Say Merry Christmas to someone now

P-Noy’s Truth Commission is unconstitutional. That’s the truth says the Supreme Court.

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The Truth Commission if it survives will have a tough time arriving at, well, the truth. Because didn’t some wise guy say the truth is stranger than fiction?

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George Bernard Shaw calls truth the funniest joke in the world. He says his way of joking is to tell the truth. Does that follow that the Truth Commission is (was?) a joke?

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I like Fr. Jerry Orbos’ homily last Sunday. He urged everyone to celebrate Christmas this year with fervor because there’s no telling if any of us would still be around to celebrate Christmas next year. Tsk-tsk.

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Sounds kind of morbid. “Si Father sad oy,” someone said. But that’s the reality of life, isn’t it? Last Christmas (2009) my good friend Jess Arnaldo and I were together hearing Misa de Gallo on TV. This year Jess is gone. God bless his soul.

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That’s why I asked “her” to spend Christmas with me this year because we never can tell what Christmas next year holds for me. Hehehe!

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Fr. Orbos (he’s my favorite priest when it comes to homilies) said when you meet a dear friend this Christmas hug her or him as you greet her/him “Merry Christmas” and say: “I’m happy you’re still around this Christmas.” And the hugged one might reply “Same here.” Matira ang matibay.

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My good friend Ben Ypil says some of the fun walks today are kept lively with fun talks. As for jogging which is still in vogue he finds that less perspiring than hugging.

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Everyone now seems agog over football. Thanks to the splendid performance of the Philippine Azkals in the Suzuki Cup in Hanoi. Nobody cared about football in this basketball crazy land before the Azkals did it.

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Years ago, I was assigned to do a story on a town in Iloilo Province where football not basketball was and still is the favorite sport of the people. The name of the town is Barotac Nuevo.

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In that town I saw football goals even in the ricefields. I was told everyone there loved football. I saw a six-year-old boy kicking a football in a schoolground. I saw a group of seminarians competing in a football tournament.

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A town official said the townspeople alone developed football in Barotac Nuevo without support from the government. “We have started the football rolling, the impetus was already there, but government help never came,” said a former town official, himself a football star of the town.