Point of view

During the recent concert at DC Armory in Washington, D.C. dubbed as Â?Queens on FireÂ? with Pops Fernandez and Regine Velasquez, certain Filipino attitudes of our actors and actresses need to be corrected because they go beyond the limits of decency and good manners.

Although, I was not there (because of conflict in my schedule) but my inquiries with some reliable source who witnessed the event and those involved in the production told me that Dulce LukbanÂ?s (Pops Mother) attitude is not acceptable and shows no sign of Â?finesse,Â? a perfect example of a Â?mal-edukadang babaeÂ?. A Filipina from D.C. came to one of PopsÂ? promotional tour before the concert and bought a CD but it got lost so during the concert this Filipina ask PopsÂ? mom if they happen to find such CD while they are at the tour site but Madam Dulce denied that such particular CD is being sold during the tour. When she insisted to have bought the CD during the tour, Ms Lukban got mad and said, Â?DonÂ?t you know that IÂ?m PopsÂ? motherÂ? and went on to take a seat next to KakayÂ?s husband with whom she confided her irritation.

Mr. Kakay, son of former Speaker Ramon Mitra, got up and said, Â?Bakit sino ba diyan?Â? Wowww, how bombastic these people are? They think they are somebody just because they belong to the inner circle of hypocrites, the Philippine movie industry. Madam Dulce, you are in America and nobody cares who you are - so what if youÂ?re the mother, this is a free country where everyone is equal regardless of your status and the kind of work that you do. No matter how rude (which she was not) that Filipina was, you should and must be nice to her because without those concert goers, you and your daughter will never be in business. In the U.S., customers are always right and are given preference and priority. So Â?yang katarayan mo at kayabangan nyo ibaon niyo na lang sa Laloma cemetery at huwag niyo nang dalhin dito sa AmerikaÂ?. Some of those in the concert paid as much as $100.00 in order to get the best service yet after the show there was no picture taking and autograph signing for the CDs sold. The producer and the agent of this show, Emerald Productions and Star Media Entertainment respectively, should explain the whole mess.

In my previous column on Â?Dear MayorÂ?, I have (on purpose) used interchangeably the pronouns his/her and he/she in order to maintain the anonymous character and identity of my subject. Besides, I donÂ?t deal with linguistics but rather semantics. Although this is not an excuse but just so you know. No one cares and I donÂ?t either. When such column came out of publication, some of my friends and relatives immediately forewarned me that it would create controversy. I have no intention to ignite the second eruption of Â?Mt PinatuboÂ?. I am just doing my job and I think that fairness and honesty are the true marks of good journalism. I have been an avid advocate of good government and moderate liberalism. I made no mention of any name in order to avoid heartaches among my fatherÂ?s friends but if youÂ?re guilty then logically you will be furious about such column. LetÂ?s make this straight forward, do your job and I will certainly acknowledge them with the Â?royal trumpets of London

Â?. I am writing about the politics in Carigara not because IÂ?m running for public office but I want the people to know the issues, which directly affect them. I love my hometown and I donÂ?t want it to fall into the hands of greedy politicians and family/clan with monopolistic and neo-monarchist instincts.

A friend told me that my critics would probably challenge me to run for public office and see for myself if I can win a slot in the Sangguniang Bayan (SB). No, thank you but it is not my priority right now. I can be of service to my town mates by being a political writer and commentator. I am not ready to embrace the culture of vote buying, giving every voter on the day before the election 20 or 50 pesos. There are still a handful of SB members who could not even make a good argument and debate in the legislative session. I don't want to work with stupid people and besides; I believe that mediocrity is very contagious. Although some of our SB members have done and are doing excellent jobs but I may not be able to tolerate illogicality and idiocy of some. Among those councilors that have been reported to me with good performance in the SB are Ulpiano Arpon Jr., Silvino "Dondie" Adizas and Rogelio Candaza. I was told they are the three musketeers in the council. How true? I don't know the performance of the other five members of the council and I will gladly welcome some information as to their legislative work. (I want to take this chance to acknowledge those SB members who came over to our house during the wake of my beloved mom. I only remember Annebelle Crisostomo and Jesus "Intoy" Narido Jr. I don't know who else were there; I am not good at faces and names.)