I am not – even if some people think I am – a politician, but I did dabble in politics once, and it was a painful but nevertheless exhilarating experience.
Since then I have taken part in many political campaigns, but never running for public office myself.
Not that I wasn’t tempted, but my aging body simply wouldn’t allow it.
In a city with 150,000 voters more or less, how many hands can you shake in a 45-day campaign? How many speeches can you deliver night after night, let alone the drain in your pocket?
Still I eat, talk, and sleep politics.
So, let me ask, what gives with SM getting the mayor’s nod despite a committee created for the purpose earlier recommending an old SM rival Robinsons enterprises?
The excuse given is that Robinsons failed to comply with certain documentary requirements, but hey, it’s just paperwork. Why was not Robinsons given notice to submit the alleged lack of needed documents?
It seems to me, as far back as I can remember, SM appears to be a favorite recipient of City Hall’s good heart.
First, SM supposedly was the lone bidder when the old Pines Hotel premises was bidded out, with a winning bid of P15,000 per square meter.
Was the bidding published? Yes, sir, in the now defunct Cordillera Post, copies of which were quickly “sold out” for three consecutive weeks that carried the notice.
But who can argue against a proceeding that was fair and square?
Or like they say in the vernacular, “Utakan lang ‘yan.”
But the mayor overturning a committee recommendation smells a little fishy, don’t you think?
But straight as an arrow, the mayor is?
In his inaugural address, Erap Estrada bragged, “Walang kai-kaibigan, walang kamag-anak.”
Well, at least during his time, thievery only involved millions and millions, or maybe a billion or two.
Today, as much as P40 billion is said to have been raked in by the Pastillas boys, even as PhilHealth officials were making their own billions.
P50 million for Immigration lawyers was chicken feed, it seems.
Still, the kind of money we will never get to see in our lifetime.
Corruption is becoming rampant you say? I have news for you, it has always been rampant.
The guy going around with a lamp will never find him in this country.
Less than a fortnight until the November U.S. presidential elections.
Sensing possible defeat, Donald Trump has gone into the offensive, attacking people who are not for him, including the pandemic and the medical experts.
The virus is on the retreat, he snorts, and Dr. Fausi et al. are all wrong in their analysis.
Using the same tactics that he did with Hillary Clinton in 2016 – “Crooked Hillary” he called her, followed by chants of “Lock her up,” he is now training his guns on Hunter Biden, outrageously claiming that Biden’s son is a shady character brokering deals for the syndicated Biden family.
The crook and shady character himself, who made his billions dealing with the dark side, a tax evader who has lied 20,000 times, attacking himself?
George Washington must be turning in his grave.
According to records, because early voting is allowed in the United States, 27 million American voters have already cast their ballots.
A bad sign for Trump. Early voters are usually those aching for change, wanting their voice to be heard fast and first.
But let’s not count out Trump. With the Russians and perhaps even the Chinese for sinister and economic reasons, respectively, plus all the bad eggs behind him, not to mention the blind and ignorant, the pollsters who peg Biden ahead by six to 10 points may end up with red faces, like when the New York Times (?) came up with a banner headline before the votes were fully counted, “Dewey wins,” only to see Harry Truman winning all the marbles after the smoke of battle cleared.
But here’s the danger if Biden captures the White House. It is Vice President Kamala Harris will likely succeed him four years later.
In case you haven’t noticed, Harris is an angry black woman who thinks black and women all the time. She sees the black community coming of age, ready to take over America from the whites, and blames the men for all the misery, and why the United States, if not the whole world, is in ruin.
Wasn’t she calling Biden names when she first threw her hat in the Democratic Presidential nominations?
Look at the way she treated Supreme Court nominee Amy Barrett in the Senate confirmation hearings.
She hints that Barrett is unfit for the job because of her radical views, given Barrett’s impeccable credentials.
But dissent from the majority view, or to agree to disagree, is the essence of a democracy.
Barrett may be a woman, but she is white, and a perceived Trump ally, hence, Harris’ vitriolics.
In regard to the pandemic and other matters, two of the government’s spokespersons are a lawyer and a retired military general, two of the least trusted or untrusted professions.
For as long as there are Law schools and military academies, this country will be run by press releases and sugar-coated statements, and the happiest people on Earth will be those with stars – not over their heads, but on their shoulders.
How long did the cover-ups take before storming of the Bastille, and was Ho Chi Minh a lawyer or a general?
Just asking, but nope, I think.
“Hey kid,” a stranger says to a little boy who appeared to be lost, “where’s your dad?”
“Six feet under the ground,” the boy answers.
“What about your mom?”
“Six inches under my dad’s best friend.
Okay, bad joke.
