Mary Jane Veloso’s return to her motherland under a prisoner transfer agreement between Indonesia and the Philippines is the ultimate Christmas gift to those who love her. 

After close to 15 years of imprisonment, she is now 39. Her parents have aged; her two sons approached adulthood beyond her motherly embrace. But the death row convict is alive and in her faculties, and still hopeful despite the lost years. She may be an infinity away from the young woman who ventured overseas in pursuit of a livelihood she could not find here, but she now stands again under a Philippine sky.

The commercial midnight flight from the Indonesian capital Jakarta bearing Mary Jane Veloso and a posse of officials ended in their sunrise arrival in Manila on Dec. 18. Voyeur-like, the attentive observer may try to imagine the tumult in her heart upon disembarking on native soil. (When she disembarked from a plane in Yogyakarta in April 2010, authorities found 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her suitcase, clapped her behind bars, eventually convicted her of drug trafficking, and sentenced her to death. The bewildered single mother denied having anything to do with the contraband, insisting that the suitcase had merely been handed to her by her recruiter, Cristina Sergio. It’s said that language and mistranslation exacerbated the problem.)

Her family’s trip to the Ninoy Aquino international Airport to meet her was rendered useless by her immediate transport to the women’s prison in Mandaluyong City, where she is to stay for the next two months. Resentment, surely understandable, swept her parents and other sleepless welcomers who had traveled to the airport in a caravan. But in the end their reunion could not be stopped. At the women’s prison her sons ran to meet her with flowers, as though she had come back from a long vacation abroad. Tatay Cesar was in near-collapse when he took his youngest child in his arms. Explaining her husband’s emotional state, Nanay Celia, as tough as women mostly are, fondly said he is faint of heart—mahina ang loob.

What is Mary Jane Veloso’s homecoming but, as she herself has described it, a miracle? She is imprisoned still but the fact is that she could have been brought home dead in a box, and her family members would have wept loudly and held on to one another in grief as it was unloaded from the airplane’s cargo hold, with TV cameras recording the grim proceedings. Like other Filipino women who flew overseas to take on employment as domestic workers: Flor Contemplacion, after her execution in Singapore in 1995 for murder, allegedly on a coerced confession. Or Joanna Demafelis, after her mutilated corpse was found in a freezer in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait in 2018. Or the 49 unnamed Filipino workers dead from various causes and reported flown home en masse from Riyadh and Dammam in Saudi Arabia in 2020. Etc. 

Indonesian authorities had gathered her and several other foreign drug convicts for execution in 2015. She was, however, granted a stay on the strength of then President Benigno Aquino III’s phone call informing the Indonesian government that her recruiter, Sergio, had been arrested and convicted of illegal recruitment on charges filed by others similarly victimized. The odds were great that she would have been executed along with the other foreign drug convicts—the so-called “Bali Nine”—despite their respective countries’ pleas that they be spared the firing squad. But here she is, in the flesh, back in the land of her birth. 

There’s ample room to imagine the contours of the anguished years Mary Jane Veloso spent on death row in Yogyakarta, ironically regarded as “an important center for Javanese arts and culture.” How did she draw on her inner resources to endure the darkest night of the soul? (Jean-Dominique Bauby, author of the moving memoir “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” recalled his friend Jean-Paul K. who was taken hostage by the Hezbollah and incarcerated “several years in a darkened Beirut dungeon, endlessly reciting the wines of the Bordeaux Classification of 1855 to keep from going mad.”)

At a press conference in Jakarta held shortly before her flight home, the Filipino prisoner spoke in Bahasa (a mere shadow of the suspected drug mule ignorant of the local language in 2010), sang the Indonesian anthem, and displayed “heart” gestures with her fingers in the course of expressing gratitude for what has been termed as the Indonesian government’s “act of mercy.” She was “charming” and “endearing,” ANC stringer Wendy Palomo, looking pleased, told the broadcast journalist Karmina Constantino in Manila. She had learned to play piano and guitar, as well as knitting and batik work, in prison—surely a determined effort at meaning-making in those long years of fear and uncertainty.

But the Christmas gift to Mary Jane Veloso and her family is incomplete. Reiterating her innocence, she has sought clemency for herself, and her family, her legal counsel Edre Olalia, and civil and activist groups have directed similar pleas to the Palace. But the President is hedging, saying it will take a while before anything like that is granted: “Ang layo pa” was his formulation. He also said he had left it to “legal experts” to look into the matter. “We still have to have a look at really what her status is,” he told reporters.

Is it being simple-minded to assume that her current status is as a prisoner of the Philippine government, albeit permanently banned from setting foot in Indonesia? With the transfer agreement, did not Indonesia release her to her country, subject to its disposition?  

Once upon a time, the Philippines did not consider exporting its people de rigueur. Its labor export policy was instituted during the President’s father’s authoritarian regime. Decades later, the policy is an indispensable pillar of the economy; it has also resulted in fragmented and broken families, children traumatized by their parents’ absence, brawn and brain drain, Filipinos brutalized in countries that treat domestic workers as disposables, even the evolution of illegal recruitment and human trafficking into a veritable industry. Yet many Filipinos still choose to stay on in countries wracked by strife—Lebanon, say, or Syria—such is their despair at finding work and commensurate wages in their own land.  

As of November, there were at least 44 Filipinos on death row abroad, according to the Department of Migrant Workers.

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It is in the bicam where vested interests not only lurk but also come to fruition. Without benefit of deliberations, its members reduce the funding of agencies, transfer funds from one program to another, defund programs, and increase the funding of other programs. Because the decision-making process is neither open to the public nor documented, bicam members can shamelessly juggle funds. The lack of transparency blurs accountability.  No one can be held accountable for who did what.  

The bicam provides lawmakers a perfect getaway for their selfish intent.  And because its members act like an old boys’ club and a bad fraternity, no one serves as the conscience, no one has the courage to question and to say no. What a shame!

We will never find out who proposed the P11.5-billion reduction in the education budget in the general appropriations for 2025, and why. Education has long been in crisis, with our children finishing at the bottom of international assessments in reading and math.  Only 1 out of 10 children can read well!  A budget cut removes lifeline programs meant to increase our students’ learning performance.

And, pray tell us, why was the budget for health slashed by P25 billion? And who can appreciate zero subsidy for PhilHealth when its services should cover nonpaying members of our community, such as seniors and the poor? Certainly, PhilHealth’s services and efficiency need to be improved and strengthened. But its strengthening cannot be done through a huge budget cut of P75.4 billion. Perhaps a better dose is a change in its management structure.

And why in heaven’s name has the budget for agriculture been slashed by P20 billion? Agriculture, where most of our poor are, is already on the brink of death with low productivity, fledgling assistance from the central government, and outdated technology. With very limited resources, we can expect food prices to continue to soar, with the continuous importation of rice, meat, and vegetables as the band-aid solution.

We can safely surmise that the transfer of massive resources, P288.6 billion, to the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways was intended to put more resources into the hands of legislators. They can dip into the infrastructure fund so that more roads and buildings can be built in places of their liking. They brandish infrastructure projects as their accomplishments, yet nothing can be farther from the truth. Roads and bridges are built from the people’s hard-earned money paid as taxes. Also, let us not forget that road and bridge projects camouflage fat commissions that lawmakers get from contractors. What used to be 40% of project costs has risen to 70%, as some quarters claim.

And as if the legislators were not content with Congress’ massive share of the nation’s wealth, the bicam members moved to fatten their budget with another P17.3 billion for the House of Representatives and P1.5 billion for the Senate. There are now more funds for more junkets, bigger allowances, and more money that can be doled out to buy loyalty and votes. While they appear to be helping the needy, the legislators constantly strip us of our dignity by having us swallow our pride in begging them for medical assistance and lining up at “Malasakit centers.”  What a farce, when medical assistance is our own money.

The bicam weakens an important program that premises assistance on a cost-share by the poor. The 4Ps program has been proven effective in helping the poor, provided their children are sent to school and brought to health centers.  Assistance is premised on the condition that parents participate in workshops that build their skills and values. The bicam defunded the 4Ps by P50 billion, and the resources were placed into the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita (Akap) program of Speaker Martin Romualdez. Note that this program was not part of the budget proposed by the Executive, and was slashed by the Senate—but not for good reasons, as the Senate proposed another dole: the AICS, or  Assistance to Individuals in Crisis.  

We can hear the congressmen singing, “Happy times are here again.” They would have several billions of pesos that they can dispense so that mendicants can forever lick their asses and blindly obey their commands, especially who to vote for. The system of election through purchase continues without end. Congress seems to be a source of initiatives that disempower people and convert them into mendicants.

I have witnessed how the bicam decimated tax reforms, initiatives to strengthen the tax incentive system, and mining laws, among many others. Legislators served as spokespersons for rent-seekers and vested interests. They represented vested interests themselves. Sometimes, we see mavericks saying no, but evil intents are often carried out in silence.  

I often wonder if there is a Superman who can save us from the bicam. Can the President be the next Superman and protect the nation’s interests? 

Milwida M. Guevara served as undersecretary of finance in the Ramos administration. —Ed.

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To further promote Ilonggo cuisine worldwide, the city launched a book, “Gastronomic Expressions of Our City, Iloilo: Nature, Culture, and Geography,” last Dec. 14 at the Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art. 

The book is intended to serve as an essential resource, highlighting the unique flavors, techniques, and cultural significance of Ilonggo dishes, and blending the region’s natural resources with its vibrant traditions. It took almost one year to produce. 

With its release, Iloilo City’s commitment to celebrating and sharing its culinary identity is now officially documented, offering both locals and visitors an in-depth exploration of its gastronomy.

Heart and soul 

In her foreword, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco proclaims Iloilo as “a beacon of cultural pride and culinary excellence, inspiring us all to cherish and celebrate our unique gastronomic heritage.” 

Leafing through the pages allows one to “discover the heart and soul of Iloilo—from its verdant landscapes, proud history, vibrant culture, and the strength of spirit of its people,” Frasco said. 

In his preface, Eric Babar Zerrudo, executive director of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, cites his childhood memory of the popular La Paz Batchoy as an “iconic part of the Ilonggo cuisine, defining the experience, the people, and the place.”

A native of Ajuy, Iloilo, Zerrudo recalls Sundays spent with his parents enjoying a bowl of batchoy at the La Paz Public Market after church.

Mayor Jerry P. Treñas describes Ilonggo food as “a love language in the City of Love,” and cites the enduring Ilonggo trait of always being concerned with what to eat for the day—from breakfast to dinner and snacks in between.” He points out that the daily lives of the Ilonggos revolve around food. 

The book “chronicles the Ilonggo food culture for the next generation to know, love, and preserve the rich heritage of our cuisine,” Treñas writes, adding: “We are truly elated that Iloilo City was designated as the first Unesco Creative City of Gastronomy in the Philippines, which introduced the city to the global culinary scene.”

First of its kind 

The book is considered a definitive publication on Ilonggo gastronomy. It is the first of its kind that touches on the multidimensionality of Ilonggo food following the conceptual framework developed by Filipino scholar, writer, and book designer Guillermo “Ige” Ramos of the Ugnayan Center for Filipino Gastronomy.

It was Ramos who designed and conceptualized the book with its technical team and project management, which was headed by Iloilo City’s First Lady Rosalie S. Treñas as the project executive director.

“Creating books is an expression of love,” Ramos said upon the completion of the project. He said it is also “a way of expressing patriotism and a result of a group of people working together with a common sense of purpose, pride, and passion.”

“It takes a village, so to speak, to realize a project of this magnitude,” Ramos added. 

The book is enlivened by insights that are academic, philosophical, historical, cultural, and even experiential and anecdotal.

The back cover blurb is accentuated by the academic wisdom of Dr. Clement C. Camposano, chancellor of the University of the Philippines Visayas, who provides a cohesive summary of the various historical and cultural functions of food. 

Dr. Laya Boquerin Gonzales’ afterword underscores cultural memory, identity, supply chains, food security, and climate change, among other issues. She is an assistant professor and chair of the Department of Arts, University of Asia and the Pacific, and a member of the International Council on Monuments and Sites Philippines and of the International Council of Museums.

The book is voluminous at 8.5 x 11 inches and 244 pages, and comprises six major sections written by Ilonggo professionals, writers, and journalists: Geography by Vicente Segovia Salas, Ethnicity by Hazel Palmares Villa, Ingredients by Glenda S. Tayona and Pearl Rylene Mae S. Socias, Technology by this writer, and Recipes by Rosalie S. Treñas.

The chapter on Ingredients showcases watercolor illustrations by Ilonggo artists Vic Nabor and Kevin Fernandez.

Thematic stories, community recipes

The book carries special focused stories on Guimaras mangoes as the country’s first labelled product awarded with Geographic Indicator Status by the International Property Office of the Philippines, and the local ingredient “roselle plant,” locally known as labog, which is also a prominent and meaningful embellishment in the traditional panubok design of the Panay Bukidnon Indigenous Peoples. 

It draws attention to Ilonggo women who are shaping Iloilo’s culinary scene and identifies the intersection of food, art, and museums that exhibit food ingredients, history, and economy.

The chapter on Recipes is a compendium of Ilonggo dishes with more than 80 pages of photos and recipes that highlight local ingredients, cooking methods, and processes by revered Ilonggo chefs and restaurateurs: Cidj Jalandoni, Miguel Cordova, Miner del Mundo, Raymundo Robles, Maridel P. Uygongco, and Rosalie S. Treñas, among others. 

It presents a perspective from the ground with recipes from the communities, like the Citywide Farmers’ Association, the Office of the City Agriculturist, and students from the Technical Institute of Iloilo City together with the micro and small entrepreneurs engaged in rice cakes and snacks popularly called kakanin.

It discusses Green Gastronomy and food maps intended for visitors to the city who like to go on a food crawl, offering a good selection of Iloilo Culinary Heritage, Street Food Adventure, Sustainable Eats, and top picks by Ilonggo chefs. 

The book’s editor is the respected Michaela “Mickey” Fenix, who has chaired the Doreen G. Fernandez Food Writing Award since its inception in 2002. Fenix has edited more than a dozen books and is an award-winning author of various books on Philippine food and gastronomy.

“The Gastronomic Expressions of our City, Iloilo: Nature, Culture, and Geography” is available in two versions, hardbound at P1,200 and soft cover at P950. For orders, contact the Iloilo Festivals Foundation Inc. at 0960-420-2129 or visit their office at the Ground Floor, Iloilo Freedom Grandstand, Muelle Loney Street., Iloilo City.

Read more: ‘Namit!’ highlights the tastes and aromas of Iloilo food

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After losing the presidential elections in 2022, world boxing icon Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao wants a Senate comeback next year. His wife Jinkee and his brother Alberto or “Bobby” are joining the party-list race. 

Jinkee is the second nominee of a new party-list group, Maharlikang Pilipino sa Bagong Lipunan. Bobby is No. 2 nominee of 1-PACMAN, which currently has one seat in the House.

As Sen. Grace Poe is completing her second term next year, her son, Brian Poe Llamanzares, tries his hand at politics as the first nominee of FPJ Panday Bayanihan party-list group. FPJ are the initials of his grandfather, the late movie king Fernando Poe Jr., who lost the presidential vote in 2004 amid allegations of electoral fraud.

FPJ’s other nominees include Mark Patron, who belongs to a political family in Batangas, and Hiyas Dolor, wife of Oriental Mindoro Gov. Humerlito “Bonz” Dolor. 

New and old political dynasties have swarmed again the party-list elections.

Research by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) shows that 36 of the 54 (66%) party-list groups in the current 19th Congress have at least one nominee belonging to a political family.

All of these groups, except for two, are running again for seats next year. AAMBIS-OWA Rep. Lex Anthony Collada is now a nominee of a new group, Ang Kasanga. Ang Marino did not field nominees. 

In the May 2025 elections, at least 78 out of the 156 party-list organizations certified by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) belong to political families.

Apart from Jinkee Pacquiao’s Maharlikang Pilipino sa Bagong Lipunan and Llamanzares’s FPJ Panday Bayanihan, new groups linked to senators include the Balikatan of Filipino Families or BFF. Its top nominee is Ma. Presentacion “Precy” Vitug-Ejercito, wife of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada. 

From Makabayan to Tulfos 

The party-list elections promote proportional representation of national, regional, and sectoral parties in the House. Under Republic Act No. 7941 or the Party List System Act, party-list representatives are to constitute 20% of the total House members. 

Groups usually need more or less 300,000 votes nationwide to safely secure at least one seat. 

In the beginning, progressive groups dominated seats in the House  based on an initial Supreme Court interpretation that party-list groups need to represent marginalized groups. 

“It began with the traditional groups, marginalized or underrepresented but what we’ve seen through the years [is that] it has been dominated by political families,” said Rona Ann Caritos, executive director of Legal Networks for Truthful Elections (Lente). 

At the height of its electoral success, the Makabayan progressive bloc had up to eight seats in the House. Bayan Muna topped the 2001 and 2004 party-list elections, getting the maximum of three seats. Anakpawis, Gabriela, Kabataan, and ACT Teachers had one or two seats each. 

In 2013, the Supreme Court reversed itself and ruled that party-list groups “do not need to organize along sectoral lines and do not need to represent any marginalized and underrepresented sector.” It cited the intent of RA No. 7941 to make the party-list race a system of proportional representation open to various groups and parties. 

Political families gradually packed the party-list elections. 

In recent years, the former Duterte administration’s campaign to disqualify progressive groups from participating in elections also hurt Makabayan’s electoral chances. The bloc was reduced to three seats after the 2022 elections. Gabriela, Act Teachers, and Kabataan have one seat each. Bayan Muna failed to get one seat. 

The Anti-Crime and Terrorism Community Involvement and Support or ACT-CIS of the Tulfo political clan dominated the 2022 elections with over 2 million votes. It was the only group to secure the maximum three seats.

ACT-CIS is represented by popular broadcaster and former Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo; Jocelyn Tulfo, wife of Sen. Raffy Tulfo; and Edvic Yap, brother of Benguet Rep. Eric Yap and Quezon City 4th District Councilor Egay Yap. In next year’s elections, Yap, Jocelyn Tulfo, and Jeffrey Soriano are the top nominees of ACT-CIS. 

Two other Tulfos are running next year under a new group, Turismo Isulong Mo, with former tourism secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo and her son Robert Wren Tulfo-Teo as nominees. 

Quezon City Rep. Ralph Tulfo Jr., son of Raffy and Jocelyn, will seek reelection. Erwin and another brother, Ben, are running for senator. 

If they all win, there will be three Tulfos in the Senate and four Tulfos in the House.  

Regional groups  

Political analysts note the proliferation of regional party-list groups that are led by politicians or members of political dynasties.

Tingog (Waray word for “voice’) of Western Visayas won two seats in the House in 2022. It is represented by Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez, wife of Speaker Martin Romualdez. Jude Acidre is the group’s other representative.  

Next year, Tingog’s top nominee is Andrew Julian Romualdez, son of the Speaker, while Yedda is the sixth nominee. The Speaker himself is a reelectionist. 

Also from the Visayas, Abag-Promdi is represented by Mariano Mimo Osmeña, son of the late Cebu Gov. Lito Osmeña. The group advocates for the devolution of more authority and autonomy to local government.  

Barkadahan Para Sa Bansa is fielding a member of the Durano political clan, also of Cebu province. Danao City Mayor Thomas Durano is the nephew of former Danao Mayor Ramon Durano Jr. 

There are many regional groups from northern Luzon. Ako Ilocano Ako is represented by Rep. Richelle Singson, daughter of former Ilocos Sur governor and senatorial candidate Luis “Chavit” Singson, who leads one of the country’s biggest political dynasties. 

Abono is represented by Rep. Robert Estrella, brother of former agrarian reform secretary Conrado Estrella III. He remains the group’s  first nominee in next year’s elections. He is the son of former Pangasinan Rep. Conrad Estrella Jr. and grandson of former Pangasinan Gov. Conrado Estrella Sr. 

Abante Pangasinan Ilokano (API) will field former Pangasinan Gov. Amado Espino Jr. and his brother former Bautista town mayor Amadeo T. Espino as nominees. 

From Mindanao, Kusug Tausug was represented for three terms or a total of nine years by Rep. Shernee Tan, youngest daughter of Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan. Next year, she will try to swap positions with Maimbung town vice mayor Aiman Tan, the group’s top nominee.

Crowded elections

Electoral reform advocates have pushed for an antidynasty prohibition in the party-list elections. Caritos said this will “temper the greed or the appetite of our political families, our traditional politicians to enter the party-list system.” 

There’s also a need for institutional reforms and for political parties to mature, said former Comelec commissioner Luie Guia. “The role of political parties is to aggregate agendas for politics. However, there is no incentive mechanism in our political culture to establish that kind of institution to strengthen our political parties,” Guia said. 

Outside of political dynasties, the party-list elections attract nominees from many spectrums.  

1-Rider, which has no link to politicians, placed second in the 2022 elections with over 1 million votes and gained two seats. It is represented by Bonifacio Bosita, a retired policeman-turned-social-media content creator, who advocates for road safety. He has over 1 million followers on social media. 

After three years in the House, Bosita will seek a Senate seat next year. Rep. Ramon Gutierrez, the group’s other representative, is now the group’s top nominee. 

The son of the late Sen. Juan Flavier, Jonathan Flavier, is the top nominee of Health Alliance PH. Former health undersecretary Enrique “Eric” Tayag is the second nominee. 

The son of convicted pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles is also running for a party-list seat. James Christopher Napoles is the first nominee of Kaunlad Pinoy, which claims to represent small business owners and informal enterprises. 

Critics of progressive groups in the House are joining the party-list race, too.  

The Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Conference for Peace and Development has listed Marlon Bosantog, Lorraine Marie Badoy-Partosa and Jeffrey Celiz as its top three nominees. Bosantog and Badoy-Partosa are former spokespersons of the government’s anti-insurgency body, National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Council (NTF-ELCAC). Celiz is a confessed former rebel who had led attacks against the Makabayan bloc in the House.

Pushback 

It’s a crowded election. 

Next year, the Liberal Party, one of the country’s oldest political parties, is fielding candidates for the first time. Mamamayang Liberal is fielding former Sen. Leila De Lima, former Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat and Quezon Rep. Erin Tañada as nominees. 

The group’s agenda? To amend Republic Act No. 7941 to limit again the party-list elections to marginalized sectors. 

It shows growing pragmatism among reformist politicians, according to political observers. 

Human rights lawyer Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno has given up plans for a senatorial bid and is instead running as the top nominee of Akbayan, a progressive group that also suffered from government attacks in recent years.  

“Even Aksyon Demokratiko [political party] has Aksyon Dapat with former Secretary and Representative Hernani Braganza as No. 1 candidate. You have Mamamayang Liberal and then you have other parties that are within the progressive reformist sphere,” said Julio Teehankee, a political analyst and political science and international studies professor of De La Salle University. 

It’s a tactical move and a welcome pushback, he said. “In the same way that the celebrities [and] dynasties have appropriated the party list, the more reformist and progressive blocs are now reclaiming the party-list elections.” —With research from Guinevere Latoza

Read more: Proposals to delay BARMM polls also seek to change makeup of interim gov’t

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The decade-old ticket to the theme park remains a keepsake, testament to how her two aunts worked hard to give her what she calls a fulfilling childhood. 

“I was raised by my two aunts, both unmarried,” she says. “Even at the time I got the ticket, it meant a lot. It still does until now.”  

The ticket is part of memorabilia that Ordonio has accumulated over the years—items including biscuit wrappers and coffee cup sleeves, all bearing memories from certain periods. 

“It’s physical evidence of a time in my life,” she explains. “I look at an item in hindsight, so I can find a piece of myself in it. For me, it’s really about sentiment more than aesthetics.”  

On the internet, Ordonio is called an “anik-anik girl,” or females given to collecting all sorts of items for various reasons, mostly aesthetics or the memories they evoke. 

Monica Fides Amada Santos, a professor of anthropology at the University of the Philippines, says the motivation for possessing items cannot be encapsulated in a simple explanation, but it is always tied to a historical element. 

Nostalgia and joy

For Ordonio, “the nostalgia and the joy that are around the item” are why she is hanging on to her keepsakes. Her interests might have changed over time, but the items remain remnants of those moments she chooses to remember for life. 

It all started with the small toys she collected from fast food joints when she was seven years old. She recalls that her aunts noted her inclination and supported it with a gift: a toy organizer. 

As Ordonio grew older, that inclination grew into an abiding interest that included magazines, receipts from eating places, as well as items from her first productive efforts. She says she still keeps an ice cream wrapper of a certain brand, from the first time she tasted it. 

Her trove also includes bus tickets, product stickers, clothes tags, candy wrappers, and figurines from a Japanese thrift store—all documented in a journal she can open anytime for a bit of reminiscence. She deems second-hand items more valuable than brand-new ones.  

Other anik-anik people prefer to buy items still sealed. Purchasing collectibles has become trendy, like Labubu dolls, a set of fur fairy characters designed by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung in 2015 and which attract mostly Gen Zs and millennials who spend much time on social media. 

Collecting Labubu dolls gained traction this year after Blackpink member Lisa posted a video of herself hugging one. The artist is known for her love for the doll in different forms, from keychains to plushies.

Some Filipino celebrities like Marian Rivera, Vice Ganda and Heart Evangelista have jumped on the global trend.

Motivations

According to anthropology professor Santos, the meaning of the items to the collectors varies depending on their personal history. She says other possible motivations are functionality and economic value. 

“It’s always a process why the interests of people persist, and how those … can be translated into these kinds of actions,” she points out. 

Moreover, Santos says, social, cultural and economic conditions play a part in shaping an individual’s collecting behavior. This, she says, is also an act of consumerism tied to the individual’s financial capability to spend extra money on collectibles. 

“If we can hypothesize, those who are poor may not even care to think about buying anik-anik items,” Santos says in Filipino. “They don’t have the money to do that. There could be a class factor.” 

Let’s take an example: A Labubu doll can cost from P450 to P11,000, depending on its kind, size, and design, according to the Pop Mart website. 

Santos observes that many factors affect individuals’ desire to purchase collectibles, including social media, which brings trends into people’s consciousness.

Value 

“Social media relays information. It also relays value—how we are supposed to value things,” she says, adding: “Social media prescribes what we must want, buy and do, and if we don’t, there will be social consequences, implications, for us.” 

These could be the traits associated with the trendy items, such as feelings of belonging to or exclusion from a certain group or generation, Santos says. Labubu dolls, for example, are associated with young people, especially the Gen Zs (born between 1997 and 2012).

Such connotations come from the implied meaning that social media attributes to an item, according to Santos: “Does that suggest that you occupy a particular social status?”

In the Philippines, the Labubu dolls gained popularity online after the mainstream media regarded their collectors as “anik-anik lovers.” This has sparked debate on whether the act of purchasing collectibles manifests anik-anik or plain consumerism. 

An X (formerly Twitter) user said: “We lost the heart and core of true anik-anik, which is having literally just spare stuff and trinkets. You know that one relative who probably has a hoarding problem? Yes, that’s THE anik-anik icon.”

Indeed, to understand a person’s motivation in collecting things is to holistically appreciate his or her self-development. 

“The collection of things, whatever kinds of things, connotes that even what may seem to us as common or ‘useless’ things have value,” Santos says.

Read more: Finding our way to happiness amid life’s difficulties

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It was pure as pure could be: UP is the champion of UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball!

Exhibiting both depth and grit, it was an epic struggle between the two current titans of Philippine collegiate basketball: the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons and the De La Salle University Green Archers. 

It was Game 3 on Dec. 15, and like any other evenly matched struggle, the contest was not decided until the final buzzer sounded.

All throughout, it was basagan ng mukha, balyahan and asawahan, to use street lingo to describe the very physical game that culminated the rivalry two years in the making. Players were wrestling on the floor for the ball, falling and grimacing in pain after absorbing wayward elbows and flailing arms, bouncing off full body charges, limping away, and cramping up.

It was not even supposed to reach Game 3. It should have ended with Game 2, but La Salle survived by a hairline 76-75 edge because UP was less steady down that stretch. Now, there was no room to slacken, no excuse to flinch. It was do or die.

As he did in Game 2, La Salle head coach Topex Robinson did not begin with his best player, power forward Kevin Quiambao, in order to have the two big guys Michael Phillips and Henry Agunanne start and establish inside dominance early on. While it worked in Game 2, the adjustment may have led to pulling out Quiambao and subsequently not being able to reinsert him early enough during Game 3’s fourth-quarter closing minutes when the game was still in the balance. Nevertheless, even when on court, Quiambao was often locked down by the UP defense and had few scoring opportunities.

Right after tipoff, UP cranked up its offense in an effort to put the game away early. Employing fast breaks that La Salle tried to counter with full court presses and traps, UP attempted to score quickly with every possession. The intensity was at its height when UP was able to build a 14-point lead in the third quarter, with Gerry Abadiano racking up 7 straight points. (It was Abadiano who could have won Game 2 when he took a last-second heave—that missed.) But then, led by Quiambao, La Salle’s 3-pointers started falling and Phillips scored at will, enabling La Salle to pull abreast at 56-56 early in the fourth quarter. That’s when the UP triumvirate of Quentin Millora-Brown, JD Cagulangan and Francis Lopez combined for 8 points to pull ahead and give UP the cushion it needed. Lopez’s final 3-pointer was the dagger to La Salle’s heart and his shot to full redemption after his 4 missed free throws and turnover that enabled La Salle to hang on in Game 2.

UP did not reach the level of success it now commands in men’s basketball overnight. It was not even years. It was decades. There was a time when UP was the cellar-dweller in the Universities Athletic Association of the Philippines. It was so bad that finally winning a game after 27 straight losses merited a bonfire at UP’s Sunken Garden, apparently because a single win was just as hard to come by as a championship. (Of course, there was a roaring bonfire at the Sunken Garden on Dec. 16.)

Now everyone is all praise and thankful for the support of alumni, sponsors, the school administration and the entire UP community to afford a basketball program that attracts top-notch coaching and nurtures talented players.

Over the past four seasons, UP won the championship in the first, placed a close second (losing in Game 3s) to Ateneo de Manila University and La Salle in the second and third, and claimed dominance once more in the fourth. Not bad in a league where UP is the only state university and all the others are the country’s top private universities. It is, hopefully, a dynasty in the making.

“Is it the players or the coach?” my wife said when I gleefully shared the news that UP had won. She was wondering who was responsible for the victory and was voicing the basketball version of the “Is it the chicken or the egg” question. “The players,” I said. Actually, “both” would have been a fair answer, but that would not have sat well with her, as she does not like me taking a noncommittal stance.

In a sporting world where the level of competition is so high that victory is determined by a split second or the “breaks of the game,” the way basketball is, the winning edge is often determined by mental toughness and the all-consuming desire to win. “Second is bottom. Second is last,” I vaguely remember some win-obsessed movie character saying.

UP’’s coach, the aptly named Goldwin Monteverde, underlined the importance of mental toughness when he told his team: “Walang bibitaw. Let’s not stop. Just keep pounding.” Game adjustments were no longer paramount. It was mindset. Clearly, it is true that the formula for success is “99% perspiration and 1% inspiration.” That 1% is the mental toughness that provides the winning edge. 

Put in the drills, the hard work, and they will all bear fruit. Or not. As the player executes, there is no time for thought. Hit or miss. Win or lose. Play ball!

Read more: UP admin and University Council still at odds on UP-AFP accord

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It happens without warning on any given day (but mostly Mondays, Fridays the 13th, and during Mercury retrograde), and in the most inconvenient places, too (a public toilet, emergency rooms, inside people’s heads). Sometimes it shows up alone (think about a confessional). Other times it gets some bad company (now look at Congress).

One Thursday, however, the proverbial sh*t turned out to be a piece of iron wire lying on a sidewalk along Timog Avenue in Quezon City. I didn’t notice the wire until I felt a sharp sting in my foot. It was the sort of sting that climbs up the shin and says, look here, stupid, there’s blood! So, I stopped, looked under my left shoe, and saw that the sharp thing had pierced through the sole to an inch deep and hit the ball of my foot. I gasped, and in between a staccato of curses, I pulled the wire out, sending quick shivers up my spine. Of all the lucky Thursdays I had, that one Thursday was when I wished I had stepped on poop instead.

After a year of living in Quezon City, on a street called Zamboanga where dogs outnumber kids (and kids like playing outdoors barefoot), I thought I had already mastered the footwork necessary to avoid landmines of animal turd. But then, stepping on a wire was another painful lesson to learn, which comes with knowing medical facts about tetanus and finding ways not to die from it. 

Suddenly I thought about Jesus. In His 30s, Jesus was crucified with long iron nails hammered through His hands and feet, at a time when vaccines were unheard of. For three hours, Jesus suffered on the cross before His anguished mother and a cackling crowd of Roman soldiers. I was reminded that stabbing my foot with a flimsy iron wire was a mere tickle.

The pious reader may find my writing “sh*t” and “Jesus” in the same sentence irreverent, but I’d like to say it for emphasis that Jesus went through a ton of sh*t trials in His life. And no mortal can ever take that tormenting path—from Bethlehem to Golgotha—the same way He so selflessly did. Jesus made miracles: He turned water into wine. He fed over 5,000 people from five loaves of bread and two fish. He healed the leper, let the mute speak, the paralytic walk, the blind see. He didn’t end war and poverty, but His ultimate act was the divine resurrection: He rose from the dead. 

I don’t mean to preach. Even my language would show I’m not religious. I just think that Jesus is the perfect example to make my point that life on Earth is half crap, half miracle even for the holiest person who ever lived. It’s only a matter of which half comes first. (It’s 2024, and I guess everyone is so dumbed down by the chicken-and-egg scenario, so let me put it in a Venn diagram.)

Picture the word “sh*t” in one circle and the word “miracle” in the other. (Or, if you are the kind of person who doesn’t like to draw diagrams with cuss words, you can use the words of the year, Oxford Dictionary’s brain rot and Cambridge’s manifest, just to make sure we are following the same logic.) And right there where the two circles meet, that shadow zone of encounter, that is where we insert Merriam-Webster’s polarization. A rational person would think that sh*t and miracle are two polar opposites, but sometimes life teaches us that a sh*tty thing can turn out great if only we give it more time and thought.

I don’t know who said it first, but the phrase “sh*t happens” was first seen in print in 1978, according to Merriam-Webster. Flash back to 1978, the year when many unfortunate events happened: Two popes died; the Afghan war broke out; the Philippines was under martial law; Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was still president. Wherever you looked in the world, there was dying and killing and chaos. But 1978 was also the year when the first “test-tube baby” was born—the one where Netflix got the inspiration for the film Joy—and the first operational GPS satellite was launched in space. There could have been better tradeoffs for all the great troubles we had in the past—in fact, the Philippines could have had a better president today who is not a Marcos—but having IVF and GPS are good enough compromises for the meantime. Plus, we have Netflix and Wi-Fi. 

The planet is now filled with these marvelous things, and honestly, half of the time, that terrifies me. What if one day robots get to be more employable than humans? What if humans become more and more demoralized and just quit? What if I don’t land that writing job I signed up for just because the company thought ChatGPT could do it better and way more efficiently than I could, and now I’m stuck doomscrolling on social media for funny memes and motivational talk as my therapy? There must be a sh*t side in all of these genius innovations, I think; I just keep hoping that it’s not all bad. 

Hope, I realized at 30, is sort of miracle’s little sister, and despair’s benevolent twin. And as twins, they typically sabotage each other. Hope is there whenever I seek a new job, a new hobby, or even just a new pen. But despair pops up as soon as I open my inbox and see the list of rejection emails I received over the year, which depressingly start and end with “thank you.” (I got the “thank you” twice for applying for the same job just two months apart.) Despair is this unkind voice that tells me sh*t happens. Hope is the friendly one that whispers, watch your step, walk past it, keep going. Sh*t will happen again, warns despair. And his lovely twin hope replies: Some things in life need sh*t to grow, so just go ahead and take your shot, anyway. 

Now the Christmas season is here. We’re happy to celebrate Jesus’ birth. A new year is coming, and everyone seems excited and hopeful. We will welcome 2025 with a basketful of fruits and a spectacle of fireworks. Then, after all the round fruits run out and some fingers get blown off by firecrackers, life becomes crappy again. Old problems are replaced by new ones, and new problems get to multiply like amoebas. And amoebas, as we already know, make people sh*t. I can go on and say sh*t historically caused the plague, but you get the big picture. We have learned to take our sh*t seriously, to wash our hands—even to write “sh-t” properly in a digital magazine that, the editor tells me, is fit to be read by both intelligent children and adults—and to watch our step in the hope of living longer, happier, wiser.

Read more: Finding our way to happiness amid life’s difficulties

The post Watch your step appeared first on CoverStory.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the quad committee has started to uncover a grand criminal enterprise and it would seem that at the center of it is the former president,” Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop said.

Speaking in Filipino, Acop said it was painful that everyone had been deceived. He said the quad committee’s task was difficult because no one else wanted to buck the system or to go against a popular president. 

Still, he said, because he and his colleagues were, like the former president, elected by the people, the quad committee would continue its inquiry and ensure that, through legislation, all that they had discovered would not be repeated. 

Acop stated the committee’s findings based on the testimonies of witnesses in its hearings, including those who, he said, “carried intimate knowledge of the illegal drug trade” in the country and “earned the ire” of Duterte.

At the committee’s 13th hearing on Thursday—the last for this year as Congress goes on holiday break next week—it also lifted contempt citations on witnesses deemed by the lawmakers as evasive and uncooperative in their responses. 

It approved the appeals for the lifting of detention orders on Alice Guo, the dismissed mayor of Bamban, Tarlac; Whirlwind Corp., stakeholder Cassandra Ong; and Chinese businessman Tony Yang.

Guo is being held at the Pasig City Jail and Ong at the Correctional Institute for Women. Yang is in the custody of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission.

Also allowed to be released from detention was Police Maj. Leo Laraga, who was cited in contempt for his evasive responses to queries on his serving a search warrant on the slain Mayor Rolando Espinosa of Albuera, Leyte. 

Ex-PDEA chief

But the quad committee cited former Philippine Drug Enforcement Authority (PDEA) chief Wilkins Villanueva in contempt and reprimanded him for insisting he was not liable for the illegal detention of the wife of suspected drug lord Alan Sy in 2005, in the aftermath of a drug raid on a shabu laboratory in Dumoy, Davao City.

The committee members were outraged by Villanueva’s insistence that he had no knowledge of why Jed Padilla Sy ended up detained without an arrest warrant, and by repeatedly saying that he had delegated her interrogation to his men.

Jed Sy and her brother Jong were arrested, charged with and convicted of drug trafficking, a crime that, she told the committee, she never committed. 

Both Acop and Abang Lingkod party-list Rep. Stephen Joseph Paduano said that Villanueva, being the ground commander of the Dumoy drug raid on Dec.30, 2004, had command responsibility for Jed Sy’s detention.

Jed Sy tearfully testified at Thursday’s hearing, saying she had been forced to sign a document that she was not illegally detained. She said she did not understand what was happening at that time when she was invited twice by the PDEA. 

She denied Villanueva’s statement that she had delivered materials needed to make shabu at the warehouse owned by her husband Alan Sy. She said she had gone to the warehouse to clean it and deliver venetian blinds. 

Jed Sy and her brother were eventually charged with and convicted of drug trafficking. They have been in jail for the past 20 years.

“I have already served the maximum sentence. My wish is for me and my brother to gain freedom,” Jed Sy said, adding that she had availed herself of the good conduct time allowance given to prisoners for good behavior. 

Puzzlement

The committee members expressed puzzlement that Villanueva and his team seemingly missed Michael Yang, Duterte’s former economic adviser, during their three-month surveillance of Alan Sy.

Jed Sy said she knows Michael Yang. She identified him as Hong Ming Yang, who had dealings with her husband, and who they visited at DCLA Plaza which he owns. 

“I’m curious,” Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong told Villanueva. “You’ve dedicated time and invested resources to pin down Alan Sy … How come you did not bother to know why the Sy couple have been going to DCLA Plaza?”

In reply, Villanueva said they did not bother to ask about Michael Yang as “he was not a person of interest at that time.”

Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, the lead chair of the quad committee, said that in the spirit of Christmas, they had agreed to defer Villanueva’s detention until the panel returns next month.

Also cited in contempt by the committee was Police Col. Hector Grijaldo, who is recovering in hospital from shoulder surgery, for ignoring the committee’s summons four times. The panel ordered Grijaldo’s arrest and detention at the House detention facility.

In an earlier inquiry at the Senate, Grijaldo said the quad committee leaders once tried to force him to confirm the testimony of retired colonel Royina Garma that Duterte had ordered a reward system for a nationwide campaign against drug suspects. The panel leaders have denied Grijaldo’s allegation.

‘Two tales’

Summing up the hearings, Acop said the importers of illegal drugs had been able to “skillfully discover cracks” in the system. 

“The question is how these importers were able to know the vulnerabilities of the country’s port security. The answer is simple: It’s because of protection and connections,” he said, adding that this could be seen in “two tales” of illegal drug shipments in 2017 and 2018—the “height” of Duterte’s drug war.

Noting how Duterte had strongly condemned illegal drugs and ordered law enforcers to “kill, kill, kill” those involved in the trade, Acop said the supposed link between the former president and illegal drugs “begin with the testimonies” of customs broker Mark Taguba and former customs intelligence agent Jimmy Guban, who were both convicted of drug trafficking.

“It can be observed that despite these being different shipments and transactions, the details of the two tales are the same,” he said.

Taguba and Guban were linked respectively to the P6.4-billion shabu shipment found in metal cylinders in 2017 and to the P3.4-billion shabu shipment found in magnetic lifters in 2018. Both shipments arrived at the Manila International Container Port, and in both cases, the names of Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, Mans Carpio, and Michael Yang—Duterte’s son, son-in-law, and close friend and former economic adviser—were mentioned. All three men have denied involvement.

“This is the world that Taguba entered in his desire to do easy business, and that is to go to the Davao boys,” Acop said of Taguba, who had testified that Paolo Duterte and Carpio allegedly had control of the 2017 shipment. 

Taguba had denied knowledge of the contents of the shipment that his trucking firm had handled.

Guban, for his part, testified that Paolo Duterte, Carpio and Yang owned the shabu shipment in 2018 but that he initially did not name them during a Senate inquiry because, he said, he and his family were under threat if he did so.

Said Acop: “We need to fix or change our laws because it’s the small people who end up being charged and convicted.”

‘Cracks’ in the system

Explaining what he called the “cracks” in the system, particularly in the Bureau of Customs (BoC), Acop cited the “tara” system or “grease money” given to BoC officials, among others, “to push them into a more simple assessment of inbound goods.”

He said payment of grease money was the “style” used by illegal drug importers to be able to bring in their shipment without inspection.

Acop said former police colonel Eduardo Acierto, one of the quad committee’s witnesses, not only “verified and investigated illegal schemes in the BoC” but also prepared thorough reports submitted to the House panel.

Acierto, who has been in hiding for the past six years, was charged with drug trafficking after Guban testified of his alleged involvement in the P3.4-billion shabu shipment. Guban has since recanted his testimony and apologized to Acierto for it, saying his life and family were threatened if he named the three persons close to the former president.

Familiar names

Acop presented the diagram sent to the committee by Acierto, a former antinarcotics operative, which linked Michael Yang and his business partners Alan Lim and Johnson Co to the illegal drug trade.

The lawmaker said the names mentioned by Acierto are familiar because they were mentioned in the committee hearings: Lim is the husband of Rose Nono Lim. Co is said to have financed and established the Dumoy shabu laboratory in Davao City that was raided in December 2004. From supposedly being a transporter of materials needed to make shabu at the lab in 2004, Yang managed to develop contacts in the BoC and became a facilitator of shabu shipments.

Acop said Acierto had earlier reported the links of Alan Sy and Yang to the illegal drug trade but that this was ignored by top officials and the Palace. He also said Arthur Lascañas, a confessed hitman of the Davao Death Squad, recounted the Dumoy raid in 2004 in an affidavit.

“Just like Acierto, Lascañas made the connection of Michael Yang and the Dumoy raid where he was said to be the employer of the Chinese nationals,” Acop said, noting that Lascañas also mentioned that Alan Sy was apprehended and later killed.

“Acierto, Guban, Lascañas and Taguba have bared their stories before this quad committee, and through combined efforts and interpellations we discovered common personalities that seemed to be consistently present in all the narratives,” Acop said, adding:

“What do we make of the war on drugs?  It looked like it was a convenient way to eliminate competition, especially local manufacturers.”

Read more: ‘Unbecoming behavior’: Duterte tries to get physical in House hearing

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I was ready to talk about senior citizens in show biz precisely because I am one of them. I marked the milestone in 2014, in time for my presidency of the Lopez Provincial High School Class of 1971 in Lopez, Quezon.

It was a timely discussion, although issues concerning the elderly in any field are and should be regular stuff to learn from—not only their rights and privileges but also how they cope with their situation in society, including ageism and problems with their health and well-being.

In show biz alone, how many movie, TV, music, stage and multimedia personalities suffer from the ageist attitude of the market?

A consumerist society such as ours puts much premium on youth, and movies and TV dramas are starred in or hyped for young people as if the audiences were composed only of teenagers.

In terms of commercial success, the public is dictated on by the likes of Kathryn Bernardo or Daniel Padilla or Alden Richards, the relatively young Marian Rivera, Piolo Pascual or Angel Locsin or Dingdong Dantes, and the divas or divos in their prime, Aicelle Santos or David Ezra or Gab Pangilinan, as flagships of a top-rating show, a moneymaker movie, and a hit theater play.

History speaks for itself. Young people dominate the media scenes in the Philippines; they are proclaimed by their makers and handlers as the faces of success. Long ago, the young Carmen Rosales, Rogelio de la Rosa, Gloria Romero, Juancho Gutierrez, Susan Roces, Romeo Vasquez, Nora Aunor, Tirso Cruz III, Sharon Cuneta, Gabby Concepcion, to name only a few, were the toast of profit-oriented filmmaking.

Seldom is heard about the veterans. Hardly anyone is given their due as earners of the audiovisual medium.

Yet without the oldtimers billed below the title, a film, TV, or theater project wouldn’t be complete, or a hit. A project that features seasoned actors clicks occasionally, is considered a mild success, but it’s mostly attributed to good storytelling, not the performers.

According to a talent coordinator of a major network, these days senior actors have limited employment opportunities, whether contractual or on per-project basis. It was also like that during the Covid-19 pandemic, when senior actors were mostly sidelined by the deadly and contagious disease.

Then as now, scripts were revised to suit a majority of young people in the story lines. 

It’s good if actors past 60 are well-to-do or have savings and a pension to depend on. But what if they’re living hand to mouth? (And there are many even if they don’t present as such and continue to live delusionally.)

Movie reporters, too

The same holds true for those in the movie reporting beat. If you think entertainment writing is lucrative, think again.

Please stop harboring illusions that movie journalists earn big just because you see Boy Abunda flashy in his fashionable clothes or comfy in his palatial house on TV, or Ogie Diaz (who’s not a senior citizen yet) driving a car, or Aster Amoyo lunching with and interviewing stars in fancy restaurants. 

Look beyond the harsh realities about entertainment reporters and figure out their economic status. Not that we—I’m no exception—are no sucker to the system of “tokens of appreciation” or the blunter “doleout.” The issue is the rightful salary we deserve.

In my interaction with Lolly and her co-host, Rep. Rodolfo “Ompong” Ordanes of the Senior Citizens party-list, I mentioned the case of veteran entertainment reporter Alice Vergara. Now 86 years old, Alice started her career in the 1960s, writing about Amalia Fuentes, Fernando Poe Jr. and other celebrities at the height of their popularity. She has no government pension, no savings to speak of, no security benefits.

Labor laws also govern the likes of Alice, who has always been self-employed.

Alice still hangs around, gatecrashes show biz events (that reduces her to an inconsequential member of the movie press), and stays even after everyone has left. 

Yet she has paid taxes all these years, as income taxes and as deducted from the contributor’s fees she collected for her reports. Granting for the sake of argument that she hasn’t been the ideal citizen, but she is a person worthy of dignity especially in her octogenarian years.

To survive, Alice receives doles from colleagues. Her mere appearance elicits compassion. 

Can she still work despite her age? If she can still file reports, the better, but she laments that her work is no longer being accepted for publication. 

Elderly employment 

Ordanes said that if Alice still wants to work, but on a different track, there is an “elderly employment” measure recently passed on third and final reading by the House of Representatives. 

House Bill No. 10985, of which Ordanes is among the sponsors, received 173 affirmative votes during the plenary session in November.  It lists “clerical or secretarial work, consultancy, cleaning or janitorial services, event organizing, teaching, kitchen help, sales assistance, BPOs and other jobs or volunteer work” as possible jobs for the elderly.

“Mabagal lang ang ating Senado sa pag-apruba (The Senate is just slow in approving the bill),” Ordanes said.

He cited another proposed bill involving free maintenance medication, vaccination, medical assistance, etc. that he said would benefit Alice and other senior citizens in and outside show biz. 

But there are also socio-civic groups in show biz that support the likes of Alice Vergara, however supplementary, such as the Movie Workers Welfare Foundation, or Mowelfund, as long as one is a member.

Like asking for the moon

Years back, in his capacity as a filmmaker, Filipino British director Jowee Morel gathered movie columnists Art Tapalla, Danny Vibas, Jo Dino, Dave Rojo and myself into a group that could facilitate the building of a home care institution for aging gays as well as retired entertainment writers.

As a liaison officer, I found out that it wasn’t an easy endeavor to form a foundation, or even an association. Logistics was something to consider. Drawing up a comprehensive flowchart wasn’t an easy task. Seeking moral and financial support from politicians and socio-civic leaders was like asking for the moon.

In a conversation, the actor Azenith Briones said she had been suggesting to Senators Bong Revilla, Lito Lapid, Jinggoy Estrada, and Robin Padilla the provision of sustainable projects that would help Alice and others earn their keep.

“There are many senators who are from show biz. Why can’t they appropriate big money for the benefit of senior citizens in show biz?” she said, speaking in Filipino.

Ordanes observed: “They have large funds. Our budget is smaller than theirs.”

There are many Alice Vergaras in our midst, in various degrees and forms. They need as much help as they can get.

Read more: ‘What film can do more than what film can say’

The post How are seniors in show biz coping? appeared first on CoverStory.

For political clans that dominate local politics, the tactics to keep the capitol, the seat of power for local political kingpins, are almost the same nationwide.

Sitting governors seek reelection and max out the allowable three terms for a total of nine years. If they are not seeking reelection, they are swapping positions with their relatives or are running for higher or lower positions.

In Sulu, Gov. Abdusakur Tan has been moving in and out of the provincial chief executive’s office since 1996. Yusop Jikiri and Benjamin Tupay Loong each served one term from 2001 to 2007, after which Tan returned and has maintained his control of the capitol ever since.

Tan’s son and namesake Abdusakur II served two terms as governor from 2013 to 2019, while he held the position of vice governor for one term. In 2016 he ran for governor of the now-defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao but lost to former Gov. Mujiv Hataman of Basilan.

In 2019 he returned to the Sulu capitol as governor. In next year’s elections, after serving two terms, the younger Tan will again run for governor, while his father will aim for the vice governorship.

Family ‘rigodon’

Spouses, father and child, mother and child, siblings, and cousins regularly swap posts.

Former Elections Commissioner Luie Guia offered an explanation: politicians understand that it can be difficult to return to power once they lose it to other politicians or political clans. Clans, he said,  will hold on to these positions for as long as they can.

“The next in line is the child or the spouse, even if they’re just placeholders. Because you don’t want to lose that kind of power, you pass it on to your family. And if the brother, sister, or nephew enjoys the position, you’ll find them another post as well,” Guia said.

In Pampanga, mother and son will seek to switch posts. Vice Gov. Lilia Pineda wants to reclaim the post of governor while her son, Gov. Dennis G. Pineda, runs for vice governor.

In Marinduque, father and son are bidding to switch seats. Gov. Presbitero J. Velasco is running for the lone congressional seat currently held by his son Lord Allan Velasco. The son is running for governor.

Masbate Gov. Antonio Tero Kho is running for representative of the first district, a position held by his son, Richard Kho, who is now eyeing his father’s current post.

In Laguna, a husband and wife will attempt to swap positions in government. Gov. Ramil Hernandez will run for the second district seat while his wife, Rep. Ruth Mariano-Hernandez, aims for the gubernatorial position. 

In Guimaras, Gov. JC Rahman Nava and his wife, Rep.  Maria Lucille Nava, are also seeking to switch seats.

Cousins Gov. Edwin Marino Ongchuan and Rep. Harris Christopher Ongchuan (second district) in Northern Samar; Gov. Rosalina G. Jalosjos and her nephew, Dapitan Mayor Seth Frederick Jalosjos in Zamboanga del Norte; and brothers Rep. Johnny T. Pimentel and Gov. Alexander Pimentel in Surigao del Sur are planning similar swaps.

Who defeats political dynasties

When the dynasties grow too big, relatives start fighting each other for political positions. 

In La Union, where the Ortegas have ruled for over a century, reelectionist Gov. Raphaelle Veronica Ortega-David will be challenged by her grandfather, Vice Gov. Mario Ortega.

Infighting among dynasty members is not new, Teehankee said, citing the cases of the Binays of Makati City, Cayetanos of Taguig City, and Duranos of Cebu, among others.

When the clan has no opponent, members turn against each other, he said.

Some clans rule longer than others. Often, it is a political dynasty that dislodges another political dynasty.

In Bukidnon, the political clan of former Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri lost the capitol in 2022 after a decade of rule in the province.

The son and namesake of the family matriarch, former Rep. Manuel Zubiri, lost to Gov. Oneil Roque by a margin of less than 5,000 votes. Roque won with 365,999 votes compared to Zubiri’s 361,426. 

Roque’s wife Laarni also won the House seat vacated by Zubiri.

Senator Zubiri is completing his second term next year. He is not seeking another position.

Sometimes, political events and shifts in voter preferences can elevate leaders outside of political families to highly competitive positions.

In Maguindanao del Norte, Gov. Abdulraof Macacua was appointed in 2023 to lead the newly created province. He is the chief of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, the armed unit of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front which now governs the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Macacua will not run for governor next year but for a district seat in the BARMM parliament amid efforts to postpone the parliamentary elections next year.

The entrenched Mangudadatu and Mastura political dynasties are set to battle for control of the new province in the upcoming elections.

In Nueva Vizcaya, the death of Gov. Carlos Padilla in 2023 catapulted Vice Gov. Jose “Jing” Gambito to the top post in the capitol. Gambito will seek his first term next year.

There are instances where leaders without ties to political dynasties have successfully prevailed over entrenched clans.

In Batangas, Gov. Hermilando Mandanas defeated the Mendoza and Leviste clans in 2016. Similarly, in Davao del Norte, Gov. Edwin Jubahib ended the Del Rosario family’s long dominance in the province in 2019.

Celebrity power

Who else can defeat political dynasties? On a few occasions, popular celebrities have managed to unseat them. 

Bulacan Gov. Daniel Fernando was a critically acclaimed actor, famous for a range of movies, such as the 1985 controversial erotic thriller Scorpio Nights, directed by Peque Gallaga.

His political and entertainment careers intertwined. He was elected vice governor of the province in 2010, but he did not disappear from TV screens. He took on small and big roles in shows like Col. Billy Bibit, RAM in 1994, Ang Pagbabalik Ng Probinsyano in 1998, Totoy Bato in 2009, and My Life Is Murder in 2019.

After serving three terms as vice governor, he was elected governor in 2019, succeeding his then ally Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado.

Fernando is not exactly seen as a “dynasty buster.” But when Sy-Alvarado ran to regain the capitol in 2022, Fernando defeated him by a wide margin. He is seeking his third term next year.

Lito Lapid defeated former Pampanga Gov. Bren Guiao in 1995. Vilma Santos defeated former Batangas Gov. Armand Sanchez in 2007. E.R. Ejercito defeated former Laguna Gov. Teresita “Ningning” Lazaro in 2010.

Eyes are again on movie and TV star Vilma Santos, who is aiming to return to the Batangas capitol next year. She became the province’s first female governor in 2007 after making a name for herself as a promising politician when she served three terms as Lipa City mayor from 1998 to 2007. 

In 2016 she ran to represent the then newly created sixth district and won. After two terms, she took a hiatus from politics to give way to her husband Ralph Recto’s run for her congressional seat.

The sudden move of Santos’s sons to join politics next year disappointed even her former supporters, however. Her son, actor and TV host Luis Manzano, is running to be her vice governor, while another son, Ryan Recto, wants her old House seat.

“For the longest time, [Vilma] was one of the celebrity politicians who excelled and managed Lipa well as mayor; she also performed well as a congresswoman. And some even see her as one of the rare few celebrity politicians with a more reformist orientation,” said Teehankee.

“E bakit naman biglang buong pamilya talaga? Lahat-lahat? (Why the sudden move to involve the whole family)?” Teehankee said.

Santos is not the first celebrity to be elected and establish her own political dynasty. Former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada, the late Sen. Ramon Revilla Sr., and Lapid have done so before her.

Fernando remains a rare exception so far.

Read more: Meet the ‘obese’ political dynasties of the Philippines

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