An unnoticed act of patriotism

A fellow mediaman is happy about the salary raise he has just received. He called me up in the dead of night only to say: "Bai, I can now afford to pay my income tax."

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My favorite sidewalk philosopher Noy Temyong says he’s taking good care of his health. "These times," he said to me last night as he swallowed a silver capsule of Centrum, "I can’t afford to die."

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An item here about a barangay kagawad who got angry when the word "Hon" (Honorable) was deleted from his byline drew a comment from a reader, a barangay captain.

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The reader said: "I am a barangay captain but I don’t put a ‘Hon’ before my name kay mora ko’g matil-asan. Let the people decide if we deserve to be called honorable." I said in ireply that I have decided to call him that -- honorable.

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Which reminds me of a good friend and media colleague, the late Peary G. Aleonar (or just P.G. Aleonar or just PGA). He was an RTC judge, a highly respected one, but he frowned on the putting of the word "Hon" before his name ... which made him truly honorable.

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TRIVIA -- "The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit." -- Nelson Henderson, Oblates Magazine.

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Jessica Soho’s "Brigada" program on GMA News TV recently featured a male public school teacher named Allan (missed the first name). He works in a God-forsaken (so to speak) mountain village where he treads on muddy and slippery mountain slopes for three hours to get to his school.

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It’s a terrible kind of teaching job. But when asked if he would accept an assignment in the lowlands where he doesn’t have to cross rivers and tread over muddy mountain slopes, teacher Allan said: "No." He’s staying put on his present job.

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He has learned to love the mountain people who also have learned to love him. And he has strengthened his resolve to help educate the poor children who have learned to depend on him for their education.

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Here is one schoolteacher whose sacrfices may not be known to high education officials of the government but this, notwithstanding, doesn’t make him care a bit.

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Agence France Presse (AFP) reports from Tonga that the Pacific nations are battling obesity. There’s an obesity epidemic in the Pacific. The region is now ranked as the fattest in the world. It’s time to tell the Tongans to eat anything they want but don’t swallow the food.

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