Acronyms

A headline in the Pilipino Star Ngayon (Aug. 25) said: P5-M Reward Kay Napoles." Too big a money that. But OK lang if made deductible from what has been "natoles."

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I have a good friend (some 40 years my junior) who confided to me: "If the pork barrel would really be abolished, I would also abolish my plan to run for a seat in Congress."

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Yes, media say PNoy has abolished the pork barrel (officially called Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF). But it will have a replacement and the replacement still has no name. But already the Internet is flooded with suggestions.

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Let me just give you the acronyms of a few to save space: BABOY, BACON, CRISPY PATA, HUMBA, POCHERO, NAPOLES, etc., etc.

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By the way, when I was younger, I often heard on the radio the song which many fun-loving youngsters then sang: "Roll out the barrel...roll out the barrel of fund."

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In warning its citizens against the use of ferries in the Philippines, the UK Foreign Office said: "Ferries (in Phl) are often overloaded, lack necessary lifesaving equipment, are not adequately maintained and have incomplete passenger manifests."

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If this allegation is not so or if the UK Foreign Office doesn't know what it's saying, the party hit by the warning can always deny or belie the claim. But can they without blinking?

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Reader Estong Bermejo asked: "Unsay natabang sa mga opisyal ug tripulante sa MV Trans-Asia Nine ngadto sa pasahero sa MV St. Thomas Aquinas? Wa gyud bisan salbabidang giitsa? Mipasutoy lang ilang barko padung Kagay-an? Di ba magtinabangay man unta ang mga taga barko sa isigka-tagabarko nila?"

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The same issue was raised by Freeman Nation/World editor John Rey Saavedra in his Banat News column last Aug. 26. Reader Bermejo has a point. And his point needs pondering if not acting on by the Board of Marine Inquiry.

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OVERHEARD. Some PUJ and taxi drivers eating lunch in a pungko-pungko eatery were talking about the abolition of the pork barrel. Driver I: "Abolison na ni PNoy ang pork barrel." Driver 2: "Asa ka abolis. Nganong nia man ning balita nga nag-ingon 'Senate Vows Close Scrutiny of 2014 PDAF'?" Driver 3: "Daan pa lagi ko. Kining pork barrel salbaron gyud ni sa mga senador."