I almost wailed when I saw the item announcing oil price hikes this week. Oh no! I thought, how cruel can the oil producers be to raise prices at this time? Maybe, I thought it is because there is less consumption now and they have to make up for the reduction in sales. But it was quite a relief to realize that the increases were only by the centavos, like 10 for gasoline and less for petroleum. However there was no mention about diesel prices earlier, so I just hope it will be at par with gasoline or petroleum. Ten centavos is not much, but let us be grateful for favors. No matter how small.

There are only 35 days before the American election and one can imagine the excitement, as well as the anxiety among the contenders and their supporters. The way I see it, the incumbent seems to be more worried than the challenger who still appears to be taking it easy even it his opponent has been accused of using fake propaganda items against him. Is Joe Biden that confident or is it only because Donald Trump is so insecure about his reelection chances?

Just as was starting to write this column, I heard a CNN report stating that Africa has been found to have the lowest number of coronavirus infections, per capita, than any other country in the world. How come? Could it be the temperature there that is too hot for the virus to survive? Or have the people, being dark-skinned, a natural immunity to this pandemic? I am sure scientist will now be struggling to discover why this is so. Maybe that is also the reason why people in colder countries are more susceptible to it?

Wouldn’t that incident have landed in the popular items of Ripley? Remember that guy who became famous with his “Believe it or not” cartoons? This came to mind after hearing and watching reports on the death of a woman called Breonna Taylor in the United States. Three police officers were charged for her death, but only one was indicted. And not for killing, but only for the shooting! Can you blame her family being virtually up in arms over that decision? Now protests are building up, and it seems that the United States is no longer the land of the free and the brave, but a land of protests.

What could the American President mean when he says that the COVID attacks virtually “nobody important”? Goodness gracious, does he believe that he and all other VIPs, or Very Important Persons, are immune to it? Probably he means that neither he nor anyone prominent in his country has been a victim of the virus, but what a snobbish way to say it! So if you or any member of your family gets stricken, it means that you, or they are not important? I have heard him say things that sound unpresidential, or, all right, even silly, but this takes the cake.

Can this happen in the Philippines? A Chinese billionaire was recently sentenced to 18 years in prison for criticizing their President on the way he had been acting on the coronavirus pandemic in their country! Well, according to the report, it was not quite specified that it was the pandemic thing, but just for criticizing their leader. Well, that is not likely to happen in our country, because everyone knows that we are not blaming President Duterte for what has stricken, not only our country, but almost all those in the world.

Was that in the United States where the bells rang 200 times last Sunday? Thought for a while that they were celebrating something. Alas, it was supposed to announce that the total of coronavirus cases in the country had reached the 200,000 mark already. So the bells were not ringing in a triumphant tone, but in mournful one. If ever the cases rise over that number, will they still ring those bells?

Should today be a holiday? It is September 21 and a day that should never be forgotten in Philippine history, just as we should never forget July 4, 1946, the day we gained independence from the United States. That was a day of great rejoicing for Filipinos, because, after several of being under the rule of Spain, then being under the United States, the latter kept its word and freed us from its control. But, Oh what a difference it made in our lives! Do you know that until now there are still Filipinos who wish that the U.S. had never left us to our own devices?

Wow! ABS-CBN has a fan and supporter in The European Parliament. I heard a report saying that it is appealing to our government to grant a new franchise to the network. Remember when it was suddenly divested of its franchise and silenced for seven – or is it more – months now? But while fans and avid listeners of ABS-CBN rejoiced, believing they would be watching their favorite programs soon, they did notreckon on the intensity of the grudge the Palace apparently had against it. I did not catch the exact words of spokesperson Salvador Panelo, but in effect, it was something like “Mind your own business”! So there we are.

I bet one of the most distressing announcements for most Filipinos is the prohibition of visits, or closing of cemeteries and memorial parks on November 1 and 2, which are the proclaimed holidays by the Church as All Saints’ and All Souls Days. For centuries, now and even in the lifetimes of the oldest people in our country and communities, those days are considered so important that those working in other provinces, and even abroad, make it a point to time their vacations on those days so they can visit the graves of their departed loved ones.