Friday, December 28, 2007 Seares: ‘Did they catch Gwen?’ By Pachico A. Seares News Sense
A NINE-YEAR-OLD St. Ben grader who worships Gov. Gwen Garcia (with the same child-like awe that he looks up to Cardinal Vidal, President Arroyo, and Lastikman) asked me the other day if they already caught the governor.
For a moment I was stumped till I realized he wanted to know about the widely publicized photo contest for and about her.
"Catch me if you can!" has teased photographers and the rest of the public since August, thanks to shades of ala-Hollywood sourcing (a Leonardo DiCaprio movie about a check forger bears the same title) and funding (the prizes were hefty sums).
With all the photos shot and published of Gwen, in all sorts of action, from Capitol-rooftop climbing to horseback riding, from sporting deep-sea diving gear to wearing dinner terno, they haven't caught her yet?
That was how some people initially greeted Capitol "Catch me" flyers. Nobody though, not even her usual critics, publicly called the exercise narcissist or wasteful.
Daunting
Sun.Star photo group chief Alex Badayos agrees that the governor has been so extensively and intensely photographed that it's daunting task to produce a photo that's new and different, yet essentially Gwen.
Did the prizewinning photos meet that spec?
I saw only the photo by Tonee Despojo in the Cebu Daily News. The photo must have depicted what ancient and medieval philosophers call the fifth essence or ultimate substance of Gwendolyn the woman ruler. Or it wouldn't have won the grand prize.
"Did they catch Gwen?" the St. Ben grader persisted.
I don't really know, I told him, maybe someone should ask her that.
