An APEC attraction?

For his caper in sneaking out of his detention quarters to greet Senator Juan Ponce Enrile at his PNP Hospital room, Senator Bong Revilla got his two police guards in trouble, and now the two officers are facing charges. The poor guys, they were supposed to bring Revilla to the Emergency Department because of some complaint, but he went the other way, to the far-off detention room of Enrile. And while there, being a movie actor, he also could not resist having his photograph taken, and that was how the prosecutors got the goods on him.

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What happens now to the two officers of the police? Raps are said to be filed against them, but we don’t know what the penalty will be, for allowing themselves to be sweet-talked into going somewhere else, instead of the place specified in his permit. What will their excuse be? That they are rabid fans of the movie actor, and could not resist his plea, or will they admit, as some are suspecting, that he made it worth their while? But maybe this will be the end of it, and we will hear nothing more of this case from hereon.

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There is a move to include a subject on responsible driving in the high school curriculum that has raised some eyebrows among some educators. A retired teacher’s reaction was that, instead of driving, what should be included is the former “Good Manners and Right Conduct” that their generation had. Indeed, any observant adult must have noticed how lacking in GMRC so many of our young people, especially students, are. In one of the city’s malls the other day, I saw a group of teenagers, cut across the path of a disabled person, who had to wait until they had all gone through, or they might have bumped into her. Maybe that is more necessary that responsible driving, as who knows whether they can acquire vehicles as soon as they graduate?

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Another proposed bill is one that would lower the retirement age of teachers from 60 to 55. The rationale is supposed to be the strenuous work teachers have to do, so that early retirement will benefit them. Me, I suspect the proponent only wants to get some pogi points with the teachers. I know a lot of teachers who are still enjoying their work at that age, and also doing very well. If they do lower the retirement age to retire, they should just make it optional, so those who are dedicated ones who love the work have a choice.

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So a baseball bat is not a deadly weapon. That was what a Cebu prosecutor implied in the case of the lady lawyer who was attacked with a baseball bat by a jealous wife who suspected her of having an affair with her husband. Now the husband happens to be the vice mayor of Ronda town in Cebu, and he has not been heard from on the incident. Reports said the jealous missus hit the window glass of the lady lawyer’s car and struck the woman herself in various parts of her body.

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The lady lawyer filed a case for frustrated murder, but the prosecutors didn’t think so, saying there was no intent to kill. But suppose the lady had been hit in the head and her skull cracked? Maybe the jealous wife did tell the court that she had no intention to kill her suspected rival. Maybe she only meant to disfigure her, or keep her away from her hubby? Subsequent reports, however, revealed that this was not the first incident where she had reason to suspect her supposedly nice young spouse, a noted family man. A pending case for sexual harassment in court has also been unearthed against him. No wonder the missus was so ready to pounce. But where did the baseball bat come from?

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So it’s true that those who attacked the Special Action Forces men of the Philippine National Police in Mamasapano had not only killed indiscriminately, they also robbed the bodies of their victims. A report on the encounter between the military and the Bangsamoro Independent Freedom Fighters said that the corpse of one of the BIFF men killed was wearing the uniform of the SAF. I wonder if they also found some of the guns supposedly stolen from the dead policemen.

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Another balikbayan noticed and commented on the old tire decorations of Bacolod streets. And, guess what, the term also used to describe them was “baduy”, just like others before. This one asked if these are the best we can do to impress the coming delegates of the APEC. Another one expressed apprehension that the tires might hold rain water, even in the littlest amounts, and serve as breeding places for mosquitoes. Aren’t you afraid of a dengue epidemic, one asked. Whose idea was that “kabaduyan”, by the way?*

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