I’M GLAD we don’t watch “Ang Probinsyano” at home. I have friends who have been wishing for “Cardo,” the central character in the long-running television series, to be killed so they can lay their hands on the remote control in the early evenings again and switch to their favorite sports channel.
Looks like they might finally get their wish. If they do, it’s an early Christmas gift from the police. It’s not “Cardo’s” death they’ll be getting but something else and which can be just as effective in ending the wife’s addiction to the program. It’s called censorship.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) is considering legal action because “Ang Probinsyano” projects a bad image of the policeman. Since I haven’t watched the show, I can only surmise that its plot revolves around the good cop versus the bad and that as depicted, the disparity in their numbers must be overwhelming in favor of the latter to make the PNP run to their lawyers.
“Ang Probinsyano” is entertainment. We have heard of life imitating art but it’s the individual policeman’s choice, not the program’s producers’, to be a “Cardo” or the “kontrabida.” As for image, the PNP should trust the viewers. They may not be the most discerning but they’re not dumb either. They will form their opinion not on the basis of the actor wearing a fake uniform on the idiot box but on the real ones that they see on the street and interact with occasionally.
Let “Ang Probinsyano” be and leave the husbands think of better ways to wrest control of the TV set other than killing “Cardo.”
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Ever heard of LaMayAn? Pronounced lamian, the Cebuano word for tasty, it is supposed to be a movement supporting a Labella-De Los Santos tandem in the 2019 elections. I laughed when I heard it mentioned by a friend last Saturday but he swore that it is real and that its adherents are mostly people who have had enough of Tomas Osmeña, Michael Rama and their seemingly endless and mostly childish (team suyop versus teamparus) quarrel.
You can only persuade the voters, not prevent them in making their choices. I am sure that there are a number who are inclined to go for a mixed ticket for a myriad of reasons. This is natural. What is not natural is when the candidates themselves initiate or even just encourage the practice. Even just the talk of junking can produce disastrous results for either or both teammates.
The same source told me that sometime during the middle of this year when the possibility of both Labella and Rama running for mayor loomed, a mutual friend tried to broker an Osmeña-Labella ticket. The fellow, a Chinese with a Filipino surname, reportedly went as far as tracking Labella to Manila to make the pitch. You can bring your councilors to the fold, the bearer supposedly told the vice mayor.
My source claimed that while Labella was flattered by the idea, he politely turned it down. “The people wanted an opposition vice mayor, otherwise they would have voted for my opponent,” Labella supposedly said. “I have to respect their voice and remain with the opposition.”
Significantly, the exchange between the two mayoralty rivals has so far been very tame, compared to Osmeña’s other political rivalries. Labella is not given to harsh language. When President Duterte severely scolded Osmeña during one of his visits to Cebu and Labella was asked for a reaction, all that he said was that the President had spoken, there was nothing more he could add to it.
Some friends have urged Labella to be more bombastic and aggressive but he has consistently rejected the advice. That is not the way he was bred and that is not the way he is wired. It is too late for him to re-invent himself.