Playing with Fire
Next US president is a woman?
By Gonzalo Duque
SAN FRANCISCO, California – A joke going the rounds of Filipino Americans here is that the Philippines has beaten the US to the draw for being the first to elect a woman to the presidency.
Kung sabagay, sa totoo lang kayang kaya natin ang kano sa maraming bagay lalo na sa larangan ng pulitika, lalo na sa eleksyon. Kaya, minabuti nila na wala na sa power si Marcos baka maisipan pang lumaban ng presidente sa Amerika e.
This development was noted with reports that Senator Hilary Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton, is leading in the presidential surveys across the US. She is edging out former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama – all in the Democratic Party.
In our opinion, President Bush’s Republican Party is facing trouble because of the Iraq war issue. Its presidential hopefuls are ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Tenessee Ex-Sen. Fed Thompson, Arizona Sen. John McCain, Kansas Sen.Sam Brronback, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Roney, Texas Rep. Ron Paul and Colorado Rep. Ton Tancredo.
In the Philippines, we already have produced two woman presidents – Cory Aquino and Ate Glo.
Some Fil-Ams love to relate this joke to their host Amerikanos: One day, President Marcos and President Johnson were aboard a helicopter over the Pacific Ocean, when suddenly, the pilot said, “I’m sorry, sirs, one of you has to go, the heli is encountering serious trouble. It can’t be me, because you can’t fly a plane.”
The two heads of state debated. Johnson said, “Sorry, Ferdie, you have to go because I am the president of the greatest nation in the world.”
The Pinoy protested, “Cannot be, I am your guest, I am entitled to be treated properly.”
The debate continued. Then Marcos proposed, “Let’s put the matter to a vote.” Johnson smiled and said to himself, “this guy is crazy, the pilot is my boy.”
The pilot was asked to prepare makeshift ballots for three, and then asked to count what was in a ballot box. Johnson got 2 votes, while Marcos got 5 votes!
The two Americans were surprised how the Pinoy got so many votes e, tatatlo lang sila. Johnson dived into the ocean, not because he was outvoted but because of shock. He he.
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The Fil Am communities lately were in state of euphoria because of the news that Manny Pacquiao defeated most convincingly the Mexican boxing legend, Marco Barrera in their rematch in Las Vegas last Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
But Manny’s victory has been predicted earlier. Many Mexicans (oh, you see them everywhere here and many parts of California!) ashamedly predicted Manny’s victory having seen their last fight. What surprised them including this writer was that he failed to kayo Barrera, the way he did before.
Some observers said Barrera was a “track and field champion.” But we said, Barrera did his homework. He studied Manny well, his fighting style, and prepared hard for the fight. But he was no match to Manny who prepared harder for it.
Congrats na lang to our kababayan. Sikat na naman ang Pinoy dahil sa kanya.
* * *
We congratulate our countrymen who fought against the postponement of the barangay and hmmm SK elections. We always held the view that pag pinaglaroan natin ang schedule ng eleksyon na yan baka magka rebolusyon. It’s not a joke, and we say this with conviction. Elections are the poor’s only entertainment in this country. Ipagkait mo pa yan, paktaylo tayo!
Request natin ang mga karapatdapat. Huag yong bumibili ng boto. Kaya nagkakaganito ang bayan, dahil hindi vote but bought” ang namamayani sa eleksyon.”
Agayla! Agaygay la!
(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/playing-with-fire/)
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