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IF you feel like boycotting the senatorial election
on May 14, watch the master impressionist Willie Nepomuceno tomorrow
at the Manila Hotel. You may change your mind, or you may confirm
your feelings. Either way, you’ll have great fun.
The Kapihan sa Manila and
Samahang Plaridel have joined purses to mark Kapihan’s 22nd
anniversary on April 23 at the famous hotel. Their idea of a
celebration is to unleash Willie Nep onstage and do impressions of
the 30 candidates for the Senate, or most of them anyway.
Kapihan sa Manila is the
country’s original and longest-running media forum. Samahan
Plaridel is an association of media professionals who have had at
least 20 years of experience in journalism. The show and dinner are
for a good cause: to fund a scholarship program.
Willie is the best impressionist
this nation has ever produced. With a malleable face, a supple voice
and a gift for mockery, he has given us memorable characterizations
of the leading politicians and celebrities—from Eddie Ramos and
Erap Estrada to Dolphy and Ronnie Poe. An intellectual gossip,
Willie Nep brings to Filipinos the gift of the great American
impressionists—Rich Little, Frank Gorshin and Vaughn Meader.
We’re going to guess that
tomorrow, he would do impressions of Kiko Pangilinan as the Lone
Ranger, Prospero Pichay as a wandering vegetable or Alan Peter
Cayetano debating Joselito “Peter” Cayetano. He could do Cesar
Montano playing Jose Rizal or Chavit Singson. Imagine Gringo Honasan
interviewing fellow prisoner Tony Trillanes. Daughter Frida will
play Kris Aquino giving Noynoy lessons on enduring love and
marriage.
A straw vote for the Senate bets
and the party-list contestants is one of the highlights of the
evening. Genuine Opposition and Team Unity party strategists have
started campaigning to ensure victory in the mock election. The SWS
might conduct an exit poll to validate the results.
“Willie Nep for Senators: Vote
One, Win All” probably means that if you vote Tito Sotto, you get
Richard Gomez, Cesar Montano and Victor Wood. If you vote Peter
Cayetano and Koko Pimentel, you preserve the family. But why focus
on the “senatoriables”? We hope the skit includes Manny Pacquiao
falling for the pretty Darlene Antonino-Custodio.
The show will delight some of the
candidates and offend the others. Those who walk out will not get a
refund. Expect no apologies from Kapihan or Plaridel on Tuesday
morning.
The Ople shoes
WHEN Blas F. Ople graduated from
the Hagonoy Elementary School, he had to borrow a pair of shoes.
The shoes were too tight for the valedictorian and Ople delivered
his speech in silent pain.
Ka Blas has written about that
night and his children remembered. These days, daughter Susan
“Toots” Ople has made giving away shoes to school children part
of the program of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training
Institute, named after the longest-serving labor secretary,
constitutional writer, senator and foreign secretary.
Ms. Ople, who heads the
institute, solicits donations and delivers the shoes to poor
students in Bulacan. She has had many beneficiaries, some of whom
may graduate valedictorian, this time with comfortable shoes to
stand on.
The shoe project is a part of the
institute’s year-round program that includes workshops on good
writing, foreign policy, drug abuse and the protection of Filipino
overseas workers. It runs a scholarship program in partnership with
Samahang Plaridel.
Good-hearted Filipinos who care
for poor students and good pedal care may write or call the
institute for their donation. The center is not exactly living on a
shoestring budget but a little help will go a long way—up the
remote barangays and boondocks of bustling Bulacan.
‘Historical Calendar’
IT has taken the National
Historical Institute 30 years to update its narrative of history but
we have finally on our hands a copy of Historical Calendar
1970-2000.
The first edition, covering 1521
to 1969, was published more than three decades ago by the former
National Historical Commission. The project actually began in The
Manila Times on April 1, 1968, as a daily feature, called
“Historical Calendar.” The section drew a big following.
Writes Dr. Ambeth Ocampo, NHI
chairman, in his foreword to the second edition: “That small space
in a national daily produced a strong impact as readers started to
collect clippings. Radio stations also picked up the idea and, using
this, broadcast the historical event for the day. The media became
an important partner in the promotion of historical
consciousness.”
The second edition chronicles
important events in Philippine history: the second term of President
Marcos, the martial-law years, the EDSA revolution and the
administrations of Presidents Ramos, Aquino and Estrada. Browsing
through the book, we note that on April 22, 2000, a powerful
brownout paralyzed thousands of businesses in Metro Manila.
Historical Calendar 1970-2000 is a must for the library.
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