George Sison saw a year ago that the stars were aligned in favor of Duterte

Every year, George Sison seems to be getting not only  younger and  slimmer, but more and more sparkling with his contagious joie de vivre. One cannot pigeonhole this multi-faceted man — lifestyle guru,  book author and columnist, composer, painter, TV host,  stage actor, film producer, and a  Marcos-era political detainee. George’s recent birthday turned out to be an elegant affair at the cozy Makati Garden Club where  guests stepped on a brightly-lit red carpet and were offered  glasses of chilled champagne upon arrival.  Three of our favorite  international beauty queens — the Philippines’ first Miss International Gemma Cruz, first Miss Universe Gloria Diaz and her successor (four years later) Margie Moran — turned heads.

Dinner conversation veered towards politics  with the incoming inaguration of President elect Rody Duterte.  I remembered that it was a year ago, during a Bulgari lunch hosted by luxemaster Mario Katigbak,  that George whispered to his seatmates that  Duterte would be the political winner despite not being officially in the running or in the consciousness of the voters then.   Many thought he was just making  a silly prediction since elections were almost 12 months away.  Yet George was quite serious that the mayor from Davao City would emerge the clear winner due to the stars being favorably aligned in his favor.

 In the 2010 elections, George knew that PNoy was going to be “it” the moment his mom President Cory Aquino passed away. He was also able to predict the past four presidents before that.

Five years from now, I must remind myself to ask him who will be the frontrunner for the 2022 presidential elections because he is a lot more accurate than those expensive surveys that sprout up. 

As the sumptuous dinner ended, we were serenaded with favorite Broadway hits and timeless songs by soprano Jade Riccio and tenor Miguel Castro.   An additional surprise of the evening was the  huge birthday cake that was  wheeled in and George’s fellow June celebrants were called in to join him with the guests lustily singing the Happy Birthday song thrice, led by stage performer Leo Valdez.

 As we left  the venue, individual positive messages by the thoughtful birthday boy: “Joy fills every corner of your heart and blesses everything in your life!”

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