Beware the Ides of March

Although every month has an "Ides," the "Ides of March" reverberates in history and literature.

- JOANNE RAE M. RAMIREZ

It has been associated with misfortune, not unlike Friday the 13th, I suppose. Matunog.

The "Ides of March," a day in the ancient Roman calendar that falls on March 15, was immortalized in the tragedy Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. In the play, a soothsayer warns Caesar to "beware the Ides of March," a day when Caesar eventually suffered the most painful betrayal.

I remember going over the play Julius Caesar with my freshmen students at the Assumption Convent high school many moons ago, and impressing upon them the drama of politics, triumph, and betrayal.

The term "Ides" comes from the Latin word iduare (Latin: "to divide"), with the full moon serving as the division point in the middle of each month, according to online sources.

The "Ides of March," which technically isn't till tomorrow, always means payday too, so it can't all be that bad.

But the days leading up to the "Ides of March" 2025 saw a turnaround in the fortunes of the man who was once the most powerful in the Philippines in every sense of the word.

The alleged extra-judicial killings in the name of Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs (numbered officially at 6,000 though sources say the toll could be as high as 12,000 to 30,000) are staggering.