By Gerry Lirio
THREE weeks into the new year, we will remember the past months for the many issues about the country’s movers and shakers.
Before November ended, we woke up to the news that Kathniel, short for the combined names of popular entertainment stars Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla, had broken up after 11 years.
There is always something about entertainment that can eclipse politics.
Give the people entertainment, according to a Roman poet, and they will never revolt. They would be happy and controllable.
That break-up occupied dinner conversations in many homes, more than the rising inflation, more than the 2024 budget, more than the coming Christmas parties. That Kathryn and Daniel had decided to part ways broke many people’s hearts, not unlike the 1993 painful break-up of Sharon Cuneta and Gabby Concepcion, a 12-year on-and off affair.
The executive producer of the leading primetime TV newscast decided to make the Sharon-Gabby split the banner story, setting aside all the staff’s police and political stories of the day. Who said it was not national news? That story brought the newscast to unprecedented sky-high ratings.
There were many other things that broke our heart the past months and weeks.
Great writers Conrado de Quiros and Rina Jimenez-David died days apart in November. The two former Inquirer columnists helped enlighten us about the many issues surrounding the government and our lives, and how the public at large should read the Filipino politicians.
A few days after the KathNiel break-up, we learned that Manuel “Jun” Urbano Jr., or more popularly known “Mr. Shooli,” the man behind “Juan Tamad” and “Mongolian Barbecue” has died, a few months after he received the prestigious Gawad Plaridel award for his political commentary.
The son of the late National Artist for film, the great Manuel Conde, the man behind “Genghis Khan,” Urbano showed a brand of comedy that drew much from the character’s constant confusion about Filipino traits, practices, or idiosyncrasies, with politicians among the usual targets.
In their time, they all helped us understand politics, the serious and comedy sides of it.
How should we now try to understand how the allies of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the House of Representatives administration have been treating former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?
They have been trying to beat her after supposedly failing to show up each time there is a Loyalty Roll Call in Congress. Isn’t that so petty?
Only because the most senior member of Lakas has been supportive of Vice President Sara Duterte, daughter of the former President Rodrigo Duterte? Because Sara is a possible rival come the next presidential elections. Sometime during the time of President Benigno Aquino III, there was a Palace factotum accused of trying to smear every possible presidential aspirant.
Like Macapagal-Arroyo’s Lakas, Duterte’s once powerful Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino is now falling apart, its members shifting allegiance to Marcos’ cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez, who has been touring markets the past weeks. Looks familiar, but isn’t it too early? Team Unity is falling apart. Bitter parting, isn’t it?
Late last month, the court allowed Duterte’s staunch critic, former Sen. Leila de Lima, to post bail. Once freed, she thanked the Marcos administration for not getting in the way of her road to freedom.
The case against her has been slowly falling apart, but why could pundits not stop speculating that the Marcos administration had to free her to please the Americans? We could only shake our heads.
The past many weeks, Duterte, his daughter, and Sen. Bato dela Rosa must have been having sleepless nights because Malacanang and its usual sycophants all over the place have been mulling over allowing ICC investigators to set foot on Philippine soil. We could not wait to see the end game of the Duterte saga.
In a morning show interview, dela Rosa sounded so frantic. He was red and fidgety talking about his possible arrest and prosecution.
Only last week, Congress initiated an investigation on the radio station of a Duterte supporter, Pastor Quiboloy. Before that, there was talk that the Marcos administration would be willing to give him away to American investigators looking at his sex-trafficking cases in the US.
Are all these politics, pure and simple? Just political points for optics? Or pure entertainment, meant only to keep government critics at bay?
Whatever, seldom have movers and shakers been so moved and shaken.
