THREESOMES abound. The world tilts without them. For instance, observe how your life caves in at the incompleteness of having a hefty puto without the steaming sikwate and a morsel of mango (I'm hungry in the moments leading up to deadline). The combination
is as locked to life's reality as The Three Stooges or Apo Hiking Society.
Some things should go in threes, like the Freudian id-ego-superego triumvirate.
Isolate one, and the human mind goes haywire crazy or murderous.
Recall how suddenly mute the world turned into when death claimed Luciano Pavarotti from the Three Tenors, leaving Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras with amputated spirits in the world tours.
Who would forget Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb? Right away, you're revealing your age.
Okay, the arch leads quickly to darkness without Twilight's Edward, Jacob and Bella.
Or Hogwarts coeds Harry, Ron and Hermione? You may argue that it's just Kirk and Spock, but what would the Trek triptych be without McCoy? The trio is nothing but essential to the Enterprise.
You have, of course, Charlie's Angels, and you have either the Fawcett-Smith-Jackson or the Liu-Diaz-Barrymore trios to choose. And there goes The Three Musketeers—Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Wasn't it the battlecry? “All for one, one for all!”
Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar, the Magi, gazed at the big star and knew where to deliver the presents one fateful night in Bethlehem. And don't you just love them in chorus, singing “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth”—Alvin, Simone and Theodore? Imagine childhood without the chipmunks?
Threesomes are a fact of childhood. They are as indelible as the life lessons you get from The Three Little Pigs or the Three Billy Goats Gruff. Who would forget the three gunmen in Sergio Leone's masterpiece The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?
Not all trios, of course, function in synch. Some live in eternal tension among each other. Remember Cleopatra, Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony? The legendary love triangle of the ancient world casts a long shadow in modern narratives.
If you were an ‘80s kid, you remember Mario and Luigi, brothers against their arch-nemesis Bowser. That trio literally built Nintendo into what it is today.
Why am I bringing up this catalog of trios? Because there's something exciting in Talisay City, and it has something to do with, yes, a trio, a triumvirate, a triad, a trinity, a trifecta, a menage a trois. Whatever way you call it, the Talisay City College has three presidents.
What could be more magical than two graduations, by the way? If I were a student, and if I attend both graduations, would that earn me a double-degree and would that make me twice an alumnus? I'd love to ask the presidential trinity.
How did this mysterious trio came about? It comes from the ancient story of three people emerging from the crack of bent bamboos.
Seriously, because, way earlier, the school's Board of Trustees terminated college president Tomas Ramos on allegations that he made a phantom out of the school funds.
The trustees cannot, of course, trust phantoms. So in came Richel Bacaltos to take Ramos's post.
When Mayor Johnny de los Reyes took over, he wanted Dr. Paulus Cañete to take the presidency. Ramos emerged in the picture recently because the Civil Service Commission Central Visayas ordered for his reinstatement.
So you have a magical picture of three presidents taking turns in a revolving lantern. Okay, not really.
The City should resolve this quickly. Otherwise, it will have a case of “Johnny and the Chipmunks” on primetime.