‘Umido,’ dud after dud after dud
In Iloilo where I grew up, umido is how we describe a lighted firecracker (rebentador in Ilonggo) that goes pffft and does not explode. A dud. In Spanish, umido means humid, while reventador is a noun that refers to a troublemaker or heckler. But who knows, the reventador could explode later, in the hands of one who picks it up and ends up with missing fingers.
In my recollection, blowing on and lighting a homemade bamboo canon with petroleum in it to propel projectiles (empty cans) on New Year’s Eve was safer—if no one’s in the way—louder and more fun, despite singed hair, sooty faces, and all. War freaks in the making, with boots (smagol) on grassy terrain, targeting “enemy” forces.
Umido could describe the recent “exposés” of individuals suspected of plunder in the billions, like those of resigned Ako Bicol party list Rep. Zaldy Co et al. In a few days cases will be filed against these scoundrels and scalawags in the construction business, the legislative and executive branches of government. To jail, no bail. Their self-serving revelations deflect the focus on themselves, thinking these would be explosive enough to drown out the people’s fury.
Naming names, citing staggering amounts and specific places where payoffs were made do not always lend credence to a wannabe whistleblower’s account, especially if not made under oath and the suspect/whistleblower has fled the country. They make for whodunit entertainment, fodder for TikTokers on social media. These online denizens come out of the woodwork with wicked delight. But the exposes are getting tiresome. People want to see strong, well-built cases field in court.
The latest blockbuster dud was Sen. Imee Marcos stepping all over her brother President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his father’s namesake, and throwing him under a speeding bus, so to speak, on the second day, Nov. 17, of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) rally at the Rizal Park. It was obviously to boost her brother’s nemesis Vice President Sara Duterte’s aim to be president now na or in 2028. The question is why. The answer is in the telenovelas.
The VP is facing impeachment moves that have been shelved till next year. Cases of unexplained expenses when she was education secretary, betrayal of public trust, threats against the President and his family, etc.—she must face these. Her infantile outbursts are unbecoming.
Just when Imee finished her spiel, frothing in the mouth, her puffy face grotesque and rearranged, someone, like a movie director on cue, yelled, “Cut!” by announcing that there would be no third-day rally as had been announced. That saved more embarrassment for the religious group whose members obey as told and vote as a bloc for likely winners.
Time to go home folks, said the voice to the drenched again, dry again, drenched again white-clad INC followers who trooped to the venue out of obedience. Didn’t the 2-million-plus strong INC help seat the unlikely tandem Marcos Junior and Duterte Juniora—both offspring of tyrant fathers—in the highest seats of the land only to see them go their bitter, separate ways?
And that, folks, was the latest of the duds. The three-day event was supposed to be for transparency, the INC leaders had announced. But like in a past rally (not theirs), gangster-like arsonists and vandals—which police suspect had sponsors who paid P3,000 per head—took advantage of the INC rally and mounted a destructive one of their own on Mendiola hoping they could see Malacañang, the seat of the presidency, go up in flames. It was among the most vicious ones I have seen unfolding on social media. Many of these alley boys, later handcuffed by the police, would cry out for their mothers. And where are their sponsors? Hard to believe that these youths were there on their own.
I now go the less trodden path and ask why these two warring individuals—one more vicious and murderous in language and motives than the other—are not exposing what went on during the 2022 presidential election, how it was allegedly rigged using high tech means and delivering results with very suspicious, unlikely speed. Is it because exposing the other would expose them both? They were a pair, unlikely bedmates, so to speak, suspicious of each other but who needed each other to win until…
Persons of interest in the 2022 postelection scenario, among then, retired Col. Eliseo Rio and technology experts, have analyzed election results and how they came to be, with the Marcos-Duterte winning over then Vice President Leni Robredo-Kiko Pangilinan whose campaign sorties nationwide drew crowds so huge and unprecedented. Suddenly, with lightning speed it seemed all for naught.
I had written several times about the mysterious 192.168.0.2 internet protocol address of an illegal device used to transmit election results, how experts showed why Marcos-Duterte won over Robredo-Pangilinan. It is a long story that was has been laid open. Sadly, Filipino voters simply wanted to move on. Someday, what is still hidden will be laid bare.
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