Elvie, the 'surprise' girl

Our finance officers, our economists, our president are rejoicing. The peso is up and is in a much better condition than it was a few weeks ago. Glory Hallelujah! But why are the prices of flour, sugar, milk and even of the popular Pinoy breakfast fare, the pandesal continually rising? Only the other day, it was announced that pandesal will cost 50 centavos more. Then there are also the announcements that the price of liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, is up by P1. And transport operators are agitating for fare hikes.

Is the success of the peso bane or boon to the Filipino?

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Maybe it was just a case of two "novatos (neophytes)" in the game of politics. A new governor, the one from Bulacan, admitted to being the one who handed the paper bag to another new governor, the priestly one from Pampanga, who accepted it and carried it off without checking its contents. As he later narrated to the media, Gov. Ed Panlilio, a parish priest on leave to serve his province, said it was only while he was on his way home that he discovered that the bag contained five bundles of P1,000 peso bills, amounting to P500,000!

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Bulacan Gov. Joselito Mendoza at first denied that he had passed on the gift bag, but backtracked when Gov. Panlilio admitted publicly that he got the money, and named the person who gave it to him. In turn, young Mendoza, son of the Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza, claimed that the bag had been handed to him by a woman he could not - or would not - identify, who asked him to give it to "Among Ed" as the priest-governor is popularly known.

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The bigger question, however, is: Where did the money come from? The Budget Department has washed its hands, of course it would not release any money to political figures because there is an ongoing ban on that. So whence the alleged P120 M distributed in varying amounts to the favored guests at Malacañang? Was it jueteng money? Did it come from some foundation concerned with the projects of local governments? Was it a fairy godmother who did not have to bother with vouchers, checks and receipts? That is what the members of the Senate are now cracking their heads to find out.

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In the first column I wrote after my surprise surgery on Oct. 2, the day before my scheduled departure for Los Angeles and Las Vegas, I mentioned about the plan of a dear friend and former member of the STAR family now living in Montana, U.S.A. who drove over from her state to Las Vegas, quietly, but telling our mutual friends there that she wanted to surprise me. Poor Elvie Ureta White, she was the one who got the surprise when she got there to find out that I was at the very moment she got there, being wheeled into the operating room.

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But dear Elvie would still have her surprise. The other day, she called up, declaring that, after getting to Las Vegas, she drove again to LA and caught a plane for Manila. And here she is right now in Bacolod, grinning widely, because she did manage to have her surprise! Anyway, we were all happy at the STAR to see her, since she was one of the original members of the staff who had gone through so many vicissitudes in its history with us. Unhappily for her, however, her loving and very devoted husband, John, died after a lingering illness last August, and she is still mourning his demise. Welcome home, Elvie, and please stay a little longer this time!

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You can really feel the MassKara fever in the air, even if it also means a bit of traffic hassles. Yesterday, we took Elvie to Aboy's for lunch and we were surprised to note that there were very many customers who were not familiar to us. We heard they were mostly out-of-towners who had come to the city for the festivities. My brother Dan also met a Dutchman who said he had come over because he had been learning so much about the MassKara festival from the internet. As a photographer, he said he was hoping to take some good shots of the colorful affair.

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But tonight - tonight is countdown night for the 69th charter anniversary of Bacolod City. The countdown, which ends at midnight, is a very enjoyable affair, with crowds from all walks of life filling up Araneta Street where bands are playing, and dancing and singing to their beat. They only pause when the count up to midnight starts - to end in a burst of fireworks and applause all over. It is really worth staying late for. Be there!*

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