sweating it out

The television was blaring its morning news. And I was not ready to rise from the bed, no not yet after trying to recover from yesterday’s hangover. It is rare these days that I get to drink some alcohol, but R2 and his family were about to transfer and eventually become tnts in that land of milk and honey so I had obliged R2’s despidida last Sunday. I just hope some beer won’t affect much my liver this time, although the last liver test gave good results.

According to the news the First Gentleman made a sudden departure to Hongkong last night. Hmm so soon. Maybe Mike Arroyo just got bored in Manila while recuperating from the serious heart operation about three months ago. At that time, his heart condition had been so grave, he was almost touch and go. But this time around, he is strong enough - so off he went – to China’s SAR.

As I had my brunch of deep fried asian style chicken balls, produced by SM Supermarket, ANC channel seemed to be covering an important congressional occasion. Yes, the senate inquiry on the ZTE broadband deal had Joey De Venecia as its special guest who was about to announce the “mystery man”. From the looks of deal, the Philippines was like entering into a contract wherein a person has to pay installment for 20 years when the cellphone he gets has to be replaced in two years time because of obsolescence. This broadband deal is to become another great white elephant, comparable to that wasted “Telepono ng Bayan” scheme where a smattering of phones had been installed yet had no line connection whatsoever.

Ho hum, not again. Mr. Mike Arroyo has been tagged as the mystery guy by De Venecia who tries very carefully not to implicate "his president Gloria". But it seems Gloria’s guy is all over the place. Why is Mike always around when anomalies are to be found? I thought he was just the president’s photographer. Maybe it is really about time that he leaves this country for good until the president finishes her term. Mike should seriously consider travel photography, but should do it outside the Philippines.

After Mike Arroyo, I had to focus on other Ateneans and R2’s team, La Salle while I was trying to break sweat in my treadmill just to wash out toxins brought about by the alcohol. On television was a step ladder match for second place of the semi-finals. After a convincing two wins against its arch rival la salle this season, Ateneo failed to capture the third game.

Sayang si Laterre ng Ateneo; if only he made a three point basket instead of the two pointer that he connected. And of course, Villanueva’s one free point shot made the difference for La Salle. The whole game was intense, even more during the last ten seconds. Hopefully, Ateneo wins its next fight, but it has to do it with the formidable UST, last year's champion.

R2 was satisfied, he told me over the phone. At least he got some happy memories as he toils in some backbreaking job in the US. Now I do not know about Mike Arroyo. Most likely he never got to watch the game. Maybe, he could be embarking into a new career as a travel photographer, taking some cityscape shots. But maybe not yet, as he needs to sweat out and figure out how he and the president can get out of another damning sordid mess.