ang totoo niyan, Manila Standard Today is one of two broadsheets the newsboy delivers daily. it was Today i used to get, alongwith PDI, mostly for the counterpoints of teddy boy locsin, luis teodoro, and alejandro lichauco. also, i liked maureen dowd’s whitehouse-bashing column ‘free fire’ ba yon, linda black’s on-a-10-scale daily horoscopes , and once in a while jessica zafra’s ‘twisted’.
when Today merged with Manila Standard, naging pro-administration ang editorial slant, so nabago lahat ng kolumnista, and i kept meaning to drop it except that the new astrologer was okay naman, keeps track of planetary movements too. all right din si tony abaya, who loves to hate communists but otherwise talks economic sense. then nag-join pa da sikat bloggers connie veneracion and bong austero, puwede na rin, good to know wazzup in the web. but ‘divalicious’? i didn’t even know it was there. i may have cast an eye on a first paragraph some time or other but gone on at once to something else, cos ni hindi siya nag-register, i suppose because i’m just not into fashionistas, how boring the brand- and name-dropping, would rather read the horoscope anytime — btw, i don’t read just my sunsign, i also read my moonsign and ascendant sign, which together and apart give me a good idea of the temper of the day and the different forces at play.
but back to MST. isa pang star attraction to me has been da infamous vic agustin, whom Inquirer needn’t have fired, not after he had the gumption to guest with rc constantino on ANC and offer rc a bottle of mineral water — thought balloon: sige na, bawian mo ako, please lang — but rc refused to do him the favor, so he twisted the cap off, raised the bottle over his head, and poured the water on himself, sabay gasp for breath. what a scene that was. great television. curiously enough, this same vic agustin is not just pala a columnist but also the chair of MST’s board of editors. and write niya sa ‘cocktales’ nung aug. 31:
“despite our private, aching desires as journalists to explain the malu fernandez affair, the Manila Standard Today adheres to a certain set of protocols that prevent us from publicly discussing personnel issues.”
ano siya? sacred cow? curiouser and curiouser. what about malu antoinette can’t they tell us that would explain why they can’t / won’t accept her resignation? perhaps that she has rich and powerful backers? stockholders? advertisers? politicians? maybe the i.s.a.f.p.? the c.i.a.? mwahaha. if i know, enjoy lang sila sa publicity, never mind the issues.