitors of the Philippines for Gold and the overall championship.

EJ Obiena resets is previous SEAG record, cleared the 5.65 meter mark to win the gold. He continues to collect gold in different competitions, in preparation for his Olympic sojourn in Paris, soon.

Efren “Bata” Reyes was still treated like a winner as cheers from a predominantly Vietnamese crew at Ha Dong Gymnasium poured on all the way to the exits for the Filipino legend. Reyes may not be the biggest star in this year’s Games but his legacy and impact on the sport are invaluable, while his charisma remains undeniable. He lost 100-55 to star struck Tranh of Vietnam.