Salamat, Marlon!

M“ INGAW na among hapon.” The taxi driver aired this lament moments after I sat down at the front seat. The driver did not show any gesture that he knew me. He was just sad at the death of dyAB’s Marlon Bellita and wanted somebody to listen to what he felt.

I listened to Marlon’s program several times in the past. Most always, I was in a cab going to or from either SM or Ayala. The guy carved a niche in the hearts of cab drivers.

I seldom met Marlon personally. Most of these happened in out of the way places that both surprised us of our presence like the birthday of a friend that turned out to be also Marlon’s friend.

On another occasion, an NBI agent called about the testimony of a witness. He was amused that the witness recognized Marlon and me. “Good taste in the choice of columnist and commentator,” I told myself.

When the late Art Maloy, known as “Johnny Pusong” during his time, retired from the radio scene years before his death, Marlon filled the the airlanes with his own jokes. Marlon brought giggles and laughter. But now he has also gone.

As the driver felt the vacuum of his absence, I thought about the times when Marlon’s antics made us laugh during the whole ride. Salamat, Marlon for those moments.

I hated Sen. Miriam DefensorSantiago during the impeachment trial of former CJ Renato Corona. The way I recalled what happened, she tried to bully the prosecution, even fellow senators who did not agree with her.

But something changed my perception of this witch at the Senate. She recently came out strongly in favor of the Reproductive Health vention and support against Chinese incursions into our territory than on strengthening our navy and air force.

Supporters of Sen. Tito Sotto pleaded against using the plagiarism issue to derail his anti-RH position. They cannot understand that Netizens got riled by the senator’s unrepentant defense of disrespect for materials published online. It got to a point that a Kennedy joined the anti-Sotto voices for using a Kennedy speech to uphold an anti-women’s rights position. Bill and the scrapping of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the US.

Amendments that watered down the RH bill delayed its approval. But detractors maintained their criticisms as if the bill was still in its original version. During a recent mass I attended, the priest went to the point of extolling the need for Filipinos to further multiply because this is God’s plan. As I listened to him, I got this sense that even the natural family planning method was wrong.

I know the Catholic Church has several progressive positions on several issues. But on the issue of reproductive health, it seems it is on the same footing with the American religious right.

The VFA, on the other hand, sought to continue the special relationship we have with the US well beyond after our nationalist senators, headed by then Senate president Jovy Salonga, mustered a majority scrapping the US military bases. It is ironic that Richard Gordon, the man whose pro-American bases position was voted down, rose to head the post-American Subic and proved the nationalist position as all the while correct.

Because of the VFA, we continue to pursue a foreign policy that relies more on American military inter-

At a time when most Manila-based political marketers are already talking of 360 marketing campaigns that recognize how to engage the online groundswell, Sotto’s people simply failed to get it.

How do you engage the groundswell for a political campaign? That’s something interesting bloggers and several others will also be discussing with Janette Toral during the Digital Influencers Marketing Summit in Cebu next weekend. The way I see it, we’ll just have to continue to learn from young people on how they make themselves likable in social media.

Judging from the discussions at the Facebook group Maghisgot Kitag Politika Bay, local political supporters and even media consultants fail to get it. Many believe that the kind of political mudslinging we hear on radio would work in Facebook. I disagree. Winning online means positions and ways to express this to gain the most likes.

While I advocate engaging Cebuanos in online political discussions to raise the level of local politics, there are always those who would want online free-for-alls and brawls. At Maghisgot Kitag Politika Bay, there is always this challenge to keep the free-for-alls on leash, a quite challenging task when the admins– Ka Bino and I–can’t be always online.