As some congressmen threaten to walk out of the Bush speech in the joint session of Congress, their wives are allegedly jockeying to be included in the list of those who will welcome the US President in the congressional holding room before he proceeds to the podium for his speech. But according to our ear-spies, the holding room can only accommodate 10 people, and there are already 15 in the list. Despite the lack of space, the solons’ wives are pushing to make an exception to the rule, which all the more confuse our foreign guests, with the Philippine-style of "official" reception. Meanwhile, back at the "ranch," Manila’s "four million" wants to be invited to the state dinner. But according to Malacañang’s protocol officers, it can only accommodate 300 guests including the entourage of Bush at the ceremonial hall where the dinner will be held. To accommodate the other "exceptions to the rule," Malacañang plans to hold a "welcome merienda" in the Palace grounds for an additional 400 guests, but certainly not the four million.
Now that a counter-terrorism group headed by Deputy Presidential Adviser for Special Concerns Abraham Purugganan is established, foreign investors can rest their weary wallets and think about investing in the Philippines once more. In fact, our ear-spies got word that a first salvo of potential investors from the United States and Japan are now in the country to test the waters if it’s clear enough of ideological "sharks." According to our ear-spies, it is almost certain that Purugganan will have his hands full, especially with the reported threat of the Abu Sayyaf to create havoc when US President George W. Bush arrives in Manila on Oct. 18. However, there’s no need to fret. Some local business and private sector groups, including some Christian-Muslim alliances, are now banding together to show their support to Purugganan in the fight against urban terrorism.
According to our ear-spies, some cruise and cargo ships carry with it more than enough liquor to drown a port in obscenely expensive brandy and scotch whiskey. Our ear-spies overheard that some cruise and cargo ships store in their wines and liquor rooms at least thousands of boxes of very particular brands of liquor – XOs most of them. What is more questionable is that these boxes of liquor are allegedly "not for sale" and for the exclusive consumption of the crew. Worst, these are allegedly approved by officials from the Bureau of Customs and the Ports Authority. No wonder Philippine waters is where some of the worst sea disasters in history occur.
Word from our spyring says that a group of Korean businessmen are now in the country not only to put up their businesses here, but to look for schools that could help young Koreans speak and be fluent in English. According to our ear-spies, the plan of these Korean businessmen is to link some private and even public high schools and colleges to become sister-schools of Korean academies for a smoother exchange of students. To complement the exchange, the Koreans are probably willing to teach Filipinos how to cook genuine Kimchi, among other things – of course.
Survey question: Are the Congressmen who are planning to walk out of the speech of George W. Bush during the joint session of Congress, putting the country to shame, or are they doing the right thing? Survey answer: Over 90-percent of the respondents say it’s bad enough that some congressmen are putting Filipinos to shame because of their antics; now they are putting the whole country to shame with this display of "bad attitude" towards our special American guest.
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