Say thanks to the Old Year

The DOH campaign against firecrackers was not a complete flop maybe but it also was not a big success. Many people still wanted to complete their New Year celebration even with some fingers missing.

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 The powerful firecrackers from Bocaue are the Super Lolo, Lolo Thunder, Osama bin Laden and Goodbye Philippines. No Super Mama or Super Lola? “No,” said a firecracker wholesaler in Manila. “You want our New Year celebration like Afghanistan?”

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 Everyone is asking everyone else what he wants to see in 2011. My Cebuano friend in Manila wants to see the start of the realization of the plan to build an LRT in Cebu. “It’s not an easy thing to do but it can be done,” he said with fingers crossed.

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 “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” he said, “because a city can’t be built in a day. But the LRT can be built in months ... because even if one mayor doesn’t want it, the people want it and need it.” Okay, okay, let’s see how things would develop in 2011. Continue crossing those fingers.

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 One political observer-analyst doesn’t see the realization of the LRT. But he seeks the BOPK splitting down the middle in 2011. “That’s for sure,” he says. “BO (Bando Osmeña) will go to Tomas,” he says. “PK (Pundok Kauswagan) will be on Mike’s side.” Is that so? As the late Abe Licayan used to say: “Let us to see.”

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 To Ben Ypil (I used to call him BRY when he was still with TF): Thanks for reminding me of that malapropism-like phrase from Kumpare Abe. I can use that on many occasions in 2011. Like the plans whose implementation remain to be seen.

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 There was a column (not here) where the writer castigated the Old Year (2010) and paid tribute to the New Year (2011) as he said “hail and farewell” to both years.

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 A friend of mine commented: “Ka unfair niya.” He went on: “I never, never say bad things about the Old Year. You know why? Because despite its defects, I’m still around, alive and enjoying life.”

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 My friend stressed that he never pays tribute to a New Year as it comes. “Wa pa ta masayod unsay mahitabo,” he said. “For all we know, we might not be able to stick around and finish the year’s 365 days.”

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 “The only, major, major reason why I pay tribute to an Old Year,” my friend continued, “is that I’m always standing up when it leaves.” He cited the case of his uncle who was so excited as he welcomed 2010 he spent a fortune on pyrotechnics. The uncle passed away — bless him — without seeing the fruits that he said the year 2010 would bring.

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