Gentlemen’s Agreement On South China Sea: Should We Just Flip A Coin On Whom To Believe?

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Ah, the tangled web of political rhetoric! It’s like a soap opera where everyone’s a protagonist and the truth is just a supporting character. 

Former spokespersons Harry Roque and Sal Panelo are duking it out like contestants on a reality show, each claiming to hold the golden ticket to the truth. Roque says there was a “gentlemen’s agreement” between China and Rodrigo Duterte.  Panelo says otherwise.

Duterte himself adds a plot twist by rebranding the supposed agreement as a fancy “status quo,” leaving everyone scratching their heads wondering if they missed a memo.

But wait, cue the dramatic music—China has entered the chat, throwing shade and questioning the Philippines’ continued denial of said agreement. It’s like a game of diplomatic whodunit, with each player pointing fingers faster than you can say “Ayungin Shoal.”

In this political theater of the absurd, truth is the elusive unicorn, and lies are the currency of the realm. So who’s lying and who’s telling the truth? 

Flip a coin and take your pick—it’s all just smoke and mirrors in the circus of international relations.

Dateline Zürich: Gentlemen’s Agreement

by Maria Bratikova

Gentlemen‘s agreements. . .

can be made over the counter.
It’s like purchasing a batch of antibiotics
without a doctor‘s prescription – you know,
those legally-licensed drug-pushers. More
responsible countries would strictly ask
the buyer to present a doctor‘s illegible
doodling on a piece of shit (sic!) paper.

Agreements don‘t need to be blitzed in stone slabs like the 10 commandments. You fulfill the the terms of agreement you enter into on the basis of a clammy handshake IF it benefits you. If it doesn‘t, nobody will know – you won‘t be embarrassed. But why make such
an agreement, anyway?

Geniuses argue that any one who needs
a written down such agreement must get a lobotomy. Fine! But why oh why do these geniuses even know about it?

Why go into it in the first place? I‘ll tell you why:

It is a by-pass surgery that cuts all supply of oxygen to kill the heart of democracy.

So why do we still call our country democratic?

Gentlemen’s agreements had become a pretend-Democracy
which had become euphemisms for suppression, dictatorship,
tyranny and disregard for the basic rights of the citizenry.
It is not an excuse to deceive and play the people for
fools. Off-the-records are suspect! It is not a plea for
the Fifth amendm, it is the works of shadow-governments.

Ask Angkolsam – he‘d know!

Miss Universe 2024: Will 60 Be The Magic Number?

Cubales, left, and Rodriguez, right

In the ever-astonishing world of beauty pageants, age is apparently just a number—or is it? With Miss Universe’s new policy lifting the age limit for contestants, the spotlight is on the magic number: 60, not 69. 

Despite 69-year-old Filipina beauty Jocelyn Pilarsky Cubales’s unsuccessful bid for the Miss Universe Quezon City crown, a 60-year-old — Alexandra Rodriguez — triumphs in Miss Universe Buenos Aires, on her way to the Miss Universe Argentina crown! As the age-old adage goes, beauty knows no bounds.

But wait, the winner of Miss Universe Quezon City, has withdrawn from the contest. Should Cubales be appointed as the representative to the 2024 Miss Universe Philippines national pageant, it would be a showdown of epic proportions if she and Rodriguez make it to their respective national titles.

Picture this: senior versus senior in Mexico City, a battle royale of seasoned elegance and grace. Who needs youthful exuberance when you have the timeless allure of age?