“Most corrupt”

My friend Teddy H. wants to add the word “bumbay” to the Cebuano dictionary. It's a noun meaning moneylender.

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The PNP is the “most corrupt government institution” in the Philippines, according to the latest Global Corruption Barometer of the Anti-Corruption Watchdog Transparency International. Ugh!

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The PNP is the only government agency which has invented its own word to describe its misguided members -- “kotong.”

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“Teenage Pregnancy is on the Rise,” says the title of Philippine STAR columnist Domini M. Torrevillas. I agree. Even 12-and 13-year-old schoolgirls today are getting pregnant.

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I have been allowed to read some letters written by at least two elementary school pupils in ragtag Visayan seeking help from a newspaper columnist as to what to do because they had been impregnated by their boyfriends. Elementary pupils? Pregnant?

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Oh, my goodness. In my time, children of primary or elementary school age did not have boyfriends or girlfriends. They played piko, tumba-lata, and tubig-tubig. Many of them you see in church attending catechesis.

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A media colleague says he now understands why the BOPK top guns in the City Council are giving Councilor Mary Ann de los Santos some tough moments. I asked why and he gave me a quick reply: “To teach her a lesson not to cross swords with the Big Boss.”

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Now I remember. It was the kapitan from Lahug who had mustered some guts to cross swords with Tom O in the mayorship election in 2010. But what's wrong with that? As my political idol Eddiegul often says: “The sun shines for everyone.”

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OVERHEARD. A taxi driver said to his passenger: “Si Junjun Davide wa pasudla sa Palace of Justice kay wa ka ila niya ang sikyu.” Passenger: “Taga Tawi-Tawi tingali tong sikyuha.” Driver: “Dili oy. Kagahapon ra natawo.”