Love of Among

SUITORS JILTED, not once, not twice, but many times over, yet still pining for the affection, nay, even just the acknowledging glance of the beloved, are those ex-seminarians who form the core of the Balas Boys.
That is how, in no particular order now, Filologo Rodriguez, Archimedes Reyes, Chris Ocampo and Roperlee Syquia, came across to me – most certainly to a great number of viewers too – in their guesting at friend John Susi’s Hamon: Central Luzon over CLTV-36 last week.
Yeah, in dialogues after dialogues, both private and public, Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio had listened to them, accepted their suggestions, acknowledged their pleas for reason and agreed on some courses of action. Only for him to renege, and in more times than once, deny having committed himself to whatever has been agreed upon.
Exhibit A of the latter is the dialogue at the Social Action Center of Pampanga moderated by Rev. Fr. Deo Galang which premium agreement was the “unconditional reinstatement” of the Balas Boys that was cavalierly dismissed by the Office of the Governor and led to the still-ongoing protest camp-out of the Balas Boys at the Arnedo Park.
Yeah, Rodriguez was himself smeared with Mancatian muck by Panlilio when he was made to resign his supervisory post at Balas for what was thrown to media as “conflict of interest,” he – Rodriguez – being a quarry trucker himself. So, did he take advantage of his position as quarry supervisor to enrich his being a trucker?
Yeah, Syquia was countered by putative provincial administrator Atty. Vivian Dabu with a court case for some irregularities in the handling of government funds after he took Dabu to the Civil Service Commission for “abuse of authority, dishonesty, etcetera.” No need to guess on whose side Panlilio rested there.
Yeah, Reyes was told by Panlilio to explain himself after he wondered why he – Reyes – was included in the cases for libel, slander, disturbing the peace, etcetera that the Panlilio-Dabu tandem filed against the protesting Balas Boys.
Yeah, Ocampo did have a shouting match with Panlilio, he was shoved too by the governor – so he himself and some witnesses say – in a sudden confrontation at the time of runaway priest Robert Reyes’ meddling at Arnedo Park.
Yeah, all four have been deprived of their basic freedoms of speech and assembly after Panlilio deemed Arnedo Park was not a “freedom park” and ordered police to disperse the Balas Boys and their picketline moved dangerously close to the roadway.
Clear to all, Panlilio, by his actions, has no love lost for the four former seminarians. Clear to all, except to the four.
They still abhor to think of fighting, nay, of even slighting, their beloved, their most revered Among Ed.
Is this a hopeless case of the four hoping against hope that somehow, someway, Panlilio still carried in his heart of hearts even just some flickering embers of love for them – his own wards in the seminary?
That the Good Lord will cause some epiphany to come to Panlilio, the scales in his eyes suddenly falling off – even without an Ananias, see the lie in Dabu, and rush to them, his beloved disciples, for a renewal of bonds, never to be cut again? No way will the God who appointed Dabu at the capitol allow that, most surely.
On the other hand, given the four’s once priestly vocation, is this some manifestation of Christian love – masochism, to the Marquis de Sade – of unconditionally loving even those who persecute you? Of turning the other cheek, even if it is smarting red from all that slapping?
As I cannot hold the Reverend Governor in even lesser degrees of affection, I can only be in awe of this love the jilted four hold for their Among.
If this is all a living testimony to what has been inculcated in their hearts during their stay at the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary, if this is what an ex-seminarian is really, then I – who too finished my formative years at Mater Boni Consilii – am a most despicable anomaly.
My dear Apu Ceto, forgive me.

Defining festival

WITH THE Abacan River back to its placid state, Angeles City stirred to life anew. Edgardo Pamintuan, with an overwhelming mandate as elected mayor, electrified his constituents with the clarion call Agyu Tamu (We Can!) to inspire confidence that the city could rise, phoenix-like, from the volcanic ashes.
Pamintuan was inspire by a few intrepid city entrepreneurs who refused “to heed the voice of reason” and stayed put in the city to rehabilitate their factories and revive their productivity, foremost of whom was Ruperto Cruz who resumed his manufacture and export of high-end furniture within 45 days after the eruption.
To jumpstart the local economy, Pamintuan and his confidant, the activist Alexander Cauguiran, hit the buttons that sparked the city’s vibrancy – the entertainment industry.
Thus was birthed Tigtigan, Terakan Keng Dalan, street dancing and music in the Mardi Gras mold. The whole stretch of MacArthur Highway in Barangay Balibago was closed to traffic. The strip shone bright again in a kaleidoscope of lights. Bands on a makeshift stage on the highway itself played all types of music, from country to rock, rhythm and blues to OPM. Restaurants set their tables on the sidewalks. Food was aplenty. Beer flowed like – in the spirit of the times – lahar. Thousands rocked and rolled in a celebration of renewal, of rebirth.
The shroud of grief over the Pinatubo tragedy had been lifted – in Angeles City.
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THAT WAS the capping piece sub-titled Happy days of the chapter Lahar! in our book Pinatubo: Triumph of the Kapampangan Spirit.
Tigtigan, Terakan Keng Dalan marked a defining moment in the deathly struggle and ultimate victory of the Angeleno over the devastations of the Mt. Pinatubo eruptions.
Much similar to Bacolod City’s Masskara Festival which signature smiles defined that city’s rise from the hardships that came in the wake of the collapse of the sugar industry in the ‘80s, if I have my chronology right.
That Tigtigan, Terakan Keng Dalan became the signature festival of Angeles City was a testament to its lasting impact the psyche of the city residents, and a recognition of its prime value to their survival as a people.
So at its staging in the last weekend of October since 1992, Tigtigan, Terakan Keng Dalan serves as a look-back to the nights of fear and anxieties, to the days of hope and struggles until the rebirthing of the city now soaring in the firmament of economic development. Truly a cause for celebration.
Thus it came to pass, year in, year out from the city hall tenure of Ed Pamintuan to the reign of Carmelo Lazatin, better known as Tarzan – a city pulling all stops in gay abandon, in glorious celebration of Tigtigan, Terakan Keng Dalan.
Until Blueboy Nepomuceno came around.
“Octoberrific Weeks” cries the Angeles City hall collateral in the local dailies, itemizing all activities of Twin Fiesta ’08 for a month-long celebration.
Yes, Blueboy’s fiesta for Angeles is, unarguably, the city’s grandest ever. More activities running the gamut of socio-politico-economic concerns, with a heavy – and heady – dose of the cultural and, but naturally, the religious.
Sadly, Tigtigan, Terakan Keng Dalan is found nowhere in the scheduled activities. In its traditional date and place, appear “Angeles City – City of Friendship STREET JAM & PARTY ‘O8,” a most brilliantly banal, most expressedly unimaginative substitute for a most cherished festivity. Pray, tell, what is so terrific with an Angeles fiesta celebration devoid of its signature festival?
So, what’s in a name, some city hall minion might ask? Like the Bard’s rose, will not a street party by any other name rock and roll as lively?
No. Not with Tigtigan, Terakan Keng Dalan. For this street party is imbued with history. Of courage and grit in a time of chaos. Of hope and determination in a period of despair. Of the very soul of the Angeleno in triumph.
Sad, so sad for a people who have absolutely no sense of history.
We are reminded of what the people of Masantol are wont to say:”Tigtig at turak a lingo-lingo keng dalan, ing aske ding dakal a manungkulan.” Translation? Some surfeit of stupid leaders this nation suffers from.

Thy elders

HONOR THY father and thy mother.
The fourth of the fire-inscribed divine decrees on the tablets Moses brought down from Sinai ordained for the old folks a niche second only to God’s in the hierarchy of human respect and devotion.
Last time I looked, the first three still invoked of God-man relationship; the rest, man-to-man, with honoring the elders as primus inter pares.
That primacy God decreed on the elders, their offspring trampled with impunity.
Hear how your friendly jeepney driver addresses just about every sexagenarian passenger as Dyesebel or Marimar, Piolo or Dingdong, if not a most disrespectful and thoroughly politically-incorrect Baby or Junior.
Witness how drugstore despatsadoras dismiss with dispatch senior citizens’ prescriptions with the overly practiced stock reply of “Out of stock.” Or how waitresses sour up when senior citizens cards are placed alongside Ninoys to pay for the food tab. In these, Republic Acts 7432 and 7876 be damned!
Honoring thy elders has become sheer lip service, celebrated less in true devotion than in crass commercialization – read: three-day sale events for Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day and Grandparents’ Day at SM City, Robinsons, and Nepo malls.
It was then a cause for celebration that some semblance of sense, if not sanity, was put in the cause of honoring the elderly.
In the City of San Fernando, some 800 senior citizens were profuse in their expression of gratitude to Mayor Oscar S. Rodriguez for making them feel "still useful and young once again." The city government paid tribute to the senior citizens in the week-long celebration of "Elderly Week" which ran from October 2 to 7 with the theme "Nakakatanda: Huwaran at Yaman ng Bayan." A tradition vigorously pursued by Mayor Oca, Elderly Week this year was allotted a budget of P300,000 covering a variety of events meant to honor the city’s elders which, the happy seniors said, made them feel "young, reinvigorated and important in society." A medical mission at Heroes Hall was sponsored jointly by the city administration, the Drug Stores Association of the Pampanga and Vicky Vergara of St. Anthony's Drugstore with 470 seniors getting much needed medical attention and care.
A big hit too was the Social Upliftment and Teambuilding Session held at Robinsons Stramills participated in by over 800 elderly in a half day of fun exercises and games where many won cash prizes of P1,000 and P2,000. Mayor Oca himself donated P10,000 in cash for the activity. All these on top of the free breakfast, lunch and transportation allowances for the elderly for the duration of the week-long celebration. And above all, the celebration provided the stage for senior citizens to display their remaining potentials – despite, mayhaps, because of age – to still make a difference in their community. Not a wisp of dotage but every bit of wisdom in their poesia and polosa. Not one arthritic joint creaking but a sweep of grace in their ballroom twists, turns, and gyrations. Not the slightest trace of senility but all gung-ho in their drive to be heard, to be active key-rolers in community affairs. Talaga naman, puedeng-puede pa.
Mayor Oca has indeed done the senior citizens proud. For this, he has been blessed. Go, read the Book.
“Honor thy father and thy mother,” the first commandment that has a promise added: “so that all may go well with you, and you may live a long time in the land.” So the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians. So it was written in Exodus 20:12.
Else, be damned.
The fourth commandment carries too an injunction: “God’s curse on anyone who dishonors his father or mother.” So it was proscribed in Deuteronomy 27:16.
So I am writing this now – even two weeks after the event – if only to pay my respect to my elders.

Curious, curiouser

“I RECEIVED cash advances from Atty. Dabu to defray the expenses for food, gasoline and operations of Balas averaging P5,000 a day.”
So disclosed Filologo Rodriguez, former supervisor of the Biyaya a Luluguran at Sisikapan (Balas) task force in an affidavit. This, in affirmation of the allegations of Roperlee Syquia, former general services office consultant, that putative provincial administrator Atty. Vivian Dabu lied in her claims that she did not give out money from her office for whatever purposes.
Syquia has filed a case with the Civil Service Commission against Dabu for a host of alleged irregularities in office and has requested for her preventive suspension alleging that Dabu, owing to her position, had the capacity to intimidate department heads and other provincial government employees as well as the capability to manipulate records.
Okay, Rodriguez himself said that the amount advanced – unfortunately the total he did not disclose – was liquidated and remitted by one Allan Cunanan directly to Dabu.
The thing here is, Rodriguez tried to prove that Dabu was provincial treasurer, if not Balas piggy bank, in such instance. Contrary to her claim she did not give out money.
“I also received the amount of P80,000 together with Tosh Cunanan for the purpose of purchasing guns that were registered in the names of Eduardo de Leon and Alex Pineda,” Rodriguez sang on in his sworn statement. Adding that the guns are now in the possession of Dabu.
So how many guns were purchased? Of what make and caliber? I can only guess that with the amount cited – P80,000 – that’s good for one or two rusty paltik, or eight sumpak.
And to whom have these guns been licensed? To Dabu? My, my, my, a Ma Barker in the making here? Time to be afraid, ye, Balas Boys. Time to be very, very afraid.
Balas Boys sinumpak sa ulo, dedo! Fodder for the tabloids there. Gory, very gory.
“The financial aid to indigents I reimbursed to Atty. Dabu after the disbursement voucher and other supporting documents were prepared by Rosario Gopez of the Provincial Social Welfare Development Office.” So claimed Ma. Teresa Briones, erstwhile member of the “Confidence Team” of Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio who was in charge of the social action agenda of his administration. Briones was a fixture from Panlilio’s days at the Social Action Center of Pampanga.
In her own affidavit in support of Syquia, Briones likewise revealed she was given “communication allowance” of P2,000 a month from July to October in 2007 and in January and February of 2008. That was until her falling out with the Panlilio administration.
Rodriguez also claimed having been given the same kind and amount of allowance from July to December 2007.
So what legal purpose will these revelations of Rodriguez and Briones serve? Is there anything illegal in “pretty always” Dabu giving out all those cash advances and allowances to them, which, by their own account, were properly liquidated?
I don’t know much about the legal ramifications here. This much though shows from what Rodriguez and Briones said: Syquia could well be right in claiming that among Dabu’s myriad tasks at the capitol was being putative treasurer too, if not mandated quartermaster in Panlilio’s official household.
Now the plot thickens, as it gets curiouser and curiouser. Not on who really runs the capitol. But on why Panlilio cannot let go of Dabu.

Lying, still

THE CAT’S out of the bag.
Out of the brown paper bag given to Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio in Malacanang on Oct. 11, 2007 after a meeting of local officials with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Out of the same bag from which Panlilio drew P500,000 that he so gloriously waved before television cameras on Oct. 15, 2007 at the capitol, with his now storiedly Washingtonian: “I cannot tell a lie as a priest and I have to tell the truth as a public servant.” And when asked if the money was still intact, his reply: “The money is still intact, not a bill removed from the bag.”
Out of the same bag that took Panlilio before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee investigating alleged bribery arising from the Malacanang incident.
Out of the same bag that became a symbol of the governor’s honesty and integrity. Yeah, Honest Ed, it was I that first came out with the moniker in a news story published in the Inquirer.
This weekend, out of the same brown paper bag, it was Archimedes Reyes, resigned chief of staff of the governor and co-accused in the libel charges the Panlilio-Dabu tandem filed against the Balas Boys, that pulled a different cat.
Reyes, in Saturday’s Kapihan sa Rembrandt in Quezon City, revealed that
part of the P500,000 from the Palace was used to shoulder the expenses for a spiritual retreat in Tagaytay on Oct. 13-14, 2007 that he attended along with then provincial information officer Rommel de Jesus and social welfare program coordinator Roperlee Syquia.
He disclosed that it was De Jesus that mentioned having P20,000 from putative provincial administrator Atty. Vivian Dabu.
In Sunday’s Inquirer, the intrepid Tonette Orejas reported:
“Dabu confirmed taking out P10,000 from the stash of cash and handing this to De Jesus.
“By her account, this was how the event went: “Among Ed turned over the money (given at the Palace) to me on Friday morning (Oct. 12) through his secretary Marlene. When he called by lunch, he said Archie, Rommel and Rop needed cash for the retreat. I said it’s a holiday and I’m not in the office. I said the only money I have at that time in Clark was the money (he) handed to me. I suggested we borrow first from that and replace it later that day.
“(Panlilio) gave permission. That same afternoon, I went to the capitol, replenished the amount and put the entire money in the safe.
“Nothing was taken from the money after that. P500,000 pa rin.”
Reyes’ revelations, buttressed by the governor’s closest aide Dabu, gave the lie to Panlilio’s honesty. Even as Honest Ed was virtually telling the media and the Senate that the money was untouched and deposited in a safe, a portion of it, albeit a tiny one, had been pulled out and used, but replenished. All these not only with Panlilio’s knowledge but with his expressed permission.
“That put into question the transparency and honesty na ibinabandera niya (that he’s been brandishing)…There’s a cover-up here and he’s not being consistent.” So was quoted Rosve Henson, president of recall proponent Kapanalig at Kambilan Ning Memalen Pampanga Inc., as saying.
Even more direct and terse in his reaction was former Bulacan Rep. Willy Villarama, once close confidant of Panlilio now staunch critic: “This story proves that even priests do tell lies. The statement of Panlilio (under oath) in the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing contradicts what we now read. The truth can never be hidden. There is a great God who is watching over us. Time for all liars to repent. Time for Panlilio and Dabu to resign graciously. Time for all civil society from all factions to recognize the heroic deeds of the Balas Boys and the confidence team in coming out for the truth. They are the real heroes.” Thus went Villarama’s text message circulating in Pampanga since Sunday morning.
For calling him “malaram (liar)” in one of the rallies at the capitol grounds, Panlilio took it upon himself to remind the half-Kapampangan Villarama that “lying means the discrepancy between what you know and what you say.”
Look who’s talking now? Villarama could well be sneering.
“Whether or not he replaced the money that same day, even that same hour does not hide the fact that Among Ed is a bold-faced liar.” That is, of course, using the very standards Panlilio impacted on Villarama on the matter of lying.
E ku malaram. I am not a liar. So many times have we heard that mantra from Panlilio that we are reminded of the boy who cried wolf.

Conquering Pinatubo

A SKYLINE of sand – golden hued in the early morning sun.
Majestic in enormity, yet ephemeral – shaped by every whisper of the wind, recast at each drop of heaven’s tears.
One cannot help but wax romantic, if not poetic, on the way to Mount Pinatubo: There is so much primeval beauty, there is nary a trace of the volcano’s fury.
Apparently appeased with so much sacrifice in human lives and worldly possessions in the holocaust of the 1991 eruptions, Apo Namalyari – Pinatubo’s deity to the native Aetas – rebirthed Paradise in his realm.
Mount Pinatubo mystically stands like a prized jewel enticing to be possessed, or – pardon the chauvinistic incorrectness – an entrancing maiden to be conquered.
Conquest – the promise of glory at the peak, of overpowering the once mighty wellspring of death and destruction – sets throngs upon throngs on treks to Pinatubo.
Driving out of the Sta. Juliana staging point in Capas, Tarlac on board four-wheel-drive contraptions resembling African safari vehicles, the trekker comes to an open, dusty plain stretching out to a horizon broken by emerald-topped jagged peaks. Precipitous peaks of sand carved by the rain and smoothened by the wind forming a scaled-down Grand Canyon in whitish gray.
Babbling brooks branch out to rivulets meandering through boulders at the canyon floor strewn with more rocks, pebbles and pumice stones in all sizes and shapes. The cool, clear waters a soothing relief to the stingin heat.
Here, by Pinatubo’s foot the means of transport all stop and park. On hallowed ground no tire shall tread? Might as well had this been pre-ordained, as riding ahead through boulders the size of houses is an impossibility.
On foot the climb starts. No ropes, no grappling hooks, no pickaxes and mountain boots needed. There are no steep cliffs to scale, no ragged ravines to rappel.
Water, plenty of water to fight the heat and a sturdy staff to balance oneself across the river rocks make the very basic climb requisites.
With neither sharp rises nor abrupt drops, the gradient ascends gradually, almost gently all the way: along the gurgling streamlets; onto the outcrops of rocks and boulders belched from the volcano’s belly; through the thicket of cogon grass and assorted shrubs that, like a verdant curtain, opens to a stairway hacked out of a sudden rise at the top of which lies the spectacle of Pinatubo’s very crater.
Behold, a lake serene in blue and green. What lies beneath such stillness? The pent-up rage of centuries expended, a marvelous quietude pervades.
In the beholder, certain calm, transcendence, a spiritual epiphany permeate, even renewed faith: in that feeling of closeness, nay, of oneness with one’s God.
Conquest? By nature’s majesty, we are ever conquered.
(Last chapter, written by this columnist, of the book he edited, Pinatubo: Triumph of the Kapampangan Spirit, published by the San Fernando, Pampanga Heritage Foundation, Inc. and launched October 16, at the Car-world corporate headquarters with former President Fidel V. Ramos as guest of honor.)

Boracay

STILL,
The coconut palms sway, nay, sensuously sashay to the gentlest breeze.
Soft, fine grains, a divinely white bed the sandy beach does make – refuge to the body battered by endless toil.
Poetic becomes erotic – at the endless procession of kimchis in the briefest bikinis. Here –but a sprinkling of white flesh: sagging, more than nipped, tucked, and uplifted. There – exotica in the natural habitat, far removed from the zoo cages of Fields Avenue.
The rock – the famous formation of corals that dared to rise from the depths only to lose life to wind and sun, now a hardened host to small trees and shrubs – de-natured, and with a grotto to the virgin, Catholicized.
The waters – fear not e-coli – clear as the conscience of Among Ed and his God-appointed administrator…Cowdung!
Even in my sweet, sweet, reverie come my compadre and his partner in governance haunting me.
Delete. Delete. Delete. Got to set, to fix the mind in the here. In the now.
The waters, yes, the waters. I sit, squat in the waters. Neck deep, arms outstretched to the undulating waves. Ah, life is the sea.
In a trance now. A fish, small, pesky, cautiously now, curiously poking, probing my left hand, the fingers one by one. A second, bigger fish comes, going about like the first one. Then, a whole school of fish around both hands, arms, back, stomach, legs.
A twitch, so sudden. All the fish gone as sudden.
The waters, the waves, the sea. On me. All around me. In me. The sea becomes me. The oneness of being. Nirvana, here.
STILL, Boracay makes a fine getaway. A retreat to the realm of the senses – and transcendent spirituality too. Despite the monstrous development frenzy still ongoing there.
Hotels, more big than small, are in various stages of both construction and completion. The waste, both biodegradable and plastic, increases by the day. Even in the off-season.
Wonder how the Supreme Court declaration of the island as public property would be received by those who have staked fame and fortune in what once billed as the “most beautiful beach in the world.”

Pastoral letter

“AQUI EN la Pampanga hay mucha piedad pero poca caridad.”
In total recall of the lamentation of the first bishop of San Fernando, the Most Rev. Cesar Ma. Guerrero, on the wealth of piety but the want of charity in Pampanga, Archbishop Paciano B. Aniceto, opened his pastoral statement titled “Strive to preserve the unity of spirit through the bond of peace.”
Apu Ceto enjoined both governors and governed, clergy and laity to "stop the political skirmishes and enter into a mature dialogue with each other."
"Enough of the senseless political impasse that has hurt especially the poorest of the poor who are most in need of the basic services of the government!" the good pastor beseeched his flock.
That, even as he reminded the elected leaders of their primary mandate to “serve the interests of the common good, with due regard for the poorest and most vulnerable sectors of our community.” Which is in full conjunction with the Church’s long-time social doctrine of preferential option for the poor. Which made the very core of the campaign promise of the suspended priest Among Ed Panlilio: “Dala ta la king kapitolyu ding daing ding pakakalulu. (We will bring to the capitol the cries of the poor).” The perceived, if not actual, failure in the delivery of which by Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio, spurred all these demands for his ouster – be it through resignation, or through recall.
"While recognizing that the option to push for a petition for recall is indeed a constitutional right,” so admitted Apu Ceto, “I appeal to our people that they be more discerning of the motives of the various groups and individuals involved in it."
Asking his flock thus to "make a serious effort to examine their consciences over this issue---carefully considering if it will indeed serve the interest of the common good at this time in our province, of if it will just further divide our people who have yet to recover from social and political fragmentation." That was the May 2007 elections, most clearly. The one that hewed to the morality play of good versus evil: the goodness of the suspended priest versus the twin evils of jueteng and plundered quarry collections.
"We have experienced enough division during the previous election. Democracy has prevailed and the winner is not one or another candidate of a part but the will of the people." Apu Ceto would have been more specific with the election mandate received by the gubernatorial winner as the will of a little over a third of the Kapampangan people.
Still, we have to accept the declared winner, even if only by a plurality, and so we bow to Apu Ceto: "Let us respect the mandate that each democratically-elected official enjoys, and give each one the opportunity to serve his term or her term, while being at the same time considerate of each one's limitations."
Ay, there’s the rub our Among Archbishop. When the limitations of the elected official become too burdensome to his constituents, when these limitations all but totally negate his mandate to serve, what is there for the people to do? Suffer the remainder of his term?
The answer here to most Kapampangans, to over 200,000 of them – it pains me to say this, my Beloved Spiritual Father – has gone way beyond discernment.
Yes, our Among Archbishop, we agree fully with you: "I call upon our people and our leaders to rise above the limitations and egoism of politics and allow only goodness to guide our minds, our souls and our actions so that together we may all take part in building a renewed Pampanga, a renewed Philippines."
For a start will somebody please rise above the limitations of his self-imposed belief that all the goodness, brilliance, and excellence in all Kapampangan are reposited only in one woman?
Egoism, Among? So who was it who said: “Because of what I have done in Pampanga, I have given hope to the whole Philippines.”
That is not simply being egoistic. That is being utterly Messiahnic.
So, like the rest of us, will he listen to your pastoral statement, knowing that he denied all your appeals for him to keep his fidelity to the vow of obedience he made before God Herself at the altar of Melchisedek? Even outdoing Peter in the process, the cock crowing five times in his case?
Knowing that I could hurt you with this piece, I beg your forgiveness my Dear Father, Apu Ceto.

Cinderfella

QUICK WAS the retort of beleaguered Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio to news that his stepmother signed the petition for his recall.
“We weren’t really close ever since,” said the Reverend Governor of stepmom Maria Restinia Regala, principal of the San Pedro Elementary School in Minalin town.
Regala took the place of Panlilio’s mom, Catalina Tongol, in his father Gervacio’s heart in 1995 reportedly. Catalina died in 1992 and Gervacio sometime in 2007 before Panlilio entered politics.
It was precisely because of that – “turning his back to God to enter the world of politics” – that Regala signed the recall petition. Plus, Panlilio’s having reduced administration at the capitol to “one-man rule.”
“That is her opinion and this is a democracy,” conceded Panlilio, who however did not stop there and took a swipe at his mommie-not-dearest: “Mas mahigpit pa yata siya kaysa mga bishops.”
Finding cue from their idol, Panlilio’s minions lost no time in trying to dull the impact of his stepmom’s recall signing on the perception of the Kapampangan. At least, this is what we are getting from the turn of the stories circulating around.
The madrasta syndrome was quickly dusted off the fairy tale archives and a lachrymose plot line contrived to tug at the Kapampangan heart – poor orphan boy Panlilio persecuted, oppressed, treated like a slave by a witch of a stepmother with poor Papa Basyong too tired from his work to know.
Never mind that at 63 today, Regala is but eight years older than Panlilio at 55. Not too old to be his mom, or maybe an aunt, but young enough to be an elder sister.
Never mind too that when his mother crossed over to the Great Beyond to rest in the bosom of the Lord, Panlilio was already into his first decade of priesthood. Quite possibly, he was a co-celebrant in the Requiem Mass for his beloved mom.
Still, the Cinderella story is too universally appealing to ignore in this case of a madrasta siding with the “sworn enemies” of a stepson. A sort of a Cinderella Man, no – with that title already appropriated in a Russell Crowe movie about 1930’s heavyweight champ Jim Braddock – make that Cinderfella.
So that is how it goes now with rumors – mongered most probably by Panlilio’s propagandists – gone really, really wild in many a coffeeshop at the malls, whether in San Fernando or in Angeles.
No big deal really that Panlilio’s stepmom signed the petition for his ouster from the governorship. The Reverend Governor would want us to believe. They never were close in the first place.
No big deal really that Panlilio’s stepmom signed the petition for his ouster. Panlilio’s propaganda would want us to think. She was a cruel, mean stepmom to him in the first place.
So should we weep our hearts out for the poor little orphan boy Eddie?
Not with his putative provincial administrator he can always turn to. Cry mama? Call Vivian. Got to stop here. Or someone may cry libel too.