Filipinos cry

Four moves to checkmate

Politics, like chess, is rarely about the move you can see.

It is about the move waiting behind it.

I thought of the Scholar’s Mate — the beginner’s four-move checkmate — while watching the country’s political chess board being rearranged. The pattern is simple: a queen and bishop converge on the king’s weakest square. If the opponent fails to see the final move, the game is over.

The first move: flood control.

A scandal exploded, with questions touching the administration itself. Then came the second move: investigation — as though the government were merely discovering the mess alongside everyone else.

The third: impeachment.

Somewhere between the moves sits the bishop — the Ombudsman — whose investigations can alter the board before the final vote. The Senate, meanwhile, retains the constitutional two-thirds threshold for conviction, after its recent ruling on how the voting base is counted.

Politics has always understood the usefulness of distraction.

The flood control scandal threatened to keep the spotlight on the administration. An impeachment moved it elsewhere.

Now comes the only move that matters: the opponent’s. If it blocks the final square, the game continues.

If it does not, CHECKMATE.

— Jason Mago

Running out of time

My parents keep telling me that I am rushing things. I am only 25, they say, and there is still plenty of time to buy a house, build up wealth, and become the provider I want to be.

Perhaps they are right about my time. I am less certain about theirs.

When they were around 22, they had already bought a bungalow large enough for a family. I earn more than the average Filipino today, yet the same milestone feels considerably farther away. Inflation reached 6.1 percent in August, while residential property prices continue to rise.

A P10-million home I cannot afford today may cost millions more by the time I finally can.

And that is before groceries, utilities, and everything else required simply to exist. I am fortunate because I already have a home through my parents. I wonder how much heavier this calculation becomes for someone earning less, paying rent, and supporting children.

So, yes, I am impatient.

There comes a point when a son who has spent his life being provided for begins wanting desperately to provide for others. My dream was never simply to own property. It was to give my parents something back while they were still strong enough to enjoy it.

I may have a lifetime to become wealthy.

But what good is wealth if the people I want to share it with are no longer there?

— Carl Magadia