“People from the past, have a tendency to walk back into the present, and run over the future.” –Anthony Liccione
Most recently, Ilonggo politicians (including legislators, governors, and mayors) were elbowing each other for the attention of now-ousted House Speaker Pantaleon ‘Playboy Bebot’ Alvarez during his frequent visits to Iloilo and Negros Occidental. Several were willing to genuflect before him in hopes of picking up an endorsement for the 2019 midterm elections.
Alvarez received mind-boggling VIP treatment from these “eager-beaver” local politicians as if he could bring Lazarus of Bethany back to life.
During the many mass oath-taking ceremonies for newly-recruited PDP-Laban members, Alvarez was treated like Nebuchadnezzar, the eldest son and successor of Nabopolassar, an Assyrian official who rebelled and established himself as king of Babylon in 620 BC.
They believed Alvarez was the Philippine Rasputin, somebody considered imperishable, unsinkable, and indispensable, who held the president by the testicles; local officials played deaf, blind, and mute to his moral and political transgressions, and tolerated his hubris.
Today, after former president, Pampanga second district Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, trounced him for the speakership, most of these Ilonggo politicians who lionized Alvarez voted to oust him – from hallelujah to good riddance. All of a sudden, the Davao del Norte representative is being treated like a leper as local officials are queueing to ingratiate themselves with the controversial former president; giving credence to the age-old adages “Nobody loves a loser” and “Victory has many fathers, while defeat is an orphan.”
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Thank you to former Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc. President Joji Jalandoni for the invitation to the Piña-Seda Hibla ng Lahing Filipino Traveling Exhibition lecture series, which featured weaving demonstrations and embroidery workshops at the Philippine Consulate General in New York.
The exhibit included weavers and embroiders of piña-seda, a material comprised of pineapple and silk from the tropics.
Piña (Spanish for pineapple) is considered the finest of Philippine textiles; while seda (Spanish for silk) is undeniably the smoothest woven fabric in the world – combined, they exude elegance.
The ongoing exhibit runs until September 7 and is spearheaded by the Pambansang Museo ng Pilipinas and the Office of Senator Loren Legarda./WDJ