Is it his destiny?

A teenager in Scotland, probably wanting to put one over his elders and betters, leaped into a quarry in his own version of accepting the ice bucket challenge, and drowned. It took four hours to find his body. See what bad examples you are giving? Well, those who went through the dousing must have enjoyed it, and the publicity it got, but what if other youngsters also take after the Scot boy and make up their own challenge?

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One who did not fall for the trick is Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada, who pooh-poohed the exercise and said it is just “for show”. Well, Erap has been in show business for a good part of his life, and therefore knows what it's all about. Maybe President Aquino is of the same thinking, as he has not – so far – been seen getting his dousing. Some naughty people joked that that it might be bad for him since his scalp is so exposed, he might get sick.

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My, they are all ganging up on Vice President Jejomar Binay, and it is not only those with similar ambitions as his who are doing everything to make him uncomfortable. There are the two wannabes in the Senate, Senators Antonio Trillanes and Alan Peter Cayetano, who are daring him to come and face the Blue Ribbon Committee to answer the claims against him, including those by his former vice mayor. And they also twitted him that he could bring his children – especially his daughters? – to come and defend him.

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But Binay must have factored all these in when he decided to announce so early his interest in the presidency. He is, figuratively, living in the proverbial “house of glass”, and can also be likened to “a city built on the top of a hill”, if we are to quote all those clichaic sayings of our childhood. So he and his politically-immersed family must brace themselves for all the stones that will be thrown at them in the next two years.

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Meanwhile, Binay's former vice mayor, Ernesto Mercado, who had “sung” before the Senate about their supposed activities while heading Makati in tandem, has also revealed that he had noticed vehicles trailing him and that he suspects so one else but – you know who. So he has prepared a letter, copies of which he has left with members of his family, and one with him, where he claims that “anything” that may happen to him can only be blamed on the Binays. That was clever of him, because, now, the Binays may even hire bodyguards to watch him.

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After all those reports about the recruitment of Muslims from all over the world by the Islamic States of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, all the countries they are getting should be very wary about their own people who are returning from those questionable states. In the Philippines, our own bishops have expressed apprehensions over such reports, knowing how dangerous it would be to have even just a dozen of such “returnees” coming in with their new orientations. The United States is, perhaps, the country that should be most concerned, considering the “melting pot” that it has come to be.

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What is this we hear about our Manny Pacquiao being enticed by China to come and train their boxers and even with the possibility of setting up schools all over the country so they can produce pugilists like him. Will that not mean that he will be developing ring experts who may fight with our own countrymen and reduce our chances of topping the sport in international competitions? For sure the Chinese can provide more facilities and better equipment that our local boxing groups can. If he will listen to me, I'd tell him to think the offer over many, many times.

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After nine years, justice has come to the family of the three-year-old Filipino-Chinese boy who was kidnapped and held for several days while his parents were being pressed for ransom. But the boy was rescued, and charged for the crime were several persons led by former movie actor and later congressman Dennis Roldan, whose real name is Mitchell Gumabao. Because of overwhelming evidence and the testimony of the boy who identified his kidnappers, Roldan et al have been sentenced to life imprisonment. Why such a person as him could stoop to such a crime is difficult to believe. But perhaps his present state can be tied up with his current show on GMA that is titled “My Destiny”.*

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