More fun or more trouble?

Oh no! It was not only the words of another country’s tourism slogan that was lifted by our officials, it now looks as if they also lifted the tourist attraction of another to promote ours. An international wire report said a picture bannering the slogan “More fun in the Philippines” was taken, not in the Philippines, but somewhere in Thailand.

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The photo appeared in a Singapore daily, the Straits Times, and some hawk-eyed Thai noted it immediately. Now there is a question of copyright infringement being raised, because the background of the slogan has been identified as the Nagaraphirom Park in Bangkok. After the embarrassment of that earlier one that was found to be almost a perfect copy of the tourism slogan of Poland, we came up with this “More fun…” thing that is also causing some trouble. Why don’t we change it to “It’s more fun, or more trouble, in the Philippines”?

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Meanwhile, here’s a warning to business people whose establishments are located on single-storey buildings. After the operations of the acetylene gang whose modus operandi is to bore holes on the ceilings of buildings to steal items, another one, perhaps a smaller gang, is focusing on one-storey establishments. In Talisay, such a group cut out the galvanized iron roofing of a store and climbed down to ransack it. Fortunately the owners did not leave any cash, so they were not very successful.

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Hand it to Kris Aquino. The woman really knows how to get into the act. Note that when the female Prime Minister of Thailand came for a six-hour visit, she promptly found some way to get into the news by telling people the lady, PM Yingluck Shinawatra, who is tall, pretty, and young (44) could be a good match for her bachelor brother. Naturally, the media picked that up, as hungry as they always are for news or hints about a love life for the President. Well, if she does not mind that the lady P.M. is said to be a single mother, with a common-law husband, that’s okey. And she is also the sister of the ousted prime minister who cannot return to Thailand even now.

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In Peru, the vice president who was suspected of influence-peddling and is under investigation, decided to resign, reportedly to spare the image of the government. Can that happen here? Alas, we have many examples of officials already facing open-and-shut cases, and yet they continue to hang on, using all legal maneuvers to stay in place. We have defeated candidates whose cases have already been decided by the Commission on Election, who elevate their cases to all the available courts to retain the post they did not win.

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Meanwhile, Minority leader Edcel Lagman who has been fighting back the moves to replace him by another congressman, who is obviously closer to the former first couple of the country, has finally thrown in the towel, and quit his post. Seems the former president likes and trusts his rival, Rep. Danilo Suarez more. The crusty old man not only gave up the leadership of the minority, he has also resigned from GMA’s party.

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Another official who is getting calls from various quarters to resign is Chief Justice Renato Corona, also a GMA favorite. For him the former president bent the rules to settle him in the highest office of the Supreme Court. In an interview recently, where he was asked if he would resign, Corona reportedly said, they will have to kill him first. Isn’t he afraid the late General and Environment Secretary, Angelo Reyes, will appear to him and say, “Don’t let them kill you, me, I killed myself, instead.”

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I join those who are grieving over the announcement of Eastman Kodak that it is closing shop and will no longer continue producing cameras, films and other photography equipment and supplies. Ever since our childhood, KODAK had already been a popular name. In fact we even used it for any kind of camera. It also became a verb that meant taking pictures, as in “Mapa-Kodak kita (let’s have our picture taken).”We even had a schoolmate who always said that, until somebody nicknamed her “Kodakia”. Now Kodak is gone, because many new things can take its place already. So, goodbye, Kodak, thanks for the recorded memories!*

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