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At a time when we spoke of Moro, The Great
Difference, Pomfret, Rajah of the Rebound, Hopalong Cassidy,
Boom-Boom, et al., there was an outstanding young man in politics
called the Stormy Petrel. He stood up to Marcos then.
However, with martial law,
brilliant Leonie Perez became the dictator’s ardent apologist.
Eventually, Leonie became Comelec Chair. Monching Mitra
characterized his watch as that of the Comelec that did not know how
to count, among whose cruel victims was Ben Abalos.
Leonie’s story should remind
those in government to care about how they will be remembered. He
passed on last week. Ben should consider himself told. Power and
celebrity are transient. But, for now, our condolences.
Who is the world’s most
powerful celebrity? Per Forbes magazine, Oprah Winfrey. Tiger Woods
is No. 2, per its most recent list of the 100 most influential
stars. No. 3 is Madonna.
A celebrity’s power is based on
earnings and influence. But, in the last US Open, Tiger seemed to
have meowed, if not disappeared for a while, and then crouched back
and attacked.
In the NBA Finals, in the first
seven quarters of the playoffs of San Antonio and Cleveland, spurs
seemed to have been buried deep in the shins of the Cavaliers. In
the end, they lost by just a point and King James remains in exile.
There is the other type of
Cavalier, the sons of martial law. We see the PMA alums, rising
through the ballot, not the bullet, in national affairs, complimenting
those appointed to various posts. Now it is not only UP (which
produced Marcos and Perez), Ateneo, La Salle and Assumption we can
blame for the mess we are in, in a system marked by greed, poverty
and incompetence. But Sonny Trillanes has promise. May he live up to
it.
Last year, Phil Mickelson blew it
all in the end, after leading the
US Open until nearly the end.
This year, he just disappeared in the second round, said to be
because of a wrist injury.
Also a virtual continuing
desaparecido is the First Gentleman. What if Sen. Ping donates
10,000,000 to help defray the training of our SEA Games delegation?
I am with Sen. Miriam on this one. Ironically, it is the good
trustworthy Senators who are turning down their pork barrel
allocation, giving the Palace full play on what to do with it.
Anyway, were we to list our own
celebrities, how would your Top Ten look? Mine? I don’t know how I
can omit Susan Roces, but is there any athlete to join her? Manny
Pacquiao? But, he lost badly in his own turf. He listened to Tolits
Atienza but look at what happened in Manila. Tolits saw to it that
in homecoming motorcades, Makati would be omitted. Did Tolits and
Manny expect that hurt or snubbed Makateños would listen to the
latter’s endorsement of fellow nincompoop Senator Lito Lapid?
Dolphy maybe. Manny Pangilinan
certainly. Perhaps Boy Abunda and Kris Aquino? Bata Reyes? Korina
Sanchez? Mike Enriquez? Erap?
How influential are Latin
celebrities? No one ranked high in Forbes but watching the US Open,
I see VIVO instead of LIVE. In the major leagues where Latins excel
you still see LIVE.
It is a crying shame we gave up
Spanish when we could have remained a land of damas y caballeros.
Que lástima.
Anyway, for Lebron and the
Caballeros de Cleveland, wait till next year. As to the Caballeros
in the Senate, they are better there instead of being constitutional
cavaliers, who we have a lot of. But we cannot have too many Angel
Cabreras, Manu Ginobilis, Jen-Los and Alex Rodriguezes. Enhorabuena.
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