I totally agree with Mommy Dionisia that her son should now retire and not face Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the “Dream Fight,” as boxing aficionados are pushing for. Dionisia doubtless wants to see her son hang up his gloves while he’s way ahead, and not to end his glorious career in defeat, a distinct possibility with the entrenched Mayweather. If a poll of all Filipino mothers were taken, I think majority of them would go with Dionisia.
I caught the fight in Fort Bonifacio’s grandstand where the Army put up a giant screen. It was packed to the rafters and when the National Anthem was sung by three women, a lot of us in the back and side rows stood up. Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes and the VIPs with him in the front row remained seated. This, I think, was improper behavior. If they were in the privacy of their homes it would have been a different story, but the grandstand is a public area, just like a movie theater, and they should have stood up to honor the anthem. The former AFP chief of staff should have set a good example to the soldiers and their families.
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At the press briefing conducted by Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo and visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the former asserted that in no country is she more popular than in the Philippines. Here, said Romulo, “you are either a Hillary fan or a Hillary fanatic.” Indeed she was received as a superstar especially by the students gathered at the University of Santo Tomas and hooked up in Dumaguete and Zamboanga City. She was the quintessential diplomat, weighing every word and refusing to be drawn into the role of arch-critic of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, despite efforts by the ABS-CBN newscasters to provoke her into it. Apparently the two women leaders hit it off well and Clinton didn’t disguise her praise for Arroyo’s resolve to tackle certain problems “before her term ends.”
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I was one of two media people (the other was Star’s Domini Torrevillas) invited to a small, intimate dinner Arroyo hosted for Clinton at Bahay Pangarap across the river. I was seated among two smart deputy chiefs of staff of Clinton, a Pakistani-descended young woman named Huma Abedin, who has been with her for 13 years now, and a young man named Jake Sullivan, a Yale graduate like Clinton and also a Rhodes scholar like former President Bill Clinton. Also with us at the table was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel, who revealed that he married his Filipina wife at the San Agustin Church and spent his wedding night at the Manila Hotel years back. That drew a wide smile from Emilio Yap, the hotel’s owner, across the table. When it was my turn to be introduced to Hillary Clinton, Huma told her that “this columnist has written reams about you and knows more about you than I do.” I affirmed to Clinton that indeed I belong to Romulo’s “second category” and that I assiduously followed her on the Internet during her primary campaign against Barack Obama. Grabbing my arm and flashing her megawatt smile, she said, “You must send me all those columns, so I can read about myself,” and then she leaned toward me for a cozy photo op. Narrating this exchange to my husband later, he said, “Magaling talaga si Hillary.”
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In recent weeks the case of Rosemarie “Baby” Arenas’ former chief of staff, Marilen So-Guisande, who is alleged to have absconded with payments for consigned jewelry items belonging to well-heeled ladies, was played up in the media. Now comes lawyer Gallant Soriano pushing his claim to the House seat now occupied by Rep. Rachel Arenas. The May 2007 congressional fight in the 3rd district of Pangasinan was four-cornered. Comelec records showed Arenas garnering 62,046 votes; Generoso Tulagan Jr., 61,459 votes; Soriano 60,565 votes; and Leocadio de Vera Jr., 22,009 votes. Soriano and Tulagan challenged those results before the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET), which ordered the revision of ballots. After over two years of revision, Soriano is now claiming victory, saying that 4,724 ballots with his registered name were not counted and credited to him by the board of election inspectors. In addition, he claims that the revision found thousands of Arenas ballots irregular as well as illegally counted in her favor, as they bore the nickname of her mother, socialite Baby Arenas. Soriano now asserts that the revision shows him the winner, having garnered 65,589 valid votes against protestee Arenas, who garnered only 48,037 valid votes, or a winning margin for Soriano of 17,552 votes. The HRET has no other recourse but to uphold his victory; in fact, it’s a shame that such protests are made to drag for so long.
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Two big bazaars this weekend. There’s the annual fund-raising bazaar of the Inner Wheel Club of Manila, headed by Lita Gono, titled “The Best Gifts for X’mas,” from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. this Sunday, Nov. 22, at the Renaissance Hotel in Makati City. Dozens of concessionaires will be selling the best Christmas items—apparel, food stuff, wines, export overruns, etc. Proceeds from rentals will go to the projects of the Inner Wheel, such as high-school scholarships, the Women’s Pavilion of the National Center for Mental Health, feeding programs, training and day-care centers, projects with Gawad Kalinga and medical-dental missions. Shop for gifts while helping this NGO with its many outreach programs.
There’s also the Marche International bazaar, now on its 5th year, at the Makati Sports Club this Nov. 21-22, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., featuring unique items such as products from Kenya, handcrafted jewelry from Italy, India and local designers, Citem exporters, export overruns, livelihood projects, food products, etc.
