TALKING ABOUT PDU30 — I wish to share my short travel experience in Guam where I and a friend from Bulacan took a short respite from work and life’s issues.

For starters, President Duterte is undoubtedly the most talked about Philippine leader locally and internationally.

While we queued at the US immigration after our plane landed in Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, my friend, Baby Herrera, was told to proceed to the Immigration Office for some clarifications. I waited outside the office for about 30 minutes and I refused to leave her there. I didn’t know what was happening inside. Ano kayang nangyari?, I often wondered while patiently waiting.

When she finally came out, I heaved a sigh of relief. She said their machine could not read her fingerprints. That was the only problem!

But what took you long to come out?, I asked. Her reply: The immigration officer asked me many questions, not about me but about President Digong.

Sorry, I cannot detail here what the officer said about our dear president. Suffice it to say, it was unpleasant to be heard by pro-Duterte followers.

The officer, like his fellow Americans we talked to for the duration of our trip from Oct. 2 to 9, including our kind taxi driver, Jimmy Manaig of Batangas province, were all curious and had something to say about PDu30’s unique style of leadership. Some were amused, others had nothing but negative comments, still many quickly gave their thumbs up for his no-nonsense drug war.

Americans, including Fil-Ams, are also updated about the De5 saga. She is also a hot conversation topic. She and PDu30 were stressful topics!

Guam is like an extension of Philippines under U.S. territory.  There are so many Filipinos in that US territory that a true-bloodied Pinoy like me would not miss home. Ang daming nagta-Tagalog, at the airport, food courts, restaurants, shopping malls, hotels, taxis and more! They’re everywhere.

Certainly no chance for nosebleed trying to speak the King’s language. Para ka lang nasa Pilipinas. We ate foods common to our race in a strange land and it was fun exploring what’s in there outside our comfort zone back home.

What impressed me most meeting our Guam-based Pinoys is that 95 percent of them are proud to say they are Filipinos. They are like boy scouts, always ready to help. They are courteous, a trademark Pinoys are proud of, thanks to our elders who passed on to us this valued virtue. They are cheerful who easily laugh at corny jokes.  (Of course, may mga Pinoys na medyo mayabang din at feeling mayaman while in Guam)

Thank you kababayans in Guam for making us feel we never left home. —Eva Visperas

LET’S HAVE THE BAN ON SMOKING –Some of my friends may not like the planned ban on smoking throughout the country because out of habit, they may not be able to immediately shake off their urge to smoke cigarettes, a trait they had acquired since their adolescent years.

These friends are those who I always see sheepishly escaping or retreating to a corner or to an open area whenever there is social function or press conferences for a chance to light a stick.

I endorse this ban because I believe it will be good for everyone’s health, particularly including the smoker and the persons next to him/her.

Didn’t Senator Miriam Santiago, although a non-smoker, die due to lung cancer caused perhaps by second-hand smoke she may have long time been inhaling from smokers near her?

The smoking ban will also be a big boost not only to the environment but also to one’s finances. Just think of the clean air without the smoke created by millions of cigarette users in the Philippines, and the big savings in the pockets of smokers of one or two packs of cigarettes a day, considering that the lowest cost of a stick of cigarette today, they say, is P5!

On the other hand, the ban will not be welcomed by certain sectors of our economy, particularly the tobacco industry, including our durable farmers in the Ilocos  who are planting Virginia tobacco and those in Pangasinan who are planting native and burley tobacco after the rice harvesting season.

Ditto for the businessmen who make a fortune trading tobacco leaves.

We, too, in Pangasinan will be losing our share from the tobacco excise tax. But never mind our share because by imposing the smoking ban, we can save millions of Filipinos from lung cancer and heart attack often caused by smoking.

I believe this might be our first and only chance to ban smoking since only a Duterte presidency can enforce a no smoking ban nationwide. Recall that PNoy was a cigarette smoker and was often seen and heard coughing every time he spoke in public. – Leonardo Micua

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