Beware of Givers

The guns returned by the MILF were defective, aside from very much wanting in number.

Mediation does not tolerate slip service in atonement. This just provokes more ill will and distrust.

Gay Day Caregiver

In a GMA TV documentary, there was an apt real life casting of a gay teacher for daycare work.

Mediators are to be intuitive, too on how best to maximize the traits of disputants  toward the amicable settlement of their conflict.

Binay Peek-a-Boo

Senator Nancy Binay was an attendee at the latest Senate inquiry into the Mamapasano massacre. Predictable. Her last attendance was when a whistle-blower came out of the woodwork accusing the Senate President of overpricing as her father was being charged likewise. Now, with the remote possibility of her VP father taking over the presidency, genie comes out of her bottle again.

Motives form a backdrop to all the disputes that are brought to the table of mediation. Transparency is the antidote.

A Not So Pinoy P-Noy

Couch psychologists have cast aspersion on his personality by their own remote control analysis. Basically, he is a product of his individuality coupled by his unique upbringing and experiences. Thus, his glaring absence at the arrival of the Fallen 44 he explained by giving the relatives private time with their dead, which he did not experience with his assassinated father. No "pakitang-tao" politico here.

Mediation encounters such sociocultural nuances, too. Best to be sensitive to them, in order to deal effectively with disputants.

Lost in Complication

Another odd-vertisement is this one of flying men and crackers. Like those over- the -top (literally) TV station/shows ids resembling fireworks, Pinoy creativity could turn chop suey.

That's okay to eat but not in mediation. There, clarity  as in broth is the rule.

Focus on Issue

Perhaps McDonald's has too much budget for advertisements, but Luis Manzano's long-winding antics focus more on him than the values of the meal.

Mediators, beware. Focus not on your selves but rather on the issue/s at hand.

Overkill After Overkill

After the Fallen 44 came a barrage of investigations, looking like a group of puny blind men each trying to "see" what an elephant is. Each wants its own say, and wants to be heard. How far or different could one conclusion be from the next others?

Mediation cannot afford to be that wasteful in the appreciation of facts brought to its table. But then, too, its process is faster and fairer.

Post- Apostolate and Apothecary

A two-week leave for a grandchild's visit and then giving in to an insidious bug, gave me some time off.

Sometimes, mediators need to have time and space away, too.

Then, be back with a vengeance.

IOU Part II

This is about a real I Owe U.  A Taiwanese family of 5 seems to have committed group suicide over usurious loans. The festering port congestion had also contributed to the handicraft exporter's woes.

Mediation deals with such loans. Small Claims Courts handle cases involving money amounting up to P 100, 000 only, which probably is not applicable here. What could have been done was for creditor and debtor to sit down and establish a doable schedule of payment. But loan sharks are not known to be patient...

The foreigner obviously had not heard of the legality that "no one can be jailed for nonpayment of debt." But then, being Taiwanese, he is probably Confucian in ethics. Another cultural dimension is the family concern that the loan of the parents are not passed on to the children.

After the Fallen 44, a Family of 5 falls, too.  What a double tragedy!

IOU

Not your usual promise of payment- I Owe U, but rather a pledge of responsibility- I Own U, the problem facing us.  That is a good start for mediation, when there is goodwill between disputants.

That is why the current Special Action Force (SAF) case investigation is going nowhere. Truly, failure is an orphan. Nobody wants to admit his fault in causing the 44 deaths. Everybody else is to be blamed. Pointing fingers' season again!

The President tells us he told the SAF to coordinate with the military, who claim they were notified  only when the firefight was already ongoing. The SAF belies any military backup.

Another angle is the present suspension of PNP Chief Purisima, who allegedly planned this operation late last year. As backgrounder, it must be noted that he was PNoy's Presidential Security Guard during one of the bloodiest coup against Cory.
Coincidentally, his OIC Espina and DILG Secretary were left in the dark long after the light of Sunday.

Then also there are the different Muslim groups who joined the carnage.

Large-scale mediation needed!