Netnet Camomot WE were buying Christmas gift tags last Friday when I realized, Oh, shorter Christmas list this year. So, what to do with 200 gift tags? Returned about half of it to the display case, leaving me with more than 100 pieces. It’s beginning to look a lot like I’ll be putting, say, five tags on each gift. It’s Christmas, and yet, anti-Marcos rallies and protests are ongoing. I don’t know if they, too, are causing traffic, in addition to the rush to stores to buy gifts. It’s not People Power all over again. I mean, who wants to go back to that era, anyway? Former presidentiable Mar Roxas and Sen. Leila de Lima were there at one rally, prompting my minute brain and tired heart to say, Oh, no, not again! De Lima decided not to join the preliminary investigation at the Department of Justice. But there she was at a rally, starring in a selfie with Jim Paredes. Hmmm. Priorities. How about you, what are your priorities? Most probably work from Monday to Friday and even Saturday. Sunday is for sleeping and eating. Monday, it’s back to work again, and the cycle goes on and on every week. But it’s Christmas and parties have begun to fill up our Facebook newsfeed, along with plane crash updates, anti-Marcos rallies, and President Rody Duterte’s visits to wounded military personnel and areas of, hmmm, conflict. When at least two groups of people are fighting each other, it’s called conflict, right? The news which must have shocked de Lima, though, was this: President Duterte saying he was the one who asked PNP Chief Bato dela Rosa to reinstate Superintendent Marvin Marcos. De Lima, however, in an earlier interview, said it was President Duterte’s photobomber Bong Go who ordered the reinstatement. This inspired Sen. Alan Cayetano to say, “Senator de Lima seems to be resorting to squid tactics as a strategy to get the attention away from the accusations in which she herself is involved.” Define squid tactics. Hmmm. Kim Daguman, Ramil Caballero aka Jack Fryday, I, and friends had lunch at P.O.P.S. a few weeks ago, and we ordered squid. By the time most of us had finished eating, the squids’ black ink sauce remained at the bottom of the bowl, and they suggested, Net, this is yummiest if mixed with rice. So, that’s exactly what I did. Yum! The anti-Marcos rallies are not for the superintendent but I gotta feeling Pinoys will hold rallies against him, too, if he’s proven guilty of... No, not the dictator’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. His case is connected with the drug trade. My tummy has yet to recover from a midnight snack of hotdogs, fried egg, rice, and diet soda, so let’s make his story short: He was reinstated, the mayor-father of drug distributor Kerwin Espinosa was killed, and the rest is history. This is our first Christmas with the new administration. So far, so... Good, according to the president’s fans. Bad, say his non-fans. Like beauty, it’s in the eyes of the beholder. Kind of like finishing a level in the Candy Crush Soda Saga while asleep—yes, it happened to me, so, it’s possible, not a miracle. I was sleepy, but must have clicked a bursting candy, slept for a minute, woke up, and—whoa!—on to the next level! I’m writing this column, and then playing Candy Crush when the minute brain shrinks further and can no longer think. The Saga may continue till 3 am, inspiring the eye luggage to appear a few hours later when the minute brain has to wake up for another day in paradise. After having breakfast a.k.a. midnight snack at two hours before midnight, at least the tummy is ready for the sleepless night. But the disadvantage of having midnight snacks two hours before midnight is you’re hungry again by midnight. Which brings us back to de Lima. Can she sleep despite the accusations against her? Will she continue using a neck scarf in 2017? Will her lovelife be livelier next year? Because I gotta feeling romance is her last priority for now. But once Valentine’s Day is around the corner, she may have to reconsider her priorities again. At least here’s one Pinoy whose 2017 is looking brighter. Pinoys wishing for the American dream may have awakened to the reality that the US will be stricter with visas once President-elect Donald Trump is sitting ever so comfortably on one of the thrones in the White House. But he has invited President Duterte to visit that House next year. And their conversation will probably be peppered with curses since, as President Duterte has observed, “Pareho tayo nagmumura. Konting rason lang, mura kaagad. Medyo pare-pareho kami.” Well, what a coincidence! Two presidents who curse, with no child nearby to tell them, Bad word! Here’s a meme that may help them in listing down their New Year’s resolutions before they meet next year: “Don’t waste words on people who deserve your silence. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can say is nothing at all.” Yup, it’s time for resolutions again. Parang kailan lang. I remember at this time last year, I was clueless on so many things. Both Trump and Duterte were also clueless then, not sure if they would win. But here they are now, the winners in this game called... Trip to the Presidency. May sound like Trip to Jerusalem but with less chairs. Trip to Jerusalem is one of the more popular parlor games that are played at Christmas parties. Another is Pinoy Henyo. Other games can be Xated, thus, only allowed in parties with no nosy kids whose curiosity can be piqued by the laughter of the young once at a joke that’s not exactly funny to the young ones. But Christmas is and will always be for parties, games, gifts, laughter, and the resolution to have the same kind of holiday season next year. So, make that Christmas list already. Gotta find out who has been naughty or nice.