Ben Contreras BOOKS have never attracted me but the Philippine Free Press weekly magazine did. When I started buying every new copy of it back in the ’60s, I read them from cover to cover and craved for more when there’s no more to read. My favorites then were the unforgettable Teodoro Locsin Sr., Napoleon Rama, Max Soliven, among others. This is not about Max Soliven. This is about his daughter Sara Soliven de Guzman. Oscar Salcedo asked me to read her article in Philippine Star on Aug. 15, 2016. Indeed, it was worth the time I spent reading her article. It was brilliantly crafted. “When leaders make decisions, we either agree or disagree. They can make good or bad judgments. When they seem irrational, we shake our heads and ponder. We ask ourselves what made them think that way. Why didn’t they use reason?” But she was not itching to fire away at Duterte, citing many big events in the world pregnant with questions that begged for answers. On the issue on the Marcos burial at the Libingan, she wrote: “People who study the situation using the basic truth, the law, will right away agree with the President. But a man who thinks beyond this basic tenet will look for a higher level of reasoning, that is, the president’s ethical considerations. The president shouldn’t just look at the small picture. He should look at the bigger picture where he predispose the morale of the people.” Citing her father’s experience during Martial Law when he was incarcerated for months, she asked, “I wonder how my father would have reacted if he had known then that on September 18, 2016, President Marcos will be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani with full military honors.” But not allowing her emotion to win over rationality, she added: “As it is apparent from the words used that the disqualifications would apply to military personnel, they should have included ‘ousted presidents’ if that was the intent, so that there will be no debate as to the honorable people worth emulating who deserves a burial lot at the LNMB. As it stands now, President Marcos was not dishonorably discharged as a soldier and he was never convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude since the damage suits filed in the US were civil cases.” She noted that Duterte would allow the anti- to rally for as long as they want but “There might even be more people at the LNMB interment than the anti-Marcos burial protesters in all rallies taken collectively.” Finally, “It woiuld be interesting to find out, but with the recent exchange between the President and the Chief Justice on the narco-judges, I do not see any crisis coming. It is good for the country that the Chief Justice, who aired a valid concern, opted to resort to an honorable silence and the president followed with a statesman apology for his harsh words...” Ever heard a president apologize? I can’t remember one in the past. “The public pronouncement of public officials with possible links to drugs, based on intelligence reports, is even more legally controversial than the Marcos burial as the former involves a constitutional due process issue. It is evident that the president continues to enjoy the support of most Filipinos notwithstanding his unorthodox style and “nothing to lose” attitude in effecting the changes he wants. Reasonable or unreasonable as it may sound, we will need to deal with it. Right or wrong, it remains to be seen. But to the president’s credit, change is already happening. May he not fail the people’s confidence!” Yes, change is happening everywhere and some continue to look at one side of the stories only, the small picture rather than the larger. But what can I say. It’s democracy or is it demo-crazy?