Think about it
Bonuan bangus’ global popularity
By Jun Velasco
MANY are now considering Jun Lozada a shoo-in for the senate if and when he decides to enter the world of politics.
Administration efforts to downplay his forays in the provinces such as the vaunted pulling down of his streamers and posters in Pangasinan only made him popular. The common folk were asking, what was there in this “nobody” that Malacacang would want to silence? The streamers’ caper has made people even more curious. Nagdagsaan tuloy ang nagpunta sa People’s Astrodome!
Becoming a senator was probably beyond Lozada’s wildest dreams before.
Circumstances and events sometimes create our future beyond our control. Jun Lozada must have outdone himself in the ICT or computer world when he was tapped by his friend, Chairman Romulo Neri, to do some technical observation of certain global business deals the government was crafting such as the failed or foiled NBN-ZTE contract. Because he was a privy to extra-sensitive information, Lozada was thrust into the vortex of controversy.
In this country, when you make a name for yourself in high-heeled controversy, you make headline material, you become a news copy, a celebrity, and senatorial if not presidential timber.
In this sense, Jun Lozada is no different from FPJ and Erap Estrada, and yes, Noli de Castro. They are household words.
Such is the target of constitutionalists who are at a loss in re-arranging the provisions of the charter to stop the rise of media-created popular guys whose skills in statecraft are yet to be proven. But the lobbyists for the presidential system were more successful with one vote majority in the Supreme Court.
Those who laugh at the prospect of Jun Lozada may be in for surprise. And all he does is join mass actions, prayer rallies and the like. Only in the Philippines? You bet.
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Due to high-tech media, our relatives and friends abroad are not stranger to the latest tsismis in town.
A threesome balikbayan — cousin, the former Maripi Llamas, hubby Meynard Dioquino and broadway talent son Mark – surprised us with their knowledge and familiarity with local issues. Reason, they proudly said, is the Sunday Punch’s on-line program.
Meynard helps run a re-cycling corporation in Montreal, Canada, while Maripi has a lighter job. Mark is an up and coming dramatic actor.
Another balikbayan, former local press club regular, Leony Galvez, gave us a clearer picture of the US economy’s not so down downside. We instantly agreed with him that Filipino-Americans in the US are much more blessed in the art and science of breadwinning. The US economy, says Leony, may have been hit by recession, but American capitalism is gifted with a certain resiliency that makes life not that so bad at all.
Back home, we are fighting a crippling politics of division, pervasive corruption issues, food shortage, climate change, and terrorism. Life in these fabled isles is becoming tougher everyday.
One subject Leony amused us a lot is about a Filipino store in San Francisco run by a Bicolano. There’s this poster that says “Bonuan bangus sold here.”
Not being born yesterday, Leony knew how to tell the Bonuan bangus from the rest. One day he confronted the store owner about his misleading advertisement with a threat of a legal complaint if he continued fooling the public. The following day, the poster was removed, but the smile from the chap’s face was replaced by a frown.
“I have to protect the integrity of our Bonuan bangus,” says Leony. Mayor Al Fernandez and Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez should decorate Leony for his pro Dagupan act.
(Readers may reach columnist at junmv@yahoo.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/think-about-it/ For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)
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