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-healed 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)

 

‘Anong paki namin sa English niyo?’

“I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.”

—Will Rogers

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

WHILE pundits are saying seven out of 10 Filipinos support the ongoing impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, we doubt if it carries a weight in the priorities of the hoi polloi, or the masa.

By support means they are in favor, but will they zero in on the extravaganza when it becomes intense and carnivalesque hook, line, sinker?

After three hearings, it remains unclear if the impeachment trial has sunk into the imagination of plebeians who don’t have appetite for two competing besuited panels trading debates using highfalutin English and legal jargons.

They may be squirming, “Anong paki namin sa highfalutin English niyo? The gasoline is up; the economy is in tailspin. The peso is being pummeled in the foreign exchange rate market. We want food, shelter, and medicine; we want jobs; we need to survive.”   

The average Filipinos still continue to struggle making both ends meet and are generally apathetic to politics.

They must prioritize daily needs, food on the table over raree-shows and all forms of discussions that don’t have direct impact on their day-to-day survival.

 

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They must ensure their children have daily meals and allowances and can go to school safe and sound.

Only the pundits, the political vloggers and social and mainstream media analysts are claiming that even the poor are interested in what’s going on in the impeachment trial.

Most ordinary income earners, the people selling vegetables and basic goods in the marketplaces and the sidewalks, are busy with their livelihood and have no patience for endless debates in the halls of congress now transformed as impeachment trial court.

According to the latest official data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), about 17.54 million Filipinos, or 15.5 percent of the population, were living below the national poverty line in 2023.

Many political combats like the impeachment trial and government policies only help drive up consumer prices, such as for food and energy, which disproportionately hurt the poor, or create artificial obstacles to jobs.

Concern for the poor is often equated with endgame of the impeachment trial in search for accountability of public officials. In reality, political intramural often makes it difficult for those striving to make ends meet.

 

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We didn’t push through with our male patient’s doctor’s appointment on 41st Street in Downtown Manhattan, NYC July 8 morning because of the danger posed by a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper under a massive renovation evacuated Tuesday after two interior columns began to buckle that made first responders to fear a collapse could be imminent.

Hours after the 8 a.m. evacuation on July 7, the buildings and streets around 235 E. 42nd St. near Second Ave. remained closed off because there was reportedly additional movement in one of the compromised columns.

New York City’s buildings commissioner said late Tuesday that a compromised high-profile housing project under construction near Grand Central Terminal was stable for now, even as he said that the neighborhood around it may remain in a tense situation “for the next couple of days.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said no additional movement has been observed at the Midtown Manhattan high-rise that was evacuated after structural columns buckled. Temporary shoring and beams have been installed on several floors to further stabilize the building, with more expected to be added today, the mayor said.

The developer behind the skyscraper told CNN faulty column supports carrying too much weight were to blame, adding they will determine the exact reason they bent “in due time.” Four buildings in the area remain under evacuation orders.

The building, located on East 42nd Street, is the former headquarters for Pfizer and is being converted into apartments. The developer intends to rebuild the damaged section and still finish the project on time.

(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)

 

 

Agog over Alex’s tiara and Sara’s trial

“To be a tennis champion, you have to be inflexible. You have to be stubborn. You have to be arrogant. You have to be selfish and self-absorbed. Kind of tunnel vision almost.”

—Chris Evert

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

NO doubt Filipinos from all corners of the globe are more excited to watch Alexandra “Alex” Maniego Eala’s Round 16 fracas versus Tuscany-born world no. 17 Jasmine Paolini in the Wimbledon distaff side than the much-ballyhooed impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, which will also blast off on July 6.

Win or lose against the 30-year-old Paolini, 21-year-old Eala has already secured a soaring place in tennis history.

No Filipino tennis player—man and woman— in history has reached Wimbledon’s thrilling Round 16.

If Eala bundles out Piolini and enters the Magic 8, she will become an unreachable comet in women’s tennis as far as her fellow Asian tennis players is concerned.

If she wins the Wimbledon crown, all hell will break loose, so to speak, in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), as well as tennis as a whole, since Eala is only currently ranked no. 32 in the world.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed and wish Alex the best of luck.

Alex’s conquests have already brought tremendous pride and eminence to all Filipinos reeling from the sordid publicity and negative stories generated by political instability, economic ennui, and disasters like earthquake, volcanic eruption, typhoon, flood, etcetera.

 

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Assuming Alex rolls past the top-rated Italian phenom, our attention will still continue to be divided this week as Mrs. Duterte-Carpio’s impeachment trial finally unfurls where at least 90 percent of the Filipinos anticipate and support it; they want the trial to proceed without delay.

Filipinos are excited to hear and watch the historic trial because they are curious about the charges in the articles of impeachment and the pieces of evidence to be presented by both the prosecutors and defendants.

The week will be swamped by a mix tableau of sports and politics. Emotions will be in record high for many Filipinos agog over Alex Eala’s tiara and the impeachment trial of Mrs. Duterte-Carpio.

If Eala gets the boot and crashes out of the title contention, many Pinoy fans will be heartbroken.

Pro-Duterte fanatics will suffer from emotional meltdown if the impeachment trial, expected to last for a maximum of five to six weeks, tilts in favor of guilty verdict.

 

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This is a type of travel scam that we should be aware of. When planning a trip, people often search the web for help with booking their flights and accommodations or acquiring necessary travel documents like a passport.

They may find websites that look legitimate, but when making the purchase, the website will charge extra high or hidden fees. Worse, the purchased travel bookings or documents might be fake and won’t be accepted on the journey.

Capital Bank has offered some helpful tips: Before making any payments, do your research to ensure the business is officially verified and check reviews on trusted platforms to confirm they’re authentic.

For business email compromise. Scammers can send emails impersonating trusted vendors to redirect payments to a fraudulent account.

While these messages appear authentic, they often originate from a scammer who has successfully compromised the vendor’s email or other communication channels.

Capital Bank has offered some helpful tips: Closely review all sender details for subtle errors. Independently confirm any payment or account changes through a verified telephone number or known channel.

 

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The imposter safe haven scam. Scammers pose as bank employees, tech support or even law enforcement agents, claiming that your personal information or account has been compromised. Scammers try to convince you to “protect” your money by buying gold and physically mailing it to them, or by buying cryptocurrency and sending it to an account they control for “safekeeping.” Ultimately, these imposters trick you into believing they’re helping in order to steal your assets.

Capital Bank has offered some helpful tips: No legitimate financial institution or law enforcement agency will ever ask you to buy gold, crypto or move your money to secure your funds.

(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)