Hugot pa more!

Netnet Camomot

“SANA ako pa rin… ako na lang… ako na lang ulit.”

That was Basha (Bea Alonzo) to Popoy (John Lloyd Cruz) in “One More Chance.”

Eight years later and here she is, exchanging more hugot lines again with Popoy in “A Second Chance,” so that it now deserves a new title: Hugot Pa More!

This time, they’re dealing with all the trials and tribulations of a married couple, a lost list of sacrifices and sapiring, er, suffering that the single may not be able to relate with, for the married and the formerly married can always assert that there’s something deeper about a pair that has vowed “to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.”

In other words, if you’re merely ga-live-in sans the marriage certificate, that doesn’t count, even if you now have a dozen children. Because you can always leave the relationship without the complications of annulment, and without killing each other to be true to the “until death do us part.”

Thus, some married couples see “A Second Chance”as their movie, believing that they’re the only ones who can relate na relate with it, with the rest of the madlang pehpohl better off staying home and watching OTWOL, you know, all that pa-cute and pa-tweetums that the singles can still relate na relate with. For there’s no pa-cute and pa-tweetums in marriage.

When Facebook added relationship status updates as part of its getting-to-know-you phase, it should have excluded “Married” and replaced it with “It’s complicated.” Instead, it uses the latter to describe relationships that are neither here nor there, the kind that’s perennially floating somewhere and should be called “Taken,” as in taken by empty promises, wishful thinking, and that thing called love.

But it’s the married and the attached who also use “Taken,” like as if they’re their partner’s possession. You gotta feeling there was this auction process–much like what’s going to happen to Imelda’s former collection of jewelry that is now in the gloved hands of Sotheby’s and Christie’s for appraisal–with the highest bidder taking and claiming the formerly single and available as his possession, and they can now indulge in the missionary position which the other partner believes is the only position allowed by the Bible. Operative word: missionary. The same position with the same possession can get boring, and that’s when the relationship may be threatened if the partners allow it to be.

If you’ve watched an Xated film–and please don’t tell me, you haven’t, you, liar, you–you may have noticed positions that could make you say, Oh, will blood rush to my head if I do that? So, missionary it is, and not only because of what you think is written in the Bible. Besides, there’s something more intimate about the face-to-face encounter instead of butt-to-face, eh?

Once you’re married or at least what FB calls as “In a relationship,” there’s now this expectation from a partner to know where the other is, what he’s doing, and who he is doing it with. If a partner is not ready to reveal all, then treat that mysterious aspect as an added spice to the relationship otherwise there’s always this suspicion on the significant other’s, hmmm, activities.

Although once the relationship has turned sour, there’s a possibility for one to not care anymore about the other’s whereabouts, as long as he comes home every night, or better yet, please don’t come home, please stay outside in the cold, with the rain drowning you, till death do us part. That’s an indirect way of killing someone, unlike the direct kind that the Davao City mayor loves to joke and pepper his speeches with.

Each relationship has its honeymoon stage when everything is perfect and feels like heaven, that’s why the tendency to shout “Oh, God!” during the most intimate moments. But that may have to be banned now that the founder and senior pastor of a church in the US has said that “there is no greater sin in terms of wrongly using God’s name than women who use it during sex… That is one of the filthiest, most derogatory and sinful uses of the Lord’s name I can think of. If it were up to me, I would put every single woman or girl who does that in jail.” Uh. Be afraid, be very afraid.

And there’s more. “In fact, one of the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament states: ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain’ (Exodus 20:7). The word vain means for ‘no reason’ or ‘useless’,” the church founder added.

Oh, well. Silent partner, anyone? Silence is golden, as the saying goes. But missionary plus silence, o my gas. Better go back to Popoy and Basha’s hugot lines.

And here’s one from Popoy for Basha: “She loved me at my worst, you had me at my best at binalewala mo lang lahat ng yun…” That was again in “One More Chance” which had fewer hugot lines than their recent reunion. Fewer means you can remember and memorize them.

With “A Second Chance,” however, you’re merely looking forward to their third-chance movie eight years from now. I watched it with a friend who cried the moment the movie started. I was like, Whaaat?!

And I learned the reason behind the tears when she told me only the married and the formerly married could relate with the movie’s message. I, on the other hand, the forever single, could never relate with it. My tears were always on the verge of falling down my fatty cheeks but never managed to progress to a downpour, unlike my friend and the rest of the audience who had a hard time hiding their sniffles.

That night after the movie, I moved on to one that I could definitely relate with “Love Actually.” And cried like a baby.