That day of the year

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

Hi there! It’s another weekend and yes, it’s sweldo time. But I’m in no mood to talk about salary. That’s ‘coz I know what most of us has to say about that – hay kakuri san panahon; kakuri san kwarta; kulang an sweldo, etc, etc. I’m waiting for the presidentiables say that, I mean THE candidates themselves saying how hard-up they are (goodness, what am I saying?) Oh well, you won’t expect them to say how hard-up they are, it won’t connect with the way they spend on ADs and what have you in the campaign. Surely, it’s going to be rhetoric about issues from corruption to galunggong, and if I may borrow (again) and re-word that line from Evita, it’s going to be speeches on solving problems from war to pollution, no hope of solution even if we all live for a hundred years.

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So, what’s with today’s title? It was supposed to be for my column last Monday, but I did not make it to the deadline. So, I am giving my annual lamentation about Valentine’s Day today. Yup, it’s that day of the year again. And this year, that day got more focus (or is it competition) with the Chinese New Year falling on the same date. Needless to say, the flower vendors made a killing that day. It was all over the news. And let’s not even start discussing the fancy dinners, the hotel promos, etc. Because there was so much demand for everything about love, so the providers had to jack up the prices. It’s not highway robbery, is it? So what the big fuzz about V-Day? Surely we have the capitalists to thank for. What is it about that day of the year that if you are not into it, they call you frigid; and if you are into it, you are a hopeless romantic. Ah, es la vida.

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It’s the season of Lent. Fasting and abstinence were the two words I heard last Wednesday when I joined the faithful in observing the “pamuring” tradition. If the surveys are accurate, nope not the ones on the presidentiables, but the ones on the number of poor Filipinos and the like, then I would like to say that a good number of Filipinos has had more that their share of fasting.

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Birthday greetings to City Treasurer Federico “Rene” Resente. He will turn a year older today.

Ordination. Rev. Romualdo “Bryan” Fajardo, Jr. and Rev. Basilio Salino will be ordained to the Order of Presbyterate tomorrow. Bishop Isabelo Abarquez will preside over the ordination ceremonies at the Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral. Fr. Salino will have his Thanksgiving Mass in Oquendo on February 21, 2010; Fr. Fajardo will have his Thanksgiving Mass on February 23, 2010 in Sto. Niño.

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Let me give you something to smile about this weekend. I came across a blog article entitled: Pramis, Cross my Heart, Peksman at Mamatay Man. So what abut it? That article was some sort of a voters’ lament on the various candidates making this and that promises; and giving out lofty statements making it appear that they alone had the power or at least the good ideas to solve all of the nation’s woes. I would like to share with you a paragraph from the said article. It’s funny but I believe there is something to it worth taking notice:

“… sino man ang manalo sa darating na halalan, kung ano man ang inyong naging Pramis at nag Cross your heart and Peksman pa kayo... kung hindi ninyo matupad itong mga pangako na ito pagkatapos ng inyong pamunuan, eh sana matupad ang huli... hope you d-_-e! (sorry I had to delete a letter, otherwise my editor will be in trouble)

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This is it for now. Have a nice weekend everyone! Ciao!