The past two weeks have been terribly hectic for me. I know this because my skin is dry and coarse, and my pimples, which had gone dormant for the past three years, have again erupted.
I blame all of this on the gold rush. Not at Mt. Diwalwal, no, but then, gold can come in many forms.
1. The Golden Handshake
I lost my bid to become the youngest IBP President of Davao del Sur by 9 votes. I did not allow myself the comfort of any single tear or easy excuses, such as “he bought off the government lawyers”, or “everything got politicized because of my surname”. When asked as to the reason why I did not win despite the initial showing of a landslide victory, I simply smiled, shrugged and said, “I lost because I did not have enough votes to win.” So, after the elections, my partners in crime and i privately sour-graped and joked around for the rest of the saturday afternoon, accompanied only by fundador, san mig light and pulutan. In the two days that followed, my husband and i checked into a hotel, shopped, bowled and spent what would have been our substantial budget for the victory party that never materialized. Nothing like shopping to heal a disappointment! 
2. Golden Bananas
In a province where no natural gold mineral ores are found, bananas have become the choice commodity of violence. I was recently tapped to represent a group involved in the land dispute involving a banana farm consisting of 700+ hectares. It is interesting how many parties are claiming the land: the giant banana corporation, the agrarian reform beneficiaries, the original land owners, the applicants for land titles, and even a group of armed “indigenous people”. In my first appearance for my clients, I found myself in the middle of a literal stand-off between two truckloads of fully-armed combat-geared policemen, shovel and bolo-wielding CARP beneficiaries, and gun-toting, motorcycle-riding IPs. It didn’t help that the mayor of that town was at the opposite side of the airstrip, frowning at us while she ordered the policemen not to budge an inch!
3. Guns, Goons, Gold
So goes Philippine local politics. Although I have strived to avoid such dirty business in the past, I cannot help but get inveigled in the midst of it. My surname certainly subjects my movements and words to certain presumptions and interpretations. The same goes for my husband’s unilateral decision to subject our family to this horrible, horrible game. To console myself, I bought a labrador-shep pup and named her Bigfoot. Hopefully, she’ll protect me and my kids from unwanted visitors and solicitations. BIGFOOT, BITE!
I wish i could go back to where i was two months ago. Where my biggest concerns were slimming down to 110 lbs., improving my tennis serve, decorating my bowling sheet with turkeys, and teaching my daughter to regularly brush her teeth. Where my work was routinely 9 to 5 and I was free to turn off my cellphone during weekends without any pang of guilt.
I know, however, that these things are really only fools’ gold. That these too, shall pass. And that the things that are most golden in my life are only my kids’ hearts.
