A gym friend played one of the “Wicked” songs at the gym on Saturday, and there I was, wondering aloud: “Is that ‘Moana’?” Wrong.

Cluelessness is the perk of sleeping while watching a movie. It’s almost like I didn’t watch “Wicked.”

I wanted to watch “Moana 2” on Saturday at a downtown mall. But that’s the mall where someone allegedly committed suicide the day before. To avoid absorbing any negative vibe the incident had spread within the area, I decided to go there this week instead.

2024 is almost over and I’m sure there are some people who want to say, Good riddance, to this year if it has been difficult for them.

Will life be boring if your version of difficult revolves around updating and upgrading your collections of luxury bags, luxury cars, precious jewelry, mansions, airplanes, helicopters, gold bars, expensive wristwatches, private islands, vacation houses? Which may look like, Ang sarap ng buhay! But maintaining that kind of lifestyle requires billions of moolah especially if you’re trying to keep up with the Joneses who can afford anything and everything.

A political party here in Cagayan de Oro may also be able to afford anything and everything and even everyone now that they have the Joneses in their team, thus, ensuring the availability of campaign funds for the thousands of new voters in a particular barangay.

Transferring to that barangay became a joke in October 2023 during the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) when the vote-buying there was allegedly at least P6,000 for each voter.

But the “transfer” has become a reality for some voters who are now looking forward to next year’s election, while already planning what to buy with their P6,000 or even more—allegedly, supposedly, reportedly, since no witnesses were willing to testify for the BSKE 2023 bribery allegations.

Elections in Pinas are like, Just kidding. A joke. After all, laughter is the best medicine and all that jazz. But with PBBM and Vice President Sara Duterte morphing from UniTeam to NoTeam, it’s not funny anymore. The Pinoy does still wonder if former Vice President Leni Robredo is having the last laugh on this as she looks forward to winning the Naga City mayoral race in 2025. She and PBBM were the presidential race rivals in 2022. I blamed her loss on her choice to use pink as her campaign color. Pink paled in comparison to BBM’s red.

Yes, Robredo will be going from vice president to city mayoral candidate. Other political celebrities also learned to lower their expectations. Rodrigo Duterte—from president to Davao City mayoral candidate for 2025. Joseph Estrada—from president to city mayor. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo—from president to representative.

Some journeys were not that smooth, though. Estrada was impeached. Arroyo was almost impeached. But VP Sara may not be impeached, perhaps with much thanks to PBBM who said, “What will happen if somebody files an impeachment? It will tie down the House, it will tie down the Senate. It will just take up all our time and for what? For nothing, for nothing. None of this will help improve a single Filipino life. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a storm in a tea cup.”

And worst of all for PBBM, the impeachment case may help VP Sara gain empathy points from the Pinoy who will then vote for her if she runs for president in 2028.