Oh what a tangled web!

Within a few hours after yesterday’s issue of the DAILY STAR hit the streets, and reached our online readers, we got an email from my cousin Allan Gomez in Riverside City, California. Allan wrote: I want to let you know about your column “Stranded in Madrid.” I received a similar email also, except that the amount requested was 1,500 euros. I thought my email had been hacked, and thank God it was a spam. What made it interesting was the subject line that says URGENT!

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“Of course”, Allan continued, “My impulse was to open the email right away as I wondered how you could be in Madrid when I communicated with you only the day before. This is a warning to all of us email users to be careful. Take care and God bless us all”. It is funny, indeed, that the culprit also knew that Allan is another close relative with whom I communicate frequently and in whose home I always land as my halfway house whenever I go to the U.S. and proceed to visit kin in other states. The scalawag must know that he would be ready and very willing to help if I’m in trouble. By the way, a nephew right here in Bacolod also got the same message. The latter somehow proves that the would-be swindler is not very bright, after all.

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By this time, friends of the Chief Justice and his family must be remembering with dismay the saying “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive”. The latest is the reported denial of the family that they have properties in the U.S. And then comes this information that there is at least one in Roseville City, acquired by one of his daughter, who also bought a P6.2 million property in Mckinley Hill in Taguig, 22 days later! The wealthy daughter is said to be a physical therapist, and has another job. They must be very highly paying jobs to enable her to make such purchases, one after the other. This is almost as intriguing as that cash advance of P11 million from a company that no longer exists. How will the defense untangle all this?

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Wasn’t that cute of England’s Queen Elizabeth? Wire reports said she just showed up at a wedding held at the Manchester Town Hall, and the congregation was puzzled. Was it a look-alike of their queen? Anyway, the Grand Lady of the United Kingdom gamely posed for pictures with the newlyweds, who were, naturally, over the moon in delight. Whoever thought they would have the queen at their wedding?

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The story was later unraveled, and it said that the bridegroom, in a wild shot, sent an invitation to the Queen to his wedding, not telling anyone, not even his bride-to-be. Of course, as he also expected, a letter denying his invitation arrived, and he thought that was that. But, probably Her Majesty felt like obliging, and, quietly, preparations were made for her to show up and surprise the wedding party. I bet the couple and their parents and guests will be telling this story all their lives, for generations. But I also hope, the queen will not be flooded henceforth with invitations to baptisms, weddings and even children’s birthday parties after this. Who knows? She just might come and surprise them, as she has already done in this case.

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Meanwhile, La Madama Miriam Defensor Santiago has her guns trained on the holders of surveys, especially those related to the ongoing impeachment hearing of the Chief Justice, whom she is strongly perceived to be siding with. Now the object of threats of citations for contempt, especially is the group called Pulse Asia, who dared publish reports showing that the Chief Justice got a very poor popularity rating of only 14 percent. Will the contempt case really frighten the survey groups? Perhaps not as much as Miriam’s bulging eyes and pursing mouth would.

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And now comes this group of feisty students who went ahead and conducted their own survey – the Student Council Alliance of the Philippines, composed of student leaders from Manila’s top universities and colleges. The results reportedly show that majority of the students in four schools surveyed did not trust the Chief Justice and that he is not fit to remain in his position. This was at about the time CJ Renato Corona was appealing to the new law graduates to support him. What about Senator Miriam Santiago? The SCAP members reacted to that by saying they were not afraid of her. Easy, kids, you might be blamed for her rising blood pressure!*

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