The Cure

September 22, 2009 at 10:51 am (2000s Philippines, Angst, Domestic Travels, Humor, Personal, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Global Crowd, The Ilonggos, The Negrenses, The Pampanguenos, Tristesse)

For a month before I went on a jaunt with Tess Lopez to Negros Oriental, I had been quietly enduring chronic stabbing pains in my right ribcage.  It was most painful when I was about to lie down, when lying down, and when rising.  But on the eighth day of the trip [ 12 September 2009, Saturday ], I suddenly realized that the pain had finally disappeared!!!

I don’t know what did it, but it must have been one of these three, or all of these three things, that rid me of the chronic stabbing pain…

What Vivian Yuchengco told me two weeks ago [ 21 August 2009, Friday ] over lunch at her sister Connie Yuchengco-Gonzalez’s was right:  roads and bridges are being constructed / reconstructed all over the Philippines.  Driving from Vallehermoso town to Dumaguete city — passing the towns of Guihulngan, La Libertad, Jimalalud, Tayasan, Ayungon, Bindoy, Manjuyod… — that Monday morning [ 07 September 2009 ], we saw, nay experienced, that 45 kilometers of the national highway from Bais city to Dumaguete city — passing Tanjay city and the towns of Amlan, San Jose, and Sibulan — had been torn up and were being reconstructed.  So for all those kilometers, Tess Lopez’s van, and the three of us Goyong the driver, Tess, and I inside, were constantly whipped from left to right, then right to left, shoved forward and backward, backward and forward, and diagonally both ways!!!  Good thing Tess and I were engrossed talking about everything under the sun or we would have positively gone bonkers.  Wednesday afternoon [ 09 September 2009 ], we drove from Dumaguete city to Bais city for the annual town fiesta [ Saint Nicholas Tolentino, Feast Day 10 September 2009 ], and it was the same story.  It was even more fun because Mercey Teves-Goni and other friends were with us so there was more to talk about.  Thursday afternoon [ 10 September 2009 ], we drove from Bais city all the way back to Vallehermoso town.  Now that was another memorable drive:  the national highway from Bais city for many kilometers was also torn up and was being reconstructed.  So for an unimaginably bumpy number of kilometers, Goyong the driver, Tess, and I were again whipped from left to right, right to left, shoved forward and backward, backward and forward, and diagonally both ways!!!  By the time we got to La Libertad town, I felt that I had had Swedish, Shiatsu, Thai, Hilot, and whathaveyou massages all at the same time!!!  It’s called “lamog” [ “all beaten up” ] in colloquial Pilipino.

During the three wonderful days [ 07 – 09 September 2009, Monday to Wednesday ] we spent with the lovely Mercey Teves-Goni at her Dumaguete city residence, there was a steaming pot of “chocolate eh” on the dining table whether it was breakfast, lunch, merienda, or dinner.  YUMMY!!!  For the first time in my life, I had access to “chocolate eh” practically 24 / 7, and I absolutely didn’t mind.  True to my delightfully bad manners, I gulped it down instead of sipping it slowly like the ladies, Mercey and Tess.  The effects were wonderful:  We were happy and giddy all the time.  By the third day, I had consumed enough “chocolate eh” that I had begun to smell like a candy bar.

We were also constantly laughing about anything and everything…!!!  After dinners, Mercey, Tess, and I related the darndest stories of our lives, stories which made each other’s jaws drop to the floor, and it was way better than any comedy show on TV because it was all for real, however incredulous some of the episodes were.  Some of the stories, all real-life, could have put the world’s best fictionists — Ernest Hemingway, et. al. — to shame.     

So the next time I have chronic body pains, I have very good ideas on what to do…   😀   😀   😀

7 Comments

New Math

August 31, 2009 at 10:43 am (2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Humor, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, The Pampanguenos, Tristesse)

We were all taught that 1 + 1 = 2;  that 2 + 2 = 4;  that 4 + 4 = 8, and so on.  That’s basic arithmetic, basic mathematics.  Well, for your information my friends, none of those equations hold true anymore!!!   It doesn’t matter if you did your postgrads [ or even undergrads ] at Harvard, Yale, Cambridge, Northwestern, Duke, UC Berkeley, Stanford, etc., You learned the wrong things!!!  According to the powers that be in our Philippine government, among them those involved in electoral processes,  1 + 1 = 10,000;  2 + 2 = 200,000;  10,000 – 1 = 110,000;  1,000,000 – 20,000 = 8,000,000; and so on…!!!

The Pampanga governorship of Among Ed Panlilio is in legal peril because of a recount ordered by the court at the behest of the unimaginably rich and unimaginably powerful Pinedas of Lubao, with the obvious assent of their reluctant townmate, Madame President, and the cooperation of the entire Malacanang palace machinery.  THE political debts, as always.

For the first time, the helpless doctors and the nurses in the provincial hospitals of Pampanga had 70 % isopropyl alcohol, cotton balls, syringes, intravenous fluids, basic medical equipment, etc..  They say that it was never that way during the incumbencies of Lapid and even Guiao.  Among Ed certainly made good his campaign promises.

Many of us Kapampangans are going to order a T – shirt which says:  “KAPAMPANGAN KU, MARINE KU!”  [ “I am Kapampangan and I am Ashamed!” ].

Should it happen, We will not be surprised to see a rise in the number of renegades, rebels, and lawless elements in the province as well as the entire Central Luzon.  As with Marcos, so with Arroyo.

“Kung kalokwan mu rin, mangandaloko ta na ngan.”  [ “Kung lokohan din lang, e di maglokohan na lang tayong lahat.” / “If it is going to be foolishness [ in this case, cheating ], then we will have foolishness all throughout.”

63 Comments

Apolitical

August 16, 2009 at 7:42 pm (2000s Philippines, Angst, Personal, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, The Pampanguenos, Tristesse)

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough of Politics for a while.

Because of the various posts in this blog, People think of Toto Gonzalez as pro-GMA, anti-GMA, pro-Estrada, anti-Estrada, pro-Ramos, anti-Ramos, pro-Aquino, anti-Aquino, pro-Marcos, anti-Marcos.  I couldn’t possibly be pro-Macapagal, anti-Macapagal, pro-Garcia, anti-Garcia simply because I wasn’t born yet.

The Truth is that I am NOT pro- or anti- ANYBODY.  Being all too human, I am just too aware of the humanity — the strengths as well as the weaknesses — in everybody.  I understand what it is like for most people, in most cases.

I’m going back to the pleasures of the past, when Life was not nearly as complicated as this one…

4 Comments

The Odd Couple

August 10, 2009 at 5:10 pm (1900s Philippines, 2000s Philippines, Angst, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, The Pampanguenos, Tristesse)

The seniors of any society possess real treasures in terms of memories and experiences.  And it was my privilege and honor to have sat down a few days ago with some senior Kapampangan “kabalen” — powerful, influential, and prominent politicians in their time — who regaled me with so many of their memories, among them comic but genuine recollections of the first Kapampangan president, “Cong Dadong,” and his [ second ] wife, “Ache Eva”…

“First of all, Cong Dadong was not exactly the “poor boy from Lubao.”  True, he was not rich in the way the old line Spanish mestizo hacenderos of Lubao, Floridablanca, and Guagua were [ like the  Arrastia, the Toledo, the Toda, the Ynfante, the Velez, and the Gonzalez { originally Bravo } were ].  But destitute, he was definitely not.  His father, Urbano Macapagal, a poet, was actually already a political leader in the town.  The distinguished philanthropist Don Honorio Ventura of Bacolor, then the Secretary of the Interior during the Quezon presidency, saw the potential of Cong Dadong and financed his law studies at the University of Santo Tomas.  That was the start of something big.”

“When Cong Dadong first ran for representative of the first district of Pampanga in 1949 upon the urging of several local leaders to President Quirino, he earnestly requested the heiress Carmen ‘Mameng’ Angeles Buyson of Bacolor to desist from running for the office.  Mameng Buyson was a virtual shoo-in for Congresswoman because of her expensive, high education and her ‘hacendero’ family’s great wealth.  Cong Dadong reasoned to Mameng that a ‘poor Macapagal’ from Lubao could not win against a ‘rich Buyson’ from Bacolor.  In true ‘de buena familia’ form, Mameng graciously acceded to his request.  Cong Dadong won the seat by a landslide.”

“Well, Ache Purita, his first wife, died of sickness in 1943.  She was a sister of the handsome actor Rogelio de la Rosa.  Three years later in 1946, he married the Pangasinense, Ache Eva.  Ah, she was one difficult woman.  Basically a good woman, but a difficult one.”

“It was a ‘chicken and egg’ situation.  Ache Eva did not like us Capampangans because she felt that we discriminated her because she was Pangasinense, aside from the fact that she was the second wife when the first one, Ache Purita, was Capampangan and one really beautiful woman, outside and inside.”

Oh, that marriage had its share of quarrels like everyone else’s.  There was the time when his first grandchild with Ache Purita was baptized.  Cong Dadong arrived late dressed only in his “camisa chino” [ the buttoned undershirt of the “barong tagalog” ] and he seemed to be in sixes and sevens.  With obvious irritation, he explained that Ache Eva did not want him to attend, and in the ensuing argument she had torn his “barong tagalog” to shreds!  He requested liquor because he just wanted to drink.  He drank himself to stupor that night.  We all remember that well.”

“We joked him that he and Ache Eva were following in the footsteps of President Manuel Roxas and his First Lady Trinidad de Leon.  Cong Dadong just shook his head.  President Roxas and his First Lady Dona Trining were memorable for their marital squabbles, mainly because of his lady friend, Juanita MacIlvain — sometimes in plain view during functions, sometimes only the angry exchanges were heard behind those Malacanang rooms.  Many of our older colleagues attested to that.”

“One time, [ Congressman ] Francisco “Paquito” / “Quitong” Nepomuceno brought some Angeles town officials to the Malacanang palace to meet with Cong Dadong.  The waiting room had photographs of the presidents and their first ladies.  When one town official peered closely at the photo of Ache Eva, Paquito warned:  “E ca lalapit caya, abe!  Quietan na ca niyan!”  [ “Don’t go near her, friend! She will bite you!” ].  They all laughed.  Well, to their amusement, the joke reached Ache Eva and she was livid!”

“Imelda Romualdez-Marcos was NOT the first Philippine first lady to have a collection of fine jewelry.  Evangelina Macaraeg-Macapagal preceded her to it.  And before Ache Eva, it was Leonila Dimataga-Garcia.  Ache Eva collected fine jewelry and she definitely preceded Imelda Marcos as a VIP client of Liding Miranda-Oledan.  Ache Eva had a very considerable collection!  Look at President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo closely during official functions, she wears beautiful jewelry which are NOT new but actually vintage.  Those are from Ache Eva and most likely purchased from Liding Oledan.  Ache Eva also bought from the other major Capampangan jewelers of the time like Tinay Gonzalez and Ache Ines Lugue-Sarmiento, the mother of Fe Sarmiento-Panlilio, who rose to the international big leagues during the Marcos years and became ‘The International Jeweller.'”

42 Comments

Guess Who???

August 10, 2009 at 3:12 pm (1900s Philippines, 2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, The Pampanguenos, The Tarlaquenos, Tristesse)

It is the story circulating among Social Manila’s elegant dinner tables that in one lucid moment during her final days of illness at the ICU Intensive Care Unit of the Makati Medical Center, the dying Maria Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco-Aquino finally spoke about the masterminds and the assassins of her husband, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., on that fateful day of 21 August 1983.

The story of Cory in the ICU cannot be verified at present.

However, the truth about the Aquino assassination, if and when it is finally made public, is eagerly awaited by millions and millions of Filipinos around the world.

*******************************************************************

With the recent passing of former President Maria Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco-Aquino, and as the 26th anniversary of that fateful day of 21 August 1983 fast approaches, One important question still looms in the minds of millions and millions of Filipinos just like you and I, here in the Philippines and elsewhere in the world…

WHO HAD NINOY AQUINO KILLED???

OK, OK, OK, President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos said that Rolando “Lando” Galman, whoever he was, did it.  Poor Rolando Galman.  They just fattened him for the kill, like “lechon.”  They didn’t even have the decency to fix him up for his final “one moment in time” press kit — no makeup artist, no hairdresser, no tailor, no society photographer.  Well, at least he had his fifteen minutes of fame, or notoriety, whichever.  I believe that Rolando Galman killed Ninoy Aquino as much as Yosemite Sam killed Daffy Duck in the “Merrie Melodies” cartoons.

But I do believe that President Ferdinand Marcos was far too intelligent, much too brilliant, and way too prescient to have ordered Ninoy Aquino’s assassination.  One must never forget that he was the ultimate master of the Filipino psyche.  Unless he was having a “stupid moment” and saying “What was I thinking?” which all humans have at some points of their lives anyway.

On the other hand, there is the persistent story that upon finally being informed of the assassination of Ninoy Aquino at the MIA Manila International Airport that afternoon, the already very ill President Ferdinand Marcos hurled an object, usually said to be a vase, towards his First Lady, Imelda Marcos.  At that time, it was said that he was not at the Malacanang palace;  he was supposed to have been confined at the new Kidney center of the Philippines in Quezon City.  Nurses outside the room swore that they heard a breakable object crash to the floor and invectives hurled by the very ill President at both Madame Marcos and General Ver.

There are people, mostly anti-Marcos, who claim that if that story was true, then President Marcos, First Lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos, and General Fabian Ver were just “play-acting”…

Another persistent story, certified true by close Marcos and Romualdez family members, was that upon being informed of the assassination of Ninoy Aquino at the MIA Manila International Airport, the already very ill and very weak President Marcos sat up on his hospital bed, as if from an electric shock, and declared:  “Oh no!  This is the end!  This is the end of all of us!!!”

One of my mentors, the deliciously, wickedly, incorruptibly corrupt Eminence Gris, never fails to remind me that everything boils down to MONEY.  “Pera lang yan.”  he insists.  If one has a question about anything, specially in politics and government, not only in the Philippines but everywhere else in the world, The answer is money.  Why did the USA wage war in Iraq?  Money.  Why did the USA have a financial meltdown?  Money.  Why does the USA do business with China?  Money.  Why did Communist China turn capitalist?  Money.  Why did Ferdinand Marcos remain as President of the Philippines for 21 years?  Money.  Why did the USA abandon Ferdinand Marcos and support Corazon Aquino during the EDSA Revolution?  Money.  Why do we have a never-ending Communist insurgency?  Money.  Why do we have a never-ending Islamic insurgency in Mindanao?  Money.  Why do all those candidates — Manny Villar, Mar Roxas, Gilbert Teodoro, Chiz Escudero, Loren Legarda, Jamby Madrigal, Bayani Fernando, Jejomar Binay, et. al. — want to become the President of the Philippines in 2010?  Money.

Why was Ninoy Aquino killed???  Because of money.

In the study of this 26 year-old mystery case, the crucial question is:  Who had the most to lose in terms of money — if Ninoy Aquino returned to the Philippines — before 21 August 1983???

President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos?

First Lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos?

Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Fabian C. Ver?

Vice Chief of Staff General Fidel V. Ramos?

Defense Minister Juan Ponce-Enrile?

Multimillionaire businessman Benjamin “Kokoy” Trinidad Romualdez, Imelda Marcos’ younger brother?

Multimillionaire businessman Eduardo “Danding” Murphy Cojuangco Jr.?

The CIA Central Intelligence Agency of the United States of America?

The CPP Communist Party of the Philippines / The NPA New People’s Army / Jose Maria Sison?

Years ago, a top official of the Marcos administration, privy to the highest and innermost circles, and yes, almost a “crony,” told me, without revealing anything:  “You will have to wait until we are all dead, hijo.  Several are still alive and active in national politics and big business.  It was very complicated… It was not one, not two, not even three people involved, but several.  An entire cast of characters as exciting as a suspense thriller movie.  James Bond 007 had nothing to compare!  You will be surprised by who was actually involved as well as by who was actually not involved.  It was initially planned in a sports facility.  The intelligence operatives knew about it.  Even I knew it was going to happen.  I contemplated sending my family abroad.  But what could I do except wait for the moment of damnation… of all of us???”

Moment of damnation indeed.

And the moment of redemption for the Filipino people and their nation.

Post Script:  By February of 1985, one year before the EDSA Revolution, the Marcos administration was already faced with tremendous difficulties — including the worsening SLE systemic Lupus erythematosus of President Ferdinand Marcos — to the point that the First Lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos had quietly requested her family members:  “Pray.  Please pray and pray hard.  For it is all about to end.”

46 Comments

Thank you, President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino

August 1, 2009 at 12:14 am (2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Random memories, The Tarlaquenos, Tristesse)

And so, the inevitable has come to pass…

Despite everything, I am still grateful for the hope that she brought to the Philippines twenty-three years ago in 1986.  Because it has already happened, I am certain that it will happen again in the future.  And again and again.  Way after all of us living have passed.  Until hopefully, we Filipinos will finally learn the lessons being taught us.

Her passing, like her crusade from late 1983 to early 1986, has put us in the proper perspective as Filipinos and as the one Filipino nation.

Thank you, Cory.

Thank you, Ninoy.

For your admirable lives so generously given over to the greater good of the Filipino nation and consequently for the triumph of democracy all over the world.  Indeed, altruism personified.

In profoundly grateful remembrance,

Toto Gonzalez

96 Comments

Quadruple Bypass

July 31, 2009 at 12:30 am (2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Filipino Art, Humor, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, Tristesse)

“Fairy tales can come true… they can happen to you…”

And happen to you they did.

Erudite Manila simmered, seethed, and gritted their teeth as the four new “National Artists” were announced by the CCP Cultural Center of the Philippines…

“Fairy tales can come true… they can happen to you…”

31 Comments

The Apex of Power

July 16, 2009 at 1:03 pm (2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Humor, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Davaoenos, The Global Crowd, The Ilocanos, The Ilonggos, The Laguna Tagalogs, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, The Pampanguenos, The Tarlaquenos, The Tayabenses / Quezonians, Tristesse)

I assume that most of us have read through [ in whole or in part ] the major treatises on power, the most basic being Niccolo Machiavelli’s “The Prince,” to Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Bataille, Lacan, Foucault, Derrida all the way to the most recent works by O’Brien, et. al..

Given the nature and the requirements of political power, we need not wonder why our leaders act the way they do.  It’s all a natural, logical progression of political survival.

What are your musings???

14 Comments

EDSA 1986: Remembrance and Reevaluation

July 14, 2009 at 5:17 pm (2000s Philippines, Angst, Past Events, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, Tristesse)

What was it all about, after all?

Was there any real change inside us, where it really mattered?

Why are we back to square one thus far?  Or have we really progressed as a democratic country without our knowing it?

These and other nagging, serious questions haunt us — as I’m sure they do millions of others, specially the principal players of that epic drama twenty-three years ago — as we ponder the mortality of the former President Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco-Aquino.

Was it worth the personal sacrifices and the very high levels of stress as the President of the Philippines after Ferdinand Marcos, Cory?

Was it worth your assassination / martyrdom, Ninoy?  Was it worth becoming a national hero?

Was it worth ignominiously removing you as the First Lady, Imelda?

Was it worth ignominiously removing you as the President, Ferdinand?

Was it worth all the hope for my family and I and fifty million other Filipinos?

Was it worth anything at all to you, my friend?

It is a good time to reflect on THE ESSENTIALS OF LIFE, to ask ourselves the difficult questions of our existence as human beings and as Filipinos…

26 Comments

Ultra Gloria

July 14, 2009 at 3:22 am (2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Humor, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, The Pampanguenos, Tristesse)

Whatever anyone says, she is still the most powerful lady in the land, and she can certainly order your head to roll if she wants.

I cannot comprehend how she has become so unpopular…

I still remember the time in 2000 when we were desperate to have her become the President of the Philippines, as we were quickly and surely sinking deeper and deeper [ as in Madonna’s song “Deeper and Deeper”  😛   😛   😛 ] under the leadership of President Joseph Ejercito Estrada, a handsome, charismatic, debonair, dapper, dashing, sexy alpha male / macho man whose temperament and habits were not quite suited to the demands of being the President of the Philippines.

I don’t know whom to believe…

The gentlemen say that she has the Philippine military effectively in her grip.  They are very happy with their generous compensations from the palace.  That is why she can scold and humiliate them openly and freely during cabinet meetings and other public affairs without fear of their retaliation.    That is why the gentlemen claim that we will no longer have any “coup d’ etat” during the remaining tenure of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo:  Every single key person from the top general to the mere barangay functionary from Aparri to Jolo is on a regular, considerable payroll from Malacanang Palace.

It sounds logical if you ask me.  Rather Machiavellian… and I daresay brilliant of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, if that is indeed what she has been doing.  After all, “Money makes the world go round” is a universally acknowledged reality.   😛

The Ladies say that the Philippine military has her effectively in their grip.  They claim that she cannot make a single move without the assent and support of her generals.  The ladies claim that the “balance of power” was much affected when the “Hyatt 11” technocrats — eleven highly-qualified and principled Cabinet secretaries — withdrew their support from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo:  it paved the way for PGMA to be wholly dependent on her reliable and loyal military men and thus the power at the palace came to be monopolized by the Philippine military.

It doesn’t sound logical if you ask me, for the “Hyatt 11” had no real political power [ probably moral power, but that’s an entirely different question, we’re dealing with reality here  😛 ] but that’s what the ladies say.  They venture further that it was precisely at that time that the bigtime gambling lords and the USD $$$ multimillionaire industrialists further consolidated their influence / hold / grip on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo by putting their big money where their mouths and motives were.  Smart people if you ask me:  “Rub my back and I’ll rub yours.”   😛

The gays say that her couturiers can’t get her body proportions — particularly the proportion, construction, execution and movement of her “terno” sleeves — therefore her dresses, right and that she remains, on account of her short stature and difficult proportions, the couture nightmare that the legendary Ramon Valera once considered her to be, along with superstar Nora Aunor [ The Charice Pempengco of the early 1970s ].

Now, Trust The Gays to notice the darndest things about Anybody…

Granted, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is not the ethereally beautiful, tall, long-limbed, soignee swan that is the former First Lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos.  But then, how many Ladies are?  Neither were Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino, Amelita Ramos, Rosemarie Jimenez-Arenas, Ricky Reyes, nor Luisa Ejercito, G*ia Gomez, nor La*rni Enriquez.

By popular — or unpopular??? — demand.  Go, ravers and ranters!!!

39 Comments

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