Close, open…

Netnet Camomot .

CLOSE, open, close, open… That’s a huge accomplishment for babies and their hands. The same could be true for lotto after President Rody Duterte closed and opened it within a few days.

As for lotto outlets that had “Closed” signs posted by the Philippine National Police (PNP), here’s PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde’s statement: “With the newest order of the President allowing the resumption of lotto operations, all lotto operators may now remove the signages that the PNP placed on their outlets.”

Lotto was said to lose P250 million during its closure.

Talk of close-open, there’s this joke about “The Blonde and the Blinker”: “Two blondes were driving down the road. The blonde driving looks at her friend in the passenger seat and asks her to see if her blinker is working. So the blonde looks out the window and says, ‘Yes. No. Yes. No.’”

“Massive corruption” was the reason that Duterte gave in stopping the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’s (PCSO) gaming operations. In his latest State of the Nation Address (Sona), he did say, “Let me ask you: When will corruption end? Kailan ba talaga ‘to? Hanggang kailan? Well, I don’t know. I’ve been in… with government for almost 35 years now. I am not singling out myself. It’s the entire gamut of our system.

“Corruption exasperates. It frustrates. It is also exasperating that there are times when I think that perhaps it is blood that we need to cleanse and rinse away the dirt and the muck that stick to the flesh like leeches.”

Right after that last paragraph, however, he said, “Of course, it is only a thought. I am simply thinking aloud. To dispel any controversy that my statements in this regard will create something else. Words of Pedro Guerrero who said, ‘Sometimes they write what I say and they write… and they write what I say and not what I mean.’ So ‘yung mga pa-purga-purga lang diyan. I use similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and other figures of speech every now and then, to prove or stress a point. I am as human as anybody else.”

Hmmm. Ano ba talaga, Kuya?

But for Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, who hit the ground running on July 1, there’s no doubt that his words are as powerful as his actions as he strengthens his faith with, “May awa ang Diyos.” Still, his daily cleanup drives can be considered as baby steps since this is only his second month in office.

But once a president or mayor is already in his second year in office, any step he makes won’t be considered anymore as that of a baby, for that baby is now at least a year old. So, why did Duterte stop PCSO’s gaming operations only this year, why not in 2016 when his term began? Was that a case of the benefit of the doubt, thus, it could not be part of his baby steps which included Tokhang?

Presidential or mayoral goals must be similar to New Year’s resolutions which are forgotten by Jan. 2, but not for Duterte and Mayor Isko who keep on going and going like the Energizer Bunny.

Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto, on the other hand, seems to be silent in his corner of the world, but it could be because he turned down most requests for media interviews so he could focus on work.

Baby steps are not the exclusive “property” of presidents and mayors. Any goal can be reached one step at a time, one day at a time. Even reading books requires baby steps—one book every two days, unless it’s a book with fewer pages that can be read in one day.

Forcing things to happen seldom results to a better world, or at least to a better you, since any step that starts with a heavy heart will continue to give that heart a lot of unnecessary challenges until finally there’s that day when you’re asking, Do I need this?

Well, a president or mayor may not have the luxury to ask if being president or mayor is his calling while he’s still in office although Duterte has said, for several times, that he wants to resign already. Still, the Pinoy knows that statement is as spontaneous as Duterte’s p***ng in* and should not be taken seriously. Besides, he did say in his latest Sona, “Believe me, I will end my term fighting.”