The fat is in the fire

Wow, Shalani! What have you done? I do not mean your good fortune in marrying a man who is so well-bred, bright and sooo in love with you, you also got the oftentimes blasé Teddy Boy Locsin sounding like a besotted teenager when he described your wedding on Sunday. But no one can dispute Locsin this time, see, I even listened to him as he gushed about you and your wedding rites, although I usually turn off or switch to other channels when he comes on.

***

And yes, indeed, yours was one of the most beautiful weddings ever featured on TV. Locsin called it the closest thing to a royal wedding we have seen here, and he was right. Was he thinking about another one about two years ago that was just a grand media show covered with political icing? One would almost think he had crush on Shalani, like the members of the bridegroom’s family who seemed to all dote on her. Lucky, lucky girl!

***

I am sure we will be seeing more of this wedding and reading more about it in all media outlets in the next few weeks. And it will be worth it, because this could set a model for those who go for a big show that looks expensive but is actually tasteless. In the Romulo-Soledad rites, everything was well-planned, in good taste and admirable. By the way, I noted that both the bride and the bridegroom have initials that are similar RR and SS. Of course the latter will now be SR.

***

Meanwhile, it was interesting to hear that, for the second time, Johnny Depp was named the favorite actor of the United States. Wasn’t it also last year that he was announced to be the biggest earner among his peers in Hollywood? If we are showing this interest in Johnny Depp – even if I have not even seen a single movie of his – it is because a friend of ours, from Bacolod, is a member of his staff, and apparently quite close to him and his family. Marilyn “Bibot” Alayon was in town about two years ago, and was, in fact, featured by the DAILY STAR.

***

My, my! The Senate impeachment court has not even announced yet whether it thinks the defense lawyers of Chief Justice Renato Corona have reason to seek the inhibition of Senator-Judge Franklin Drilon, when here comes a blockbuster from the United States, where relatives of Mrs. Corona are staying. Remember the explanation of the defense that the Corona couple got some P11 million to purchase property through a cash advance (or was it a loan?) from the company owned by her family?

***

But yesterday, a voice from the past, that is a relative of Mrs. Corona herself, a certain Randy Basa, came out in an interview disclaiming that such amount had ever been granted to Corona by their company called the Basa Guidote Enterprises Incorporated! She said her husband was an original stockholder and officer of the company at the time mentioned when the loan or advance was supposedly granted, and no board meeting or authorization of such is on its records. Another thing that has surfaced is that the company had reportedly already ceased operations. So how was the loan secured or paid? Is the fat in the fire, at last?

***

So we will see another exciting session when the hearings on the impeachment case resumes today. Let us hope that there will be no more delaying tactics and nitpicking on technicalities. Let the facts speak for themselves already, and let us hope former chief justice Serafin Cuevas can resist trying to push his weight around when he deals with the congressmen-prosecutors, many of whom may have passed the bar, but, alas, do not much exposure as trial lawyers. For them, this is just their baptism of fire. God help them.

***

By the way, it has also been reported that the Corona defense panel may turn to the Supreme Court to ask it to stop the trial, or maybe to disqualify Senator Drilon. Do we have to even guess how such appeal will be acted on, with only two or three of the High Court members not appointed by the same president who also picked by Corona, even going around the midnight law to do so?*

back to top