The Day I Met the Queen

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

The first time I heard the song of the British rock band Queen was in Paco, Manila in 1980. I was in second year high school  spending my vacation in the jungle asphalt of the Metropolis with my air force’s father who was in his furlough.

“Turorum-tum-tom turo-ro-rum tutom! “Turorum-tum-tom turo-ro-rum tutom!” low riffed by the four strings bass guitar of John Deacon, the composer, who would start the song while the hard beat of the sticks to the drums of Roger Taylor accompanied the “Turorum-tum-tom turo-ro-rum tutom!” that made them stimulate my mind.

"Ansarap naman niyang beat ng Another One Bites The Dust," I quipped to myself.

Then lead singer Freddie Mercury deep throaty flirty-growl and high-pitched voice opened the vocal with:

Steve walks warily down the street

With the brim pulled way down low

Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet

Machine guns ready to go

Are you ready? Hey, are you ready for this?

Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?

Of course I did not know yet the names of the lead singer, lead guitarist Brian May, bass guitarist, and the drummer of the rock band created in London in 1970.

The song caught me with its funk rock beat of the bass guitar, drum, and its boogie styled melody.

Gen. Bato Answers My Queries on Murders, ICC against Him

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

The reason why former four-star general and national police chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa earned a niche in the heart and mind of Filipino voters was not only his derring-do to belt a song or songs while lady spectators pulled their male counterparts to dance with the music he averagely sang but his provincial demeanour spiced up by his Cebuano or Mindanaon thick accented Tagalog.

These are his comparative advantage to other senatorial rivals like Bam Aquino, JV Ejercito, and others who were outside the Magic 12 of the 2019 Senate Race’s surveys.

I’ve been telling media colleagues here in Luzon why Tagalog ladies loved their Visayan or Mindanoan boyfriends or husbands not because of their sexual prowess but because of the thickness of their tongue in enunciating a correct sounding American word. 

ITAGA MO SA BATO - Pollster’s Social Weather Station No. 10 senatorial wannabe retired police general Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa was smiling when I told him in "Bisaya" names of his relatives in Barangay Bato, Sta. Cruz , Davao del Sur, my town mate Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol, and his "Good Boy" PMA, classmate in Mindanao.

Peace for them is “Pis”.
  As a resident of Mindanao in the middle of 1970s to middle of 1980s, the ballyhooed “Pis” word for them had, son of a gun, multiple meanings.
Pis could be “Face”, “Peace”, “Paste”, "Piss", or “Fish”.