Manila Standard 12 Jan 92

Psychics and seers, led by Rene Mariano and Jojo Acuin, are the biggest TV stars of the New Year. The two were everywhere: not just in sosyal talk shows like Inday Badiday’s Face to Face and Jullie Yap Daza’s Tell the People and Johnny Litton’s Oh no!… but even in conservative political fora like Louie Beltran’s Straight from the Shoulder, Rod Villa’s Talakayan, and Dong Puno’s Viewpoint.

In the beginning of 1991 all our seers rendered dire predictions of deaths and grave disasters for the nation. We only realized how grave when Mt. Pinatubo erupted, rendering millions of people uprooted and homeless.

Of course there is that failed prediction of Manila flooding and sinking. Manila did not flood and sink but Ormoc did. The mistake was in identifying the place to be Manila; and Ormoc did not quite sink the way we imagined Manila would, but it did sink in the sense of being briefly and suddenly flooded as to drown people and land.

A similar case involved Armida Siguion-Reyna of Aawitan Kita fame some years back. Tita Midz used to be very interested in the occult (twice she asked me, in my astrologer days, for birthchart readings), but one day a psychic (I’m not sure which tool – cards, birthchart, palms, vibrations – was used) predicted a possibly fatal attempt on her life. I can’t remember now what the details were but it was enugh to freak Armida out and make her quit on manghuhulas. Nothing happened to her, but sometime after that, Elvira Manahan was murdered.

The psychic’s mistake was in identifying the victim as Armida, which was an easy mistake to make: Armida and Elvira are women of the same mold, parehong alta sociedad, parehong mataray, may pagka-pareho rin ang itsura.

To paraphrase Rene Mariano: psychic vibrations / visions do not usually come in clear stark images, more through a kind of mist. One “sees” enough to sense the basic situation, but not exactly where and when it will happen or who exactly is / are involved.

Our seers are good at what they do. They’re arare breed of “sensitives” with a gift for tuning in to another dimension of reality and accessing a sort of image bank of past, present, and future.

Of all the seers who take to television every New Year, I’d say Rene Mariano is the best of the lot. This is why I listened very closely to his prediction that the next President will be male; he’ll have business ties / connections abroad; he’s not really a politician, “tipong ngayon lang, at hindi pa siya nag-iingay” (as of New Year).

Immediately Winnie Monsod concluded: Danding Cojuangco. I’m not sure. Around that time nag-iingay na si Danding; he was figuring in the nws a lot. Also, he’s not the only presidentiable with business ties abroad. Fidel Ramos would also fit the bill. And between Cojuangco and Ramos, I’ll take Ramos anytime.

Except Ramos, so far, has been disappointing. He quit government just when there was the Pinatubo disaster to deal with. He joined the LDP, only to lose out on the nomination. If he doesn’t get his act together soon, he might have to settle for Vice (which might not be a bad idea), like Joseph Estrada, who has reportedly agreed to run as Danding Cojuangco’s VP (what a twist, if true).

The good news is that Jovy Salonga and Nene Pimentel have joined forces. Between Ramos and Salonga, I’ll take Salonga anytime. I don’t see him as “too old,” rather, as experienced and wise. (We take our elders too much for granted.) I think he’ll be good for the nation, which at this point I can’t say for anyone else.