It was my first time to see and hear the governor and I was impressed.

I have never heard any other politician speak so clearly so emphatically and with so much passion but without the bombast and the self-serving claims that pepper the speeches of the garden-variety politico. I am impressed with Among Ed’s clarity of mind and his sincerity. In fact, perhaps, what ought to happen is for his speech at that inter-city meeting to be broadcast in full to the nation.

He talks about reforming society but not by blaming others for the shortcomings of our government and nation but for all of us and each of us individually to examine how we personally contributed to our moral decay. It was a powerful message that was delivered with sincerity, love and humility.

He was asked about possible future presidential plans and he answered by saying that he missed saying Mass so much that it made him cry to think about not being able to preside over the Mass; that what he really wanted for himself was to get back to being a priest (he is currently suspended from doing his priestly functions). Even as he was saying that, however, many in the audience were thinking to themselves: "Why not?" He would make a great national leader who leads by example. As he explained, he lives on his salary of P27,000 a month and does not steal or abuse his privileges. Thus he expects that everyone in his Capitol will live their lives the same way. He has no ghost employees and has not hired anyone who is not needed.

Would that we had more public officials like Among Ed who can do the job without first thinking of themselves and their future and without lining their pockets with the people’s money.

Among Ed is straight, honest and sincere and he has no mean words for anyone even those who are presently plotting and conspiring to take his seat away from him. How can one not admire someone like that?

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We have a letter: "Keep pressing with the responsible way you are making us see the ZTE light. I guess that certain letter writer was right when he said many if not all of us hate the Arroyo government’s appetite for large-scale corruption, but Lozada might not be the cleanest person on earth too.

"He might actually have been setting the government up with things like requesting for money or help, and when he is granted, only to use that generosity against the very people who might have the best of intentions in helping him. In other words, we cannot impute 100 percent pure thoughts or motives on the part of Lozada. Unless he is also a ‘pakawala’ of the opposition, his expose is dramatic and many of what he is saying is credible. There just something that tells me that I should doubt his agenda. And in the ‘Harapan’ TV program, his comment on sartorial tastes was childish. I am seeing an image handler in his public appearances. Nonetheless, he is a half-hero to me for coming out albeit belatedly.

"Arroyo: Please rein in or moderate the greed in your administration. If not for the economy doing comparatively well, even if the OFW money is largely behind it, the ‘people power’ combustion might have long sent you already to kingdom come." – Mike Eliot

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Mike, I am not for ‘people power’ whether the old variety or the new, improved version that some churchmen are advocating. What I fear is that what happened before will happen again which is that we will again find that we jumped from a hot frying pan into an even hotter frying pan.

One has to admit that this government is worse than if Erap had stayed on and had finished his term. I believe that when we are rushed into doing something that something turns out (almost always) to have been something rash that we will soon regret.

I believe that the better thing to do is to be patient, plan things properly and do the right thing when we are ready to reform our society holistically and completely. By concentrating too much on getting Gloria out, we miss a lot of the other things that need to be changed and – months later – we wake up to still another government that is worse than the last one. I realize that it is hard to imagine a worse government than this one; but frankly, didn’t many of you believe that nothing could be worse than Erap’s government; and yet, his was a better presidency – cleaner, more honest and more transparent – than the administration of Gloria Arroyo who was installed to reform what was perceived by the People Power believers to be the bad Estrada government. As it turns out, bad was better than awful.

Ka-awa-awa naman tayo kung ganoon na naman ang mangyayari ulit!

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The Philippine Women Judges Association will hold its convention on March 7 and 8 at the Manila Hotel. There will be lectures on civil rights and environmental law as well as a visit to Subic. The Theme is "Lady Magistrates: Within and Outside the Halls of Justice."

The president of the Philippine Women Judges Association is Supreme Court Associate Justice Minita Chico-Nazario. Among the officers (PRO) is Judge Vicky Paredes of the Caloocan City Regional Trial Court.

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The Capitol Senior Golfers, Inc. will hold its monthly tournament tomorrow with the induction of its new set of officers led by Tony Lim, president. Tee-off at Capitol Hills Golf and Country Club is 6:30 a.m. Capitol Senior tournaments have always been fun events.