Spain’s FIFA success also our success

“If God had wanted man to play soccer, he wouldn't have given us arms.”

—Mike Ditka

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

THIRTY minutes before the FIFA World Cup 2026 final, I saw several NYPD cars parked outside the Boca Juniors “territory” on Queens Boulevard in New York as I walked by at around 2:30 o’clock in the afternoon July 19.

Why were the NYPD cops “guarding” the area? I asked myself. Ah, they must be anticipating a wild celebration if Argentina captures their second consecutive world soccer crown they last won in 2022.

But they didn’t. Spain steamrolled the highly regarded team from the southern half of South America, 1-0, on extra time as substitute Ferran Torres scored the game-winning goal in the 106th minute after Argentina was suffocated and reduced to 10 men.

Originally based in the La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Boca Juniors or Club Atletico Boca Juniors is a legendary Argentine professional sports club founded in 1905.

It is most renowned for its men’s football team, which is one of the most successful and widely supported clubs in South America. And the popular bar in Queens is named after it.

In my personal opinion and observation, many Argentines I met in the United States weren’t friendly unlike other nationalities also involved in soccer.

Maybe it has something to do with their status as soccer superpower. Or maybe it’s part of their culture.

 

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I first began to question their character when they mobbed Johnriel Casimero, a Filipino boxer who knocked out local favorite Luis Alberto Lazarte in Mal del Plata in Argentina on February 11, 2012.

Following Casimero's 10th-round TKO victory for the IBF junior flyweight title,

Angry hometown fans rioted, hurling chairs and storming the ring after Casimero mauled Lazarte en route to a 10th-round TKO win for the IBF junior flyweight crown.

Casimero and my matchmaker friend Sammy Gello-ani were forced to hide under the ring for safety until police intervened. Argentine fans were rude, violent, loser losers, dangerous.

Back to FIFA soccer, if not for Lionel Messi, only a handful of Filipino fans would have rooted for Argentina when the defending champion collided against Spain for the 2026 title in East Rutherford, New Jersey Sunday afternoon.

Early in the morning, I told Victor, my fellow Ilonggo sports enthusiast from Bacolod City, I rooted for Spain because we can always identify ourselves as Filipinos with the talented soccer players known for their distinct, free-flowing "tiki-taka" style of play that emphasizes mesmerizing passing, relentless possession, and technical brilliance.

 

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We notice fans, including Filipinos, admire how the Spaniards prioritize beautiful football over physical, defensive tactics.

Spain dominates games by controlling the ball rather than relying on rigid defense. They consistently lead tournaments in possession (often exceeding 60 percent), utilizing a style that relies on patience, quick movement, and the geometry of the pitch.

Their mastery of breaking down aggressive man-to-man defenses with seamless fluidity is celebrated by football purists and casual fans alike.

It is always said that Spain frequently captivates the world by blending seasoned veterans with exciting teenage talents.

There is another reason why we wanted Spain to roll past Argentina in the FIFA final: the average Filipino has minimal Spanish DNA, typically ranging between 1 percent and 5 percent.

While Spanish influence in the Philippines is highly visible through names and culture, true genetic admixture, however, remains low because few Spanish settlers and families actually migrated to and lived in the islands.

Spain won its second FIFA World Cup. We can say that because we have many things in common religiously and culturally, Spain’s success in soccer is also our success in one way or the other.

 (The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)

 

 

Does Imee Marcos want her brother Bongbong killed?

“It's simple enough, I killed Abel because I couldn't kill you, so, in intent, you are dead too.”

―Jose Saramago

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

IMEE Marcos, older sister of Bongbong Marcos Jr., hasn’t stopped disparaging her younger brother in public.

In every given opportunity, Imee Marcos didn’t hide her rage lashing at him in public like an archenemy. Which made many Filipinos perplexed and terrified.

Imee Marcos’ vitriolic was frightening and she delivered it like Queen Fredegund of Neustria, a Frankish 6th century queen who went from a royal servant to the king's mistress and is considered one of the most ruthless women in history.

Did she want Bongbong Marcos Jr. removed from the Malacanang Palace and toppled as president? Or she wanted him killed?

We thought among Christians familial relationships and family ties are stronger, more important, and more loyal than any other relationships, such as friendships?

The popular idiom that says “blood is thicker than water” is supposed to imply we have a deeper obligation to our biological relatives than to people outside our family.

 

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But it appears Imee Marcos is more loyal and enthralled with the Duterte family than the Marcoses.

She is more inclined to side and die for Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, who had threatened to behead Bongbong Marcos Jr. and dig the body of their father, the late former President Ferdinand Sr. and throw the cadaver to the West Philippine Sea.

In her most savage attacks during a boisterous Iglesia ni Cristo (INK) rally in Manila, Imee, a senator, publicly accused Bongbong, the Philippines’ 17th president, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and the couple’s son, Ilocos Norte Representative Sandro Marcos, of using illegal substance.

Imee also dragged Bongbong’s former "barkada" and accused the president without showing any evidence that his drug use worsened following his 2016 vice-presidential defeat to Leni Robredo, now mayor of Naga City.

The two have not been on speaking terms for years. The bitter sibling rivalry and Imee Marcos’ unprecedented aggressions reminded us of Madonna and her brother Christopher Ciccone.

They worked pretty closely together as Madonna launched her career. Christopher has been her assistant, stylist, and artistic director at one time or another.

The two stopped speaking right before his 2008 memoir, "Life With My Sister Madonna," hit shelves.

 

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The book details intimate information about Madonna's ex-husband, kids, and career, among other things that didn't sit too well with the "Material Girl."

Madonna and Christopher continued avoiding each other for another five or six years but reportedly were "back to being brother and sister," Christopher told The Huffington Post in 2012.

The feud was reignited after Christopher claimed Madonna had "blacklisted" him from Hollywood, calling her "horrific" in 2017.

There was also tension between the pop star and her brother Anthony. Christopher is only one of the pop star’s seven siblings, according to The Guardian.

The feud is now over, according to Radar.

"We are at peace now and just spoke last week," Christopher told Radar.

"I recently moved from Los Angeles back to Michigan where my father and family own a vineyard and winery ... She regularly speaks to our dad while some of our siblings work at the winery. We are all united."

 

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Another weird family feud in history was shared to us by Mental Floss.

Cleopatra and her younger brother (and later husband), Ptolemy XIII, were born into one of the most incestuous and familicidal dynasties in ancient Egyptian history.

After their father, Egyptian king Ptolemy XII, died in 51 BCE, a teenaged Cleopatra and her prepubescent brother Ptolemy (said to be around 11 at the time) were appointed co-rulers of Egypt. Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII were married, as was customary for Egyptian royalty, in a bid to consolidate familial power.

When Cleopatra later tried to take full control of Egypt for herself, she was ousted by her brother/husband and replaced with her younger sister, Arsinoe.

Cleopatra headed to Rome in a bid to rally support and retake the throne from her siblings—something her father, Ptolemy XII, had done years earlier when he was exiled by his daughter, Berenice IV, whom he had executed upon his Roman military-backed return to Egypt.

While in Rome, Cleopatra embarked on a storied sexual and political relationship with Julius Caesar. With Caesar’s support, Cleopatra returned to Egypt in 47 BCE, retaking the throne from Ptolemy XIII and Arsinoe (the former drowned in the Nile while battling Caesar and the latter was captured).

Once back in power, Cleopatra remarried her younger brother Ptolemy XIV, who was still a child at the time. She chose to keep Caesar as her lover and advisor.

Cleopatra gave birth to her first son, Ptolemy XV Caesar, shortly after regaining power; the boy is widely believed to have been fathered by the Roman dictator.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)

 

 

Jerry Treñas’ video

“We have two lives, and the second one begins when we realize we only have one."

—Confucius

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

WE aren’t worried that Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas apparently lost weight in a recent 35-second video he posted on Meta (formerly Facebook) days ago.

For somebody who has been undergoing chemotherapy and reportedly recovering from pancreatic cancer diagnosis, it’s normal.

Health authorities say cancer itself can cause elevated metabolism and inflammation, thus a patient undergoing chemotherapy can lose weight largely due to side effects like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and even loss of appetite, not to mention changes in taste.

We worry after noticing in the video Treñas’ uncanny mannerism of repeatedly gripping the kneecap of his left leg while speaking.

Some quick-thinking therapists could suggest it is often a subconscious response to knee instability, discomfort, or a feeling that the joint might "give out".

It frequently happens during moments of prolonged sitting, acute pain, or heightened anxiety in video contexts.

Many physical therapists tell us if the kneecap (patella) is not gliding smoothly in its groove, it can create a grinding, clicking, or unstable feeling.

Gripping provides artificial compression and stability.

 

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The father of incumbent Mayor Raisa Maria Lourdes Sarabia Treñas-Chu seemed okay despite tackling several illnesses these past years except for his rather drab and hoarse voice.

Ebullient and smiling, the 69-year-old former law professor in the years before the 1986 EDSA Revolution or before he became a full-time politician, belted, “Ti, kamusta na kamo? Ako nahidlaw na gid sa inyo. Kamo nahidlaw man kamo sa’kon? Ah kamusta na mga kabataan ta? Magpakaboot kamo. Ang inyo nga aah deretso subong nga mag tuon gid kamo para nga mag ayo ang inyo mga grados. Ang akon pangabay nga magpakaboot mga kabataan ta kag magbinuligay kita para sa aton ciudad.”

(How are you everyone? I miss you all. Do you also miss me? How are the children doing? I implore you to be kind and to study hard so that your grades will improve. My only request is for our children to be kind and let us help one another for our city.)

Treñas’ attire in the video (wearing suspenders or the pair of straps over the shoulders to hold up pants and the Foster Grant McKay Multifocus-type reading glasses) reminded us of the late CNN broadcast legend Larry King when he declared, “I thought I was just going to bite the bullet. I didn't want to live this way.”

Winston Churchill once said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

Long live and more power, Mayor Jerry Treñas.

 

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We now understand why so many private lawyers were in mad scramble and wanted to volunteer as prosecutors in the ongoing impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio.

Since the trial is being watched (“live” telecast or replay) by millions of Filipinos all over the world, the appearance of any law practitioner can be equivalent to instant shot at fame and fortune.

FAME. Whether the vice president will be ousted after the impeachment trial, lawyers from both the prosecution and defense panels are thrusted into the limelight and will become instant celebrities.

Look at how the social and mainstream media glamorized the lawyers from both sides who clashed in the first three hearings.

FORTUNE. After the impeachment trial, those flamboyant lawyers will be in demand when they go back to their private practice, and the law firms where they belong definitely will attract attention from well-heeled  litigants.

Some of them might even get juicy offers to join the government and land in lucrative portfolios and corporate offices.  

Or attract instant offers to join the leading political parties and get elected in 2028.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)

 

 

Filipino nurses in ‘crime of century’

“There are crimes of passion and crimes of logic. The boundary between them is not clearly defined.”

―Albert Camus

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

SIXTY years ago, or on July 13, 1966, two Filipina nurses were butchered beyond recognition by a drunken rapist inside a dormitory on 2319 East 100th Street (I regularly passed by this street from where I stayed on Monroe Street on my way to the Union Station in 2008) in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Corazon Pieza Amurao, 23, of San Luis, Batangas; Valentina P. Pasion, 24, of Jones, Isabela; and Merlita Ornedo Gargullo, 22, of Naujan, Mindoro were among the nine student nurses attacked by a lone assailant, Richard Franklin Speck, a drifter from Texas, inside the dormitory.

Only Amurao survived in what was known as “crime of the century.”

Pamela Lee Wilkening, 22, of Lansing; and Nina Jo Schmale, 24, of Wheaton, both in Illinois were raped and killed.

The others who suffered multiple stab wounds and strangulation were Patricia A. Matusek, 21, Mary Ann Jordan, 20, and Suzanne Bridget Farris, 21, all of Chicago; and Gloria J. Davy, 22, of Dyer, Indiana.

According to US-based Fil-Am journalist Joseph Lariosa, who interviewed Jack G. Wallenda, the first Chicago police homicide detective to arrive at the crime scene, the incident chipped away at the conventional wisdom of accommodating an armed intruder instead of putting up a resistance to survive.

Amurao and Gargullo tried to loosen their hands and Amurao whispered to others that when she freed herself, she could pick up a steel bunk ladder and hit the man with it. They could have leaped on him and overpowered him.

Lariosa said they could have done this when Speck was stripping the bed sheets to use them to tie their hands and ankles as he laid his gun aside. But the rest told them to keep still as they accommodated Speck’s demand to give him $38 as he was heading to New Orleans.

 

DETECTED

 

Although a sneeze away from getting detected, Lariosa said two things that saved Amurao’s life were her foresight and her pure luck when Speck lost count.

As Speck took Gargullo out of the bunk bed from the room and stabbed and killed her in another room as he had done with the rest, leaving Davy on top of the bunk bed and Amurao under the bunk bed, Amurao summoned all her strength to wiggle herself towards the bunk bed earlier occupied by Gargullo.

So that when Speck returned to look at Amurao’s previous location and saw it empty, Speck thought that Davy was the last in the room.  She then climbed out of the bedroom window onto a ledge and screamed that her friends were all dead.

The next day, Amurao fled a scene of such great carnage that it made veteran cops and police reporters vomit.

Detectives would find Davy dead on the sofa, naked and sexually assaulted. Upstairs, Wilkening had been gagged and stabbed through the heart.

Farris was in a pool of blood, having been strangled with her own stockings and stabbed 18 times. Jordan was stabbed three times. Schmale was stabbed in a pattern around her broken neck. Paison's throat had been cut. Gargullo had been stabbed and strangled. Matusek was also strangled. The women had been so disfigured that the director of nurses was able to recognize only 3 of them.

According to Amurao, Speck, armed, had forced entry into the dormitory and tied up the women. She hid under a bed, forced to listen as he raped, beat, and killed each of her friends. His was an easy conviction, and Speck died in prison when suffered a heart attack in 1991.

 

RIGHTS

 

The case also demonstrated that individual rights take precedence over diplomatic niceties, added Lariosa. As the Philippine Consul General Generoso Provido in Chicago at the time wanted to provide legal assistance to Amurao, the young nurse diplomatically declined the offer after getting wind of the scheme that the Filipino American lawyer being recommended by Provido was more interested in getting a slice from money generated from rights to her story than protecting her legal rights.

In a curt statement, Amurao issued the following statement: “It is my desire to make it clear that the memory of dear colleagues is of such character that I do not want to have it tainted by the acceptance by me of money or other personal benefit.”

Aside from getting $5,000 out of the $10,000 reward money offered by the South Chicago Community Hospital leading to the solution of the case, Amurao has stuck by her word, resisting bids for her to sell her rights to her horrifying experience.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)