Loving the gov’t  for all it is worth

This article here says: “He is no politician if he doesn’t love to deliver speeches.” Reminds me of what US Sen. John Parker said: “A politician is a person who would travel two hundred miles to deliver a speech he wouldn’t walk across the street to hear.”

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It was also Sen. John Parker who once said: “A politician is a person who loves the government for all it is worth.” That’s why a keen political observer was once heard saying: “A true-blue politician who claims to love the government is one who has the gift of grab.”

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 “MILF rebels kill 4 soldiers, 3 militiamen in ambush” — Headline. “MILF fielding minors in battle” — Another headline. These are the people GMA keeps on talking about signing a peace covenant with. As the late Max Soliven used to say, “Salamagan!”

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 Some 50 sacks of relief garments could not be transported to a flood-ravaged town in Antique because of lack of transportation. “See?” commented a bus operator. “If there’s no wheel, there’s no way.”

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A lawyer who is at the same time a dentist told me: “Many of our dental laws have become ineffective.” Well, I said it once before and I say it again: “Let’s put more teeth to our dental laws.”

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A Caucasian man dropped by my office to, among others, ask a question I could not answer right off. He said two girls in Lapulapu City approached him and asked: “Sir, you want turjack?” He just shrugged his shoulders thinking they were selling a car instrument or something. “I heard them giggling,” the white man said.

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I said like him I also did not know what “turjack” was until someone told me about it the next day. “Turjack,” I learned, is synonymous with that word that put one commentator in hot water. Of course, you know what it is, it having hit the headlines last year.

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We Cebuanos have the propensity to coin words for the fun of it. Take “tugsay.” When someone used the word on me I just smiled with furrowed foreheard. She said: “You watched Pinoy Idol kagabii?” I said no. And she said: “Tugsay ka no?” I later learned that “tugsay” means “tulog” or “ tug sayo.”

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 This talk about the Right of Reply thing has gotten into the head of some people. Like that drunk accused of mauling his wife. He said his side was not sought before the story was written and published. So he wanted space for his reply. When told that the story was based on the police blotter, the “suspect” said: “Nganong wa man kuhaa sa polis ang akong habig?” When I said: “Lakaw pangutan-a ang polis” he looked daggers at me and then left.

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BOBIT SAYS: “What is Christianity? At home it is kindness. In business it is honesty. In society it is courtesy. In work it is fairness. Toward the unfortunate it is compassion. Toward the weak it is help. Toward God it is reverence and love.”

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