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En garde, Leni!

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Twinkling with Ninfa R. Leonardia

“Better a blue Thanksgiving than an I.C.U. Christmas”. I failed to take down the name of the guy who said that, but he must have been a very practical one, indeed. Everybody knows how much importance Americans, especially, give to Thanksgiving Day, a celebration that had been initiated by their ancestors centuries ago. In the Philippines, some folks do mark the day with some celebration, but not as fervently as the citizens of America whose ancestors were the pioneers in its development, and consider it a very special day, indeed.

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          Well, we have some people in our own country who mark the day for personal reasons, but all our towns and cities, and even our barangays nowadays have earmarked a special day for its “fiesta” that could be our counterpart of Thanksgiving Day. I guess many Americans are disappointed about the prohibitions against gatherings and celebrations, with all the “protocols” imposed by the Coronavirus, nicknamed COVID, that has been claiming lives worldwide lately. And who wants to hold a celebration with the participations limited to only ten persons, six feet away from each other, and mumbling through their masks?

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          And, anyway, there is not much for our country to be thankful for these days, especially with floods and fires claiming lives of innocent ones who happen to be located in areas where they occur. On TV we see our people, even the young ones, wading or drowning in dirty floodwaters, in some areas with depths over their heads. This is happening in several places in Luzon, and we in the Visayas and Mindanao are the ones who should be offering not only Thanksgiving, but also prayers for the survival of our countrymen in the affected provinces.

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          It could be funny if the matter involved were not so serious. I am referring to the alleged disagreements – should we call it a “feud?”  between our President and Vice President with the former suspecting the latter of trying to upstage him. Not that I am a Robredo partisan  but at this point in time, who would envy the President or want his job? Floods and COVID and hungry and homeless people everywhere? Does VP Leni Robredo really want to take on the job from President Duterte, who has been rarely seen in public these days? I think Madame Robredo meant it when she said she was only trying to help – which she should, being the second highest official of the land, and a woman, at that.

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          The President has been quoted as saying he will campaign against her if she runs for office, meaning, naturally, the one he is now holding. They say the vice president of a country is only a heartbeat away from the presidency. So don’t listen to intriguers and keep your heart beating strongly, so you can campaign for Inday Sara, or any of you kids who have also proven their administrative capacities. Let the poor widow alone, she has gone through a lot in her lifetime already.

                                                            ***

          Let us shift to more encouraging reports. Topping them is the announcement of not one, but two medical preparations that can serve as vaccines against the deadly coronavirus disease that had been infecting  people in several countries, ironically, even the wealthiest, most progressive and advanced ones. Credited for their discoveries are two pharmaceutical firms, Pfizer and Moderna, who will surely cash in on their products that could prove to be the antidotes to the new ailment of pandemic proportions from China. I am sure what the world wants to know now is how many have been tested with such vaccines, and how successful they are.

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          In the United States, meanwhile, the outgoing president does not want to go! Ah, it must be painful to return to an ordinary dwelling, no matter how richly furnished, after living in the White House for a term. Perhaps it would not be so bad if he was able to get a second term, and that is why his group is claiming all sorts of irregularities that even the courts have declared as without basis. I think his behavior has made people admire the winner, Joe Biden, more, for biding his time and not saying anything about the one he had defeated. But what if Donald Trump continues to refuse to leave. Can they take him out bodily?

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          But that is none of our business, we better look out for the developments between  our president and his vice. But I believe that no matter what President Duterte may  say against Leni Robredo, she will remain lady-like and keep her cool, the way she did when her much admired husband who was then a ranking government official, died in that crash, and our people consoled her by electing her vice president on her first try at politics. But look out, Leni! The President does not like the idea, and has publicly announced that he will campaign against you! So, en garde, as duelists always say!*

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