“People from the past, have a tendency to walk back into the present, and run over the future.”
-- Anthony Liccione
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Only most recently, some Ilonggo politicians--congressmen and women, governors, mayors--elbowed each other for attention of ousted House speaker, Pantaleon “Playboy Bebot” Alvarez, who was a frequent visitor in Iloilo and Negros.
Many of these Ilonggo politicians were willing to genuflect with Alvarez as long as they got what they wanted: endorsement for certain elective positions for themselves or for their chosen bets in the May 2019 elections.
They thought Alvarez was the Philippine version of Rasputin--indispensable, someone who holds the president in the testicles, imperishable and unsinkable as the fourth highest official of the land.
They played blind, deaf and mute to Alvarez’s moral and political transgressions and tolerated his hubris.
Alvarez got a mind-boggling VIP treatment from these eager-beaver local politicians as if he could bring back to life Lazarus of Bethany.
-o0o-
In many “mass” oath-taking ceremonies of newly recruited PDP-Laban members, Alvarez was treated like Nebuchadnezzar, eldest son and successor of Nabopolassar, an Assyrian official who rebelled and established himself as king of Babylon in 620 BC.
When Alvarez was trounced by former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the speakership in a turbulent mutiny hours before President Rodrigo Duterte’s state of the nation address (SONA) on July 23, most ofthese Ilonggo politicians who used to lionize Alvarez were now saying they junked Alvarez in favor of Arroyo.
From hallelujah to good riddance.
All of a sudden, most of these Ilonggo politicians disowned the Davao del Norte representative like a leper and are now queuing to ingratiate themselves with the controversial former president.
They gave credence to the age-old adages that “nobody loves a loser” and “victory has many fathers while defeat is an orphan.”
-o0o-
We thank Joji Jalandoni, former president of the New York City-based Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc. (PIDCI) for inviting us to grace the Piña-Seda (pineapple and silk cloths from the tropics) Hibla ng Lahing Filipino Traveling Exhibition lecture series, weaving demonstrations and embroidery workshops at the Philippine Consulate in Manhattan on July 24.
The exhibit featured Kalibo, Aklan Piña-Seda weavers and Lumbao, Laguna Piña-Seda embroiderers.
Piña (Spanish for pineapple) cloth is considered the finest and the queen of Philippine textiles.
Seda (Spanish for silk) cloth is undeniably the smoothest woven fabric in the world.
Combined with seda, piña exudes elegance as fined and delicate as pineapple and as smooth and luxurious as silk.
The exhibit, which started on July 24 and will be concluded on September 7, 2018, is being spearheaded by the National Museum (Pambansang Museo) and Office of Senator Loren Legarda.
Showing posts with label #BebotAlvarez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #BebotAlvarez. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Playboy Bebot to Ate Glo: From ‘worse to bad’
“The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.”
--Henry Kissinger
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Nobody has bellyached now that Playboy Bebot was booted out in a “mutiny” in the House of Representatives.
No Mark Antony-like soliloquy.
No loyal subaltern threatening to commit a hara kiri.
No post mortem protest from PDP-Laban figureheads except for softy Koko Pimental’s tantrums.
Since the ouster supposedly had the fingerprints of the First Daughter, it had been received with a grain of salt by pro-and anti-Playboy Bebot politicians.
The message was clear: Playboy Bebot deserved to be given the door, his comeuppance for picking an unnecessary fight with the First Daughter; and for poking a nose into the latter’s infant political party.
Meanwhile, she was supposed to be in jail for plunder, but by a stroke luck, Ate Glo was released from being under house arrest when the Angry Man, her political benefactor, was catapulted into power in 2016.
Her pivotal rise from the rumps of political death signaled her stunning resurrection from the nadir.
-o0o-
Ate Glo had inherited her son’s position in congress, thus her political rehabilitation came to a zenith when she was installed as the new House speaker hours before the Angry Man’s state of the nation address on July 23, 2018.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, there’s no more turning back.
She could become the first prime minister if the sinister plot to hijack our constitution and shift the system of government into federal from unitary will come into fruition.
Between Playboy Bebot and Ate Glo, lawmakers opted for the lesser evil.
Thus the leadership change can be considered to be a transfer of power from “worse to bad.”
For being morally unfit and a bad influence, Playboy Bebot was a worse speaker.
For being mentally dishonest (“Hello Garci” tumult) and having been tainted with a whiff of graft and corruption, Ate Glo is a bad choice for Playboy Bebot’s replacement.
-o0o-
I was again misinterpreted for exhorting the relatives and friends of Monica-Blumentritt, Iloilo City Proper village chief Keith “Dabing” Espinosa and her jailed husband, Jesus “Jing-Jing” Espinosa Jr. to “pray for them” in my previous article.
It’s a common knowledge in Western Visayas or in Iloilo City, in particular, that the couple has been receiving threats owing to their alleged involvement in illegal drugs.
Although Jing-Jing is now detained at the Iloilo Provincial Jail in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo for frustrated murder, he continued to engage in selling of illegal drugs using Dabing and his family remembers, according to Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) director, Chief Supt. John Bulalacao.
-o0o-
When I used “Pray for Jing-Jing and Dabing” as the title of my article, it did not mean I believed they were immaculate and shouldn’t be indicted in court.
They should be brought before the bar of justice unscathed.
As Christians, we are advocating for any suspected criminal to be given the due process and treated humanely.
This goes not only for Dabing and Jing-Jing but for all “notorious” characters out there who are still enjoying their freedom and are not yet locked behind bars.
We air this utmost concern amid the culture of impunity, the series of summary executions that pervade our society under the present administration, which apparently has showed callous disregard for the human life based on numerous anti-illegal drugs police operations.
We believe that any person, whose guilt has not yet been proven beyond reasonable doubt, should be entitled to his or her right to life.
--Henry Kissinger
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Nobody has bellyached now that Playboy Bebot was booted out in a “mutiny” in the House of Representatives.
No Mark Antony-like soliloquy.
No loyal subaltern threatening to commit a hara kiri.
No post mortem protest from PDP-Laban figureheads except for softy Koko Pimental’s tantrums.
Since the ouster supposedly had the fingerprints of the First Daughter, it had been received with a grain of salt by pro-and anti-Playboy Bebot politicians.
The message was clear: Playboy Bebot deserved to be given the door, his comeuppance for picking an unnecessary fight with the First Daughter; and for poking a nose into the latter’s infant political party.
Meanwhile, she was supposed to be in jail for plunder, but by a stroke luck, Ate Glo was released from being under house arrest when the Angry Man, her political benefactor, was catapulted into power in 2016.
Her pivotal rise from the rumps of political death signaled her stunning resurrection from the nadir.
-o0o-
Ate Glo had inherited her son’s position in congress, thus her political rehabilitation came to a zenith when she was installed as the new House speaker hours before the Angry Man’s state of the nation address on July 23, 2018.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, there’s no more turning back.
She could become the first prime minister if the sinister plot to hijack our constitution and shift the system of government into federal from unitary will come into fruition.
Between Playboy Bebot and Ate Glo, lawmakers opted for the lesser evil.
Thus the leadership change can be considered to be a transfer of power from “worse to bad.”
For being morally unfit and a bad influence, Playboy Bebot was a worse speaker.
For being mentally dishonest (“Hello Garci” tumult) and having been tainted with a whiff of graft and corruption, Ate Glo is a bad choice for Playboy Bebot’s replacement.
-o0o-
I was again misinterpreted for exhorting the relatives and friends of Monica-Blumentritt, Iloilo City Proper village chief Keith “Dabing” Espinosa and her jailed husband, Jesus “Jing-Jing” Espinosa Jr. to “pray for them” in my previous article.
It’s a common knowledge in Western Visayas or in Iloilo City, in particular, that the couple has been receiving threats owing to their alleged involvement in illegal drugs.
Although Jing-Jing is now detained at the Iloilo Provincial Jail in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo for frustrated murder, he continued to engage in selling of illegal drugs using Dabing and his family remembers, according to Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) director, Chief Supt. John Bulalacao.
-o0o-
When I used “Pray for Jing-Jing and Dabing” as the title of my article, it did not mean I believed they were immaculate and shouldn’t be indicted in court.
They should be brought before the bar of justice unscathed.
As Christians, we are advocating for any suspected criminal to be given the due process and treated humanely.
This goes not only for Dabing and Jing-Jing but for all “notorious” characters out there who are still enjoying their freedom and are not yet locked behind bars.
We air this utmost concern amid the culture of impunity, the series of summary executions that pervade our society under the present administration, which apparently has showed callous disregard for the human life based on numerous anti-illegal drugs police operations.
We believe that any person, whose guilt has not yet been proven beyond reasonable doubt, should be entitled to his or her right to life.
Monday, June 25, 2018
Quo vadis, Iloilo politicians?
“Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.”
--Will Rogers
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- If self-confessed womanizer Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez is ousted as House speaker before the 2019 congressional elections, many Ilonggo politicians who have entrusted to him their political future will be in real big trouble.
There are strong whispers spreading around that majority of the Philippine congressmen/women want either Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco, 40, or Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, 71, to replace the loud-mouthed Alvarez, one of the big bosses of the ruling PDP-Laban.
Things aren’t anymore normal in the House leadership ever since Alvarez engaged Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte in an ugly word war early this year, the grapevine says.
Many Ilonggo politicians who kowtow to Alvarez thought the 60-year-old Davao del Norte representative was untouchable and unshakable being one of the closest allies of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
For some of them, Alvarez is the modern Marcus Aurelius, a stoic and leading icon of Pax Romana.
-o0o-
Like vermin, some of these Ilonggo politicians turned their backs from their former benefactors and political parties and embraced Alvarez like a king of Persia.
They formed a beeline and praised Alvarez to high heavens, looked up to him like a demigod and sought his blessings for anointment of their local bets for the May 14, 2019 elections.
They had no idea that Alvarez was also facing a king-sized insurrection right in his own turf.
Unknown to most of them, the playboy House boss was already a ticking bomb and could explode anytime; his invincibility will soon come to a screeching halt if he can’t dodge the deadly wallops of the Cassiuses and Brutuses in the Philippine House of Representatives.
If Alvarez capitulates, quo vadis, Iloilo politicians?
-o0o-
While having my usual mid-afternoon smoothie (a thick, cold beverage made from pureed raw fruit and sometimes vegetables blended with ice cream or frozen yogurt) session inside a Colombian resto on corner 82nd Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Queens Sunday, a group of revelers wearing yellow shirts and caps exploded in the intersection.
Suddenly flag-waving fans riding in cars honking loudly joined the festivity that started past three o’clock in the afternoon and ended at around past seven o’clock in the evening.
They were Colombians living in New York City celebrating Colombia’s triple hammer blow that dumped out Poland in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia.
Colombia’s sensational win kept its hopes alive of barging in the Last 16.
Some of those in the crowd proudly chanting and cheering were a mixture of old, young, men and women soccer fans pouring out their joy and happiness like they won the Olympic Games.
Others brought along their dogs strapped with the Colombian national flag.
New York City cops passing the intersection just watched as they continued to patrol the predominantly Latino community.
I wished we Filipinos could also celebrate like them.
--Will Rogers
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- If self-confessed womanizer Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez is ousted as House speaker before the 2019 congressional elections, many Ilonggo politicians who have entrusted to him their political future will be in real big trouble.
There are strong whispers spreading around that majority of the Philippine congressmen/women want either Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco, 40, or Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, 71, to replace the loud-mouthed Alvarez, one of the big bosses of the ruling PDP-Laban.
Things aren’t anymore normal in the House leadership ever since Alvarez engaged Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte in an ugly word war early this year, the grapevine says.
Many Ilonggo politicians who kowtow to Alvarez thought the 60-year-old Davao del Norte representative was untouchable and unshakable being one of the closest allies of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
For some of them, Alvarez is the modern Marcus Aurelius, a stoic and leading icon of Pax Romana.
-o0o-
Like vermin, some of these Ilonggo politicians turned their backs from their former benefactors and political parties and embraced Alvarez like a king of Persia.
They formed a beeline and praised Alvarez to high heavens, looked up to him like a demigod and sought his blessings for anointment of their local bets for the May 14, 2019 elections.
They had no idea that Alvarez was also facing a king-sized insurrection right in his own turf.
Unknown to most of them, the playboy House boss was already a ticking bomb and could explode anytime; his invincibility will soon come to a screeching halt if he can’t dodge the deadly wallops of the Cassiuses and Brutuses in the Philippine House of Representatives.
If Alvarez capitulates, quo vadis, Iloilo politicians?
-o0o-
While having my usual mid-afternoon smoothie (a thick, cold beverage made from pureed raw fruit and sometimes vegetables blended with ice cream or frozen yogurt) session inside a Colombian resto on corner 82nd Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Queens Sunday, a group of revelers wearing yellow shirts and caps exploded in the intersection.
Suddenly flag-waving fans riding in cars honking loudly joined the festivity that started past three o’clock in the afternoon and ended at around past seven o’clock in the evening.
They were Colombians living in New York City celebrating Colombia’s triple hammer blow that dumped out Poland in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia.
Colombia’s sensational win kept its hopes alive of barging in the Last 16.
Some of those in the crowd proudly chanting and cheering were a mixture of old, young, men and women soccer fans pouring out their joy and happiness like they won the Olympic Games.
Others brought along their dogs strapped with the Colombian national flag.
New York City cops passing the intersection just watched as they continued to patrol the predominantly Latino community.
I wished we Filipinos could also celebrate like them.
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