What Susan could
not resist saying

Finally, the family of Fernando Poe Jr. accepted the National Artist’s Award given to him posthumously. Not only that, they also came to Malacañang for the ceremony where it was presented by President Benigno Aquino III. What’s so special about such awarding? Only the fact that the same award had been offered by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, but it was snubbed by the FPJ family.

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How could FPJ’s widow, Susan Roces, accept anything from GMA when she believe strongly that she had cheated her husband in the presidential election then? I think most Filipinos still remember the cutting words of Susan Roces when, with a wagging finger, and as shown on national television, she accused the former president with the unforgettable words: “You stole the presidency, not once, but twice!” Many were shocked to hear that and to see her expression then that was so different from the Susan Roces they knew, so serenely beautiful and sweet, many thought butter would not melt in her mouth.

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And, true to form, she did not let the awarding rites go without another gibe at the woman who, she believed (or knew) had deprived by dishonorable means her husband of the position he had honestly won. In her acceptance speech, she underscored the fact that she was receiving the most prestigious award from a “truly elected president”. Ouch. If former President Arroyo had been watching that show on TV, her pain in the neck might have worsened.

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As for the former president, who is now facing charges left and right for things that had happened during her term, her allies are calling for her to be allowed to go abroad for treatment. Leading them is Quezon Congressman Danilo Suarez who now sounds like a medical specialist himself, the way he had been diagnosing her ailment. Meanwhile a medical practitioner who was also interviewed on TV yesterday pooh-poohed claims that her ailment can only be treated in New York. He stressed that whatever doctors there can do, they can also do here.

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Bully for Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino for his decision on the case of the traffic officer from his agency who was not only browbeaten by a motorist, but also physically attacked and humiliated. The traffic enforcer was only doing his duty and stopping the business executive and his brother for going through a red light, but as reported in the media, the two got off their vehicle and one of them started slapping and cursing the poor fellow, who kept his cool and never fought back.

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Fortunately for him, a TV researcher who was in the area took video shots of the incident, so proof of what happened has been established. The hot-headed motorist, said to be a tobacco company executive, now has to face serious charges, because it is not only the traffic officer, but the MMDA that is taking the matter up. Meanwhile, the MMDA man, identified as Saturnino Fabros, has been recommended for promotion by his office. That will not make up for the humiliation and pain he had suffered, but the recognition from his office should be very heartening, indeed.

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Only recently we have been getting reminders about what happens to people who give way to their tempers when confronted by their own folly while driving. Look at Rolito Go. He was a successful businessman, but a moment of madness during a traffic altercation, has changed his life forever. Now he looks like the shell of the man he used to be, after having spent so many years in prison. One can only imagine how much he regrets that he had given way to his anger that fateful night. By the way, the name of his victim is Eldon Maguan, not Allan as mentioned here yesterday. Sorry…

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It was quite amusing to read an item saying that the head of the Department of Public Works and Highways is complaining that politics sometimes delay projects. And he has come to know that only now? What a babe-in-the-woods he must be.*

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