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Philippines
Thursday, March 28, 2024

‘Malasakit’

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How could you, Gov. Joey?  Interviewed over radio, the Liberal Party regional chairperson for Region 5 and Albay’s graduating three-term governor, one of the closest LGU officials to PNoy, said that if Grace Poe runs for president, and it becomes a four-way fight, Davao City’s Digong Duterte will win.

“You go to Mindanao, manginginig ka.  Duterte has a strong baluarte there,” enthused Salceda.  “And Mindanao is pining for one of their own, not having had a president of the Philippines ever,” he added.

Is this part of the Liberal Party pressure on Grace to run as Mar’s VP?  Or, is Salceda, who is as good an investment banker as Mar, simply looking at the geo-rithmetic of the coming contest?

As explained in a previous article in this space, Mindanao counts for 24 percent of the national vote.  And Cebuano-speaking Visayans account for 10 percent of the total Visayas vote of 20.5 percent.  That’s 34 percent, not counting the Bisaya in Masbate (half of the island province speaks Cebuano), and Metro Manila (go figure). 

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Still Duterte has not declared he is running.  And does not go out of his way courting political party “bosses” like Grace y su Queso doing beso-beso with the NPC at the clubhouse in Bougainvilla upon New Manila.

* * *

Speaking of Mar—last Thursday, 13 August, eve of this ghost month, a friend of mine was boarding his commercial plane for Cagayan de Oro.  They were bussed into their plane from the terminal which was parked in the farthest reach of the tarmac.

Lo and behold, they saw Mar walking from his convoy into a big private jet.  Nothing unusual about that—candidates buy or borrow jets for their barnstorming.  But this jet was painted yellow with a streak of royal blue and beside it was a back-up helicopter, totally painted screaming yellow! 

Wow Mar, baka magka-hepatitis ka na niyan!

* * *

On the other side of the political fence, Veep Jojo’s everything man, JV Bautista, reacting to the courting of the NPC by both Mar and the team of Grace y su Queso, all in one day, said, “Kami rin,” and the invitation should be forthcoming “kuno.”

JV reasons that Mark Cojuangco, the son of the NPC “boss”, is a declared Binay supporter; in fact, Binay’s candidate for governor of the vote-rich and land-huge province of Pangasinan. 

Para nang INC ang NPC.  Incidentally, their logo colors are the same—green, white and red.

* * *

Rizalito David’s petition before the Senate Electoral Tribunal will be heard by nine men and women.  Chaired by the eminent Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, the man who should have been Chief, its jurist members are bar topnotcher, associate justice and former Labor secretary Arturo Brion, and former Sandiganbayan justice Teresita de Castro, all learned and experienced in the law.  Of the senator members, only Pia Cayetano is a lawyer.  The other senators in the SET are Minority Floor Leader Tito Sotto, and senators Loren Legarda, Cynthia Villar, Nancy Binay and Bam Aquino.

Four lawyers and five non-lawyers; four males and five females.  Tito and Loren are with the NPC, Cynthia is Nacionalista, Nancy is with her father’s UNA, and Bam is Liberal.  Representation in the SET is supposed to be by party affiliation.

Read whatever and however you want to read in this composition.

* * *

I overheard a radio interview where Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez said that he had filed a bill granting persons with disabilities the same discount privileges as senior citizens, and that the same is pending in the Senate.  Another problem the congressman cited was that we do not have data on the number of PWDs in the country, because many families are ashamed of having family members, especially children who are afflicted with disabilities.

It is high time that we have an accurate database of PWDs, and Romualdez’s legislative measure will surely achieve that.  Even more important, if we can give benefits to senior citizens without disabilities, all the more reason we should help our PWDs.

There is a term for Martin’s concern for the PWDs, and the best descriptive is a Tagalog word called “malasakit”.

* * *

A month or so ago, scores of people, mostly schoolchildren in Caraga were brought to the hospital complaining of food poisoning.  The culprit, it turned out, was cottage-industry candies, durian and mangosteen flavored, which were manufactured in Davao City.

Two small enterprises, Wendy’s and Blesee’s, were found to have been the sources of the spoiled candies.  Their permits to operate were immediately cancelled by the feisty mayor of the city, Digong Duterte.

The other week, a Mindanao daily quoted Duterte as saying that “if these two small firms will strictly comply with health and sanitation restrictions in the making of their cottage-industry products, he is disposed to give them back their permits to operate.

“Maluoy pod ako sa mga gagmay nga negosyante, nga naningkamot para sa kinabuhi (I also pity these small businessmen trying to eke out a living),” the mayor said.  “If I am assured that they will strictly comply with sanitation requirements, I will reconsider,” Duterte added.

That too, is “malasakit.”     

* * *

We express our profound condolences to the family of the late Olympian Arturo Macapagal, particularly to his sister Cielo Macapagal Salgado, a dear friend with whom I once co-hosted a radio program. 

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