Thursday, March 20, 2008 Seares: Jun, Leah and the Cebuanos By Pachico A. Seares News Sense
RODOLFO Lozada Jr., Senate hearing star witness, flew back to Manila Tuesday probably still stunned why only few Cebuanos were star-struck by his visit.
The guest at forums in USC and UP Cebu, Jun noticed the sparse crowds that couldn't fill a third of the space at each site.
Organizers had ready answers: (1) final exams, (2) onset of Lent, and yes (3) the mass they "heard" was banned.
Check the first and the second, but what did not having a mass to do with thin crowds? Was the mass the come-on, the front act?
And Jun had to crack a "joke" about the Cebu archdiocese being an "archdiocese of Malacañang." But was he joking?
Not likely. Review the quote sourced to him in news reports. He wasn't kidding. He was just being mean. The man can summon quick tears but he's no Gary Lising.
Dark secrets
Even if there are dark secrets Jun knows and Cebuanos don't know about the archdiocese and its leaders, it was poor strategy to win the crowd by bashing the cardinal and the church.
And in gross taste. No one jokes about the cardinal. Yes, broadcasters poke fun at some wayward priests, more recently that one who's accused of hitting on high school girls by toying with their bra straps during confession. But not about our holy archbishop, "di ba?"
Speaking of atrocious manners, Leah Navarro, entertainer cum Gloria Arroyo hater, reportedly called the cardinal "a congressman in a cassock."
The insult stings Cardinal Vidal and the congressmen. And she faces no risk of being cited for House contempt or excommunicated for life.
She and Jun merely earned the wrath of many Cebuanos.
