But yesterday the housekeeper was here and -she- started it, so it's not my fault.
She started talking about the FPJ funeral procession that started Tuesday night, blocking roads and generally creating problems through Wednesday. If you haven't heard, Fernando Poe Jr. died last week after falling into a coma from a stroke. It seems pretty straight forward and honestly it also seems like it was a stroke (no pun intended) of good luck that he -wasn't- "elected."
Not so to the FPJ camp. Apparently, according to them, the stroke was brought on by the depression he had fallen into from having the election stolen from him. His death was all President Arroyo's fault. Perhaps she "killed" him to avoid a coup? (Does this country even know what a coup is? They've tried multiple times but never seem to succeed because everyone is so disorganized. People Power seems to be their sole method of political overthrow and the folks have to be -really- bad for them to do anything.. and then they'll forget and welcome the baddies back anyway.) Perhaps she "killed" him to send a message? Perhaps... who knows?
Draw what you wish from that revelation... he's dead and as far as anyone knows, no one tried to poison him like that guy in Kiev who miraculously isn't daed.
So last week, Arroyo sent a funeral wreath and the FPJ camp tore it to shreds and burnt it. It says a lot about what's wrong with this place.
Which brings me back to the housekeeper. She came into the kitchen and struck up a conversation about the bad traffic and the closed roads from the funeral procession. Anything different on the road means loong back-ups, just like anywhere in the world, so I gave expected sympathy for the delays. And then the conversation went a bit like this:
Her: Roadblocks are up and people from the provinces haven't been allowed to come for the procession. I think Pres. Gloria doesn't like so many people here. It's not fair to the provinces. They want to march too. No invitations had to be sent out, so many people liked FPJ, he was such a nice man and did so many good things. Gloria, she just likes to smile.
Me: Uh huh.
Her: Gloria put more security around.
Me: The Palace?
Her: Yes. I don't know but it's probably because she feels guilty. That's what people who feel guilty do. She knows she did wrong and she thinks she needs more protection.
Me: Well, it's a common thing to do when a President expects large crowds.
Her: I think she is guilty, feeling guilty. And to keep those provincial buses away, she is scared of so many people liking FPJ. Her flowers she sent? *she chuckles*
Me: Yes, I heard what they did. I thought that was very sad. Once people have died, differences don't matter anymore and it was sad that they reacted that way rather than show some respect.
Her: *silence* Yes, well... *silence* His friend who gave a speech said that FPJ turned down important invitations to go to homes of people like farmers and dentists. And he helped them. He said "FPJ didn't want this to be told" because he is a good man who wanted to help but not for everyone to know. He helped so many people like that. His best friend...
Me: Estrada?
Her: Oh, he's a very nice man too. He did many good things for people, people really liked him.
Me: He also stole billions of pesos from the country.
Her: *silence*
And it was time for lunch with the kids.
I brought up not being thrilled with our current President and there was some mention of Ninoy Aquino in there too, but it got lost in the jumble. Honestly, she is a regular member of the largest class in the city, the Upper Lower, and from Ian's perspective she is typical. One guy is a movie star and the other is a little woman who smiles a lot?
Let's pick the movie star!
*sigh*
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