ILIGAN City ― "This way to the comfort room." I said to my friend Fely.
"Why is that? I'm not in a mood for comfort rooms," she said sipping her coffee at a table across from me in a diner in the city.
"No," I said, smiling. "And then beside that 'notice' is the face of a politician.
"Aha," she said, smiling broadly. "You're talking about--"
"Epal," I cut in.
"Now, I understand what; epal' means. It has returned." The tone of my friend saying this was with much conviction.
"It has never left us. " I said with as much conviction too. "Have you seen those tarps by the roadsides after the barangay elections last year? Which says, ' Mag-uban ta pagpalambo sa atong dakbayan' beside it, the faces of Congressman Celso G. Regencia on the left side and the right side of the message, the face of Leony Roy Ga, his city administrator then when he was mayor."
"Of course," I said. "Who can miss seeing them what with the signature red color of their dress and the letters of the message? "And I think the present administration of Mayor Frederick Siao is not taking it sitting down. They have their own 'pals.' Like, 'Office of the City Mayor, Barangay Extension Office.' " And hovering above it are the faces of Siao and Vice Mayor Alemania. Big likeness of them as it is not only their faces but down to the rest of their bodies too. Meaning, they can't be 'outtarped!''
We both laughed but suddenly stopped as we both knew that the politicking in the city was almost getting too much for comfort.
"I heard of an avid supporter of the 'red' team of Regencia saying that those 'extension' offices of the barangays are 'desperate moves' of the administration, Fely said. "They might be right. They were there too at the city hall grounds when the JE Hydro company presented their proposal to help the water distribution problem in this city." She paused and then continued," When I said 'they' I mean the 'red' team doing their 'demolishing jobs.; What with their placards saying that 'we don't want privatization of the water here.' But they were mostly not wearing red, their standard attire, but white. As Jun Bacus, one of their leaders said 'white would be okay.' "
''Anyway,'' I said, ''this is a free country. So we have to put up with such gimmicks of politicians because they are doing these 'epal' things, in aid of the election.
I then remembered that the night before, there was a comment on the chat group shown on national TV that had reported on the PACQ trouble. Those who were having their rally at the Liwasang Bonifacio did not do any selling of otap for him because they were there rallying for him. This I said too to Fely.
"What's PACQ?:'' She asked and then immediately answered herself. "I get it. Pastor Apollo Carreon Quiboloy" who's getting so much news about him these days. No need to do much 'epal' on him. " She cleared her throat and then remembered something too. She heard an avid "blue" supporter of Siao et al, that the "red" team is "narcissi" because they can't wait to return to city hall. with Leony Roy Ga, their mayor.
I thought the term "kisikisi" in Bisaya reminded me of a fish taken out of the water. And it goes jumping and jumping about because it wants to come back to the waters.
I said that to Fely, She agreed with me. She then told me that a student of the MSU=IIT here said that there were face towels she saw with the faces of Regencia and Ga on them.
"What? Oh no," I exclaimed.
"What? Oh yes," she gasped.
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