“YOU can say anything that’s true, but not everything is worth saying.”
You are poor at hearing and you have a poor eyesight. You may be able to hit the Jack pot in a slot machine but you can’t hit your target with a rifle at a distance of 100 meters away. You can play the guitar but you can’t play political hardball on the sly. You can hazard a guess, but you can’t be sure who’ll be running for Pampanga Governor in the coming election. You can say all these to Macky Pangan. But you can’t say that his sense of humor is deficient. Otherwise, if you do, then you will be giving him a moral affront. For doing him wrong, Macky not call you names, but he will teach you a lesson he had learned from an anecdote that told on his friend.
The anecdote goes this way: My friend had a dog in his house that had a better ear for music than I have. As soon as my wife or any visitor started to play the piano, my pet began to howl plaintively as if it hurts him. I myself never did this.
After he had finished, I made what I thought to be a harmless comment.
“Í suppose,” I said, “that you find your sense of humor deficient in the same way: the two generally go together.”
“Sense of humor,” he said, “my sense of humor! Me, without a sense of humor!”
“Why, I suppose that I have a keener sense of humor than any man or any two men in the city
u201dFrom that, he turned to personal attack. He said that my sense of humor had withered altogether. And, he left me still quivering with indignation.”
President Digong's wrath
I cannot help but notice how reporters of a certain leading national daily when printing their stories about Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the lead paragraph most likely will start with “The son and namesake of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos...” Can't the reporter merely identify Bongbong by just saying former Senator Bongbong Marcos, in the same manner the paper identify senators and other scions by their titles, like Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel not getting identified as the son and namesake of former Senate President Nene Pimentel.
I can sense there is malice or maybe a lingering anger or a “hugot” in local language coming from supposedly balance and fair newspaper. I know it is a privilege of the reporters how they write their stories and equally the right of the desk either to blue pencil it or not.
I had the opportunity of interviewing the former senator when I was still with “Talakayan” with Perry Pangan, Boy Santiago, Albert Lacanlale and Deng Pangilinan over DwRW, found him so articulate but not really that brilliant if compared to his father, the strongman. Too bad President Duterte picked Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Eduardo Ano as the next secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). It must have been a big letdown for the young Marcos.
There's still an avenue for the Marcoses to be back in power in case Bongbong wins his protest vs Vice President Leni Robredo. It will be a seesaw battle as President Duterte, a personal friend of Bongbong is matched with the yellow group of Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas. The biggest fear of the latter group is the possibility of the Marcoses return to the palace. Well, it may happen or it may not. But if Imeldific can luxuriously take her bath in Malacanang again sometime, then we can simply dismiss it by saying, “that's the way the cookie crumbles.”
As of this writing, President Duterte cut short his four day trip to Russia and hurried home. He declared martial law in Mindanao. Methinks this is not something to be compared on President Ferdinand Marcos' imposition of martial law in September 1972. Political analysts of the time were of the opinion that Marcos only wanted to stay in power. Facing what he thought would sideline him from the political scene and his arch nemesis Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino becoming president, he availed the martial law as an option. He jailed most of those in opposition.
In the case of Duterte, he is only entering his second year in his six year term and the reason of the imposition is not political rather he wanted to restor peace and order in the region. Peaceful people in Mindanao may take a relief while those armed groups will either lay down their arms or face the Duterte wrath.
Tweets
My friend and former colleague in the Angeles City Council Bong Alvaro's book “Fiona” was launched last Monday. It is a story riveted on a family facing several challenges in life and overcame it due to strong faith in God.
Many are hoping that in due time peace will reign in Mindanao. Long overdue.
Many thinks that granting of emergency powers to the government is not the real solution to traffic problems. Discipline is really the key. (Max Sangil)