I'm A Believer

I am a self-confessed architect of decay who calculatingly resists change. I am torn between two lovers; the traditional and the progressive.

When Mojo was doing his term papers at UA&P I endlessly affronted him, questioning the reliability of his sources taken from the World Wide Web. I was cynical about the electronic revolution that was taking place right before my eyes. I guess my feelings were fueled by spitefulness and envy rather than genuine concern.

Why shouldn’t I? I went to school hauling 10 pound books of Agoncillo, Constantino, Gagelonia and my 25 volume Britannica!- Then, here goes Mojo getting information with the press of a button. I felt betrayed by the didactic organization!

The last “mechanical” thing I learned in school was how to pluck out on a rusty typewriter the words… the quick brown fox jumped over… again and again.

A good friend of mine, Kevin Kho former CEO of the biggest local website Yehey.Com and former professor at UA&P, tried to convince me about the up-and-coming power of the World Wide Web. I even tested the waters and wrote for his distinguished giant website. When Friendster’s top honcho visited the Philippines, I even attended his press-con and facilitated him to guest in Magic 89.9’s Good Times show.

Despite all these things - I still remained a nonbeliever!

Some years later, I found myself at the University of the Philippines Film Center when a group of academe friends started a fiery repartee which caught my undivided attention- THE Brian Shane Gorrell issue. I had then never heard of Brian Gorrell despite writing for lifestyle happenings- Well, maybe I just wasn’t in the loop. (At that point in time, I had NEVER seen a blog nor would I have ever fathomed myself ever penning one of my own!)

I remained cynical but for the first time in my life I decided to defy tradition and open a blogsite.

As I read through Gorrell’s web-pages, I immediately felt his desperation. I researched his claims with suspicion; the hotel he was checked-in, the Makati police station, and several lawyers involved. I eventually came to the conclusion that Brian’s writings indeed held water.

I called people from the UP academe for more thorough information and they directed me to PDI columnist Bayani San Diego who in turn patched me up with Gorrell.

The air-waves (radio) became aware of the brouhaha when Mojo was introduced to Gorrell’s blog via a text from his friend Vinelle Velasco. At the same time ABS-CBN was becoming aware of this new-fangled phenomenon. Of course Magic 89.9 has always ahead been ahead of its time and they wanted Gorrell with them first (The Good Times crew has been in a similar predicament and was saved by a forum website). I was able to communicate with Gorrell and put him on-air via 89.9 before ABS-CBN’s crew decided to brave-out an interview with him.

Many months have transpired and after the roller coaster ride of up’s and down’s rocking the blogosphere, I have now seen the light of this not-so-new emerging power.

The Internet can topple mountains and move the world. We have become the guardians of the fourth estate who seemingly has been abusing its power. If I were to find myself on my last leg, catching my final breath- my parting words would be:

“believe and pursue the unknown conclusion.”

CHIKATIME REVISITED

Kindly allow me to touch on the very sensitive topic of the abrupt disappearance of Chikatime from cyberspace. I am not a big fan of gossip but I must confess that once in a while I indulge my heart out to the side-splitting tittle-tattle of Chikatime's lip-smacking web pages. This is when I'm behind closed doors. Take note that a lot of my close friends where whacked by Chikatime- Nonetheless, none of them took offense nor did any of them take the hilarious blog seriously.

So why did Chikatime vanish in thin air?

Ok let me dissect the issues sorrounding Chikatime. It is indeed possible that one of Chikatime's "subject" would file a libel case against the writers of the said blog. They first have to bring the defamation case to court before any action can be taken by any governmaent agency. For example, proving that the photo-shopped “white-stuff” coming out of Mo Twisters nose as MALICIOUS would be hard even for a seasoned lawyer . Chikatime did not violate any internet law as far as I'm concerned (no case was filed in court) so the silly idea of the NBI running after Chikatime is idiotic.

Mojo’s uncle, Atty. Elfren Meneses Jr, chief of the cyberspace and anti-fraud division of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) says that electronic investigation could sometimes be more difficult than traditional crimes. In traditional crimes, he said, cases such as murder can be resolved immediately if there are positive identification of suspects or there are witnesses.

Considering the lack of computer resources and trained personnel of NBI pose a big problem. He said the NBI encounters much difficulty in getting search warrants because "the judges don’t understand" the merits of possible hacking or electronic crimes yet. Mr. Meneses said NBI is planning to set up a separate computer crime section under the anti-fraud division this year to focus on computer-related cases.

Let us assume that a person talked about by Chikatime hires the best lawyers money can buy and files for defamation. I would estimate that a protracted legal battle would take at least a decade. Nevertheless, it could have been a brilliant case-study for law students if such case happened. Remember dearies, it took the prestigious Villaraza Law Firm more than a decade before finally being able to prosecute our hard-hitting Malaya’s Publisher (The publisher was up against Sen. Miriam Defensor’s husband).

So why the hell did Chikatime chicken out?