The Black Elpo Shoes (Part 2) Forbidden Game

If mere talking to Carmelina, my childhood love after 17 years was incredibly shocking, her revelation was dynamite. It blew me to pieces.

I met Carmelina at the Overseas Employment Development Board’s office (OEDB) Intramuros, Manila, on December 19, 1980 at 3:00 PM, when I handed in a telegram prompting me to report for interview for possible employment overseas. Carmelina was a Placement Officer. The full measure of our fated meeting happened at 4:45 p.m., at the OEDB’s Cellar Kitchenette.

As far as I could remember, with an untouched clubhouse sandwich at our table, while we sipped Coke, the following was her version of my story…

“Two weeks ago, I chanced upon your resume when we were doing an evaluation of resumes submitted to us. I took an interest in yours. Not only we’re town mates, but also, as I remembered, we’re classmates. You’re special, in fact. I was curious… How are you now? The last time I saw you was in 1969, after I finished high school. And that was 11 years ago.”

“I put you at the Arabian Bechtel Co. Ltd., which I know is a very good company. Gene Chalmer, the Bechtel Recruiter, would end his interviewing today. For you to come quick, rather than put you through the pipeline which would take time, I telegrammed you. I don’t want you to miss this opportunity… You looked shocked, when you saw me upstairs…?

That! Uh… I was stunned. You looked like Linda Carter, the “Wonder Woman”. I felt inferior.

“Ha… ha… huh… Wow! I’ll give you a hug. You’re so generous. Thanks. But you know… that shyness of yours killed you.”

Killed me…? I repeated her words in my thought. “Oh… How? I asked.

“Well, from 1963 – let me see – to 1965… starting when we were in Grade 3 up to Grade 5, all you do is staring at me. I was annoyed at first. But then later, I thought you just wanted to talk to me. But you’re chicken. Never got that one iota of courage. My fault. I let this bore… you remember him? Rufino Gomez, the piffle braggart dogged me till we graduated in Grade 6. You’re intimidated to death!

How could I forget Rufino… his Converse White Shoes. He was my nemesis.

“Tell me. Why you always remove your black shoes and parked them under your desk? Were you peeved, when our classmate howled at you… “here comes the rat catcher”? One Monday, you come to class your eyes were swollen, like you spent the whole weekend crying. Then, I never saw your Black Elpo Shoes again.”

My memories reeled back to that humiliating episode of my life: the Black Elpo Shoes, and all the scenes attached to it. 17 years already passed, I didn’t know it had a twist. I was being observed – of all people – my crush! A thousand horses stomped their feet on my chest. I couldn’t answer right away. Carmelina went on….

“You remember Mrs. Villaroman, our Art Teacher. We had this Poster Contest about crime. And I saw you talking to her. I gossiped. You wanted to join. But you got no art supplies. Then, Ms.,Villaroman, requested your seatmate Emelita to lend you some. You won. Your poster reads: “Parang mabangis na Leon kung manila ang Krimen” Then you put the image of a growling, roaring image of a Lion like the logo of Metro Goldyn Meyer. I love the metaphor you used. I only understood them when I was in my early years in college.

And Mrs. De Joya, our English Teacher, she asked you to make a sentence, parse it, and identify which part of speech each word belong. Your sentence runs like this: Jose is anxious to talk to Carmela. I don’t know what “anxious” meant. I looked it up in the dictionary. It means – ‘strongly wishing’. There’s no Jose in our class, neither Carmela. So I took it to mean, Jose was you, and Carmela was me and you strongly wishes to talk to me. But you’re mute! Do you know that? You’re like Carlos, remember him? He’s a sissy character of our book “Pathways to Reading” a coward, derided by bullies. One time, Carlos surprised the whole village. Carlos dived to the river and save a drowning boy where no one among the bullies dared jumping off. How I wished you’ve got the courage of Carlos to come near me and talk to me. It never came.

We were separated in high school. I was sad. From your resume, I learned you’re from a public high. Me, my parents wanted me at St. Mary’s. a bourgeois school. Even when were separated, I knew you keep tabs on me. Every 5:00 o’ clock during Friday’s, you were at our school gate, watching me. And once I caught your eyes, you vanished like a ghost. During Saturdays, between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m., you hung around at Mang Maning’s store at the corner of F.G. Calderon St. and P. Enrile St. where we live nearby. You remember that? I made sure I’ll perch myself atop the Guava tree in front of the Aguas Potables, the huge water tank. There, I love seeing you waiting. I watched how your face disfigure. And when totally, you’re so pissed off, I’ll make myself visible. Once you saw me, you would go home. How shallow your joy was. I hated you! We never see other again after high school.

I felt nuked when the full measure of her confession sunk. A roly-poly waiter approached Carmelina. “Mam, telephone,” he said. Carmelina drained her Coke, excused herself, stood up and walked to the telephone at the counter of the OEDB Kitchenette.

Staring at the untouched sandwiches on our table and rounding the rim of the glass of Coke with my finger, I cursed myself of my cowardice. The great chance that I have wasted! Surely, this must not be our last meeting… I can invite her again.

When she came back to our table, she asked me how is my interview with Gene Chalmer went. Then she said, “Don’t forget to send me a postcard from Saudi.”

We talked a little bit more, then she raised her arm and waved. I swung my head, looking for whom she waved her hand for. And I saw a handsome guy approached us.

“Honey, meet my town mates and classmates, I haven’t seen for 11 years”.

HONEY…! And Carmelina clung her hand to the man’s arm. A lump in my throat seemed to hold my Adam’s apple for eternity. When I was myself again, I reminded her to finish her sandwich before they leave. She said, I could have it, and added, her revelation, surely, would get me starving.

In a long drawn out sigh, I said, it was a blessing. Because if Carmelina was not committed, I would likely be succumbed to forbidden game.

Flavio, the Blacksmith Made a Speech at the Philippine’s Senate

Having been used to emote script from a movie set, Sen. Bong Revilla forgot he gave a privilege speech in an August Chamber of the Senate, where most people watching, if not all, have brains that parse, analyze and connect the dots of every word he spoke. Sen. Bong Revilla’s performance insulted the intelligence of the public. Most of the pundit’s pieces never have said anything positive of his speech. The social network media even gave him sobriquets that maligned further his already tarnished name.

In his braggadocio stance, Sen. Bong Revilla surprised his audience uttering such a high-sounding phrase: “Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus,” (Sinungaling sa isa, sinungaling sa lahat) which felt awkward and uncharacteristic of him. It has the same impact as when Bong narrated that P-Noy said to him “’Pare, parang awa mo na, Ibalato mo na sa akin ito,” making it appear that P-Noy beg for his assent to convict the Chief Justice Corona, which is so unbelievable that P-Noy could utter such a “movieesque” dialogue.

Bong, obviously, wanted to impress, but didn’t realize that the Supreme Court has already ruled long time ago that this “Falsus in UNO, falsus in omnibus,” the ancient discredited aphorism is not an absolute guide to determine truthfulness. The real purpose of that Latin phrase is to discredit Benhur Luy, the whistle blower who admitted forging signature as instructed by his boss, Janet Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the PDAF. Luy’s deposition led to the charge of plunder against Bong, Enrile, Jinggoy and other lawmakers implicated in the PDAF scam. Bong said, as Benhur Luy forge signatures, the other documents, pertaining to the plunder charge are also forge, even those signatures and initials that he acknowledged before as authentic through his letter to the Commission on Audit.

Moreover, to drive even further his point, Bong duplicated the alibis of Hubert Webb of the Vizconde Massacre fame that Webb was out of the country when the massacre happened. Bong used the same alibi with his Chief of Staff, Atty. Richard Gambe that at the time that Benhur Luy’s gave money to Gambe, as recorded in Luy’s ledger, Bong said, his Chief of Staff was out of the country too. Very convenient!

The movie script fed on Bong took a twist when he enumerated all the rants against P-Noy gathered on the news discussion on the internet. Apparently, Bong’s scriptwriter had been scouring contents of all the social networking sites, and took note of those illogical rants written by anonymous news watchers, and those of the columnists whose bias is to put down whatever achievements P-Noy’s administration have attained, highlighting those that have the most devastating impact. And then, just like the juicy bit of the blind item stuff typical in the showbiz write-ups, Bong dropped off the issue of linking P-Noy’s sister on the alleged extortion tryst from Czech company to gain contracts for the MRT’s expansion project.

Bong’s scriptwriter even souped up the script with the cloak and dagger scenario to insinuate that P-Noy meddle with Corona’s conviction.  Bong narrated the sequence and the manner by which Mar Roxas, “Boy Pick-up” as Bong named him, drove him to the Bahay Pagasa, P-Noy official residence. Then, during breakfast, together with P-Noy two other secretaries, the continuation of the “movieesque” dialogue ensued in which Bong quoted the President as saying “… kailangan s’yang ma-impeach”. But Chief Justice Corona has already been impeached. Bong meant “conviction” probably. One wonder. Did Bong follow blindly the illogical contents of his script or he’s just after of its emotive impact?

Of course, the movie is not complete without the melodrama. The senior Revilla in a wheel chair was present and cried during his son’s performance. After Bong’s speech he kissed his father’s head. Oh my God! Little did the public know that even the senior Revilla dealt with Janet Napoles too as claimed by Benhur Luy.

Bong, before his scheduled privilege speech gave out press releases which he said, “He would tell all.” By that, people expect he would explain where his PDAF, in millions went. He didn’t touch that subject.

Like what Sen. Miriam Santiago in effect said: “E kasi boboto boto kayo ng artista, di yan ang napala n’yo.” And one might add, “Ang nakuha n’yo Si Flavio…ang Panday”.

Now hear the real Bong Revilla in this video!

Exquisite Talent Plus Juicy Story Equals Fame

Thwarting Criticism thru Discernment

Pissed off with the barrage of unreasonable criticism, one of P-Noy’s New Year’s resolution for 2014 is to disregard commentaries of the fault finders. Minding the criticism of the hopeless, P-Noy said, distracts him from attending on some other problems of the country, so better ignore them. For a moment, P-Noy seemed oblivious of the role played by the media which is “to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,” a precept to keep the powerful on their toes for power abuse and misuse.  Unreasonable criticism is part of a healthy democracy. Yes, noises can sometime annoy. It can be a straw that can break a camel’s back even, but that’s one of the job hazards a President get. If one doesn’t want the heat, then don’t stay in the kitchen, so they say. No one who occupies the Malacanang Palace escapes from criticism.

 

P-Noy’s observation that there is “a cottage industry already of people who make a living out criticizing him” rang true. “Envelopmental Journalism,” a brand of journalism which involves the use of envelope stuff with cash to pay journalist or media practitioner – hence “envelopmental” – to sway their write up to favor their client is an ongoing practice in the Philippine’s media. The “AC-DC”, the offshoot of “envelopmental,” an acronym for Attack Collect – Defend Collect, where the journalist get money from the two opposing clientele also thrive and kicking. 

 

Imagine if these unscrupulous journalists, staff the tabloids and broadsheets, do TV commentaries and broadcast their opinions on the radio, this can sway public opinion catered to the hidden agenda of their benefactor – an individual or a group of people whose political and business interest in the schemes of things are at stake. With the teeming efforts of these unscrupulous journalists, their opinions or writings or commentaries induce collective behavior. People with media exposure  are like lump of iron. Each atom is like a tiny compass that can point its magnetic needle in a particular direction. Individually, each atom is free to choose its own orientation. But with focused theme jelled in the write-ups, opinions, articles, commentaries of AC-DC journalists with “envelopmental” influences, the magnetic force push all atoms to align their needles into one direction – towards the achievement of the goals of their benefactor.

 

During the 2013 Senate Hearing of Janet Napoles, Sen. Miriam Santiago asked Ms. Napoles if she knew the PR man who scout journalist to obscure the PDAF (Pork Barrel) controversy which involved the oppositions, and hyped the DAP (Disbursement Acceleration Project) to throw bad light on the P-Noy Administration. Sen. Miriam Santiago’s question to Ms. Napoles corroborated P-Noy observation that a cottage industry which aim to throw in unreasonable criticisms is a fact of life and it is part and parcel of how democracy works.      

 

However not all people exposed to the media fall prey to the wares sold by these unethical Journalist for hire. There are newspaper readers, for example, who can discern if what is written has the ring of truth. One can read columns of the Manila Standard, the Daily Tribune and the Manila Times, and one can probably sense the skewed and colored slant the writers of these broadsheets propagate. 

 

In order not to get swayed, reader must asked: What’s the background of the writer, the biased he or she espoused? Does the writer have integrity and good reputation? Does the writer present a balance approach and a good presenter of facts? 

 

2013: The Year of the Double Whammy!

For obvious reason, Bong Revilla didn’t reprise his role of “Ang Panday” for 2013 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF). Earlier, Bong turned down the movie offer of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) to depict the life of Felix Manalo, the INC founder. Bong missed these potential blockbuster movies because of his big involvement with the PDAF scam as a senator. Pilloried in public as a top notch thief of the “pork barrel “ scandal, it got him naked of the last vestiges of respectability. Bong chose not to participate in the 2013 MMFF derby as for sure his movie would tank in the box office. Movie fans would tend to snub his movie as their way to vent their anger. Loaded with the pork barrel stigma, Bong would appear fake too if he plays the role of the INC religious founder.

During the previous MMFF’s derby Vic Sotto and Bong Revilla work in tandem producing their film entries. Now that the scenario has been changed, Kris Aquino sensed she could probably make a deal with Vic Sotto to rest awhile his “Enteng” franchise and Co produce with her the movie “My Little Bossing” which starred her son Bimby Yap. Kris Aquino is right on the money with co-producing with Vic Sotto. “My Little Bossing” tops the box office in the 2013 MMFF.

The year 2013 is a double whammy for Bong Revilla. Years before he flew high with his “Panday” movie earnings and his secret kickbacks courtesy of Janet Lim Napoles. What goes around comes around, so they say.

Twice, 13 years apart, Jinggoy Estrada was charged of plunder. A double whammy too for Jinggoy. Jinggoy escaped from his first plunder charge, but the second one filed in 2013 is the most incriminating with truckloads of evidence. He attributed his jinx to  

number 13. Joseph Estrada, his father, the 13^th President of the Philippines was removed from office and convicted of plunder. One can read a subtext on Jinggoy’s claim he has been jinxed by the number 13. It is as if his involvement in the PDAF scam is nothing. It is just his bad luck with the number 13, that’s all, a way to bolster his claim of innocence.

The year 2013 the people witnessed the contest of privilege speeches of the two veteran lawmaker in the Senate; Miriam Defensor Santiago and Juan Ponce Enrile, (JPE). They dig each other mud and did their dirty laundry in the August Hall of the Senate. JPE got his double whammy too for 2013. Apart from the plunder charge, Sen. Miriam Santiago torpedoed JPE of his alleged involvement in car smuggling and illegal gambling operation in the Freeport of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) Also of illegal logging operation of San Jose Lumber and falsifying his Statement of Assets and Liabilities. In a formal letter, Sen. Miriam Santiago asked the Dept. Of Justice to investigate these malfeasance of her arch enemies.

Double whammy is the 2013’s apt word to describe the fate of three famous senators who had been in their heyday was at a pinnacle of enjoying people’s money for their own greed.