In the magical land of disappearing acts, Leni Robredo’s Angat Buhay Foundation takes center stage, claiming to be the largest volunteer network in the Philippines – a feat accomplished, apparently, by mastering the art of invisibility. 

Despite claims of always being “first on the ground” during calamities, the foundation appears to have pulled a Houdini after the latest Marawi attack and Mindanao earthquakes, leaving the affected regions wondering if they missed the memo on the vanishing act. (Cursory check of its website shows their latest update was in June which was …. a repost from February!)

Meanwhile, disbarred Atty. Larry Gadon, appointed as the Presidential Adviser on Poverty Alleviation, seems to be practicing his own disappearing act. Since his appointment in June, the man of the hour has gone MIA, leaving the Filipino people to wonder if poverty itself has been miraculously alleviated, or if Gadon is just perfecting the art of forced hibernation. 

In this spectacle of vanishing entities, one can’t help but marvel at the mastery of illusion displayed by these missing in action characters. Perhaps they’ve enrolled in a crash course on “The Disappearance Chronicles 101.”