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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider Free will

Free will

Published Jun 14, 2025 12:02 am  |  Updated Jun 13, 2025 04:25 pm

MEDIUM RARE

While President BBM was delivering his Independence Day speech, the woman directly behind him on the grandstand at Rizal Park was busy delivering her own speech to her one-man audience, a gentleman seated two chairs away from her. She was so busy talking and giggling that she did not notice that the television cameras were pointing at her, as much as on PBBM, the whole time.

Who was she, this VVIP, to be seated inches away from the guest of honor, herself acting so very important and yet so very rudely! 

Oh, well, charge it to free speech, free will, the freedom to be impolite on Independence Day; there’s a lesson there somewhere. But the next time PBBM will be addressing a crowd, let’s hope the people directly under the Office of the President will know better. The name of the game is a hifalutin science called know-who-you’re-inviting. Is our VVIP guest a government official, or the wife, daughter or relative of a diplomat or, more likely, a non-invitee also known as gatecrasher? 

Imagine how Donald Trump would’ve reacted if he had been delivering his speech while a kibitzer was doing the unthinkable in front of a live audience and TV cameras? Fortunately for Rude Guest, the PBBM we know is a far cry from The Donald, he’s our Mr. Nice Guy.

What would the First Lady, LAM, have done? Louise (Liza) Araneta Marcos is a lawyer and she teaches law, holding classes once a week on-line or in person, face to face, as the occasion and convenience demand. Although she dismantled her law office the day after BBM won the elections, you cannot take her profession away from her. Since 2022 I’ve been waiting for the day when I can tell her, what does BBM need his lawyers for if his sleeping partner is a lawyer?

If the FL had seen how Rude Guest had all by herself ruined the TV coverage of the President’s speech, what would/could she have done?

As our elders advise, you cannot do everything for everyone every time. Knowing the President (as we might think we do), one Rude Guest need not ruin one’s day, as long as his message hit home: Beware of fake news.

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MEDIUM RARE JULLLIE Y. DAZA
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