FROM THE BARREL OF MY PEN
By Gonzalo “Jun” Policarpio


NOBODY KNOWS WHAT IS AHEAD


In the aftermath of the Republican Party takeover of the U.S. Capitol, the Democratic Congress is not only a “lame duck” but a dying duck. I mean no significant bills, particularly those pertaining to immigration reform, will pass at this stage.

The incoming Republican Congress seems to be eagerly poised to repeal some major legislations passed by the Democrats, most importantly the controversial Health Care Law which most economists blame for the persistent economic crisis.

But what is most interesting among things the Republicans are now planning is to know who is the best Conservative Republican candidate for president in 2012. The names of the prominent ones all end with an “ee” sound: Paulenti, Romney, and Huckabee. The other name ends with an “een” sound: Palin.

If the American people chose an African American to be president, would they be also ready to choose a woman as their president. Former Republican vice presidential candidate just recently announced that she can beat Obama in 2012.

The next two years definitely would be full of excitement that may finally pave the way for the election of the real Philippine-born candidate to the U.S. Congress.

A local newspaper columnist once said that there must be something wrong with Filipino American candidates in the East Coast for not winning any higher elective office. I agree with him.

The very thing that is wrong at face value or prima facie is not with the candidate but with the Filipino community in the tri-state area whose priority is not to see a fellow Filipino win an elective office. Some would even thank their gods for a Filipino to lose the election. What can you say about that? Brutally frank, right?

A any rate, it is God in Heaven who knows what is ahead. The best we can do is just to hold His Hand.

Just think how God allowed a person named Barack Obama that ryhmes with Osama to be president of the United States of America. I believe it is not for us to question and to know the reason why. For our mortal minds are truly limited in intelligence.

FROM THE BARREL OF MY PEN
By Gonzalo “Jun” Policarpio


POOR PNOY!


I am not a movie tattler or a gossip columnist but the story going around the Philippine media about the new lovelife of the bachelor Philippine President Noynoy Aquino is too interesting that pushed me to be one for this column. Let us just say I can’t help writing about it.

The rumormongers are now saying that Pnoy just dumped his girlfriend for many years and planned to marry his personal assistant who is a close friend of his youngest sister. If this is true, then I may say that the young Philippine president has rushed to a path “where angels fear to tread.” He became a “fool.”

Dealing with women, especially beautiful women with brains, is a special skill. I just hope that Pnoy finds an excellent adviser in this area. What I am trying to say is that a woman rejected is a dangerous tiger. And this tiger can fight back.

Look what happened to JFK and Bill Clinton. They are both losers in love, and in war, too.

Another gossip milling around the Philippine media circles is that the President’s dumped girlfriend has accepted to be a television co-host of the popular singer-comedian Willie Revillame. Willie, as the television host is commonly known to the masses, has fully enriched himself through his extra-popular gameshow, Wowowie, that equally gained millions of viewers around the world. This guy really knows how to use his millions in luring beautiful women. I know because he comes from my hometown of Cabanatuan City where most men are regarded as “barakos” or “katyao baryo.” (Lady’s Man in English)

This gossip story will become more interesting if in the end, we will see Willie Revillame proposing marriage to his co-host, the President’s former girlfriend. And he wins when he wins her heart.

Poor Pnoy!

FROM THE BARREL OF MY PEN
By Gonzalo “Jun” Policarpio


PNOY SPEAKS PERFECT TAGALOG!


So far one of the best things about Philippine President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino popularly called PNOY is the way he speaks Tagalog, the basis of the people’s national language called Pilipino. He uses the language much, much better than the leading television anchors and reporters in the Philippines.

Definitely, his Tagalog is crystal clear and well-accented and enunciated. The Filipino media practitioners and movie people should listen to his conversational skills and speeches in Tagalog.

I understand about the concept of a “lingua franca” when used by the people in a certain country. Some foreign words or coined words are added into language structure of the language recognized as the national language. It’s Pilipino in the Philippines and you will notice that there are words adopted into it from other dialects such as “kada”and “likas” or even expressions commonly used in the Filipino gay community such as “bongang bonga.”

I also understand that it’s really hard to change one’s accent, say from Ilocano accent into Tagalog. The bottomline in spoken language is as long as you can be understood.

Here lies the danger of mispronouncing some Tagalog words. The Tagalog word “aso” means dog if the accent is on the first syllable and means smoke if the accent is on the second syllable.

In one of my previous columns, I also took to task the Philippines’ National Language Institute to lead in correcting the erroneous use of the Tagalog pronoun “siya” popular even among television and movie personalities to refer to inanimate objects. This pronoun refers only to human beings of both sexes.

Another common mistake among several public communicators is the mispronunciation of the Tagalog word “nakita” meaning I saw. The correct way to say this Tagalog word is without any accent on the third syllable.

So much for this quick refresher on the Pilipino language. I just wish you again to listen to PNOY whenever he speaks to the media and try to speak Tagalog like him.