Courteous greeting

First of all, let me thank my good friend and idol Archie Modequillo for writing about me in his popular "Por Vida" column last Sunday. I was, still am, so happy, Archie, ni-drop ang BP ko.

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I've been having trouble with my BP the past few days. Naglisud ko pamubo sa akong hayblad until I read you, Archie. Keep up the good work.

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Civil Service chief Francisco Duque wants government employees to be courteous. He wants them to greet any taxpayer thus: "Magandang umaga po, ano po bang maipaglilingkod ko sa inyo?"

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Be honest. Tell me, have you heard a government employee using this kilometric courtesy greeting? In Cebu, they save on saliva by just asking: "Unsay ato?"

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September 21 has come and gone. That's the Martial Law anniversary. That's also near the anniversary of this column whose corny title was recommended by the then powerful Philippine Press Council, Cebu Chapter chief.

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Back then, you see, newspaper opinion columns were banned. How happy I was when the Cebu Press Council chief said I could write a column about the prices of vegetables and rootcrops in the public markets but under the column title he suggested.

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I wanted to change the title after Martial Law and after the demise of the press council, but corny though it is, the title has stuck. One afternoon when I entered the USC gym to watch a basketball game, I heard someone on the upper bleacher seat shout: "Have bat, will strike!"

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I see Guv Junjun Davide's reason for wanting the PDAF to stay. Yes, let the corrupt legislators go but let the PDAF stay! There's nothing actually wrong with PDAF, it's the legislators who pocket the millions intended for the poor that's wrong. Right, Guv?

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Come to think of it, if the controversial P10-billion pork barrel was not "scammed" imagine how many poor souls could have benefited from that fortune.

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OVERHEARD. A government official who has long wanted to break up with his querida is finding it hard to do so because he could not afford to support her and their child. So what must he do? His talkative driver said the official has been buying his woman several lotto number combinations. "Niingon si Sir basin moigo ang pipila ka numero dili na siya makonsensiya mobiya sa querida ug ilang anak," this according to the driver.