The Philippines and ‘bad’ feng shui

BERSALES

If national and local politics are so tumultuous nowadays, I would not fault you if you wonder whether this country is always doomed forever to drift aimlessly or that just when we are about to rise, things backtrack quicker than it can forward.

I remember about two decades or so back when some feng shui and geomancy expert said that so much bad luck was in this country for so many reasons. One of those reasons was the 500-peso bill that had Ninoy Aquino, father of the former president and namesake, portrayed with his hands on his chin in an unmistakable expression of dejection or disappointment if not depression. It was as if the Ninoy in that bill was anticipating a decade ahead how disappointing his son’s presidency would turn out to be for many people!

Then the expert also said that Malacañang was also covered with trees and therefore no good air could circulate to allow whoever was inside to reap the wind (I’m told that “feng shui” is short for “tsang feng, te shui,” gather the water, reap or collect the wind or something like that).

The third reason was that June 12, our date of independence, is apparently an inauspicious date. Of course for astrologers, June 12 falls on mischievous Gemini, never serious, always playful and lover of anything fun. No wonder then that our much-celebrated tourism slogan has stuck: “It’s more fun in the Philippines!”…or for the “animus corruptibus,” the corrupt animals among our politicians, “It’s more fund in the Philippines!”

So there. I am not sure if those are the reasons why this country seems to be always about to soar only to be pulled down by politics, the politics-of-the-narrow-interest kind.

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This week marks the 119th anniversary of the Tres de Abril uprising led by Pantaleon Villegas y Solde a.k.a Leon Kilat. And I was quite surprised at the number of shares I got when I posted his picture and some documents from the USC Cebuano Studies Center about the exhumation of his remains in 1924. I normally do not get more than one or two shares for the posts I make. And so it came as quite a pleasant surprise that I think I got more than 10 this time, which is a huge jump from the usual.

That it took about two years to reach Cebu even as the anti-Spanish revolution led by the Katipunan had been raging in Manila for some time already is quite telling of how conservative Cebuanos were (or are until now?). But once the floodgates of revolution had been opened, there was no turning back for Cebuanos.

Now here is some important trivia: If Tres de Abril is celebrated in Cebu City, should Talisay City celebrate Dos de Abril? You see, the Aliño brothers — Potenciano, Hilario and Sulpicio — actually started the revolt when they accosted a group of guardia civil (today’s police) there the night before, despite the plan to advance the uprising scheduled for Good Friday to the following day, Palm Sunday.

Change was promised on April 3, 1898. It was the promise of a new day. Until now, 119 years later, for many people, that new day never arrived. As we enter the holiest of days in the calendar, I hope we will all pray for the betterment of this country and for more patience from everyone, especially those who can no longer wait for the promised change.