(PWEDE PALA PINOY! was launched and organized by Dilaab Foundation, Inc. last November 29, Saturday.)

Among Ed: Hindi na ako nagbabarong ngayon. Pumapasok ako ng opisina na naka-T shirt lang, pantalon, at naka-sandals. Nung dumalo ako sa Malacanang na nakabarong, binigyan ako ng five hundred pesos. Ay, five hundred THOUSAND pesos pala. Kaya hindi na ako magbabarong. (I do not wear barong Tagalog anymore. I’m reporting to my office everyday in my tees, trousers, and sandals nowadays. I paid a visit to Malacanang one time garbed in barong and I was handed five hundred pesos. No, it was five hundred THOUSAND pesos. So I quit donning on one.)



Photo: Among Ed Panlilio

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Carmi Cavanlit, reporter from ABS-CBN TV Patrol Cebu, asked me if I found Among Ed a good man. I did not want to make a mistake, especially if it’s Carmi on the other line and especially if it’s Arnold Castro eavesdropping. So especially I was stumped. What is a good man? How can a man be good? What constitutes goodness? How good should a man be to deserve the “good” attached to his name? If goodness is relative, then why the question?

I said, I don’t hell care whether he’s a good man. He may be a filthy queer for all we know. Or a thoughtless womanizer who swore promiscuity is a fitting response to God’s command to go and multiply. All I care is he has shown – and he is showing – that goodness and governorship are compatible, not conflicting. All I care is he is not sent from above via a streak of lightning. He is one of us, a Filipino. Not an angel. Not a ghost. Proving that we are capable of government leadership and integrity – two things that we can’t put together in one sentence, or ascribe to one man for that matter, nowadays.

All I care is he has set an example, and a terribly awesomely wondrously good example.

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Why was there a troop of police in PWEDE PALA PINOY!? That was my question too. I am planning to write a column out of it, so I'm snapping my mouth shut.


Photo: As you were!

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I actually did not know anyone from Dilaab Foundation nor did I know anything about Pwede Pala Pinoy! What I did know was I was piqued by its advertisement last week in Cebu Daily News. I decided, as what I’ve said earlier, to invite myself to the event at Sacred Heart School – Jesuits last Saturday at 4pm.

Not only that, I invited myself to the photo shoot of Cebu Bloggers Society at 3pm at Fuente circle (I’d rather call it Osmena rotunda). Being only a member for two days did not mean I can’t be there. Nyaha.

Good thing Anna Lyn Pepito was there to go with me. Together, we “crashed” the Saturday events. It’s good to tug a friend along while I’m demonstrating that coyness is non-existent. Well, it turned out she needed no demonstrating.
Photo: Ann and smugness