Dalawang magulang ang dumalo sa isang university commencement exercise.
Kumpare 1: Sa wakas, nagmartsa din ang aking panganay. Magna!
Kumpare 2: Inggit ako sa iyo, Pare.
Kumpare 1: Magna-nine years na sana sa college kundi pumasang-awa! Teka, bakit tila malungkot ka?
Kumpare 2: Summa kasi ang anak ko.
Kumpare 1: Wow, ang galing. Ano ‘yan, luha ng tuwa?
Kumpare 2: Hindi, Pare. Sumama sa anak mo! At duon daw sa amin titira!
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The above oft-repeated tickle might as well be in direct contrast to the pride and happiness hundreds of thousands of Filipino parents felt when their children received their diplomas and degrees, and completed the formal academic phase in their lives in April, the school graduation season in the Philippines.
Regardless of status, Filipino parents have always placed premium on the education of their children over anything else, at home or abroad.
Deeply rooted in the culture, this mindset has encouraged every Filipino parent to assure that their children get appropriate knowledge so that the latter would live better and responsible lives in uncertain times.
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Yet, while humor might ease pain, it would never change reality.
Amid the congratulatory prose and graduation pose that once more dominated social media newsfeeds, there still lurked, in a conspicuous but separate void, the dismal disappointment of a number of silent souls – they who wonder where their graduates will work, they who can ill afford to send their children to school, they whose hungry children cannot manage to digest food for the brain, and they who …. (the litany goes on and on).
While too grim to even think of, state and institutional policies to ease high unemployment, poverty and social inequity are wanting. Rather than render public service well, the uneducated theatrics of politicians are just too obvious to ignore. Indeed, this is very dismal and very dismaying.
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Matapos grumadweyt at maging matagumpay sa kanya-kanyang careers, nagusap-usap ang magkakapatid na Rod, Joan at Rene na bigyan ng regalo ang kanilang ina. Si Rod, isang realtor, ay nagregalo ng bahay at lupa; si Joan, isang car racer, ay nagbigay ng isang mamahaling kotse; at si Rene, isang pari, ay nag-alay ng isang loro na kusang magko-quote ng akmang bersikulo sa Bibliya na naayon sa anumang sitwasyon.
Nang tanggapin ni Inay Rosa ang mga regalo, sinabi niya sa mga anak:
Kay Rod: Salamat, Rod, sa malaking bahay. Pero, matanda na ako at hindi ko na kayang mag-ayos at maglinis.
Kay Joan: Susmaryosep naman, Joan. Mahina na ang mga mata at tuhod ko. Gusto mo bang makadisgrasya ako? Pero, salamat pa rin.
Kay Rene: Pagpalain ka lalo ng Maykapal, Rene. Gustung-gusto ko ang regalo mo. Masarap!
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Masarap din kaya ang Abu Sayyaf? Palagay ko, hindi; kahit lagyan pa ng asin o isawsaw sa suka.
Pangalan pa lang ng grupong terorista, nakakasuka na. ‘Di ba, Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte?
Duterte’s threat “to eat” (literally or figuratively) Abu Sayyaf terrorists, if captured alive, will never happen.
The commander-in-chief has just ordered the Philippine military to find and kill members of the kidnap-for-ransom terrorist group, known for torturing and beheading their captives. He wanted them dead, and not to be given to him alive. So ….
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However, I am sure that state leaders and delegates to the 30th Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Manila from April 26 to 29 had a great time savoring the Philippines’ best dishes and delicacies and appreciating the sights and sounds of the nation’s political center, as promised by Malacanang.
Asean is a regional organization that promotes inter-government cooperation to firm up economic growth, social progress, and socio-cultural evolution among members. The group has provided a mechanism for member countries to resolve differences peacefully.
It was formed on August 8, 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, and has since expanded membership to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
However, I am not so sure that President Duterte’s more democratic and morally-upright counterparts would turn a blind eye to the president’s controversial “total war against illegal drugs” that has allegedly led to the extra-judicial killing (EJK) of over 9,000 suspected drug peddlers, drug users and “collateral damage,” including women and children and political enemies.
Or be mum about the 77-page charge sheet lawyer Jude Josue Sabio filed against Duterte and 11 others — for mass murder and crimes against humanity, referring to the EJK – before the International Criminal Court on April 24. The next day, the popular global newspaper the New York Times, in its editorial, bravely urged: Let The World Condemn Duterte.
Whose good or bad timing it was, only time would tell.
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Again, again, again! Legendary Filipino boxer and Philippine Senator Manny Pacquiao has never given thought to hanging his gloves for good. Not yet.
On July 2, Pacquiao will be ready to slug it out with Australia’s Jeff Horn for the World Boxing Organization’s welterweight belt in Brisbane, Australia.
Trainer Freddie Roach insists that Pacquiao can still box at a very high level, but admits that the end is near for Manny’s boxing career.
Roach told Boxing News that Manny should handle Horn and then after that, hopefully, Mikey Garcia or one of those guys out there that’s calling Manny out.
The trainer, however, thinks that politics will eventually put an end to Pacquiao’s days as a boxer. “When he runs for President, then he’ll give up,” Roach said.
Akala ko, tapos na! #####