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By EFREN L. DANAO,
Senior Reporter
Several young lady admirers in
Bicol were hugging reelectionist Sen. Joker Arroyo, and he was
hugging back. Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr. later kidded
him for this action.
“That is bad, Joker. And
isn’t your slogan, kung bad ka, lagot ka?” Pichay said in mock
reproach.
“Inggit ka lang [You are just
envious]!” chuckled Arroyo.
] ] ]
Arroyo’s campaign ads also call
him the “Dragon.” Sen. Ralph Recto, who seats next to Arroyo at
the session hall and always votes with him, said he considers Arroyo
his adopted father so he should rightfully be called “Dragonito.”
And how about Mike Defensor, who jokingly calls Joker lolo?
“He is Oragonito,” Recto
said.
“Oragon” is a Bicol word that
loosely means horny or braggart.
] ] ]
Arroyo is not the only candidate
who got embraced by admirers. Even the sedate Sen. Edgardo Angara
has had his share of this “close encounter.”
“I like my welcome here in
Negros Oriental. The people are very warm. Some girls are even
kissing me!” Angara said.
Defensor and Bukidnon Rep. Miguel
Zubiri, both of whom were with the House group known as “Spice
Boys,” got more embraces than Arroyo and Angara. The one who is
drawing the most attention of the girls, however, is movie star
Cesar Montano.
And Montano is the only candidate
who get kissed even by boys, or are they gays? He said he is not
complaining though.
] ] ]
Defensor’s ads identify him a
’tol, short for kaputol, the Tagalog slang for brother.
Definitely, it is not a misspelling of “tall,” because Defensor
is the shortest among the 12 Team Unity candidates for senator.
When he went to Naga City along
with his fellow candidates, he learned that he had a competitor.
“Mike Defensor is ’tol, while
we have a ‘putol,’” said Rep. Luis Villafuerte of Camarines
Sur as the crowd roared and looked in the direction of former Rep.
Leopoldo Buenaventura.
During his term, Buenaventura
filed a bill punishing habitual sex offenders with castration. The
bill was junked for imposing a cruel and inhuman punishment, but his
measure has earned for him the name “putol,” which stuck even
years after he had left the House.
] ] ]
Pichay’s campaign pitch is to
help realize dreams and aspirations. This seems to be a carry-over
of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile’s successful slogan “Problema mo,
sagot ko.” Pichay was talking shop with reporters at a Bicol
sortie when a teary-eyed girl sidled up to him, and gave him the sob
story of being too poor to afford a college education. She also said
that she was jobless and that her husband had left her.
“OK, you will be my scholar
next school year,” Pichay promised her, as he asked an aide to get
her name and address.
After a while, reporters saw the
girl trying to go near Recto and Defensor but was not successful. To
give the same sob story even after she has been promised a
scholarship?
This story is similar to the man
who once went to the office of a congressman, introduced himself as
a constituent and asked for help in going to the province. He got
the help. A while later, the congressman saw the man getting out of
another congressman’s office. He asked the congressman if he knew
that man.
“That man? He was my
constituent,” the second congressman replied.
The “enterprising” visitor
might have made a pile introducing himself as the constituent of as
many congressmen as he could find. Their likes are everywhere during
the campaign.
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