Well, we have a new word added to our lexicon: vog. It’s volcanic smog that is now smothering the provinces south of Metro Manila. It’s really gloomy here in our town and I wonder if it’s because the vog reached our side of the world.

But the heavy smog blanketing Metro Manila now is not related to Taal Volcano’s spewing ash this week. Phivolcs said it is just plain smog that didn’t rise up into the atmosphere due to thermal inversion.

Smog. Smog. Smog. Pollution basically.

I am soooooo glad I’m out of Metro Manila or else my kids and I would be having asthma attacks by now. The government cancelled classes due to the heavy smog hovering over the metro…just like what Jakarta experienced a month ago.

Meanwhile, I bought Kimchi these fluffy keychains after I couldn’t find her original one. We lost it when we moved. Now she happily tosses one of these when she’s in the mood to play by herself. She’s soooo cute when she does that. 😍

There had been a spate of robberies in our town in the past few weeks or months. One of my BFFs had experienced one break-in their apartment when we were still in the hospital. The thief had the audacity to enter their apartment while the homeowners are still inside and took my friend’s husband’s cellphone in the living area. They caught the perpetrator on CCTV of their neighbor and had come out with a police blotter for the suspect.

Things turned for the worse when a former dean in one of the colleges in our uni was killed by a thief that broke in their home two days ago.

Criminals had taken over our town once again. I remember when this incumbent mayor won his seat the first time around, drug addicts were running around freely and the local police was in cahoots with the drug pushers and druglords. There was a series of killings of students and children…and my TV network sent me here for a week-long reporting of the incidents. I remember the showdown I had that with Mayor G’s administrator, who barred me from interviewing the mayor about the drug-fuelled student killings. I had the temerity to call my brother on my mobile so loudly so that everybody in the municipal hall can hear. I told my brother, “Kuya, bring me a pillow, mat, and a flat sheet. I will sleep here at the Office of the Mayor until Mayor G has the guts to show his face in this office!” I was very much prepared to do that and they know that a TV crew was just outside…they would be losing face if we broadcast that the mayor was never to be seen nor heard when the whole town is crying out for justice.

Why did those things happen? Mayor G was an absentee mayor. Because you see, he was not a native; he really resides in Makati and was seldom in office. He just satisfied the 6-month residency rule by building a house somewhere and so he became eligible to run for office. His father was a close associate of the husband of former President Gloria Arroyo. Mayor G’s father was recently found guilty by the Sandiganbayan of corruption when he was still the head of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp—the milking cow of any Philippine president.

Before this Mayor G took a seat, we had a good mayor, the one who kept peace and order. Mayor P was the one who banned the use of plastic 20 years ago and cleaned up our own version of Smokey Mountain. He was a no-nonsense administrator who had the police by its neck. Some say he has some strange racket going on, like his brother is a drug lord, that’s why he has the criminal syndicates under his thumb. I’m not sure if it’s true. Haven’t tried investigating.

Mayor P was unbeatable every election but there was a time he had to run for vice governor because he already maximized the term of office—three terms—for mayor (or for any elected public official in the Philippines). That’s how Mayor G was able to have a chance to occupy the post. But because he was so bad at it, Mayor G only had one term and the old Mayor P was back.

But Duterte had Mayor P killed by a sniper in December 2020 at his office. Duterte never denied his involvement—on TV.

Now Mayor G is back because he ran under the Marcos banner. People are stupid. Same shit we went through more than a decade ago is happening again.

I think I may have to bring my mainstream media friends back here…