Penitential suffering

AT the rate the water is dripping out of the faucet like tears, this has to be the worst, cryingest Lenten season of suffering.

It takes 25 minutes to fill a 5-liter jug. Media track soaring temperatures but declining water levels in Angat and La Mesa go unreported.

Short on water, short on electricity, long on high prices of fuel, vegetables, fish, fruits. Galunggong, the poor man’s fish, more expensive than bangus. The bitter taste of ampalaya compounded by the certainty that after the drought will come the floods, then the prices of salad greens will touch the sky, dry as it is.

Not enough rides to substitute for MRT and LRT. Lack of space for fire trucks to squeeze into narrow alleyways to put out fires that happen too frequently.

Lack of peace of mind after Manila No Water’s chief operating officer quit without telling us why. What does he know about water and the lack of it that he’s not telling us? Does it have

something to do with the supply, something that he’s afraid could blow up in his or his company’s face, were he to stay on? Mr. Geodino Carpio, are you afraid that we won’t be able to swallow the truth?

An absence of engineers versus an excess of lawyers sitting on the MWSS board, as pointed out by Sen. Grace Poe. Meanwhile, we the victims of MWSS who are lacking in the virtue of patience wait impatiently for the President to take action on the incompetents. Things will get worse before they get wetter – what’s MWSS’ forecast, or don’t they know, as usual?

Shortages left and right, but for the stratosphere-enhancing news of Kai Sotto, the 7’ 2”, 17-year-old now training in the USA for a shot at the NBA, returning in June to play for Batang Gilas.

How’s the weather up there, Kai? According to astrologer Z (who happens to be a Manila Waterless customer), the water situation could only get worse as “almost all planets are now in Fire signs and no sign in Water until late May or June.” Astrologer or hydrologist?