PARADOXICAL

Yet Another Month-Ender (Notes to Self for August 2025)

Crime Scene: Wishing Everything Was a Hoax Instead

In August, there were too many viral things going on at a fast clip that I couldn't keep up. What I managed to catch were of paltry amount, but they caught my attention because they were the most unusual.

First off, August appeared to be a month infested with unusual crime incidents.

- My townmates were totally in sleuthing Marites mode when we heard this: A very much married policeman residing in San Carlos City, Pangasinan, shot dead a woman who was from Mindanao but a rad tech in Taguig, and dumped her body along the road in Sitio Pocdol, Brgy. Bani, our town. Police investigation revealed that the two had a romantic relationship (even though the latter had a boyfriend, a seaman) and the man owed the woman money and had a spat while traveling from Manila to the north. It's a strange case, needless to say, for why would a law enforcer in an illicit amorous relationship with a woman he owed money to (who was also in a relationship) be driven to such a heinous act, while leaving enough evidence. Anyway, we congratulated the local police for solving the crime at all, and with such swiftness too.

- At least three incidents involved a murder in DepEd premises. (1). An 18-year-old boy shot a 15-year-old high school girl in Nueva Ecija right inside her classroom and shot himself as well. The girl was reportedly his ex. (2). Then in Lanao del Sur, a student killed his teacher over a failing grade. Imagine that. All of us must have had an experience of teachers giving us a grade we didn't expect, but killing the teacher? This is obviously an historic first. (3). Got tired of unusual crime at this point, so I am quoting a Philstar account verbatim: "Gunmen killed an Islamic school teacher in an ambush in Barangay Inug-ug in Pikit, Cotabato on Wednesday afternoon – exactly two weeks after two of his students were killed in a similar attack in the same area."

- Ibajay, Aklan vice-mayor was shot dead by a councilor right inside the Sangguniang Bayan Hall. This is the second time this month, I think, that a local official would be murdered at gunpoint. (I failed to take note of an earlier incident.)

- A 7-year-old girl from Asingan, Pangasinan who had been missing for days was found lifeless on a Dagupan City beach, and whatever the reason was, it's totally beyond words that there are deranged adults who are capable of murdering an innocent child with so much ahead of her.

- San Simon, Pampanga's mayor was reportedly caught red-handed accepting a bribe of P80 million.

- A DPWH engineer was arrested after he was caught bribing Batangas Congressman Leandro Leviste with P3-million in cash.

- There were reports of mass shootings again in the US of A, with at least two pupils shot dead. The saddest part is that the tragic thing happened in a Catholic school in Minneapolis while the kids were prayerfully participating in the middle of the mass held as school opener. You'd think this only happens in places where Islamic fundamentalist hold sway like Afghanistan or Nigeria, but no.

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Other Viral News

- Gruesome viral hoax: A post about an orca (killer whale) scarfing down its female trainer alive because she had menstruation went viral, but it thankfully turned out to be a hoax.

- In another viral heartbreaking news: An OFW died in a bus of a heart attack on her way home after many years. This is an incident rich in novel-strength back story and epilogues.

- A church in Jimenez, Misamis Occidental was closed after it was allegedly desecrated by a vlogger who reportedly spat into a water font, though the vlogger publicly denied it.

Disasters (Both Man-Made and Natural)

- Two girls died in a motorcycle accident, and their male driver killed himself after being blamed for it.

- Wildfires ate up villages in Portugal as well, and near Los Angeles City once again, while flooding of the terrible kind killed hundreds in Pakistan and wiped out swaths of scenic rural villages in China.

- My worst fear while walking alongside Makati's high-rises because it happened to other unfortunate pedestrians before: Falling concrete debris from a condo in Tomas Morato, QC, left two young students critically injured. A boy died later.

- A bridge under construction over the Yellow River in China collapsed, killing at least a dozen construction workers.

- An apocalyptic dust storm wreaked havoc in Nevada, USA, a desert region where Las Vegas City is found. Among the things it destroyed is the so-called "Orgy Dome" in the Burning Man attraction at Block Rock City, Nevada.

- The month closed with unprecedented flash floods across Quezon City. Mahar Mangahas said the unusually high volume of the rainfall was the cause, and it was a lot higher than Ondoy.

- Around 40 students practicing for a dance when a stage canopy suddenly collapsed at Peñaranda Park in Legazpi City, Albay, injuring at least six of the students.

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Funny/Laughable/Ridiculous

- Funny: A residential CCTV footage showed the top part of a wooden double decker bed collapsing on top of the lower deck, bringing two men crashing on top of another man. The two crashing men turned out to be brothers, quashing wide suspicion that they were having you-know-what while another guy was right under them.

- Senator Erwin Tulfo was loudly berated by Greenhills, San Juan matrons after he allegedly made false claims about the encroachment of a nearby development, a high-rise. One irate lady uttered cusswords (muted in the video), and another woman, a barangay kagawad (council member) even mentioned suing him for libel. The scene smacked of schadenfreude on our part, and I thought I was the only one ending up thinking, "Erwin Tulfo lives in (super-exclusive) Wack-Wack?!?" But apparently not!

Word Watch: Two colloquial words seem to have become common lately -- daks and juts -- apparently from the Visayan words dako for big and dyutay for small, and often used in a vulgar manner to refer to the size of a man's phallus. So, of all the Visayan words that would diffuse naturally into the Tagalog language, it would have to be these two.

- I know that goto, kikiam, and miswa are words that have Chinese origin -- no surprise there. In fact, it's obvious. But hikaw, bilao, susi, hukbo, and ginto? Was I surprised! I was like, "So which Tagalog/Filipino words are not Chinese?" Ha-ha.

- What the heck: Adult pacifiers in China became a thing. But why???

- 'Mt. Kamuning' on EDSA was reportedly scheduled for demolition. Finally, that monument to folly and ugliness and failure in urban planning is going, going, gone. I remember navigating one or two similar footbridges in the past in that area and finding myself struggling between anger and laughter, totally incredulous that such a thing was even possible. The Kamuning footbridge's rival is another hateful overpass in the middle of Cubao where, at one point you have to stoop so low just to make it to the other side of the world.

- Digong Duterte supporters led by Harry Roque in The Hague suddenly had a verbal tussle over, of all things, a humba dish they just shared for lunch. It's perversely fun to watch, especially with that one curly-haired lady (who was wearing lipstick) who chewed on and on (supposedly the delicious dish of contention, with relish) in front of the camera while the heated exchange was going on. Apparently, Roque turned out to be the subject of someone's negative feedback on social media about his partaking of the dish without pitching in (?), which irked Roque, who then demanded to know how much was the darned humba for he'd pay for it, all of it.

Mystery

- A giant crucifix in a Texas church suddenly blazed for no reason.

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Politics (or is this under Governance, Media, or Showbiz?)

- Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto criticized broadcasters Korina Sanchez-Roxas and Julius Babao for featuring (at all) the fabulously wealthy Discaya couple, who would later be tagged in alleged ghost flood control projects, ostensibly for their rags-to-riches story -- allegedly for a princely sum -- that is, running in the multi-million levels, triggering a fierce debate on social media regarding the lines between journalism and PR.

I can't help but remember poring through a Catholic ecclesiastical instruction that has long tackled this question: "Communio et Progressio": there are lines that are clear and should not be crossed.

This controversy came after the brouhaha and hullabaloo over failed flood control projects that allegedly turned out to be tainted by corruption.

Not long after, the Filipino public, at least on social media, erupted in anger over the perceived wide corruption in the implementation of government infrastructure projects. Which reminds me of a thought I have developed but have been keeping to myself: Hindi nakakaproud maging mahirap, pero hindi lahat ng yaman kahanga-hanga o nakakainggit (dahil mayroon diyan mga galing sa nakaw at pandaraya).

The DPWH Secretary resigned and was replaced by DOTr Secretary Vince Dizon. Earlier, PNP Chief Nicholas Torre III was replaced too, for some mysterious reason.

Something equally ominous was brewing in Indonesia, involving protests over corruption in high places of government and a lowly citizen being unwittingly killed by government forces. The situation by month's end was tense.

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Pop Culture

- In a concert, Vice Ganda poked fun at ex-President Duterte and at Sen. Marcoleta's smirking mug. Duterte's supporters cried foul, and the latter was seriously offended and he said so.

- Furthermore, in local showbiz, Vice Ganda had been having a word war with Cristy Fermin for quite some time now.

- And even if I wasn't keeping track of, er, these developments in the gossip department, my feeds kept on showing posts about the supposed spat between Vice Ganda and fellow comic-sidekicks MC and Lassy, and the supposed feud between top international model Heart Evangelista and Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach. Couldn't care less, so why did I even bother to notice and type these?

- There was a sustained buzz or media hype about the upcoming historical biopic "Quezon" starring Jericho Rosales. It's interesting to see whether Quezon would be demonized and vilified like Aguinaldo or sanitized like Bonifacio and Del Pilar.

- Actress Liza Soberano went on a tell-all about his childhood traumas, but I had to skip it, feeling not ready to consume such content.

- Former sexy star Vivian Velez "threw shade" at Vice Ganda's vulgar and insult style comedy, so netizens enjoyed munching on their digital popcorn while watching how the latest tiff would unfold. (Someone wrote something about it in a style that I would have loved to use.) As for Vice Ganda's comedy, I am personally torn: it is truly hilarious and a refreshing foil to the onion-skinned nature of most Filipinos, but... I am not very comfortable sometimes (because it revels on people's weaknesses), yet I am willing to give this type of comedy leeway in the name of art and freedom of expression.

- Special Coverage: Applause for Mike de Leon!

Legendary filmmaker Mike de Leon passed away, aged 78.

I've been a Mike de Leon fan ever since I watched "Itim" as a retrospective show on TV. It is a dark gothic story starring a young Charo Santos, and I am not even a fan of horror movies. Since then, I had to go out of my way to watch his other obras. I'm not an age-ist person like most young people I encounter, so I didn't care much which year they were made. If a lot of the top film critics raved about it, it's a must-watch. So that's how I was able to watch "Kisapmata," "Kung Mangarap Ka't Magising," "Kakabakaba Ka Ba?", "Batch '81," "Sister Stella L.," "Hindi Nahahati ang Langit," "Aliwan Paradise," and "Bayaning 3rd World." I loved every single one of them. Maybe it's not just because each film is well-made, but also because each story is different and most importantly, elicits strong thoughts and emotions worth mulling over and discussing with friends and fellow cinephiles.

Looking up the wiki page about him, I learned that he made two other films that I have yet to see: "Bilanggo sa Dilim" and "Citizen Jake." Must find these two ASAP.

- Food: A new type of grape suddenly flooded the market. It is called Korean grape but technically called Shine Muscat. Like a gigantic lato (ar-arusip) or grape seaweed, a gemstone, and a plastic toy grape, it is large, green, and shiny-skinned, with a sweet and sourish taste and a firm texture. A rarity before, there was also a significant presence of Moon Drop or Sweet Sapphire grapes in the market, which are equally interesting.

- Dance: I saw a lot of people dancing the Palarong Pambansa dance. I find the steps... Never mind.

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Science

It's already 2025 and yet two new species of large mammals have been newly discovered or at least reported for the first time this year: a new monkey species (Mittermeier’s Tapajós saki monkey in the Brazilian Amazon) and a new marsupial (unnamed in the report)! This is incredible discovery amidst reports of the sad and tragic extirpation of other species.

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Sad

Meanwhile, soc-med is no longer fun with all these AI contents ('deepfakes' and fake disaster videos, ChatGPT copy-pasted content). AI might even kill the platform, with the deep distrust that comes with the indiscriminate usage.

posted by Resty Odon  # 2:38 PM