Bzzzzz: The mayor's son also rises: Is Miguel out from his cocoon? Rock-throwing at the van of Loot's stepson might be not just random vandalism

PEOPLE are talking about...

* SUN SHIMURA'S STEPDAD IS LOOT. Cebu Provincial Board Member Sun J. Shimura, with his family, was traveling in Daanbantayan Saturday, March 30, when it was stoned, not hurting anyone in the vehicle but leaving a large hole on the glass of the rear window.

Normally, it would've been dismissed as random vandalism, which night road travelers in remote areas of the province would sometimes encounter. Or a publicity stunt since Sun is a PB member who's running for mayor of his town.

But he's also the stepson of retired police general and Mayor Vic Loot. President Rodrigo Duterte has regularly shamed Loot in public. Last May 13, 2018, Shimura was with Loot when the family entourage were shot at along the Daanbantayan wharf, wounding two drivers, a household helper, and a wharf porter.

* THE P90 BILLION PORK IN 2019 BUDGET. How would Duterte act on it: would he veto that part of the budget, about P90 billion in pork, and disappoint many House members allied with him and Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo? On the other hand, could he dismay the nation that believes and expects him to be the "nemesis of corruption"?

The son also rises

Miguel Osmeña, the only son of Cebu City Mayor Osmeña and Councilor Margot Osmeña, appeared on stage at the proclamation rally of BOPK last Saturday, March 30. And it set tongues wagging. Is Miguel finally coming out of the cocoon and going into politics, as many sons of politicians are doing?

Except for occasional public attention when he is dragged to the limelight -- such as when he tangled with "spoiled brats in Maria Luisa" in March 2017 and, last year, when he sued broadcaster Bobby Nalzaro -- Miguel has kept a private life. He is known to many City Hall watchers as the guy who runs his dad's Facebook account though he wrote some time ago that he didn't like FB "drama."

His emergence at the rally, speaking before a big crowd, unleashed speculation he might go into politics himself.

Kids bearing the same surname are sometimes prematurely dragged into public service in cases of emergency substitution. Or they themselves jump into politics with little prodding.

Politics requires focus and discipline. And his dad wrote on March 22, 2017, related to the Maria Luisa incident: "Miguel has two summa cum laude degrees. Maybe the brats just don't understand what kind of discipline that takes."

With Miguel joining politics, more than ever he is deemed a "public figure," a blurred line away from being a "public person." In his complaint against Nalzaro, he argued he was not a public person. He is a public figure, even before he climbed that stage last Saturday. "Miguel has the capacity to stir media waters each time he throws a pebble or wades in," wrote one SunStar columnist.

Estenzo, PhilSAT

Lawyer and former law dean Baldomero Estenzo Tuesday (April 2) said he already appeared before the Supreme Court to argue orally on the opposition of law schools to the requirement of admission test for law first-year students. PhilSAT or Philippine law school admission test is a "nationwide uniform exam" a law student must take before he is accepted by any law school in the country. It is administered by Center for Educational Measurement Inc. under the control and supervision of the Legal Education Board.

A would-be lawyer has to pass PhilSAT before he can step into a law school. After he graduates, he must pass the bar exams before he can be called a lawyer and allowed to practice law.

Unless the SC strikes down the law creating LEB and PhilSAT, the lawyer-wannabe has to hurdle two tests.

Estenzo, who faces Emmarie "Lollipop" Ouano-Dizon for Cebu's sixth district House seat, is himself hurdling the ordeal from what could be black propaganda, namely, that he is planning to quit the race.

His appearance Tuesday at the 888 Forum in Marco Polo Hotel, where he talked about what he could do as congressman, may help belie the rumor.

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