Moncado Colony

Mayor Mike Rama is unfazed by the survey result showing his team lagging behind Team O. “What good will it do him if Hizzoner gets fazed?” asked a Rama fan.

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Hizzoner is still banking on the huge April 6 Team Rama rally which he continues to bank on, insisting it was a bigger sea of humanity than Team O's.

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It's good to be an optimist. But sometimes pessimism is okay too. It grants you the permit to build slums in the air.

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An American political writer says many optimistic politicians practice practical politics which consists in ignoring facts. This is the kind of politics many independent senatorial candidates are adhering to.

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John McDaniels Jr., a fellow member of now defunct American trade journalists association, gave me a surprise call last Sunday morning from Sydney, Australia, to talk about an article he read in the online edition of The FREEMAN (www.philstar.com).

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It was about the seemingly forgotten Moncadistas which TF's star reporter/feature writer Liv G. Campo wrote about (TF, April 21/13). John and I were at the Moncado Colony more than 30 years ago (when I was younger and stronger) and found the place worth writing about like Liv did.

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John had predicted that the Colony, then well-known to many Americans, would someday be a famous tourist destination. He fell short of his prediction because the Moncado Colony has become kind of forgotten and forsaken until it was brought to the spotlight again by Liv in an article last Sunday.

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John still remembers the Moncado Hotel where we stayed overnight. The hotel is still there, so I read in Liv's article, but it now looks like one hotel that has seen better days.

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I have one reader who wants to know from me how to handle a neighbor who has been giving him some headache. I thought of suggesting a dose of paracetamol but dropped it.

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The neighbor has an unleased dog left alone to roam around the neighborhood. My reader's child got bitten by the dog and it was this neighbor who berated the victim for staying out in the street where his dog strays night and day. The dog owner, my reader said, scolded him for allowing his child to stay out. “How can you live in peace with a neighbor like this?” my reader asked.

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OVERHEARD. San Pedro Calungsod medals are sold by “unscrupulous persons” plying their trade around the Basilica every Friday. One student said: “Dihay babaye nga gipugos gyud og arpiler sa medalya ni San Pedro Calungsod sa akong uniform, masuko ra ba kon akong iuli.” This was confirmed by another student. The woman had a companion who spoke Cebuano with Tagalog accent.