Beauty and The Beast

(This column appears in today's edition of the Leyte-Samar Daily Express)

Hi there! It’s Friday and we’re a few days away to D-Day. So what’s with today’s title? I got it from PDI’s Neal J. Cruz when he mentioned the fight between Manny and Darlene. Whew! Not only is Manny a good fighter, he is a fast learner as well - in the trade of the trapos, that is. It seems that talking about issues the learned way (well, on this aspect, many other politicians are much worse than Manny) just won’t do for the champ, so like the boy who cried wolf, he kept crying, err, reporting to the media about the attempts to assassinate him. What with so many bodyguards and all. C’mon Manny! Have some b-a-_-l-s! (or should I say use your b-r-_-i-_-s?)

Garci is up on his toes about protecting his votes? Or so said a news item from a national daily. Hmm, learning through experience?

And what’s this? Many Party List groups have VIPs, politicians (both has-beens and newly has-beens) and / or their folks as nominees. I did not top my class in Philippine Constitution, but I think the idea about allocating something like 20% of the seats in Congress is for the marginalized Filipinos to have their representation. Now, if these VIPs, relatives of the high and mighty are marginalized members of society, what do we call the informal urban settlers, the unemployed, and the like?

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Tonight, the Parish of Our Lady’s Nativity will be spearheading a VIGIL for Clean, Honest, Accurate, Meaningful and Peaceful Election. Various groups have been invited to the vigil which will be held from 6 pm to 12 midnight at the Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral.

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As part of the local Church’s campaign for a CHAMP election, streamers reminding the voters to vote responsibly has been hung in areas in the vicinity of the Cathedral. The Bishop’s residence will serve as the PPCRV’s command center during the election.

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As election day nears, try to observe what will happen this weekend when the Saturday and Sunday groups come to town. No, I’m not referring to any group akin to the Wednesday group of Senators Arroyo, Villar and Pangilinan. This is just a follow-up of what I have mentioned in this column a few weeks ago regarding some servers in the election. If you can find time, look around and try to observe tomorrow and on Sunday when they begin knocking on Candidates’ abodes. Yup they knock on the doors of the candidates not to wish them good luck, but to have their ________________ (you fill in the blank). They will be going around the city in pairs, or groups of three or four.In fairness, their head has always reminded these election servers not to visit candidates, but to no avail (old habits die hard?).

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For the newspaper edition of this column, I ended with the Voter's Prayer which I have already posted in this blog about two days ago. In the meantime, let's implore the Lord for a peaceful and especially, honest elcection.

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Have a nice weekend everyone! Ciao!