Posted in Vantage Point on June 5th, 2004 No Comments »
In an echo of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s statement that “the people are impatient,” House Speaker Jose de Venecia said the other day that “the people are tired.” De Venecia was reacting to the usual procedural and other questions from the opposition re the canvassing of the presidential and vice presidential ballots.
Perhaps Mrs. Arroyo and the Speaker both took a survey to gauge the people’s mood. But I don’t personally know anyone who’s tired in the sense that he or she just wants to get the congressional canvass over and done with—meaning he or she doesn’t want anyone asking such questions as why the padlock of this ballot box looks as if it’s been cut with a bolt-cutter, or where the Certificate of Canvas for Camarines Norte could be hiding. »
Posted in Vantage Point on June 1st, 2004 No Comments »
For one hour every morning from Monday to Friday, the program “Morning Girls,” hosted by Korina Sanchez and Kris Aquino, dished out endless trivia, primarily on the love lives of the creatures who inhabit the black lagoon called Philippine entertainment. This was the same program in which Kris Aquino tearfully bared the secrets of her failed relationship with the comic—and former Paranaque Mayor—Joey Marquez, complete with such details as her contracting a sexually-transmitted disease.
Although viewing this program was as edifying as looking through a keyhole, the torment one has to undergo in watching it in the name of research may not be the same as the agony of being tortured in Abu Ghraib prison by racist, pornography-addicted riffraff. But it came very close to it last Friday, during its final episode. »