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Feat of clay

AFTER the so-called EDSA III that saw hordes of the unwashed and have-nots attempting to storm the gates of MalacaƱang, the top tenant in the Palace mended fences. Why, the wrought-iron fences were raised higher. Electrified, too. Now it would be more than shocking and forbidding to gain entry into the Palace grounds.

To that neat feat, we can add the renaming of the 5.1-kilometer Central Boulevard running through the 1,500-hectare reclaimed area, Manila’s Bay City. That stretch was renamed President Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard and made it to the books as the world’s priciest road, why, taxpayers coughed up P1.1 billion to get it paved and dotted with a sprinkle of greenery. Or maybe it was chicanery—over P21.5 million sunk per kilometer of paving and greening is way too incredible.

Need we add another P1.1 billion feat of fund juggling off non-existent fertilizer allocations, the monies eventually lining the pockets of certain lawmakers and local government honchos?

And who has not heard of the world-famous sound bite from a shady chit-chat spun off as a ring tone, “Hello, Garci”?

Need we be reminded some more?

Maybe we ought to be told again and again. Who’s currently numero uno in this God-forsaken land?

The plates on the fleet of presidential limousines proclaim it—and some more.

Never mind if we’re still leery about certain solid figures and numbers being softened, worked over and kneaded like dough to suit results in, say, elections. In this case, the number’s cast in something less malleable and tough to rearrange. It’s probably hammered out in an admixture of tin and iron, why, even a Garci would lose his teeth if he bites into that.

The die is cast.

The metal fixture now reads Pangulo.

Quick, dig into suitably fat dictionaries. Maybe a thesaurus, stegosaurus or a tyrannosaurus would do.

Pray, tell the people whatever that metal-cast word means

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