MANILA, Philippines - It's more fun in Manila this Holy Week when half the residents are on retreat, the other half on beach holiday.
Cuba honored an appeal by Pope Benedict XVI and declared Good Friday a holiday for the first time since 1959. The Council of Ministers of the Communist government will decide whether to make the holiday permanent.
Hundreds of pilgrims retrace Jesus' triumphal entry 2,000 years ago from Mount Olives to Jerusalem, waving olive branches and palm fronds and walking behind a white donkey.
The late Jaime Cardinal Sin had an explanation why Jesus rode on a donkey instead of a fine steed. He said that as the least handsome and least intelligent among siblings, he entered the seminary and was elevated to high office in church... to serve like the donkey on which Jesus would sit astride..." so that nothing would detract from the majesty of the King."
Archbishop Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle, DD, reminded the faithful to treat the blessed palms from Domingo de Ramos with due respect... not as amulets to win over a lover (or to rein him/her in to remain faithful).
Last week's sign read, "Saturday, March 31, 2012, help spark a movement by going unplugged." We had a nominal Earth Hour at the "Brasserie CiÇou " (nee Fontana (Frenchified restaurant from the former Italian), dimming the lights at 8:30 p.m.
Right after that, O.B. Montessori teachers broke into three ABBA song-and-dance numbers in tribute to the birthday girl, their founder and inspiration, former UNESCO Ambassador Dr. Preciosa Silverio Soliven. She joined them as "Dancing Queen" (turned Seventeen)?
Fil-Am Stephanie Reese sang nostalgia... "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" (theme song of Max and Precious), "An Affair to Remember" and "You are." First prize went to the generational couple who were the same partners when all three songs were top hits.
Brown-outs in Mindanao should help spell the difference and ensure that the Philippines keeps the crown as Earth Day King.
DENR Installs More Air Monitors - News item. Additional air quality monitoring stations capable of measuring smaller particles of pollutants in the air will be installed in Metro Manila. Must be an April 1 joke... we haven't even fixed the dilapidated and defunct ones, yet.
Sen. Francis Escudero expressed concern over the apparent high standard being set by prosecutors and judges on Chief Justice Renato Corona in relation to the filing of SALN. Let him who has filed his SALN correctly cast the first stone!
P-Noy Net Satisfaction Drops - SWS survey. Quick at the bat, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte pointed to "unchanged satisfaction rating in Mindanao despite the power situation" and "marginal drop in satisfaction rating of P'Noy in the Visayas despite the earthquake."
Brownouts have not yet taken toll... and, hey! nobody's gonna blame the President for the earthquake. FEEDBACK: jaz_aide@yahoo.com
