Sumsuman

Netnet Camomot

THE Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) will soon belong to Ramon Ang. This is the national broadsheet that I still buy because I like its, uh, layout. And the layout does help in making its pieces more pleasing to the eye.

PDI’s history includes Mr. & Ms. Special Edition, the weekly paper whose favorite topic was Marcos and his alleged graft and corruption.

Wait, should it still be “alleged”? Hmmm.

Mr. & Ms. dared to expose the dictator’s “alleged” shenanigans, and its publisher Eugenia Apostol later had the Philippine Inquirer, which was another weekly paper, and that then levelled up to PDI.

That was the ’80s for us, the Madonna generation. I gotta feeling, though, that my batchmates will say, Whaaaaat? We’re not Madonna! We’re Charlie’s Angels!

The Angels who went gaga over the Hardy Boys, Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson. No, hardy didn’t refer to their…

There was so much uncertainty in the ’80s. The constant rallies and frat wars always led to cancellation of classes with the afternoon and evening sessions as the lucky ones, while we, the morning session, rolled our eyes and could only wish the rallies and rumbles would start earlier, preferably before our 7 am Law class.

Meanwhile, our afternoon- and evening-session dormmates would gladly dance their way to our room, inviting us to a movie at Recto and snacks at McDo. McDo Morayta was the one and only McDo then. Or lunch at the Shakey’s right across UST. Or how about Cubao? Greenhills?

Makati was reserved for weekends then.

My favorite was National Book Store where I would stay for hours, browsing books and buying pencils for my collection. I have since forwarded that collection to my niece. Only the piggy and miniature—teeny weeny tea sets, the cutest chairs—collections remain.

And, of course, the books. Many books. Reading has always been my most favorite sport. And that somehow resulted to the writing hobby.

The reading, though, comes and goes. I’ve been reading this particular book for many months now, the only book I’ve managed to read this year, and I’m still in the middle part. No thanks to that other “book”—Facebook.

There was a time when Facebook was fun. Now, my news feed is filled with, well, news. That’s probably why it’s called news feed.

With no TV in my room, FB has become my TV set. Now, how to distinguish legitimate from fake news? That’s the question. Prayers for divine intervention are required in order for some supreme being to highlight legitimate news and blur out the rest.

Lucky are the powers that be who know the people to trust in the volatile world of social media. Because there are people in there who may present themselves as the answer to your prayers. But be aware that there are levels you still can’t reach due to at least two reasons that have kept you from fulfilling your dreams. Better squeeze your way out of those two reasons, or reveal one of them to the whole world, and you will finally be free to be who you’re meant to be even without the help of these greedy people who are now around you and are hiding the truth from you.

Realization usually arrives after. Not during.

When you’re too busy, with no time to sit still and watch the green trees outside the window from the room with a view, it’s impossible for an aha moment to be part of your daily sked. The only thing you have time for is to react to the wrong info that’s whispered to you. You won’t even receive an A for A-fort for that.

Now, here’s what I thought was fake news the moment I read it: “Bato: No more ‘shabu’ labs in PH.” But that’s from PDI’s July 14, 2017 issue. Coming from mainstream media, that should be real news.

Is it as real as the promise that the Marawi siege may end soon? Operative word: may. Meaning, may or may not. In other words, di tiyak.

Kind of like this: I may go on a diet starting tomorrow. I may continue reading the book tomorrow. I may start my spring cleaning tomorrow. “The sun will come out/Tomorrow/Bet your bottom dollar/That tomorrow/There’ll be sun!”

Talk of sun, it has been raining cats and dogs, and even cows and carabaos daily especially in the afternoon, and I wonder how those afternoon and evening sessions are dealing with that. At least the Cagayan de Oro flood is not as bad as the ones we had at the University Belt? Hmmm.

There was a Shakey’s near McDo Morayta. At that time, Shakey’s served beer. Nowadays, I order diet soda with the pizza and pasta.

In case you’ve been hibernating since the ’80s, here’s a dose of legitimate news: Ramon Ang is the president of San Miguel Corp. whose most popular product is beer. Some journalists have been posting on Facebook on how PDI will now be drinking beer with other SMC products—i.e., hotdogs—as pulutan.

And that’s not PDI’s tomorrow anymore. And it’s not even a may or may not. It’s now their present moment. No more time for Aha!