Naga at Random - The Follow-ups

It’s almost Christmas, and my thoughts naturally wander back to the place of my childhood. Going back to Naga City last Peñafrancia Fiesta gave me an opportunity to have some sort of follow-up to my two previous posts.

This time, I managed to go inside Avenue Square and confirm that it truly is a small version of Metrowalk. I was visiting my brother and his family, whose residence / music studio was just a block away, and they invited me for some after-dinner coffee in the local branch of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. The Avenue Square was in fiesta mode and customers from the nearby residential areas came in force (possibly they also brought along visitors from Manila). What caught my attention was the dramatic lighting and landscaping. The ambience in the cafe, as well as the other shops I assume, catered to middle class sensibilities. The wooden furniture, comfy seats, wall decors and the large glass of smoothie I was consuming, generic though they may be, could be likened to coffee shops in Manila.

Speaking of Manila standards, I had also gone inside the E-mall--in its Robinson's Grocery to be exact. From the outside the E-mall looks both promising and imposing. The mini-mall itself was just as large as its local counterparts like Master Square and Robertson's, so the grocery itself was quite small and lacking in shelf space to display a wider range of products, but its cleanliness and orderliness was just as good as its counterparts in the NCR. Too bad I didn't have time to roam around.

-oOo-

I managed finally to get a photo of that Greenbelt impostor in downtown Naga. It's not much though since I just used a cellphone camera as I was riding a tricycle.

-oOo-

Being in the city itself enabled me to be reoriented to its spatial context, and made me form some Urban Planning concerns a la Urbano de la Cruz.

Regarding the housing developments in the frontier barangay of Pacol (as well as contiguous municipalities north of Naga), the increasing affluence of its residents might cause more automobiles in the city since they would go to work and school downtown, which is at least four kilometers away. But downtown Naga (the original Central Business District or CBD1, more commonly known as Centro) is barely able to handle rush hour vehicle volumes, and for parking, vehicles merely park along the road. There's a CBD2 being developed, but it's just bedside Centro and also far from Pacol.

The easiest solution would be to encourage the development of commercial areas in Pacol itself. I must emphasize though that the environmental impact should be minimized to preserve the pristine environment of this originally agricultural area near Mt. Isarog. What I'm hearing is that this is the present track being taken by the city government, understandably so since it would involve less political and financial strain for City Hall.

The other solutions include policies discouraging ownership of private vehicles together with policies boosting public transport. For instance, the car owner would face higher taxes and fees. Environment-friendly alternatives to the jeep and tricycle could be introduced. These may be too drastic and burdensome, therefore unpopular. In turn, implementation and enforcement would require a great deal of government resources.

As for the parking problems, there are vacant lots in Centro that could be opened to parking. At the same time, stricter parking measures (including towing) should be implemented. Multi-storey parking structures may be built on the larger lots. Underground parking is iffy due to the almost yearly flooding episodes encountered in the low-lying areas of the city.

-oOo-

Speaking of transportation, I encountered no hassles in my bus trips to and from Naga last September. I rode Isarog Bus Lines on the way there. I must say, the La-Z Boy seats were overrated for me at least. Sure, it had easy push-button adjustment controls and superior shock absorption that cushioned my butt for the whole eight-hour trip, but I was still in a moving vehicle, and whatever discomfort and difficulty in sleeping I had have was primarily due to the motion, not the seat ergonomics. On the way back to Manila, I rode a Philtranco bus that wasn't speed crazy at all. Lastly, there was no "road kill" encountered this time around.

-oOo-

There's another Naga City nowadays. Residents of Naga town in Cebu chose cityhood in a plebiscite earlier this year. I guess this new city will be known as Naga City, Cebu, while my home city in Bicol, by virtue of its being a chartered city, will simply be called Naga City. For me, who had experienced and is still experiencing awkward dealings with namesakes, all I can say (in my limited Visayan) is "samok."

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President Jack Ryan and the TV News Anchor (Part 2 of 2)

(Continuation. Spoiler alert still up.)

What kind of a president is this John Patrick Ryan? For the enemies of the United States, who by this time have regrouped from their humiliation as narrated in the previous novel, this new president may be skilled as a technocrat, but he was unprepared for leadership and statecraft, a weakness they shall exploit. Indeed, an America reeling from tragedy was most vulnerable, and they shall keep the superpower distracted with attack after attack, like hyenas circling the lion, while they pursue their world-changing goals. (What's a political thriller without the megalomaniac?) For Jack's personal friends, he's a straight shooter, a committed man, and, being a non-politician, someone with the willingness and capability to finally put some order in the government.

Ed Kealty had taken the political bumbling of the neophyte Ryan as a sign, an opportunity for his political redemption. In those troubled times, entrusting the presidency to an amateur was a risk the country should not take. On the other hand, he, Ed Kealty, experienced in the ways of government and beloved by media was ready and willing to take over. His only problem was that his charm was irresistible to women as they were irresistible for him.

Working on the notion that the resignation letter was never submitted, Kealty claimed that he was, in effect, never been removed as Vice-President and was therefore the rightful successor to the late President. This was political suicide, Kealty acknowledged, but in all earnestness before the camera, he would say that he was doing this for the country. At first he put the White House in the defensive, and Ryan, whose temper was a character flaw, would privately fume in the Oval Office. But the presidential Chief of Staff was a great political mentor, and Ryan's sincerity was eventually received by the public: exhortations in his speeches translated to voting trends at the emergency Congressional polls. Even the normally skeptical press had started to cut him some slack.

Kealty sensed his efforts were coming up short. As a last-ditch effort, he turned on Ryan's mysterious CIA past, hoping to play on the public distrust on the secretive spy agency as well as expose the international scandals that Ryan's actions in the Agency had concealed. With a leak from a news special, ironically more favorable to the President, that a print journalist was working on, as well as Kealty's own CIA source, the fallen Vice-President showed to a TV news tandem classified information about the anti-drug operation in Colombia and the defections (and conveniently omitted the part about stopping a nuclear war). Now to catch Ryan unawares, Tom Donner, the younger, more aggressive anchorman of the pair, suggested that they tell the Presidential staff that the tape of an earlier White House interview got damaged and request for a live one at primetime. Later on TV, Jack's eyes widened upon mention of places and names better left unsaid. He could not admit nor deny, but feebly insisted on his position not to comment on CIA intelligence activities.

The fall out was immediate. Colombia questioned the violation of their sovereignty and was worried on the impact to their anti-drug campaign. More importantly, coordination with Russia was hampered at a crucial point when the international threat was growing. Also, the defectors were outed and, thus, their lives were put in danger. Both friend and foe abroad were in agreement that the news anchors committed an act of treason, and in their countries the necessary punishment would have been meted out. But Ryan could only release his rage in private: charges could be filed, but that would only mean an implicit admission. Not that it mattered anyway. Russia for instance, had figured things out, and for them it was merely a matter of reclassifying which information was true and which was false. His enemies, though while acknowledging the revelation that could be Ryan cunning and formidable, took the non-action to the committed treason as another sign of weakness.

Perhaps it could be said that Tom Donner was indeed siding with Ed Kealty, for the latter was good to the media and they were just finding comfort in the familiar. Or perhaps he was just acting out media's role as a watchdog, naturally critical of the government, especially this new one slowly being populated by political outsiders and led by a non-politician with the absence, as of that moment, of the usual checks and balances. Indeed, the Congress and Supreme Court were killed off in the crash, and only the media remained unscathed to check on the administration: what an immense responsibility. The CIA might hide and disclose on a need-to-know basis, but for the media, the people had the right to know who their president was.

On the other hand, maybe it was primarily about the scoop, and confidential information was one hell of a scoop. Maybe it was no different with the journalist whose story they stole. Although the journalist had expressed the intention of helping Ryan, in the end, especially for the journalist's editor-in-chief, it was just one good scoop, and putting the President's past in a favorable light was just secondary.

What about public reaction? Of course, some people would fuss about the violence and the fact that Ryan had killed twice, others would admire him as a man of action, perhaps consider him a hero for a lot of reasons, but mostly because he defended his family. Some would be shocked at the interference to other countries while others would accept it as the roles of the World's Policeman. In the novel, the popular pulse wasn't really given that much attention or it was dismissed as susceptible to spin. This tells something about the government's perception, or maybe just Clancy's.

Meanwhile, the journalist wouldn't take the theft of his story sitting down. He had an idea of where the lies were and he would expose these to get even. He found help in the person of John Plumber, Tom Donner's senior and conservative partner. Plumber had misgivings of his partner's deceptions and was looking for a way out. The new pair of conspirators hatched a plan that involved the anchor's surprise farewell address at his nighttime TV news program and a top story at the journalist's paper with him as co-author.

The expose sent ripples across the media industry and disgraced Tom Donner in particular, but also his TV network as well as TV news in general, as the journalist had hoped it would accomplish, such that the public's trust would shift back to the newspapers. Back at the White House, Jack Ryan might have gloated, but again, no charges were pressed. Maybe he was just too busy dealing with the foreign attacks that had ravaged the country, which even his family was not spared. Moreover, the situations in the Indian Ocean and Taiwan Strait were getting complicated. On top of all these, a war was looming in the Middle East. The expose on Tom Donner was just a small thorn off Ryan's presidential arse.

Speaking of that war in the Middle East, it came to a point that US troops will have to be mobilized, and Tom Donner, as part of an earlier arrangement to be a war correspondent, was shipped along with the soldiers. The first though that would come to anyone's mind, was that Donner would be killed in the heat of battle, and Ryan would actually have his revenge. However, as the full extent of the conflict was revealed and the tanks Donner was embedded with rolled along virtually unopposed, the repentant reporter declared with gratitude how he was given the rare opportunity to witness history as it unfold.

All's well that ends well in the world of fiction. Perhaps this is why amidst the bad news hovering over the country in the past weeks, I immersed myself in the world of Executive Orders as a form of escape or maybe as a way to flesh out the hope that, in a better age, systems fulfill their purpose and persons rise above their differences, contribute their talents and lead all to the path to happily ever after.

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President Jack Ryan and the TV News Anchor (Part 1 of 2)

Coming into the last month of 2007, we were back in interesting times and every blogger had a field day flaunting his or her biases. On the days immediately after the Manila Pen incident, I engaged in punditry at Philstar.com, this time zealously defending my comments by contesting every deletion (futile it may seem, but paraphrasing did get me somewhere) and arguing against other posters foolish enough to piss me off.¹ When the comments started waning and the debate was more subdued, I shifted my attention to friends' blogs. Thankfully, what I encountered was either an absence of a discussion or entries similar to my opinion.²

As for this blog? Well, my way of thinking is not so much like that of journalists and columnists but more like those of historians, futurists and fictionists; thus, I shall not inflict further upon you, gentle reader, high-blood-pressure-inducing appeals to emotions most blogs and columns alike enjoy dishing out at this moment since I might do it poorly (and really induce hypertension). Rather, I shall be sharing a subplot from a novel I just finished recently. A spoiler alert is in order.

Tom Clancy's Executive Orders is the culmination of the career of Tom Clancy's fictional hero Jack Ryan who was introduced to public consciousness in a novel chronicling his exploits as an obscure history lecturer and stock broker thrust into history by saving a family of the British Royalty from the IRA (Patriot Games). Due to subsequent terrorist attacks on his own family, he becomes a CIA analyst, and rises though the ranks to become Deputy Director, Central Intelligence. The novels show him pulling the plug on an illegal operation in Colombia (Clear and Present Danger), facilitating three Russian defections (Red Rabbit, The Hunt for Red October and The Cardinal of the Kremlin) and stopping a nuclear war (The Sum of All Fears), wherein the last one made him quit the CIA.³ Big stuff indeed, all of which could make him a well-loved All-American Hero, which, in turn, he could easily translate into a seat in the government but they were well-kept secrets in the CIA. Besides, he may respect the institutions, but he abhors the politics involved in running them.

Now it so happened that after Ryan's CIA stint, the novel Debt of Honor shows how he got sucked back into the government as the National Security Advisor mainly because he was not someone who runs away from a challenge as well as the opportunity to serve his country. (Aww, ain't that cute? It's even cuter because he doesn't say it like a politician would--out loud for the world to hear.) Like any good fictional coincidence, Ryan's appointment came at a time when America finds itself at war with an international alliance of emerging powers. It was a 21st century war waged with stealth, minimal force, espionage, sabotage and deceit (the last of which involved--gasp!--the US media). And oh, USA won that conflict.

A subplot in that novel was a sexual harassment scandal involving the Vice-President Ed Kealty. In order avoid impeachment and further shame the entire administration, which was busy fighting a war, it was agreed that he would tender his resignation. Jack Ryan's impressive contributions in winning the war made him a shoo-in for the vice-presidency, it did help that he was supposed to merely fill in the vacancy for the next six months before the elections.

There was no stopping Jack's ultimate rendezvous with destiny, however. In a "shocker" of a "heart-stopping climax" as the reviewers had put it,⁴ an unexpected attack killed off the country's leadership--the Congress, the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Cabinet and even the President himself--with only Jack Ryan surviving and immediately sworn in as the new president, setting the stage for Executive Orders.

(To be continued.)

-oOo-

Footnotes

1. My opinion was in the majority, but as the mutineers have shown, stupidity existed and their mutiny had agitated me enough to be in the fighting mood: one rabidly biased idiot got his ass handed back to him with at least one fan cheering me on to boot. Too bad the entire "debate" was deleted; the world was deprived of laughing at his stupidity.

2. If ever there's a different opinion, I don't think they'll be as ridiculous as what I occasionally see in Philstar.com and what I usually see in some blogs out there--one tip, it's so easy too see your bias in this incident if you focus on the mistakes of one side only when it is clear that all sides were incompetent fools playing heroes, villains and broadcasters of a painful comedy.

3. The movie version made major revisions and consequently resulted in a Ben Affleck flop way too inferior to the novel, worse than the usual case with novels turned to movies. How dare they mess up one of my favorite Clancy novels! My other favorite is Debt of Honor. Let's see if they would ever dare make a movie out of that one!

4. It would still be about a decade later that all would be shocked--for real. Though the counterpart events in the real world were under different circumstances, the eerie similarity with 9/11, the anthrax scare and war in the Middle East (in similar chronological order to boot!) would make one think that Tom Clancy had a political crystal ball up his sleeve.

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