Two fires!!

Last night, on our way home from school, I was surprised to find fire engine trucks blocking the way on my turn at the corner. I immediatedly asked a fireman where the fire was and to my horror, he said it was in our subdivision. My hair really rose up when he added it was near the basketball court. If that was the case, then my house might have been gutted down, too!

Nowhere to go, I parked the car by the sidewalk and ran towards home. To my relief, the fireman was wrong. The fire was by the gate and it was all over. The firemen were already rolling down the hoses, the streets were flooded and I can smell the air of damp burnt wood and ash. I proceeded to our house to see how my 84 year old mother-in-law and the maid were doing. The maid was ironing the clothes while the old matriarch was watching tv. Good! I was about to text my wife to tell her of the incident but decided not to for it might just cause her some anxiety.

This reminds me, just a few days ago, another kind of fire was blazing in the news room. Erap's conviction of plunder was all over the airwaves. I heard Jinggoy crying foul, as to be expected, saying that the Sandiganbayan was a kangaroo court anyway and that it was "created" to convict his father. This led me to thinking, if he and the Erap camp had been thinking this all along, why did they even participate in the proceedings? I recall Ninoy Aquino during the time of Marcos being incarcerated and brought before a court martial to be heard for acts of treason, crying he did not recognize the court and will not participate in any of its proceedings. I think that was what Erap should have done. By participating with the proceedings, he implied that he was willing to abide by whatever decision the court shall come up with. That is the risk of putting your plight before a court of law, I guess. Now that the court has given its decision, I think it is too late in the day to say that it was a kangaroo court after all.