MANGKOKOLUM!

Clash of cymbals S YMBOLS sprout forth from the lush loam of tradition, and thus, reflect a down-to-earth richness that nourishes both human and spiritual growth. But it took more of whim than tradition to dump the tinikling (literally, in the manner of a rail bird, evading traps and trips with grace and aplomb) and proclaim pronto cariñosa as national dance—the shift happened in the 1980s when certain Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) officials took delight at seeing DECS chief Dr. Lourdes Quisumbing go through cariñosa dance steps. What if she had regaled those fawning officials by doing a tap dance or salsa ? Taking the cue from such ease with which a national symbol can be proffered to all and sundry, media proclaimed multi-titled prizefighter Manny Pacquiao as pambansang kamao — national fist. In the traditional jan ken pon game for children, rock blunts scissors; scissors cut paper; and paper wraps rock or a fist, which may also be taken as symbo

Tit for thought T HE war of words that flared between one alias Boy Pick Up and Palace-Bound Passenger came to either a dead halt or naught. Just when their broadsides were throwing up meaty morsels for voters to chew the cud of, there came sudden détente, or literally, the easing of tensions after both sides have squeezed a few rounds of ammunition in the heat of engagement. There was neither quotable quip nor picturesque portrayal to be gleaned from the spittle battle that was more of a flip top rap duel. The lines both sides spouted were so-so, as if thrown up from dialogues off soap operas that rinse reason and every whit of sense in TV addicts.  A Miriam Defensor-Santiago caught in such a tussle would be a whirlwind of barbed or bomb-laden verbiage. Too, a putdown off a Joker Arroyo would have really been akin to a splinter jabbed smack into the mind’s eye: “I do not argue with anyone below my level of intellect.” Ages-old feng shui beliefs associate the west