Everywhere else, it was just a Tuesday

I AM a bit mystified as to why everything here in the Philippines seemed to come unglued on Tuesday, and I am sure I'm not the only one. Everywhere else in the world, it seemed like a normal day, while in this country, the day was one long series of events that ranged from being puzzling to completely bizarre.

The day began with the widespread dissemination of a social media post by a Cebu Pacific pilot named Van Ranoa, in which he claimed that a plane carrying Vice President Leni Robredo had caused numerous flight diversions one day last month after demanding priority landing clearance at Manila. The Cebu Pacific captain said that his own flight was redirected to Clark along with a number of other flights, and that some international flights had to be rerouted as far away as Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia in order to give the vice president and candidate preferential treatment, thus inconveniencing thousands of travelers.