Wednesday, October 15, 2008 Malilong: Is Brod Soc on the way out? By Frank Malilong The Other Side
THE circus is back in town.
They didn’t miss a beat: performers (I have so much respect for them to call them clowns) back on the stage as the curtains opened. Meanwhile, the real clown got caught in traffic (a sense of shame, he suggests) and appears doomed to a cameo appearance this season.
I don’t know when or if they’ll ever tire of this nonsense as filing an impeachment complaint that they know has absolutely no chance of succeeding. I don’t find it entertaining. Never did, because the people who played the characters were worse than third-rate actors who couldn’t even memorize their lines and had to read from the script in explaining why Ma’am Gloria is the bad girl instead of the heroine.
Boys and girls, the elections are only less than two years away. Let’s be patient and just wait, please?
***
You can’t read anything from the absence of Talisay City Mayor Socrates Fernandez from the birthday party of Rep. Eduardo Gullas. Or maybe you can, or should.
Brod Soc, without doubt, knows when Eddiegul’s birthday is. I do not think he has missed any of his political patron’s celebrations in recent years. He could have asked for a resetting of the lay ministers’ seminar, or simply declined their invitation to avoid a conflict in schedule.
Why he chose to be with his fellow lay ministers in Davao on that day, bugs me. I’m sure he knew that he was going to be conspicuous by his absence.
Maybe, he was just trying to avoid the media, whom he has accused of doing PR work against him. Or he needed a respite, far from Cebu’s maddening crowd.
Eddiegul, ever the very patient and affable person, said that he did not think that there was any attempt on Soc’s part to “snub his invitation. People, however, are bound to ask questions on how tenable the Gullas-Fernandez alliance remains in the light of the controversy surrounding the mayor and his son.
The presence of Vice Mayor Lani Abarquez, who ran with the opposition in 2007, has done little to douse speculations that Brod Soc may be on his way out.
Do I hear Eddiegul asking, “somos or no somos” soon?
***
While fiddling with the TV remote control last week, I saw a familiar face on the piano accompanying an old Visayan love song belted out powerfully by a not-so-young singer. I didn’t know that playing the piano is one of Sam Costanilla’s many talents.
Having thoroughly enjoyed Sam’s show, I wondered what is being done to preserve and promote our unique Cebuano musical heritage. I was not familiar with some of the songs that Maning Tallo sang but listening to them was a very pleasant experience.
Since Sam works at the Capitol as a consultant to the governor, perhaps he can influence the Provincial Government to sponsor a concert of Cebuano songs including those that were recently minted, notably for the Pop Music Festival of Rep. Eddie Gullas.
Someone tried that about years ago and it was a smashing success. Unfortunately, Dra. Jovita Anoos Ceniza has been kept busy by her other passion--–the Regional Blood Coordinating Council--–that she hasn’t found time for an encore.
Gov. Gwen Garcia’s love for music and the arts is well known. I’m sure she will be more than willing to lead any endeavor that promotes something that is uniquely Cebuano.
So play it again, Sam and on a bigger stage this time.
