The Manila Times

The lie is cast

- ROLLY G. REYES

IN the movie world, a sequel is usually made when it strikes gold in the box office. In the political scene, a sequel to failed accusation­s must serve another purpose to a man who is notorious for stretching his neck out in front of TV cameras and radio microphone­s. This senator had been trying to do a Lazarus to wild accusation­s so often that he might earn a place in the Guinness book of world record as “Mr. Rehash.”

*** Mutinies that flopped, accusation­s that the late General Angelo Reyes was the man behind comptrolle­r Carlos Garcia, misreprese­nting PH foreign policy on China, presenting and herding a damaged DDS wit-ness that flopped, unsupporte­d exposés on Binay bank accounts allegedly proxied by his friends, naming a former president as a symbol of corruption extremely blind to well-recorded decisions of the courts and now a revival of Duterte bank accounts, coming from a rejected VP candidate aspirant in DU30’s ticket. Makes me wonder why we stupidly pick up this man's tab to finance his wild exploits at the Senate.

*** Cayetano calls Trillanes “Kuryente King.” No, Meralco is not interested in employing him after his term expires.

***

De Lima: “I have long prepared myself to be the first political prisoner under this regime.” Political? And we all thought it was a drug-related crime. Are all heinous crimes now “political?”

*** Senator Trillanes is celebratin­g Easter Sunday too early. “The Resurrecti­on” is still on April 16.

*** Malampaya maintenanc­e work completed - DOE. Secretary Al Cusi is one of the few cabinet members who gets the job done quietly.

*** De Lima expects arrest on Monday next week. When she was the DOJ secretary, she always managed to serve it on a Friday so suspects or respondent­s will be deprived of correspond­ing legal actions. Happy Monday to everyone.

*** Duterte to De Lima on drug cases: Face the music. The president must be expecting her to sing a portion of Sinatra’s My Way lyrics “And now the end is near...” ***

De Lima lashes at “indictive policy.” Six years ago, she, the Ombudsman and her Boss were accused of the same thing. Short memory?

*** News: Duterte fires back, tags Trillanes bandit. A “Rebel Hoodlum?”

***

In three separate complaints, the Justice Department accused De Lima of violating the Comprehens­ive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, which penalizes the sale and trade of illegal drugs, and for violating Section 28 of RA 9165, which pertains to criminal and employees.

Slapped with 3 cases, as they say in Filipino, “mag- asawang sampal plus one.”

*** The P50 million wasn’t a

bribe, Sombero insisted; it was “goodwill money.” He wasn’t serving in any capacity as a mid

dleman; he was merely “liaising” between the two groups. His pocket dictionary and Thesaurus must be newly printed.

*** Sombero was wearing a “sombrero” when he testified at the Senate. The committee noticed that the other hat was terribly missing.

*** Never heard so much lies from so many people in one day. Yet, it looks like the miss- ing link is out of the picture. In Pilipino, “tila hindi man lang na- bolJACK ang negosyante­ng gustong makaLAMang.”

*** The new sequel of “Dirty Dancing” is in the pipeline. Jack Lam, Al Argosino, Wally Sombero, Michael Robles, Jose Calima will play the roles as themselves. Jointly produced by “Peramount Pictures” and “20th Century Fix.”

*** We have to accept that there are people who can lie “naturally” or without blinking. These are really gifted creations who c convince you that there are 12 planets in our solar system instead of nine.

*** I always say that these hearings are important. Live broadcast can uncover new trails and new dots that can be connected. One can see the facial expression­s, body language, that can betray the easy way people can lie or when cornered. Otherwise the public will never know what will - tigating agencies or even inside courtrooms. No, it is not a waste of time or money. Hundreds of millions are involved and sourcing new evidence and possible new testimonie­s are vital when these issues or cases are litigated in courts. An added bonus is that one can sense the political leanings of those who are throwing the questions.

*** As Senator Richard wittingly Gordon said, the BI bribery scandal is a case of entrapment vs. entrapment.

*** While the members of the committee are convinced that it was an extortion case on the part of the two former deputy immigratio­n commission­ers Argosino and Robles, Gordon said they still have to get some details to firmly establish that it was also the case for Calima and his group.

*** “300 BIR employees resign after crackdown on corruption.” I have a feeling that the public wants more. Most especially those stationed in local government units. A top to bottom shakedown is indeed very timely.

*** The best lens for street photograph­y?

Petapixel says and I agree, that most prefer prime lenses for urban photograph­s and I think I can say most photograph­ers would as well. Prime lenses have a fixed focal, they cannot zoom, instead you just have to get closer or further away to adjust your frame and compositio­n. This has its limitation­s ( at times frustratio­ns) but also many benefits. Fixed focal lenses are usually smaller and lighter than their zooming counterpar­ts since they have fewer elements that make them ideal if you wish to reduce the bulk of your equipment.

Prime lenses are generally sharper and optically superior by the simplicity of their design. There are no moving elements and fewer layers of glass than in zooms, therefore light gets to the sensor with less degradatio­n.

Often they’ll be faster lenses allowing for wider aperture (sometimes as far as f0.95) whereas many zooms are limited to f2.8.

shallower depth of field than you’d get with zooms, (ideal for street portraits) as the shallow

- sibility to shoot handheld in low light without having to jack up the ISO resulting in lower image quality or slow down the shutter too dramatical­ly resulting in unwanted motion blur.

Should I use a 35mm or 50mm for shooting in the streets? Opinions are divided and as with everything, it is a matter of taste. In fact, it isn’t just limited to 35 or 50, as some well- respected street photograph­ers experiment with other focal lengths for a less convention­al look.

There you go camera lovers. Good work, good deeds and good faith to all.

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