Reader says Viloria is American not Pinoy

My friend Teddy has been telling mutual friends. “Tell me who your candidate for president is and I’ll tell you who you are.”

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I have a politician-friend who always gets the votes of people who don’t know him and loses the votes of people who know him.

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Sen. Manny Villar is the richest presidential wannable. His is a rags-to-riches story. It’s also a fish story.

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Before Manny Villar got his riches, he sold fish in the public market. He gave fish a chance and it paid.

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Sen. Mar Roxa’s secret (?) weapons is Korina. Or so some say. With Korina, they say, Sanchez are, Mar would make it.

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Now comes Sen. Noynoy Aquino, an ex-flame of Korina. Is he out to scuttle Korina’s dream of becoming a first lady?

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A business page news says: “The swimming pool industry is looking up ... More and more swimming pools are cropping up.” This should give the Capitol an idea concerning its purchase of a lot that is suitable for swimming pool.

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E-mail from Arnold Gustilo Jr.: “Why do our sportswriters call boxing champ Brian Viloria Fil-American? Viloria is American, period. In America there is no such animal as hypenated American. Every American citizen is American regardless of his/her parents’ roots.”

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Some years ago, I had a Chinese friend who had long become a Filipino citizen. He would feel disgusted when he was introduced in meetings or parties as Fil-Chinese. Even in his residence certificate his citizenship showed “Fil-Chinese.” He did not mind.

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But one day he complained to me. “I have already renounced my Chinese citizenship and have been sworn in as a Filipino citizen but they keep calling me Filipino-Chinese or Chinese-Filipino. I’m already a Filipino, period,” he said, very disgusted.

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A lawyer friend of mine who used to hold an important desk in the Department of Foreign Affairs said my Chinese-turned-Pinoy friend was right. “He should already be called Filipino,” he said.

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That friend of mine who renounced his Chinese Citizenship to become Filipino died a few years ago. You know where he was buried? In the Chinese cemetery.

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