26/09/2024
I miss the Northeast and Midwest with this op-ed!
'REMEMBER THIS SEPTEMBER'
September is characterized by warm and cooler nights in the United States, a special time that not only provides a break from the oppressive heat of summer (June to September) but also heralds the much-anticipated foliage during the fall season, which the Northeast is famous for.
On Sept. 20, two days prior to the official start of autumn in the northern hemisphere, the Chicago Tribune ran a brief editorial titled “Try to remember this kind of September.”
The editorial stated that “April may be the poet’s cruelest month but September surely is Chicagoland’s most gorgeous. This year’s edition has been a real corker so far: warm days, slightly cooler evenings and, day after day, nary a cloud in the sky.” One of America’s oldest continuously published newspapers (founded in 1847) was obviously basking in the magic of the dawning of Chicagoland’s perfect season (compared to at least six months of frigid temperatures).
Apart from its surprising length of only 10 sentences, the editorial’s catchy title, “Try to remember this kind of September,” is what stands out. Remembering the events of this particular September is a perfect mental exercise for us all in this season of congressional inquiries that, wonder of all wonders, is going somewhere.
Roman agora
Perhaps our cynicism or apathy toward elective officials has caused us to be highly critical of inquiries-in-aid of legislation. Not a few lawmakers have used this hallowed forum, our version of the Roman agora, to discuss burning issues in aid or reelection, for instance. But our pessimism might have been diminished by the sight of several high-profile Chinese businesspeople linked to transnational syndicates parading before us in the Philippine Senate this month.
Through the inquiry led by the Senate committee on women chaired by Sen. Risa Hontiveros, we have witnessed ... the unraveling of a sprawling Chinese syndicate that has taken root in our country under the noses of, and in some instances, in close association with, law enforcement agencies.
Wrong place, right time
The inquiry reached a pivotal moment on Sept. 4, when Alice Guo, aka Guo Hua Ping, who was dismissed by the Ombudsman as the mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, was arrested by Indonesian authorities. In retrospect, we can conclude that Guo and her benefactors chose the wrong place to hide.
Indonesia is a very reliable neighbor and ally of the Philippines, and both have a robust cooperation in transnational crimes and border management. Both countries share the same pre-colonization history and Austronesian ancestry, with the majority of our ancestors of Malay descent originating from the Southeast Asian mainland, which encompassed what later became Indonesia.
