Off to Burma

I will be in Yangon, capital of Myanmar (Burma) this weekend. I will be attending an international media conference there representing the Philippine Press Institute. This is interesting because the country is widely regarded as still represssive and a bit behind the times. But around 300 or so journalists and media leaders will be there to discuss, for sure, press freedom and other challenges facing the world press.
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TROUBLED THAILAND — Enroute to Yangon, I will take time and see how things are in troubled Bangkok. Things have quieted a bit in Thailand’s capital with the “yellow-shirted” protesters’ crowd not getting any bigger. They have been in the streets occupying public plazas, disrupting traffic and barricading government buildings to pressure Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to resign but to no avail. They want the prime minister to dismount from office but they did not want an election to be held to find a successor. They demanded that a private group, not elected, should take over. Oooops, strange demand! It’s an indication that the protesters do not have the majority supporting them.
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NEW UM CHAPEL — A few days ago, I heard mass at the new University of Mindanao Matina campus chapel with visiting Fr. Danny Montana officiating. He is now a parish priest in Paranaque, Metro Manila. It was the 25th death anniversary of the late UM founder Guillermo “GE” Torres, Sr. The chapel sits under the cool, green shades of trees in the heart of the campus which is now sprouting with new buildings. I always relish being in the Matina campus (whose main entrance is at the Maa road) with its lush greenery, expansive space, leisurely but quiet ambience and of course the spanking new structures and facilities that mushroomed just recently. UM President Willie Torres’ vision for UM is to be a world class university in the very near future.
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WAR FOOTING? — During the past few days, Russian troops militarily occupied Crimea which is an autonomous region of Ukraine but whose majority population is Russian-speaking. Not a single gun shot was fired. The population seemed to welcome the occupation. The West and Europe naturally are viewing this as pure and simple aggression and violation of an independent country’s sovereignty. They are plotting a counter-move. Russian President Vladimir Putin took a bold step. Let’s see what happens next. The world is now a small global village and everything somehow affects even though it is a bit far on the other side of the globe from us.
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WATER WARFARE? When I read about our fishermen being “attacked” with water cannons by Chinese vessels in the disputed territorial waters, I was not sure whether to laugh or to feel embarrassed. Especially when it took a month for the military to keep it as some sort of a top secret event and then belatedly announcing this ignominy. To me, this is still utter failure of diplomacy from the beginning — up to now.
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POPE’S TWEET ON MARRIAGE “”How to live a good marriage? United to the Lord, who always renews our love and strengthens it to overcome every difficulty.” (Follow Pope Francis in www.ThePopeTweets.com)