Tagum Death Squad

Where are the investigative journalists? Where is the police? Where is the outcry at such impunity?

It took a foreign organization, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), to uncover what we suspect: the existence of a vigilante group, Tagum Death Squad.

Not only that, in their investigation and subsequent report, they've uncovered the following too:

1.) That members of the Tagum Death Squad were under the payroll of the local government

2.) That the group was directly under the supervision of the previous mayor, Rey Uy.

3.) That the group was operating with the tacit consent of the local police.

The question now is: who is brave enough to bring those responsible to justice?

Read the full PCIJ article here.

White Water Rafting

Wow. That was fun.

Yesterday, Team Luy-A (I'll explain who we are in another post) joined RCBC Savings Bank on their summer outing: a whitewater rafting adventure.

If I remember right, Sir Ramy was the one who broached the idea that we come with them because Base Camp Davao, the whitewater rafting provider in Davao City, was holding a summer promo for the benefit of a certain school in Calinan.

I decided to join because I've never tried it before. So, flash forward, there we were along the shore of the Tamugan river listening to an instructor brief us about safety maneuvers and precautions.

Wait. You're not expecting me to narrate the whole experience, are you? Because even if I did so, it's not going to do justice to the experience. Like they say, the best things in life need to be lived. And, I kid you not, this is something one should experience first-hand.

So just allow me to say that the adventure was worth every peso. And then allow me to share just a couple of things about it.

Frisbee

Frisbee. This is what compelled me to wake up early after just four hours of sleep on a Saturday morning.

I was stricken by curiosity when Jiron and Pope mentioned about this weekend activity by the Lingkod ng Panginoon during Friday's prayer meeting. So I woke up at 4:30 the following morning, rode the jeep to St. Francis Church in Ma-a, and jogged the rest of the way to Crocodile Park.

I probably arrived at 6:30 AM in the field where we will play (which was simply an unimproved yet grassy residential block). Pope gave me my first lesson on Frisbee and focused the discussion on throwing backhand. Then, after an hour or so, other members from the community began trickling in and what followed was a group mini-drill on throwing and catching the Frisbee.

Eventually, after a brief (okay. not-so-brief) orientation by Pope on the mechanics, the game followed. And boy:

IT WAS FUN.

It was actually quite funny because, since most of us were novices, nobody ever thought of cooking up a strategy. The best that came up was immortalized by the phrase "man-to-man" where each was responsible for guarding a single opponent a la basketball. But, for the rest of the time, it was simply us running ourselves haggard across the field (to be fair, some semblance of strategy did occur at some point in the game but this was rare).

I had to stop though because I was wheezing. Some pointed out that my face was really red from the exertion but I'd like to think that it was the sun. Had it not been so sunny, I could have played all day long. But that's just me fantasizing.

Till next Saturday. Peace.

Exhortation

It was all Him.

Last Friday, I led my first exhortation during the prayer meeting of Lingkod Ng Panginoon.

It was my first "speaking engagement" since January and I was admittedly a bit rusty in public speaking. Plus, my stage fright came back with a vengeance and I never did calm my nerves down until the last minute.

Still, everything went well and I was surprised at how easily I spoke when the moment came. I started off with a story I found the other night, then connected it to the Gospel reading for that day, then finally used both materials to invite everyone for the praise and worship portion of the meeting.

That night, some brothers like Jess and Rommel affirmed my service with the consensus that I had "flow" and that my jitters were not evident. But I was the first to admit that it was all because of the tips the same guys gave me (the workshop did help, too). 

It was also because of Him, who gave me the words. I mean, despite who I was before, I could have easily dissolved into meaningless blabber and inchoate statements. But I didn't. I could have just said I wasn't emotionally or even spiritually ready (which I really was) but I didn't.

It's times like these, however small, that reminds me of a reality bigger than me.

One Probable Reason Why I Am Smart

Sorry. No exposition. I just want to share an article. Excerpt follows:

What they found was startling. KL-VS did not curb decline, but it did boost cognitive faculties regardless of a person’s age by the equivalent of about six IQ points. If this result, just published in Cell Reports, is confirmed, KL-VS will be the most important genetic agent of non-pathological variation in intelligence yet discovered.

Here's the article, The 3% solution