What will they call Bill?

Eureka! The "raiders" of the Iloilo Provincial Capitol have announced that they had found a gun, a single one - in the place they believed to be bristling with NPA rebels and hardened convicts, all armed to the teeth and ready to engage them in battle in defense of the governor. What had been most embarrassing to the raiding crew, aside from the fact that their siege was fully covered by video shots and shown to the world, was the discovery that none of the people inside were armed, and nobody looked like a rebel, much less a convict.

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But why did it take them five days before they revealed that they did find a gun? The firearm was reportedly found lying by itself at an unmanned guard post. The cop who reported the find allegedly said they were not able to disclose it earlier because they were all preoccupied with other matters. Such as cooking up some believable stories to justify their "kuryente"? Because that was it was, in media lingo, a bum steer that led to a very embarrassing finale.

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The courting continues. Yesterday it was reported that Malacañang itself had sent emissaries to try to convince Manny Pacquiao to run for mayor of his home city, General Santos. This was because the mayor there, who belongs to the ruling party, is no longer running for reelection and the administration must find a winnable candidate, fast. But the Pacman, who was interviewed on TV on the matter, with his lawyer beside him, acted coy, and would not comment, until a voice behind him (the lawyer?) said "premature" and he also said it was premature to talk about it. Smiling his slightly cross-eyed smile, he also added that he would not say anything because it was "delicado (dangerous)" Why?

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The one who is in a really "delicado" state is former Batangas governor Antonio Leviste who, after admitting he had shot his longtime friend and aide in self-defense, took off to the hospital to nurse his blood pressure. Not until the prosecutor had declared the killing as just homicide and therefore bailable, did his BP go down low enough for him to sneak out of the hospital in the dead of the night - just like US Navyman Daniel Smith, no?

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But why is his situation "delicado"? That is because, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales, who could not even wait until the documents got to him, has already declared that the case filed should not be homicide, but murder, which is quite a different matter. It is so different that nobody will be surprised if Leviste gets another sudden rise of his blood pressure and decides to flee back to the hospital. And he has to stay there unless his lawyer can cite a precedence like the case of Erap Estrada, that could allow him to be detained in his own resort.

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What's in a name? To poet William Shakespeare it may mean nothing especially if you are talking about roses. But to the congressman of the Second District of Samar, it means plenty. Rep. Catalino Figueras has complained that people, even other government offices, continue to refer to his province as Western Samar, when the truth is that it should only be Samar, as already clarified by Republic Act 5650. We also had some problem here with Negros Oriental complaining about being confused with Negros Occidental. But I noticed that, after our Bacolod staff adopted "Oriental Negros", dispatches from our Dumaguete counterparts often use Negros Oriental just the same.

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For that matter, there was also some to-do like this during the staging of the ASEAN summit when all the news dispatches going out to the world were bylined "CEBU CITY". That drew a protest from the mayor of Mandaue City which is the actual venue of the gathering. I noted that, later, the dispatches only said "CEBU". That's the advantage of having both province and city having the same name - also like Iloilo.

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What's the matter with the administration senatorial ticket? I hear that only Spice Boys Mike Defensor and Miguel Zubiri are sure to be on it. The others who used to be very vocal or very visible, like Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes, Reps. Prospero Pichay and Prospero Nograles, and even Gina de Venecia had reportedly pulled out. Do they know something we don't, like the determination to abolish the Senate by hook or by crook after this election?

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On the other hand, what a classic, dramatic and laconic way of announcing here candidacy for the highest post in her country former first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton had. She simply posted "I'M IN!" on her website and that was that. Good luck, Hillary. What will you call Bill? FG too?*

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