Maria!

Netnet Camomot .

“MARIA!/I’ve just met a girl named Maria/And suddenly that name/Will never be the same.”

No, this is not for the “West Side Story” nor about former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Super Typhoon Maria wreaked havoc on Japan and was expected to do the same for Pinas had it made landfall. But with climate change, any rain has the potential to wreak havoc anywhere in this oh so cruel world whether it makes landfall or not.

Still, buti pa ang climate, may change; ’yong department store, wala. Walang sukli, that is. And to think its owner also owns a bank. But there’s probably an excuse: the Bangko Sentral has released a new set of coins that has the denomination engraved on each in case the senior-moment vision can’t tell if it’s a P10 or P5 or P1, and I’ve been collecting them for their shimmering splendor which I want to last forevermore. If others are also protecting these new coins by keeping them in their piggy banks, of course, that will result to stores running out of coins. Pure logic, eh? Like, P5 plus P1 equals P10.

But logic is sometimes forgotten in situations such as this: feasting on a burger on Sunday night and expecting the weighing scale to say you’ve lost weight the morning after. Tsk tsk. Dream on.

We can go on and on with this logic examples. Don’t expect the Cagayan de Oro traffic to be solved if you can’t follow traffic rules. Don’t wish for a clean CDO is you’re throwing garbage here, there and everywhere. And there’s a meme that could sum up all logical equations: “Who gossips to you will gossip about you.”

Here’s one more meme, and this time it’s from Buzz Lightyear: “It’s called gossip, Woody. It’s when people who don’t have a life talk about people who do.”

It’s their nature to gossip. It’s their hard habit to break. Whew.

Showbiz celebrities don’t mind gossip because to them, good or bad, it’s still publicity. Good for John Lloyd Cruz and Ellen Adarna, though, for keeping their privacy, well, private. If not for Adarna’s lawyer revealing that the reason she couldn’t attend hearings is she had given birth last month and now has a baby to take care of, the madlang pehpohl would not have been able to confirm the gossip, er, rumor that she’s pregnant with Lloydie’s baby. But there’s this speculation—gossip?—that the baby could be Baste’s, as in Baste Duterte. Adarna had a relationship with him right before this one with Lloydie, so, speculate pa more.

What hearings? Well, Adarna a.k.a. @maria.elena.adarna is facing a child abuse and cybercrime case after she posted a photo of a 17-year-old girl whom she accused of being a “paparazzi.”

“I’m your biggest fan/I’ll follow you until you love me/Papa-paparazzi/Baby there’s no other superstar/You know that I’ll be/Your papa-paparazzi.” That kind of paparazzi, an accusation that prompted the girl’s mother to demand a public apology from Adarna.

That apology didn’t happen, thus, the case.

Adarna did reveal in an interview in February 2017 that she wanted to be pregnant before reaching the age of 30. Oh. Missed that mission by two months? She turned 30 last April.

While President Rody Duterte loves extemporaneous speeches, Adarna seems to love spontaneous relationships. Kind of, Bahala na si Lord. But since the president said, “God is stupid,” the term “Bahala na si Lord” may not have the same effect anymore. Still, keep the faith especially when that’s the only strand of hope left for the weary.

Duterte’s spokesperson Harry Roque revealed the president would deliver an extemporaneous “straight from the heart” Station of the Nation Address (Sona). So, what’s new? Extemporaneous has been his preferred form of speech, anyway.

But Duterte said he would read a 35-minute prepared speech. Hmmm. Promise, ha? But since it’s prepared, does that mean it won’t be “straight from the heart”?

We gotta feeling that Sona will feature his war on drugs; war on the tambay; the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion; Build, Build, Build; the senatorial candidacies of Special Assistant to the President Bong Go and Bureau of Corrections chief Bato dela Rosa; and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio’s political party Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) through which she has offered to help Go and dela Rosa in their journey towards pagbabago, er, the august halls of the Senate.

Duterte-Carpio, however, has reiterated that, “I don’t have a definite plan for a national position,” which could mean she does have a plan but it’s not definite. That statement is as confusing as the war on the tambay. Once her plan morphs into definite, we can then expect her, Go and Dela Rosa as the top 3 in next year’s Senate race, with Sereno in the top 10, top 20…

Well, the “West Side Story” may have unsolicited advice for Sereno’s campaign jingle: “Maria/Say it loud and there’s music playing/Say it soft and it’s almost like praying.”