A talk with a man from Guimaras

Someone sent me the following items "to spice," he/she says, my column. Kids in a US school were asked to write to their President and the result could split your sides.

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o "Dear Mr. President: I am ready to be a national hero. Please send instructions."

o "Dear President: I want to be like you and do what you do. What do you do?"

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o "Dear Mr. President: I am Catholic. What nationality are you?"

o "Greetings: I have been thinking about Veet Nam. Wowdn't it be cheaper to buy it?" (Apparently, this was written during the Vietnam War." -- JVJ.)

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o "Dear Mr. President: What is your favorite sport? Mine is eating."

o "Dear Mr. President: I would like you to send children to Mars in the next spaceship going in that direction. I would appreciate it very much if I could go. One of your future voters. Mitchell."

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It says here that Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani has - again - managed to elude the military dragnet in Sulu. Now he's said to be in Basilan. We're used to reading about Janjalani's escapes. But one day soon, he'll have his comeuppance. He'll have to stop running. He's not a Raffy Uytiepo!

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I had a talk with Humbert Lopez, a native of Guimaras now working in New York. He was here last week to visit his wife's parents in Mandaue.

"That's some calamity that hit your province," I said.

"It really is," he said shaking his head. "You know, Brod, I cried when I saw on tv the damage done by the oil spill on my island-province."

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I asked Humbert Lopez if he had visited Guimaras since his arrival in RP from NY.

"Yes, I've visited Guimaras ... My first visit since I left it 10 years ago. My former neighbors and barkada welcomed me with teary eyes," Humbert said.

"How did you find the island ... I mean the extent of the damage."

"Oh, man, it's terrible ... The beach I used to relax on weekends is now covered with oil smudge. The white sand has turned black."

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Humbert Lopez's hometown in Guimaras is the most ravaged by the oil spill - Nueva Valencia. The family beach house in Tandog Cove is now useless.

Be that as it may, Humbert Lopez remains hopeful that time will come when everything will be back to normal in Guimaras, especially Nueva Valencia.

"The good Lord will see to that," Humbert said.