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CONTINUITY OVER change, disruptive change that is, appears to be the general idea, if not the very reason, behind the total absence of opposition in a number of elective positions in Pampanga for 2019.

No truer proof to this than the incumbent Gov. Lilia G. Pineda all by her lonesome in the vice gubernatorial contest. But for the three-term limit, the Capampangan electorate would have most certainly welcomed her uninterrupted for-as-long-as-she-wants stay as governor. Having been touched for close to nine years now by the beneficence, by the excellence of her governance by motherhood.

Far removed from some dynastic succession then, the switch at the governorship with her son VG Dennis G. Pineda makes – to the Capampangan – a warranty of the continuity of the Pineda brand of selfless dedication to the welfare of their cabalens.

In effect, opposition to Delta, already but token, gets further diminished to the quixotic for one, reduced to the idiotic for two.

Aye, if it ain’t broke, why fix it? If it runs smoothly, why brake, much less break it?

Thus, the zero opposition to Nanay’s Kambilan incumbents and newbies in the provincial board from the first, second, and third districts not only manifests a fearsome well-oiled political machinery but moreso, attests to an awesome level of performance beyond contestation.

So, there are an equal number of rivals to the two incumbent board members in the fourth district. Yes, one pushed to run out of spite. The other, no more than the district’s perennial pest, polls or no polls.

Going by the Commission on Election’s certified candidates’ list, it is in Lubao – the Pinedas’ hometown – though where recorded the absolute tabula rasa where any semblance of opposition is concerned – a blank slate. No candidate for mayor, vice mayor, all eight councilors other than those in the Kambilan ticket led by Esmie Pineda and Jay Montemayor. Definitely a first in Pampanga, arguably in Central Luzon, if not in the whole Philippines too. Less a proclamation than a coronation the Comelec shall undertake here.

Solo candidate for mayor too is Masantol’s incumbent Dan Guintu.

By their lonesome in the vice mayoralty races are re-electionist Doc Pangan in Mexico and term-ending mayor Annette Flores-Balgan in Macabebe.

Step-down

Balgan’s step-down to the vice mayorship appears to be the political trend in Pampanga for 2019.

Three-term mayor Leonora Wong of San Simon is running vice to her predecessor-patron Digos Canlas.

After but a single term, Apalit mayor Peter Nucom is ceding his post back to Jun Tetangco, backstopping him anew as running mate. 

Then, there’s Mabalacat City’s once-forever-mayor Marino “Boking” Morales, removed from office only in June 2017, now seeking a return, only via the vice mayoralty route.   

Former Masantol mayor Peter Flores has also chucked his mayoralty comeback in favor of a run for vice.

San Luis’ incumbent mayor Venancio Macapagal though bucked the trend by opting for the even “lower” level of councilor in next year’s polls.

Also “lowering” herself to a council seat is Sta. Ana vice mayor Mediatrix Nolasco. 

Leave it to Boking though, to take centerstage in two other trends in next year’s polls: family feud and name game.

Facing Boking in the vice mayoralty race is his own nephew, councilor Gerald Guttrie Pineda Aquino. No stranger tides here for Boking, having faced and vanquished his own daughter Marjorie Morales-Sambo for the mayorship in 2010.

Sibling rivalries

The feud even gets higher in the family totem with sibling rivalries in Macabebe and Sta. Rita.

Former mayor Leonardo “Bobong” Flores failed to wrest the Macabebe mayorship from sister Annette Flores-Balgan in 2016. Bobong will try anew in 2019, this time against brother Edgar “Gang” Flores, president of the town’s association of barangay captains. With Balgan as VM and her daughter councilor Bembong by Gang’s flanks.

Former Sta. Rita mayor Art Salalila has trained his sights on his former seat now occupied by his brother Dagi.

Aye, politics makes the better blood thinner than aspirin.  

In contrast, it’s not only familial, but precisely conjugal, love that obtains in Arayat with incumbent mayor Emmanuel “Bon” Alejandrino taking his wife Ma. Lourdes “Madir” Alejandrino as running mate.  

Talk conjugal, and it invariably gets back to Boking, for whatever reason. But not in the other trend we earlier impressed upon him – name game.

To his Marino Morales, there is alias “Marin Morales” running for Mabalacat City vice mayor versus Boking.

In Apalit, there is a Gus Manlapaz of PDP-Laban and an independent Gas Manlapaz both running for mayor against returning Jun Tetangco.

In Guagua, thrice-suspended-but-still-sitting mayor Dante Torres has one Pogi Torres among his three rivals.

In Sasmuan, a Bong Velaso of the Liberal Party is challenging incumbent mayor Nardo Velasco. But it was the first name entered in the mayoralty race that kept the town abuzz – Cabrera, Lina Mendoza – who turned out to be the reinvented Catalina C. Bagasina, former mayor, board member, partylist representative, the once and future Cinderella of Sasmuan, by the looks of it.

Politics as usual, a run though the gamut of the sublime to the paralytic. A most entertaining run, if anything.    

        

  

           

Out of the shadows, darkly

SO TO Speak – as much the idiom as Ms. Sonia Soto’s CLTV-36 talk show – some hornet’s nest was stirred with the lamentation of the venerable multi-term congressman, three-term city mayor Oscar Samson Rodriguez that successor and protégé Mayor Edwin Santiago has systematically dismantled what he institutionalized in the city government.

What came as a surprise to many was no more than an affirming validation to me, specifically to what I wrote here on July 28, 2015, thus:    

Oca unneeded, EdSa in hubris

EDWIN SANTIAGO has come a long way.

Unbeaten, top-notch three-term councilor plucked out of political hibernation by Oscar Rodriguez to tandem with him in his first run for the mayorship in 2004.

Served as loyal acolyte throughout Oca’s groundbreaking, award-winning performance governance system that put the City of San Fernando in the world map of good governance.     

Natural inheritor, therefore, of city hall upon Oca’s term completion.

But still…as we wrote sometime in 2013: 

Up until he became the mayoralty candidate in the last elections, Edwin Santiago was regarded as furthest from being “mayorable.”

As a matter of political course, he was relegated to the “best vice mayor, never mayor” league of Mabalacat City’s Pros Lagman, Angeles City’s Ric Zalamea, Bacolor’s Diman Datu, and the City of San Fernando’s now dearly lamented Tiger Lagman, indeed the very face that imaged that fellowship of almost-but-not-quite-hizzoners.

That, despite – mayhaps, because of – EdSa’s masterful handling of the city council that merited not one but two recognitions as the Philippines’ best for component cities.

Why, even EdSa’s proclamation as official candidate of the Liberal Party for the capital’s mayorship did not go to his credit but to Oscar S. Rodriguez’s, his perceived patron, acknowledged mentor, recognized benefactor. And actual predecessor.        

It was the charismatic Oca – four-term representative of the 3^rd District and three-term city mayor, runner-up in the World Mayor Award 2005, the avatar of good governance – too that was deemed to have taken the cudgel for EdSa, to have borne the burden of battle against the comebacking Dr. Rey B. Aquino, and carrying the fight to total victory.

With EdSa less a hard-fighting combatant than the biggest, if not luckiest, beneficiary there.  

Indeed, even EdSa’s election campaign collateral of tsinelas was denigrated as an admission of his unfitness to fill Oca’s shoes, deemed much, much too large for him…

Can’t fit into Oca’s shoes? Then, simply throw them away. As EdSa veritably did with his predecessor’s ways and means, from Day One at the mayor’s seat.

Remember that report of bankruptcy of the city government upon EdSa’s assumption to office? How, to clear his smeared reputation, the indignant Oca had to move the LandBank of the Philippines to issue a statement citing deposits and reserves in its CSF account?

Remember the so-called “massacre of casuals and OJTs,” notably those in the Magsilbi Tamu Brass Band 919 and Teatru Fernandino, the centrepiece of Oca’s cultural agenda for the city?

There too is the discontinuance of Oca’s signature Tugak Festival.

Even more telling was the inertia with which the EdSa administration expended in supporting the measure to create a lone congressional district for the City of San Fernando. Throw in there too its conversion into a highly urbanized city. Both proposed legislations coming to nought in the current Congress.    

How about the obliteration of Magsilbi Tamu upon the conception of “Fernandino First: Fernandino ing Mumuna, Fernandino ing Manimuna!" 

Out the shadow

Which, to us, signaled the definitive severance of EdSa’s ties with Oca, and his becoming his own man.

There is everything right in one getting out of the shadow of another, in finding one’s place in the sun, in basking in the limelight of one’s own glory, in flying with one’s own wings.

There is something wrong though when that is done only at the expense of another.

That is where stands EdSa now vis-à-vis Oca. If we go by talks swirling all around the city, from the coffeeshops to the corporate boardrooms, from the market stalls to the tricycle terminals. If I go by my own experience, to wit: 

In a late breakfast with media over two weeks back, congratulations were profuse for EdSa winning some outstanding award and San Fernando hailed as No.2 Most Competitive (Component) City in the country.

In his simple way, EdSa attributed the achievements to “depoliticizing” the departments at city hall.

If he “depoliticized” the offices, I remarked, then it could only mean that these were “politicized” in the previous Rodriguez administration.

His instant response was a resounding “No,” followed by: “As a matter of fact, we continued many of the projects of Cong Oca.”

What projects, he did not say though. So, what did he mean by “depoliticizing” then?

“Empowerment. The departments were empowered.”

No, we did not pursue our questioning which would have, logically, been: If these were now empowered, it could only mean they were disempowered in the previous Rodriguez administration.

Aside from cluelessness over what comes out of his mouth, EdSa also suffers from myopia as to the ramifications of his statements. And we are being kind in saying this.

Not as kind are the Oca supporters – and they are multitudes – who take just about EdSa’s every word as some willful denigration of Oca. 

Totally uncalled for.

Insecurities

One. For whatever its worth, EdSa owes Oca a political debt of gratitude. Utang na loob remains far up in the Filipino hierarchy of values. The truism too that only a serpent bites the hand that feeds it. Enough said.

Two. Whatever base of insecurity EdSa stands on, re: “Mayor Oca 2016,” is…well, baseless. Notwithstanding the reverberating clamour for his return to city hall, re-election to the House is Oca’s recurring refrain at every asking of his political plans. Being a proven man of his word, not even an iota of doubt can be spotted in the Cong there.

It is to EdSa’s political luck that Dong Gonzales hovers like some bird of prey above the 3^rd District, ready to pounce at the slightest opportunity of an Oca miscue. And the latter has the least intention, to say it mildly, to cede his present domain to his estranged inaanak.

Three. EdSa’s absolute alienation of Oca in matters of city governance is, to say the least, an unwise move.

Not so much for the deprivation of learned wisdom the Cong is ever willing to dispense, as for the opportunities lost, indeed, wasted in terms of political largesse.

The closeness of Oca to President Aquino is not just the stuff of legend. It is for real. The Aquino sisters, notably the loquacious Kris, have not only affirmed but even attested to this. Not once, not twice, but on countless occasions, public and private.        A closeness that would have most certainly translated to actual programs, projects and services for the city – over and far above what is routinely given by the national government.

Alas, what immeasurable loss to the Fernandino there! Alack, the wages of pride and prejudice!

His once devoted patron unneeded in his desire to shine in his own light, it can only be hubris that is consuming EdSa now.

And as classic Greek tragedy dictated, so history holds where this culminates, nay, descends to.    

OUT TO pasture, so to speak, after his failed re-election bid to the House in 2016,  Oca Rodriguez remains a power to reckon with, his political stock more than enough to propel a comeback to city hall.

OCA 2019. It’s something Fernandinos – at least the hundreds I heard – are pining, if not priming, for. Kapitana Vilma Caluag, and the end of the period for filing certificates of candidacy, notwithstanding.              

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 inspired 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.
THAT WAS the capping piece subtitled 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 on the psyche of the city residents, and a recognition of its prime value to their survival as a people.
So at its every 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…

SO, I wrote here October 24, 2008.

As much an institution of Agyu Tamu, the embodiment of the true grit of the Angeleno, TTKD serves as a celebration of a friendship, indeed, a comradeship truly engaged in the service of the people – that of Pamintuan and Cauguiran, which, to sound like a cranky record now, was forged in the crucible of the Marcos dictatorship.

Come to think of it, in parallel lines what EDSA Uno won for the Filipino, Agyu Tamu accomplished for the Angeleno. Both effecting a people’s liberation – from tyranny in the first, from desolation in the second. 

An iconic image of the former is the salubungan of Ramos and Enrile in front of camps Aguinaldo and Crame. In not-so-dissimilar fashion, the march of Pamintuan and Cauguiran through the TTKD stretch of Balibago. Re-enacted, reprised at each celebration, as in the former, so in the latter.

Alas, politics has come to cleave in its passing. Agyu Tamu to Mas Agyu Tamu evolving. Plain pun to the uninitiated, but to the mulat that intensifier mas less for effect as for highlighting some ideological schism.

On one hand the subordination of ideals to the exigency and expediency of the moment, at best; the perversion of core values to suit contradictory interests, at worst. On the other, principled stand at whatever cost.

The classic irresistible force colliding with an immovable object. Which shall prevail?

We can only wait with bated breath.

In the meantime, drink, dance, sing, sway, revel. That’s what this fun weekend is for, after all. 

Still, Pamintuan con Cauguiran, main entrée in TTKDs past, will the Angeleno be served anew this October 26 and 27?

Whatever, it won’t ever be the same again.    

Far from crazy rich, poor Asian me lives it up in SG

 SINGAPORE – No, I did not get to see Crazy Rich Asians. The wife yet to fully forgive me for missing that movie date with her.

Nowhere near crazy rich but all-too-economically-ordinary, this Asian did sense and savor – for real, not reel – if only in snatches, that ambience of elegance, of opulence the film celebrated. And more.    

All it took was so-smooth a Cebu Pacific Air flight from the Clark airport, arriving 30 minutes ahead of ETA at Changi. The world’s best airport’s awesomeness enough to make it a premier destination in itself.

And the most gracious Singapore Tourism Board made sure we had only the best feel, and fill, of the city-state packed in a weekend.

Starting off with Concorde Hotel for that perfect home-away-from-home feel with its friendly staff, and at 100 Orchard Road, the ideal start- and end-point to any adventure in the city, with the easiest accessibility by bus, MRT or good old two-legs mobility.

By bus, after a sumptuous take of local culinary delights at Simply Peranakan,  post-prandial perambulation around Merlion Park right on our first night, fitting courtesy call, a homage to Singapore’s national icon – half-fish, half-lion, swimming in prosperity, roaring as one of the world’s best economies. Medium becoming message, there amply delivered.   

 

Across the eponymous bay, the new icon that is Marina Bay Sands, its magnificence splendored by the interplay of lights and sounds dazzlingly reflected on the waters. A mug of café americano at Starbucks made a fitting cap to a wonderful night.     

Marina Bay Sands

Took the CRA – Crazy Rich Asian, as if you still didn’t know – package on the first day.

SkyPark, Marina Bay Sands where the guy proposed to the girl in the movie daw. From the deck, the city spread of skyscrapers, green mountains behind them on one side. The bay, vessels of all bulk and fancy moored and in transit, on the other side. Edifices of various calls, invariably interspersed with greens, in between. On top of the best of all worlds, aye, what better place to make the greatest profession of one’s love than here?  

This is where they wed! Some romantic in our group of travelling mediamen exclaimed at the white steepled church of the once-Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus Middle English School (CHIJMES) – per info of Charles Lim of Selrahco – that is now an enclave of restaurants, bars and events space.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed into the church as there was a private event – a wedding, what else? – ongoing.

Chili crab – Singapore’s signature dish – featured in the movie too daw, we had to have, else our trip here would be much wanting. And New Uban Seafood lived up to its claim of “Truly Singaporean Experience at Chijmes” with the chili crab for main entrée and pulut hitam for dessert. STB area director Lael Loh upped the gastronomic delight even more with her briefer on each of the dishes served, duly noted by CebPac corporate communications director Charo L. Lagamon.

Post-lunch, at the Gardens by the Bay where nature takes you in its cool, refreshing embrace. First stop: Cloud Forest, a veritable immersion in a lush rainforest centered around a tall waterfall. Second: Flower Dome, a virtual one-stop display of the gardens of the world. 

Newton Circus – where the lovers took their first repast upon arrival in Singapore. Much like the food parks in good old PHL, but for the satay and peanut sauces, the nasi goreng, nasi lemak, nasi ayam, and the laksa to live for. Burrrppp!

Not in the movie daw, but as good an experience as it can get – Art Science Museum Future World, its interactive environment-themed light-and-sound show catering best to the future of the planet – young girls and boys.

Then, there’s the de rigueur in every trip to Singapore – Bugis Street bargain shopping! The $1 stores the hardest to beat.

Revisiting the CRA scenes gloriously done, more of the usual Singapore came to the fore. Oops, did I just say the usual?              

Resorts World Sentosa

There’s something always new to find here, said Julia Jalandoon of STB Philippines, and made good on her word on our second day.

Sentosa – been there, done that. But not Resorts World Sentosa.

So, I’ve done Madame Tussaud’s in Bangkok and Hongkong – did all those selfies with Mao, Deng, Picasso, Gandhi, et al; got a kick out of Bruce Lee and sparred with Ali; sat with the Queen, tried Obama’s chair for size; basked in the glamour of Hollywood stars. Still, the thrill of posing for photos with the wax images for FB upload has not the least waned.

And what else did I find in the house of Madame here? Aside from Ironman and Thor, one hero of my lost youth, long fallen from grace among his own – the Indonesian nationalist and first president Sukarno. Yeah, if only for the reverential “Bung” before his name so close to my own,       

One thing though that keeps me going to Tussaud’s: Doing Paul Varjak to Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. How I love Audrey Hepburn, be it in Sabrina, Roman Holiday, Two for the Road…

The romanticist turns juvenile at the Trick Eye Museum. Whether in Phuket where I first experienced it, or in Marquee Mall and SM City Pampanga where I had a surfeit of it, the optical illusion in 3-D art never fails to bring out the playful child    

even in this senior citizen. And with the added AR – augmented reality – here, art comes to virtual life! Wow!

New and glorious find at RW-Sentosa is Sessions at Hard Rock Hotel. Beyond chili crabs, the Louisiana seafood gumbo, steamed fillet in superior soy sauce, poached fresh prawns, and Cajun dishes – all cooked before your very eyes – needless to say, are a gourmet’s delight.  

Suffice to say Universal Studios, arguably the best this side of the world far removed from LA.

Forest of the night

Farthest from that world of make-believe was the last of part of this Singapore journey – to that side of life in the wild. But only after a sumptuous dinner at the Ulu-Ulu Asian Buffet Night in the Night Safari area of Singapore Zoo.    

Pitch darkness broken only by moonlight, tram ride through forest primeval replication of the Himalayan foothills, the Indian sub-continent and the Southeast Asian rainforest and marvel at the wildlife – elephants, tapirs, leopards, white lions, striped hyenas, mouse deer, flamingos, etc. – in their nocturnal elements.

“Tyger, Tyger burning bright, in the forest of the night…” William Blake’s paean to the big cat comes all too real at the Malaysian tiger by the end of the safari ride. What beauty in the beast, even in the dark!

Lights – sparkling, showering, twinkling, blazing – put the drama in the trees, the rocks, the plants, the shrubs in a walk through the 2.5-kilometer meandering path at Rainforest Lumina, adjacent to the Night Safari area. The beauty of creation, of life, amid the darkness of night makes the very call for conservation, to which the traveler commits himself at the end of the walk, .       

Changi

The theme of forests follows even at Changi, where trees and shrubs abound, where all sorts of flowers bloom in green oases widely distributed along the duty-free shops and the lounges right inside the airport.

A refreshing environment even past midnight, as we waited for our 3:45 a.m. Monday Cebu Pacific flight to Manila, breezing through the counters, check-in .

On one wall of T-4, a new attraction – a micro-mini operetta in 3-D on the eternal theme of young love, not of the crazy rich but the middleclass Asians though.

So, ended this short swing to Singapore as it began.   

(Cebu Pacific flies Clark-Singapore-Clark Tuesdays and Fridays)     

     

Unloving San Fernando

I LOVE San Fernando.

So brilliant a gambit by the slate of Mayor Edwin Santiago to appropriate that oh-so-original, oh-so-profound blurb as team brand for 2019. Aha! Ha, ha, ha, ha.

I Love San Fernando.

Seriously now, it dredged the long-silted channel of memories of elections past in the city, rock-bottoming to 1995.

Luguran taya ing San Fernando. 

It was then-Vice Mayor Reynaldo B. Aquino that raised that clarion call, ultimately heard loud and clear by the electorate, installing him at the mayorship and keeping him there for three consecutive terms, thereafter moving on to the 3^rd district congressional seat with the geographically adapted Luguran taya ing Tersera Distritu.

It was on the sidelines of a candidates’ forum at the University of the Assumption that I asked then-incumbent Mayor Paterno Guevarra of his take on his rival RBA’s exhortative Luguran slogan.

Deceiving. Always afresh at each remembrance is the contempt that contorted the usually benign mien of the religious Pat as he spat out “Mapanlinlang.”

Gratuitous. What need was there to still plead with the people to love San Fernando, when they already loved San Fernando? So, he reasoned.

How then should the slogan read?   

I Love San Fernando.

Pat putting inflected stress on the second syllable.

Not that the Fernandino voters loved Guevarra less, but that more of them voted for Aquino. So, it subsequently turned out. Writing finis to Atty. Pat’s political career. (No implied meaning here to impress upon the city’s current events. Whatsoever). 

I Love San Fernando.

In these the times of Mayor EdSa, what is there to love in San Fernando? Better yet, what does it mean to love San Fernando?

Love is patient.

It takes infinite patience for motorists, be they in private cars, public transport or delivery vans and trucks to sit through the hellish gridlock at just every traffic light through the length of MacArthur Highway in the city.

Love is kind.

It takes the kindness – and compassion – of the divine not to damn those inutile traffic aides doing nothing by the roadside, anarchy running amuck right under their very noses.

It takes the full measure of human kindness not to wish perdition on those motorcycles, tricycles and tri-wheelers flouting all traffic laws in flaunting their dominion of all city roads.   

And be reminded of kindness to animals when treading through city sidewalks appropriated by vendors as their proprietary stores. 

It takes a leap of faith not to ascribe 1 Corinthians 13:4 as precisely scribed for EdSa’s San Fernando.   

Love is blind.

Loving San Fernando warrants total loss of vision at the sight of trashed and silted esteros and its very river, heaps of rotting rubbish all around on weekend mornings, heavily-laden garbage trucks still trooping to the supposed-to-be-long-closed city dumpsite in Barangay Lara by the FVR Megadike.

The inescapable stench though again requires the proverbial patience of Job.

Yes, blind as blind can ever be to love San Fernando’s midnight darkness in that Balite stretch of MacArthur Highway.

Indeed, lovers of San Fernando cannot see the ugly follies their officials commit. To perverse, rather than paraphrase, William Shakespeare.    

I Love San Fernando.

Warts and all, forevermore. It can only be madness. What with the littlest, if any, chance of change for the better. Given the inertia afflicting, aye, endemic to the city hall of Mayor EdSa.     

Love is a serious mental disease.

So, Plato philosophized. No thanks to him, “madly in love” descended from the romantic to the psychopathic.

As in, I Love San Fernando. In the time of Mayor Edwin David Santiago.      

Victorious vindication

“LET US rise from the last vestiges of our colonial past…How can an American pilot who died in a plane crash in Panama in 1919 supersede the greatness of President Diosdado Macapagal, the father of land reform, the emancipator of the peasants from the bondage of the soil?

“Downgrading the name Diosdado Macapagal (at the Clark airport) is against the guidelines of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) pursuant to Republic Act 10086 that strictly forbids the renaming of public places already named after presidents to people of lesser importance.
“You spoke of international acceptance, of the popularity of Clark over DMIA, using the analogy of Bangkok better known than Suvarnabhumi, of Hongkong preferred over Chek Lap Kok, of the practice in Asia of naming airports after their location rather than people, as in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
“You spoke of the naming of airports after people as practiced more in the West, as in JFK and La Guardia in New York, as in Ronald Reagan in Washington D.C.
“I could not care less however way they name their airports, that is their prerogative. But naming our airport is also our prerogative, following our own laws and guidelines.”
The printed word cannot capture even but a quarter of the eloquence, even just half of the passion with which Alexander Cauguiran laid out the historical and legal bases that demolished – before the assembly of Pampanga mayors and Clark International Airport Corp. President-CEO Victor Jose Luciano last Friday – all arguments for the renaming of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) to Clark International Airport (CIA).
Aye, were the prosecution team in the impeachment trial as thorough, as logical, and as impassioned as Cauguiran in their presentation, the chief justice (Renato Corona) would have been readily convicted even before the first article of impeachment was rested.
No one – Luciano, included – was unmoved by Cauguiran’s rhetorics.
No one – except Luciano maybe – was unwon by Cauguiran’s logic.
Thunderous was the ovation that followed the conclusion of his speech.

SO, WE wrote here in March 2012 at the height of the contentious name game played on the airport at the Clark Freeport Zone.

So, it has come to pass. This Oct. 10, the committee on transportation of the House of Representatives approved two bills seeking to rename the Clark International Airport to Diosdado Macapagal International Airport.

HB 2274 was filed by Pampanga 3^rd District Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales while HB 8289 by House Majority Leader and Camarines Sur 1^st District Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., Sagip Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, Pampanga 1^st District Rep. Carmelo “Jonjon” Lazatin II, and Bohol 3^rd District Rep. Arthur Yap.

As certain as that truism on victory having many fathers, not a few will now lay claim to siring DMIA, if only for political stock.

But no one, absolutely no one, can take away any, much less the full measure, of that triumph from Alexander Cauguiran.

That it came virtually at the eve of his final leave from the CIAC, the renaming of the airport to DMIA made a fitting valediction, aye, a victorious vindication of his dedication to the cause of Clark transformation all the way from the American bastion of imperialism that he assiduously fought during his activist past, vigorously pursued with his Move Clark Now advocacy in the post-Pinatubo reconstruction era, zealously lived up in his CIAC presidency that, finally, impacted in the national consciousness as much the imperative as the full potential of Clark, er, DMIA, as premier international gateway of the Philippines.  

Given that fortuitous as they were, the misfortunes of NAIA – constricted space, air and land traffic woes, the Xiamen airline accident, closures at the height of storms, etc. – only highlighted the premium of the DMIA.           

Given Cauguiran, it was much more than sheer serendipity that effected the increase in flights from six to 276, and still counting, weekly; destinations: from one to 22 domestic, six to nine international, also still counting for both. Something where all past CIAC presidents – combined – epically failed. Where they merely, if eloquently, spoke, Cauguiran walked his talk.  

Truly, no mere rhetorics – of which he is a master – but his masterful handling of the CIAC that really made this airport worthy of the illustrious name Diosdado Macapagal.

What greater conclusion of a life’s work than this!

But then again – given Cauguiran – that makes but the greater motivation to the even higher cause – that of coming home to his people.     

Modus vivendi

NO BATTLE royale. No clash of titans. No war of attrition.

Not even a tempest in a teapot – that which was anticipated, indeed prognosticated, by just about every local political observer worth his rocking armchair has ingloriously come to.  

Naught, absolutely nada.   

So, Vice Gov. Dennis G. Pineda and 4^th District Rep. Juan Pablo P. Bondoc will not face off for the governorship of Pampanga. Not this 2019, at least.

On the contrary, as Sun-Star Pampanga gloriously bannered: Rimpy, Delta forge alliance.

“The right thing to do.” So was Bondoc quoted in the SSP scoop, ascending to the plane of statesmanship, thus: “I do not see anything wrong in being humble. I am bowing my head to Governor (Dennis) Pineda because I know that he can be the key in providing progress for my beloved cabalen in the fourth district of Pampanga which has been my family’s mission for decades now. And instead of becoming a hindrance, I wanted to be an instrument in providing that progress.”

Some sense of self-sacrifice there. The subordination of personal ambition to the greater interest, to the higher good, of the people. Can anything be more sublime than this?

Pineda could not be any more gracious, and grateful: “We have known the Bondocs for true public service for the Kapampangans. In fact, we can say that we owe to them the growth and development of the fourth district over the years and that is the sole reason we came to this moment.”
Neither bargains nor deals, political or otherwise, Pineda said effected this mutuality but the shared goal of “honest public service to the Kapampangan.”

Beyond the political, the Pineda family, their scion said, are inclined to build “genuine and lasting” friendship with the Bondocs.

All’s well that ally well, then: to Delta the governorship, to Rimpy the fourth district.

Clear enough. But how well will this “alliance” play at the political downstream?

In the fourth district, it is well known how Bondoc birthed, nurtured, and grew board members, mayors, vice mayors, councilors, down to barangay chairmen.

Contemporaneously, the Pinedas prepped and propped up their own loyal confederates in the local government units.

There had never been any instance when the Bondocs and Pinedas went into direct rivalries, true. But in many an election past, the contests for board members, mayors and their slates were no more than proxy wars, with the real opposing forces that were these political families disengaged from the actual combat.

Now, will this so-called “alliance” lead to the fielding of common bets, euphemized as “unity candidates,” with equity of the incumbent as basic premium for selection?          

But how will this play in municipalities with graduating incumbents, like San Simon, Macabebe, and San Luis? Or in Bacolor and Porac, though out of the Bondocs’ fourth district domain?

Or, the Bondocs be given carte blanche in their district, in exchange for their exclusion in the rest of Pampanga?

Or, will the “alliance” walk the path of least resistance that is libre zona? That is, open season, a free-for-all comers, with their patrons totally hands off the battles?

Whichever, this Bondoc-Pineda or Pineda-Bondoc bruited “alliance,” all but oral and aural absent any duly signed supporting document, appears to be least an alliance and most a modus vivendi, in its elemental meaning of “an arrangement or agreement allowing conflicting parties to coexist peacefully, either indefinitely or until a final settlement is reached.”

This is no disparagement, though, of the efforts of Minalin Mayor Edgar Flores credited to have brokered the “momentous event” marking “the continuous development for the Kapampangan province to be spearheaded by the gentlemen-leaders.”
If anything, the 2019 elections in Pampanga will be differently interesting. 

Life over lotto

A BALATO of P50 will be just fine with me. 

So, I told my coffee confederates at Starbucks SM City Clark over the frenzied betting for the grand lotto topping over P900 million.
They just could not believe that I could be so disinterested as to pass off this one-in-40-million-chance of becoming almost billionaire. With none of them betting less than a thousand pesos in multi-multi-combinations at each failed draw.
My greed is not only moderate but very manageable. So, I told them.
But with the winnings, you can buy lots of cars, said the espresso-dazed one.
So, how many cars have I had? Staring off with a 1981 Mazda 323 on to a 1991 Spacewagon, 1992 Pajero, a first edition CRV, a collector’s 1994 Crown Super Saloon, a vintage ’66 Beetle, a stock Avanza, an Andre Agassi-endorsed Sorrento. All gone now but for the CRV and Avanza, the Beetle I sold so reluctantly only last month. Currently there’s a 2008 Ford Wildtrak, a first edition Yaris, and a 2015 Mu-X.

No brand new, no Range Rover, no Porsche or even just a BMW.
So what’s the need for those brands? My cars are as utilitarian. Where those luxe wheels go, they can take me too.
You don’t arrive in style as you’d do in them rich men’s cars.
So have you forgotten, style is the man? So, who really needs cars?
Winning the lotto can take you places, travel the world over and over. It’s the cappuccino imbiber talking now.
So, what have I been doing? Just this year, Kuala Lumpur for the umpteenth time, fourth time in Taiwan. Egypt, Jordan, and Israel where I got to renew my vows with the wife in Cana itself on the 40^th year of our couplehood to boot! And Singapore once again this coming weekend.  

Tokyo twice last year – in June with the media boys, in November for my son’s wedding. Tokyo and Kyoto with the wife in 2014. Kyoto and Nagoya in the mid-90s too.

Hongkong-Macau more like revolving doors, read: in-and-out since the late 1990s. Guangzhou too. Already paid my respects to Uncle Ho in his eponymous city that was once-Saigon.

Spent more than one night in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya as well. Cruised the Singapore-Penang-Phuket route too.

Did Dubai in 2012, and sidetripped to Bandar Seri Begawan.

Angkor Watt and all those temples of Siam Reap explored in 2016. Already hit Jakarta and some other islands in Indonesia. 

I have practically done the whole breadth of the archipelago, from Aparri to the little islands abutting Sabah. Aye, Kota Kinabulu, I’ve been there too.

All these without the benefit of lotto, not even a balik-taya.
But your travels are restricted to Asia, lotto’s hundreds of millions can easily take you to America…
Sorry, but been there, both coasts six times, seven to include the territory of Guam. Disney and Universal, Broadway and Times Square, D.C. and Philly, Vegas and Atlantic City, SanFo and even those lovely enclaves in Rhode Island I called God’s own little acre, I’ve experienced them all.
To Europe then…
Post-springtime, Paris still blooms in romance. Bonn with its famed university and Koln with its magnificent cathedral have that quiet elegance. Brussels is aptly named Little Paris…
You’ve been there too?
Yes, and smelled six million tulip bulbs of all colors in Keukenhof Garden in Lisse, Holland, walked the cobblestoned streets of The Hague, visited Madame Tussaud but got frustrated at the closed Van Gogh Museum around Dam Square, and was blocked by a 300-pound, 6’8” bouncer from photographing the ladies of all races in various stages of undress encased in escaparates along the canal in De Wallen. Again, all these without having to win even just three digits in the lotto. They just happened.
Which means?
Which ultimately means I have no need for the lotto to live my life as I want to. Winning the lotto will just ruin it.
For as long as I can remember, I never dreamed of being moneyed. All I wanted in life since my childhood days are summed up thus: RTW – read, travel, write. Precisely what I do now. So why alter it, drastically and horrifically, with money?
As the Most Rev. Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz advised the unidentified lone winner of the P741-million jackpot recently: Pack up and go abroad.
Among Oscar’s personal sermon: "It's best for the person and his family to hide and go abroad. It would be better for him to hide than to risk his or her life here…This person is a pity because he should be very careful... because the money he will have come from a lot of people so therefore the money is not really his or her own because he did not work for it…The winner should also be careful about his safety together with his family because many will try to frighten and kidnap them for the money ... in short, the winner will lose because of these problems."
So why still desire that much money?
Desire is the root of all disappointments. A basic tenet from the dhammapada that can very well be the key to inner serenity, and in turn to world peace.
Finding resonance in John Lennon’s Imagine -- “…no possession/ I wonder if you can/nothing for greed or hunger/ a brotherhood of Man…”
And an affirmation in yet another nugget of Buddhist wisdom: “Happiness is not in getting what you want. It is in finding contentment with what you have.”
Oini ing bie. So, I am happy.

(An update of Zona Libre: The Happy Life, published Dec. 2, 2010 in Punto!)   

Staycation be like Bai

MAGELLAN’S CROSS. Mactan Shrine. Basilica de Sto. Nino. Fort San Pedro. Taoist Temple. Casa Gorordo Museum. Temple of Leah.

Been there. Done that. Not once. Not twice. Much more than thrice.

So, what else is there in Metro Cebu to feel all fired up?

A hotel. Yes, a hotel. I discovered this weekend past with Philippines AirAsia’s hop to the Queen City of the South.

A hotel! But not the usual any other. It’s Bai – Cebuano term of endearment for friend – reputedly the biggest outside Metro Manila: 668 rooms from deluxe, premier, executive, penthouse to presidential all with corresponding suites; 12 function rooms, eight gastronomic options.

Right at the lobby is the eponymous lounge serving light meals, desserts and pastries, cocktails and a variety of liquors, and of course what lounge can be without its signature music?

Café Bai is the hotel’s gastronomic flagship. Think here of the Viking Luxury Buffet made extra luxurious in five-star hotel setting at the all-day resto, complete with live cooking stations dishing out the whole expanse of Asian and Western culinary delights. Salad stations, fruits and desserts galore and free-flowing drinks including beer.  

Then, there’s Marble + Grain Steakhouse, of upscale elegance and oh-so-luxuriant ambience the finest custom-aged USDA prime beef, and wine selection worthy of the most discriminating connoisseur.
Irasshai-mase. Ume brings traditional Japanese cuisine whipped up to originality by the authentic resident Japanese chef. Arigato.

Wall Street Coffee + Bar serves signature selection one finds in a traditional coffeehouse and an assortment of freshly baked goodies.

For the corporate honchos and industry captains, there’s the Executive Lounge serving complimentary buffet breakfast, light refreshments, afternoon tea and scones, cocktails and beers. Exclusive to the suite guests.

At the 21^st floor, The Pool Bar serves pastas and sandwiches, fruit shakes and drinks – enjoyed with a drone-view of the city even as one cools down in the infinity lap pool. Yes, there’s a kiddie pool too.

Great views of sunset turn to fantastic city and nightscapes at the Twilight Roofdeck Lounge + Bar, what with its 360-degree view. DJ music, signature cocktails among a wide choice of drinks, and giant chicharon spell ambient chill, chill, chill.

Yeah, Bai is one big chill. Made even “chiller” by cool, cool, cool Bai GM Alfred Reyes. The name is not only familiar but immensely popular to the Metro Clark society. Alfred used to be GM of Widus Hotel and Casino at the Freeport. He was the guy who brought to Clark all those international acts like Rex Smith, the Stylistics, among others.

Perfect staycation at Bai’s. What is there for the frequent flyer to still make out at Metro Cebu?

A craving for sutukil – portmanteau for sugba (grill), tuwa (stew), and kilaw (raw) – the city’s signature dish, much as the Kapampangan’s sisig!

No frills dining – plastic chairs, plastic covered tables – at one joint owned by one Mahusay near the Mactan Shrine. The food was good. The price, outlandish! Eat there and make your wallet weep.

Yeah, should not have stepped even for a minute out of Bai.

(Philippines AirAsia flies daily to Cebu from Clark. Bai Hotel Cebu is a member of World Hotels, an exclusive group of independent hotels and resorts. For reservations, call +6332 3428888 or +6332 3558888. Visit www.baihotels.com and follow Bai Hotel Cebu in Facebook and Instagram for updates)