The return of
the Kennedys

While we are talking about dynasties and how to eliminate them here, one in the United States that many people thought had ended, is coming back to life. This is the famous one of the popular but tragic Kennedys, that was believed to have ended with the death of the last brother, Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy. His elder brothers, the charismatic and very well loved former president John and Robert had died in bloody incidents, both by assassination. Even their brother-in-law (or ex-brother-in-law) former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, had also fallen away from politics.

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In fact, the also good-looking and charismatic son of President John FK, his namesake, John-John, had also died in another tragedy, the crash of a plane he was piloting himself, where he and his girlfriend perished. Those in the know about the Kennedy background must also recall that their father and clan patriarch, Joseph, had planned on making his eldest son, Joe, president, but fate wouldn’t have it, because Joe was killed, also in a plane crash. So it fell to John, popularly known as Jack, to fulfill his father’s dream.

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After Ted died, however, there didn’t seem to be anybody in the family interested to maintain the tradition. And so the name and the dreams seemed to have fallen into oblivion. Until the election this week, where, when the returns came out, one discovered that another Kennedy has surfaced, this time the grandson of Robert, and grandnephew of John, named also Joseph, after his grandfather and late granduncle. And so the tradition may again go on. Joseph, by the way, ran for a seat in Congress, and won over a businessman. Naturally, he ran as a Democrat.

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It was nice to know that at least 14 Filipino-Americans who ran for various positions in the last election, made it, with one winning a seat in the House of Representatives. That means our kababayans are getting their feet in the door of American politics and, who knows? If people there can vote for someone with roots in Kenya as president, they might also like the idea of being led by someone from the Philippines. That will be the day.

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Speaking of families, and especially, brothers, however, turns our attention to another set who are at the moment, at odds, because of politics. We are talking about the half-brothers, Senator Jinggoy and Congressman JV, both sons of former president Joseph Estrada with different mothers. JV, son of local girl Guia Gomez, who is now mayor of San Juan City in Metro Manila, had served as mayor also, and is now a congressman, eyeing a senate seat. That seemed all right with half brother Jinggoy, who recently took exception, however, to interviews granted by JV where he revealed some aspects of their relationship.

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Jinggoy sounds justified, he knows that JV, who wants to follow him into the Senate, is trying to get all the publicity he can. But he didn’t like the idea of so much revelations, probably believing that some things should be kept in the family. We know about things like sibling rivalry, but there is more than the usual causes in their case. So, maybe their dad, Erap, should step in and tell them to shut up. I hope he will not be like the late Jose P. Laurel who, asked about the rifts among his sons who were already in public office, only sighed, “If they were younger, we could whip them”.

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At last San Beda College has acted on the case of fraternity members from the school who were involved in fatal hazing rites. Reports yesterday said that it had expelled 19 students who are members of the Lex Leonen fraternity whose members had beaten to death neophyte Marc Andrei Marcos just after classes started. Expulsion could be a penalty, but the courts would have more to say about the case. And what about the other previous cases also involving their students and their fraternities? What action had the school taken on them?

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Listen to this, girls. Aren’t you glad you were not born in such countries as Egypt, Iran, Mali, Morocco, Cote d’Iviore, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Chad, Pakistan and Yemen? A report from the World Economic Forum giving its 2012 Global Gender Gap rankings showed our country is among the Top Ten out of 135 studied, in reducing inequality between the sexes (men and women, it says). Really! We are number eight in the listing, and those before us are only Iceland, Finland Norway, Sweden Ireland, New Zealand and Denmark. Those in the last ten are the ones mentioned earlier. That is probably why some men here often murmur that our women are “more equal” than the men. Sorry, boys. Adam and Samson knew that long ago.*

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