By Dahli Aspillera
Malaya
‘No telenovelas this afternoon. For one’s lack of prudence, so much Juan Pasan Cruz’ taxes wasted on trial expenses.’
“IF you can find those [45 real estate properties you claim I own] you can have them.”–Chief Justice Renato Corona.
“If Gloria Arroyo does not return [after her medicals abroad] I will have my balls cut off.”–Atty. Topacio of the Arroyo Camp.
People who spew these preposterous statements are just making noise without meaning in them. The Chief Justice and Topacio know that when push comes to shove, no one can compel the former to sign his P45 million condo over to Rep. Tupas. Neither can anyone compel Topacio to castrate himself when Gloria Arroyo ends up living in Portugal.
This issue of Gloria Arroyo being the economics teacher and President Aquino being her economics student has brought academics back in discussion this week. Last week’s hot topic was the UST academic doctoral degree of Chief Justice Corona requiring the eminent and distinctive U. Santo Tomas to come out with a lot of words on how great and honorable is this oldest institution. UST may be older than Harvard but America’s College of William and Mary is older than UST.
Which economist for the Philippines? I had previously published (and got no rectification from PGMA’ palace) that her Ph.D. is not in economics. It is in foreign service, earned at Georgetown University in Washington DC. GMA does not have a Ph.D. in Economics from U. as was reported in the Inquirer yesterday. (Please inform me if you know better.) It was in UP where GMA did her college, graduating with a B.S. in Economics. Whether GMA read economics or foreign service for her Master’s at Georgetown, I hadn’t checked.
If in fact GMA’s economics is baccalaureate level (please notify me if I am wrong) and President Aquino’s economics is baccalaureate level as well, then, their abilities on the subject of economic is at par. They know as much as each other. The deciding issue is, which school has a better college economics program: UP or Ateneo?
Ateneo has teachers with only a college level knowledge of the field to teach university students? In America, a teacher must have at least a Master’s degree in the discipline to teach university students. I already had my Master of Science degree, but I was allowed to teach college freshmen. I needed a doctoral degree to teach tertiary juniors and seniors.
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I do not believe that the now famous Avignon penthouse is owned by Antonio Carpio. Accused of accumulating numerous real estate, Corona turned around and accused one proposed CJ successor, Antonio Carpio, of owning that extravagant penthouse in one of the most expensive enclaves in Makati.
My conclusion is that the penthouse of Avignon Tower along H.V. De la Costa Street in Salcedo Village belongs to Atty. Ted Laguatan, a political colleague whom I first met as an officer of the Democratic Club in San Francisco.
I base my conclusion on a missing umbrella.
I have received invitations from Ted Laguatan to parties at this penthouse. I didn’t make it to a recent invitation, but attended a gathering there sometime back. At the end of the party, my umbrella which I leaned against a dark corner, was no longer there. I needed it as a third leg, so I sought the help of the caterer staff and the household help if any of them had spotted or relocated my umbrella.
Some of the domestics in the kitchen had suggested to tell their ma’am, Ms Laguatan, on the chance that the family might locate my umbrella the next day. Sasabihin po namin kay Sir na nawala ang payong nyo. And the Sir they pointed to was Ted Laguatan, not Antonio Carpio. That incident tells me that the home and its staff were Ted Laguatan’s. Otherwise, my loss would have been referred not to Ms. Laguatan, but to Ms. Carpio, the penthouse mistress.
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Dahli_a@yahoo.com
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