Netnet Camomot A BUSINESS tax assessment from the city treasurer’s office on the fourth day of the year definitely brings you back to reality. I gotta feeling the amount has increased compared to last year’s. But, as usual, I’ll pay the amount without asking for any discount from the city treasurer, not because I can afford it, but only because I hate waiting outside an office, only to be given a discount of, what, one percent? Or will it be this: OK, we’ll remove this P200 occupation permit fee. I deserve an award from city hall for not complaining ever since these annual increases started knocking on our accountant’s door when Mayor Oscar Moreno took over. Garbage fee of P7,260? Does that include driving away criminals out of the city? And there’s P500 for the business registration plate, which should have the mayor’s face again because at least his smile is enough to convince us it’s all worth it. But not his white hair which makes him look like Santa. And a Santa at city hall on the first month of the year is a reminder—sounds like reindeer, eh?—of business permit and real property tax payments pa more! Memories of city hall should be of nicer things, like the little park you can see from the mayor’s office, and the Gaston Park right across. There’s a piano inside that office, I haven’t asked the mayor yet if he plays the piano, or is it merely décor. The mayor had that office renovated way back in 2013 for his first term, bringing into it an ambience of coziness and minimalism. No more violet curtains! I don’t remember seeing yellow curtains, though. But there were towers of yellow plastic chairs when we were there last month, making us wonder, Are these made to order? Because we haven’t seen this color being sold in local stores. The chairs looked cool, piled up carelessly inside the conference room as if to say, We don’t care what colors we’re putting in here as long as they’re yellow. I wanna have the red plastic ones. Red is not my political color. I simply like little red spots scattered around the house, bright things to shock the eyes after staring too long at the green trees outside. There’s an explanation for the mayor’s white hair, by the way. But I’m not telling. You may ask him if you’re also wondering, From aerodynamic hairstyle to this? Yeah, I was curious. I have had my share of hairstyle changes, too. Lately, the morphing has been from its original dark brown to lighter hair colors and highlights. A woman reaches that certain age when she has to hide the white hair. A friend has red hair now and it fits her like vanilla ice cream with apple pie. The secret is to allow your hairstylist to bring out the best out of your hair because black can be too harsh for you. There are people who look great with black hair, and there are those who don’t. Kind of, know your mojo. New year, new hair can be one of your resolutions. And how many resolutions have you broken so far? Oprah Winfrey doesn’t have to break any, for she has stopped making that list. She has been there, done that, and has learned that by this time—more precisely, by this age, her age—she should know already what’s good for her. She said she now savors each moment instead of trying to follow an impossible list. I didn’t write a list, too. I simply allow those resolutions to float inside my minute brain, and each time I break one—say, healthy lifestyle, by having a breakfast of hotdogs and fried eggs for dinner—I recommit to follow the list the morning after. The city should have resolutions, though. Since it’s already charging us thousands of pesos for garbage fees, no garbage on the streets is a necessary resolution for the year and for the rest of Moreno’s second term. And there should be no hesitance on its policies for street vendors—will they be allowed to occupy streets or not? Since the business tax assessment has no fee for “street-vendors-out,” that could be a hint they’re here to stay. Cagayan de Oro has narrow streets. Add street vendors to that and—voila!—traffic jams. Non-Cagayanons, like Senator Grace Poe, already have question marks hovering above their heads as they ask why a small city could attract jams. Well, better traffic jam than ube jam? Uh. The ube political party won’t like that at all. But even during their reign, traffic already brought you to a world of amazing mazes. We were hoping the yellow political party could banish the traffic to Siberia since yellow is the color of sunshine and lemons. Yellow is so bright, easier to see its aura from afar without cars waiting for their god to come down at this crossroad where the choice is to wait for cars to move forward until “maputi na ang buhok ko,” or to do a U-turn and look for other crossroads. The traffic is expected to get worse once SM Premiere will open this year. Let’s see if Limketkai Center will be thoughtful enough to expand its elevated pedestrian walkway so it can hold hands with its new neighbor. If ever that happens, aw, so sweet naman. CDO is the city of golden friendship after all. Talk of friendship, Linda Costales hosted a yummy dinner for us last Tuesday night at her Santa place. She collects Santas, ABS-CBN’s Mommy Marge should feature her collection someday. Hint! Hint! The dinner had Linda’s special recipe for crabs. Yum! Some of Linda’s family—Manny, Pao-pao, Maui—Pinky Curilan, and Joy, Monching and Ginger Tabor were there, too. Our group has been there, done that, and that dinner was our way of committing to our friendship “kahit maputi na ang buhok ko.”