‘MOON River, wider than a mile, I’m crossing you in style someday.’ The first line in the song Moon River which was the theme music of that movie classic ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’. You know what, morning is my favorite part of the day. My body refreshed, my mind clear and most of all I love my steaming black coffee. With my reading glasses on, I browse on newspapers. I will scan the heads of stories on the front page and immediately leaf through and linger at the op-ed page.
There are so many good opinion writers in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, but many of them are bias against the Duterte administration. It is friendly towards the Liberal Party. Maybe because it thrived during President Corazon Aquino’s years in office. It can be easily spotted by those who are discerning enough. We cannot argue with their editorial policy. It’s their policy. And the paper is still well subscribed. I think they have a good team of business writers. I never failed reading their buzz items. Daxim Lucas has many deep throats. Interesting reading these many blind items. I wonder if New York Times ever came out with blind items in their business page.
The Manila Bulletin is friendly with every administration and that’s why it survived the years. It was founded in 1900. The paper still sells, maybe because Jun Icban our cabalen from Lubao is the editor-in-chief and publisher. Except for Julie Yap’s column, their other columnists and contributors are no match to writers of other newspapers.
I can nominate the Philippine Star for having the most beautiful page one make up. Very colorful and well designed. Aside from the column of Alex Magno, I learned a lot from the exposes of Jarius Bondoc, a cabalen. For balance I never failed to read another cabalen Federico Pascual who is an arch critic of Duterte. And to get updated on the social circles, Millet Mananquil, the Lifestyle editor is in every activities of the perfumed set. Ricky Lo and Joey De Leon’s articles make it worth visiting the entertainment section. These are the three papers which are my main sources to know what’s happening in this country and in the world.
After the early morning routine of reading the papers, I sit for breakfast. Two eggs, two slices of bread and the heated leftovers. Getting my fill, I will go back to my room and check if there’s an on-going game on the BTV, the basketball network that carries the NBA games. I just love watching Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry slaughter the opposing team with the treys and slam dunks. What I hate are the news on local channels and radios. Most of the announcers are annoying and are trying hard comedians. And they are not even funny. And sometimes even my favorite commentator, Ado Pagkalinawan wanted to be funny. He doesn’t have to. I suggest to these broadcasters to change lane and apply either at Eat Bulaga or Showtime of Vice Ganda. (Try Fox News, BBC, CNN, Channel News Asia or Aljazeera, and you will know what I mean. Their announcers are real professionals and not resorting to antics).
Each day of our life we always wanted to breathe fresh air and start the day right even a yellow flag is thrown in our field. On the other hand, thinking positive I believe we can survive all these onslaughts on our intelligence. So the holiday season is now in the air. But the cold mornings are no longer cold compared when I was still in shorts and walked with my mother, Apung Batik, going to the St. Catherine church. I vividly remember those mornings of my youth.