Déjà vu

Netnet Camomot .

EACH time I’m in a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) seminar, my first thought is always, What am I doing here?

Columnizing—this one you’re reading right now—is not public practice accounting, so, why the need for all these CPD seminars to renew my Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) identification card? All I want is that ID because I did spend sleepless nights to pass the board exams way back when.

Still, I pay at least P2,000 per seminar and to appease my CPD—Continuing Protest on Development—I look forward to the seminar’s lunch and snacks and, so far, I have only word for that: Yum!

It was Senator Sonny Trillanes who authored the CPD Act. Thanks—or no thanks—to him, any Pinoy with a PRC license now has to earn a certain number of CPD units for license renewal, with certified public accountants having the highest requirement—120 units.

At a CPD seminar on Thursday last week, the resource speaker, while talking about Philippine Reporting Financial Standards and tax accounting, would then comment, “Oh di ba ang saya-saya?” And we, the participants, would laugh. To probably keep us awake, he had guessing games for missing lyrics in songs and for brand logos, and there I was, trying so hard to win a prize. While trying to decipher a teeny weeny part of a logo, I shouted, “Purefoods Hotdog!” Well, the correct answer was Fanta Orange. For another logo, I said, “Oatmeal!” It was Cerelac. As for the songs, I didn’t know any of the missing lyrics. But I did wish the rest of the day would be fun and games, and not about accounting and taxes.

Trillanes should have tried passing the bar or a board exam before authoring the CPD Act, to give him an idea on what examinees have to go through. The review and the exams were definitely not a walk in the park.

Yes, I wrote about CPD before and will keep on repeating this same topic until the CPD Law is repealed.

At least, the midterm elections can provide a much-needed respite in between the seminars.

Wait, respite? Well, we can dream, can’t we?

Moreno, Emano, Rodriguez—déjà vu for Election 2016 in Cagayan de Oro.

Incumbent City Mayor Oscar Moreno is looking forward to his last term as he seeks re-election. Former City Mayor Dongkoy Emano is running for vice mayor again—he held the same position during the term of then-Mayor Tinnex Jaraula. Former District 2 Congressman Rufus Rodriguez wants to return to the House of Representatives.

The trio ran for mayor in 2016 and the two losing candidates must have realized the perks of joining forces, thus, zoom to Election 2019 and—voila!—here’s the violet-orange coalition. Oh di ba ang saya-saya?

By the way, violet combined with orange results to brown. More specifically, a “lovely burnt sienna,” as described by Carol McIntyre in her piece, “How Well Do Purple and Orange Dance Together? Mixing Secondaries,” for www.celebratingcolor.com.

Oh, but that’s purple, not violet. Whatever.

Purple and orange are secondary colors, each of which is the result of two primary colors.

Green, the color that Moreno and his team wore when they filed their certificates of candidacy, is a primary color.

Only winning candidates know the secret to winning in the elections. Why? Well, they won. You need more proof aside from that?

But the clueless does wonder if chemistry between the candidate and his potential constituents is required, because chemistry is what Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga have in “A Star is Born.” This is the movie that may make you hold back tears for so long until your heart is bursting with pure joy, sorrow, passion, inspiration, a halo-halo of emotions that will leave you breathless even hours after watching it. That’s the kind of impact a political candidate should strive for, to make the Pinoy vote for him. If that fails, the candidate may then resort to the usual guns, goons and gold? Tsk tsk.

But here’s one question: Has your most favorite personality joined the May 2019 fun run? If no, who will you vote for then?

Well, it’s time to discover a new favorite personality. That can be similar to discovering a new video game, like what happened to me and Tropical Forest: Match 3 Story, kind of the tropical version of Homescapes and Gardenscapes. Same concept, different location. Oh di ba ang saya-saya? Kaya lang, my Facebook friends are not playing Tropical for now, so, whenever the game runs out of lives and I click “Ask your friends” for more, I realize no man is an island.

Yup, as if I need more video games to waste my time. Whew.

Political candidates, though, are not allowed to waste their time. Their only goal should be victory in next year’s midterm elections. Hip hip hooray!

Well, if there’s one thing I learned about the elections, it is this: Never vote for anyone who has the potential to author another CPD Act.