EAR-CATCHERS
Stories that didn’t earn the big headlines, images that failed to make it to the top fold of Page 1 -- but reaffirmed some sad truths of our time.
1 HAPPY MARCOSES. The matriarch of the Marcos clan, Rep. Imelda Romualdez-Marcos, had reason to be happy. The Sandiganbayan division that convicted her to a total of 77 years in jail just fixed her bail pending appeal at only P150,000 (presumably for the seven counts of corruption).
WTF, said one newspaper story’s lead. “F” in “What the F” means fun or something else if one would like to curse.
While many people expected or wanted her immediate arrest, fueled partly by the presiding judge’s order for that when she and her lawyer did not appear at the promulgation on Nov. 9, last Friday’s (Nov. 16 ) hearing on her plea for reconsideration turned out well for the Marcoses.
She cited her various ailments (seven) which had not deterred her from attending a party Saturday (Nov. 10), the day after her conviction was announced. And she reportedly had fun there too, despite the conviction announced a few hours before.
The message from all that: the family and Marcos supporters never think she would spend a single day in jail, not now, not ever. Tough for the system to work against the wealthy and powerful: the reality spotlighted by the image of the Marcoses and their friends having “F” of their life.
2 PRESIDENT’S ‘POWER NAPS.’ A power nap is a short sleep that a person takes during the day “to boost one’s energy levels.” Some executives take it to prepare for an important or crucial activity that requires mental alertness. They don’t take the nap, usually no longer than 20 minutes, and skip the event for which it is taken.
President Duterte’s power naps at the Asean summit in Singapore apparently were different. He took them and missed at least six events (as of the last count). All the other leaders were there. If they took power naps too, the brief rest worked for them. They were energized adequately and were able to attend.
The fact is a president, especially one as headstrong as President Duterte, can rewrite the meaning of a word or phrase and can change or abandon protocol. If he could revise the concept of removal by “quo warranto” and use it to remove a Supreme Court chief he despised, he could define power nap to his own liking.
3 PNP CHIEF AS VILLAIN – IN TV SERIES. Police Chief Oscar Albayalde publicly castigates the ABS-CBN teleserye “Ang Probinsyano” for being “unfair” to the police.
What he meant actually must be: unfair to Albayalde as police chief. In the drama which depicts the life of SPO2 Ricardo Dalisay (played by Coco Martin), the PNP chief, Alejandro Ternate (played by Soliman Cruz), tried to assassinate the president. Cardo (Coco) is the hero, the good cop.
Albayalde is slamming his fist at the moon. The work is fiction and beyond the pale of the law on libel and prior restraint. The usual station disclaimer took care of that.
Albayalde though may ask that there be a “redemption” of the character of the PNP chief. Writers can rewrite the plot, have Chief Ternate undergo a change of heart after an hour-long lecture from the president about the leader’s mission to reform the country. The twist: Ternate instead would go after the president’s critics and kill them one by one. Starting with a “senator” who’d look like Trillanes.