Commemorating
St. Valentine's mission

I couldn't help being amused when I read a report saying that Sonia Roco, widow of former senator and presidential candidate Raul Roco, was so happy when former President Estrada prevailed upon his son to give up his slot in the senatorial line-up of their party. Mrs. Roco reportedly lauded Erap and said he was like Abraham in the Bible who sacrificed his son, Isaac, for the Lord.

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Mrs. Roco must have been so overjoyed - she was the one who was given the slot left by JV Ejercito - that she forgot that Abraham did not have to make the sacrifice. A messenger from God stopped him at the last minute, just when he was about to kill Isaac, and provided him with a ram to be offered as a holocaust instead. And for his willingness and total obedience to the order of God, he and his descendants were blessed abundantly. As the Holy Book said it, too, God promised him that his descendants will be "as countless as the stars in the sky".

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Well, the happy season is on and the candidates for the senate have already started stumping for votes with all their gimmickry and promises. Before the city woke up yesterday, the streets had already been plastered with campaign materials of re-electionist senator Ping Lacson, but the industry of his supporters only brought woes to their workers who were rounded up and herded into detention for the illegal act. Well, at least the message is clear to other eager-beavers who would suffocate the city with such materials long before the election.

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Was it, indeed, a dirty trick played on candidate Allan Peter Cayetano? Suddenly he found out that someone named Joselito Allan Cayetano, with the nickname or alias of Peter, has also filed a certificate of candidacy for senator. The congressman, arch-enemy of presidential spouse Mike Arroyo, now has a big problem, because votes cast in the name of Cayetano will not be credited to either of them and will be declared invalid. The same with those carrying only "Peter" or "Allan". What a clever way to confound an opponent, if indeed it was done intentionally.

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The "kidnap" story reported by Philippine Tourism Authority head Robert Dean Barbers is getting to be a more tangled web than anybody would have imagined. Now it looks as if the police in Batangas are closing ranks in trying to belie his claim of having been almost kidnapped, together with his wife and three children. The police officers say it was a mere traffic altercation, where witnesses claim they saw an angry Barbers confront the driver of the vehicle who would not let him overtake, and hit him on the head.

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According to the officers, it was the same group that had chased his vehicle and stopped him, probably to, well, settle the matter. The men were brothers, one an Air Force man, another a cop. More interesting things would have taken place if that mediaman had not happened to be there, but, from those accounts, one might think that Barbers either has a very rich imagination, or he had thought nobody else was looking. One can only be sorry for the children, who must have gotten quite scared when it happened.

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I bet Barbers will not be going around without police escorts after this. That is, if he can still trust the police. But one who now resents being over-protected by the State is former President Erap Estrada, who was reverted to being virtually incommunicado at his detention resthouse. I hear he can no longer receive visitors, cannot be photographed, and is not even allowed to make phone calls. His cellphone was taken away, reports said. But if his safety and protection is the issue, why take away his phone? How can he call for help in case an honest-to-goodness assassin comes calling?

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It's Valentine's Day today and business is booming, especially those related to flowers, gifts and dining. One of the legends about St. Valentine is that he was prohibited by Emperor Claudius from performing marriages of soldiers, but he loved lovers and secretly married them, anyway. Maybe they didn't know about this, but Bacolod is emulating St. Valentine when it administers the marriage rites to about 500 couples at the Bay Center today. A Happy Valentine's Day to them all, and to all our readers!*

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