She adds: "The most noble way out of the moral crisis would be for the President to resign. This critical time calls for a strong moral leadership, which clearly she is no longer in a position to provide."

But what does the present government know about being noble?

"Our guiding light should not be an obsession to evict the President, but in an environment where abuse of power closes all doors of legitimate redress, sadly we are too often pushed to the brink."

Cory is absolutely correct.

Malacañang tries to diminish Cory’s assessment by pointing out that this is the nth time that the former president who was a supporter – in Edsa Dos – of Gloria Arroyo (when Gloria’s military buddies and crooked politicos booted out Joseph Estrada from the presidency) has asked for Gloria to disappear. Malacañang is unreasonable. Since when has consistency been a fault especially when one is on the right side of what is right and moral?

Where I might disagree with Cory is on the effect of another Edsa People Power thing on the psyche of the Pinoy body politic and the ultimate future result of another such thing. Where will all these again lead us?

If the choice were not to either boot out Gloria or support her, perhaps a lot more persons would go against Gloria and we would reach a clearer resolution of what to do about what ails this country and all of us.

In truth, part of what is wrong is not just Gloria but also the rest of us. Much as one would like to do so, not everything can be blamed on Gloria Arroyo. Sure, the ZTE-NBN deal is clearly something that she conceived, nurtured and went to China (while the love of her life was hovering between life and death in the Intensive Care Unit of St. Luke’s Hospital) to attend ZTE-NBN’s birth. Clearly, it was that important to her!

Still, by removing her now we probably harm ourselves. How? By again choosing the next available person to be president, wouldn’t we be making another big mistake? If the vice president will take over now, he will surely win election 27 months from now.

Kabayan Noli is smart enough to use those 27 months to build himself up while avoiding making any mistakes.

Cory was wrong in Edsa Dos. Erap’s finishing his term would have been a blessing compared to the first 29 months of Gloria Arroyo when even on her first week, she was already deep in controversy over a bribe from the Argentinians. Then, the real crookedness began!

So, if Cory was wrong then, could she be wrong again now?

Why not let us all realize just how evil things have become by living through these evil times and learning about the nature of evil; then, we can resolve that this will never again happen to us. Then, we might seriously begin to reform the system and not take again the easy way out of assigning the sitting president as a scapegoat and convincing ourselves that, having driven her off into the desert, we have rid ourselves of all evil. This is wrong thinking because much of the evil is also in many of us.

On the other hand, if we will have another Edsa People Power, perhaps, we ought to legitimize this and future Edsas by enacting a law or amending the Constitution to define when and how and under what circumstances and who can call for People Power. We have done this illegal thing so much that perhaps it ought to be regulated. After all, we cannot have another such with the same result so that of Edsa Dos. That would be suicide!

***

The two courses where the 61st PAL Interclub plays are not only old courses, they are also home-grown. No foreign currency was spent on their design. These two courses – Marapara of the Negros Oriental Golf and Country Club in Bacolod and the Binitin course of the Bacolod Golf and country Club in Murcia – were built using local grass and local designers and architects. (Bacolod Golf and Country Club had the first course in Negros in what is now Capitol Ville Subdivision. When this was converted to a residential subdivision, the course was transferred to Hacienda Binitin in Murcia in 1972.)

Marapara was not even designed by a professional golfer. Luis "Golem" Silverio was an amateur golfer when he designed the course and built it in 1962. It is named after the Marapara mountains that serve as background but is mostly on flat land. Of its 18 holes (6,197 yards), 15 have a water hazard. The fairways are narrow and most golfers are easy prey to the many OBs (out of bounds) specially on the front nine.

I thought: "Most of the front nine have scary OBs; perhaps, the back nine will be easier." How wrong I was, the course got harder the further we progressed. By the 17th hole, things had gotten really tough. By the 18th, one could almost hate the mind that designed Marapara. The long hitters can get on in two on most holes but having just length is not enough for this devilish course.

The Binitin course was designed by Celestino Tugot, who also designed among the courses I truly love playing – Del Monte in Bukidnon (also a home-grown and designed course). It is a little cramped, though, apparently because when it was finally built, the Hacienda Binitin decided to limit the hectarage called for in the Tugot design while keeping Tugot’s design. The result is a cramped course (about 5,900 yards) that is still very interesting.

It feels like the Del Monte course but a bit overly tight and crowded. It is said that Tugot did not endorse the course when it was finally built.

Both courses – Marapara and Binitin – play to par 70 but are more difficult than a lot of par 72s.

If the 64th PAL Interclub will again be in Bacolod, I will be back to again try my game against two wonderfully thought-out very difficult courses done by excellent Pinoy designers.