By Alex P. Vidal
“It is not your qualifications but your exposure in life that makes you who you are.”—Jaggi Vasudev
IF you joined President Bongbong Marcos Jr. in his recent official visit to Washington D.C. and again when the president and his wife, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, went to London to attend the Coronation of King Charles III at the Westminster Abbey, you are not only “makapal ang mukha” (Tagalog for thick-faced), you also have no delicadeza.
Like House Speaker Martin Romualdez, who may be part of the Philippine delegation in his cousin, President Marcos Jr.’s meeting with US President Joe Biden in White House on May 1, but had no business whatsoever being present in London for the Coronation of the 40th monarch.
The reason is simple: only heads of state were officially given the RSVP invitation by the British Royal Family for the historic occasion.
Of the more or less 2,000 invited VIPs, including kings and princesses from around the world and prominent heads of state, no extra invitation was given to the alalays, cousins, or even nondescript politicians who are lovers of splendor and majesty.
But because Romualdez thinks he is malakas or lapit sa luwag being the president’s relative and a House speaker to boot, he ignored the basic protocol and reportedly tagged along with the Marcos couple on a special flight to see the Big Ben and the Buckingham Palace.
Let’s hope another politician and perennial extra baggage, Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo, did not complete the junket to the London Bridge.
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While the Coronation was going on, I posted on my Twitter account the following: “Monarchy has lost its relevance in this generation. Time to abolish it. #monarchy”
Some of the reasons why many people around the around are also against the continuation of monarchy in this age is that in the case of newly crowed Charles III, being a king, atop an unequal and unjust economic system, means he has his own rules.
The new king, for example, will pay no inheritance tax on his mother’s private wealth, whereas the public have to pay 40 per cent on anything inherited over a £325,000 threshold, according to Sonali Bhattacharyya of Independent.
The monarch is also immune from dozens more laws: King Charles will be exempt from having to comply with various workers’ rights, health and safety, and pensions legislation, while the police are effectively barred from entering his private estate to investigate crimes without the crown’s permission.
Shockingly, royal household employees are unable to raise sexual and racial discrimination complaints, Sonali added.
The monarchical regime and its basis in hereditary privilege must be up for debate, she said.
“The monarchy’s role in British colonialism is a good place to start. August marked the 75th anniversary of the partition of the Indian subcontinent, when a British civil servant carved up the territory after spending 10 weeks in the region. More than a million people died as a result,” Sonali explained.
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Don’t wash, I’m coming home! — NAPOLEON TO JOSEPHINE, on his way back to Paris from the front. Napoleon, a wide-reader, knew that a woman’s genitals are a self-cleaning system and in fact more sanitary than many other parts of the body, including the mouth. The scent of nature and nature is good.
VERY OLD. The age of the Gold State Coach, which has been used to carry British royals in every coronation since William IV in 1831, was 260. The historic carriage was used to convey King Charles III and Queen Camilla back to the palace after they were crowned on Saturday at London’s Westminster Abbey.
The Coronation was a suitably royal affair with the cost ranging between £50 million and £100 million (about between $63 million and $126 million), according to estimates cited by the BBC. But it came as Great Britain was in the midst of an ongoing economic downturn that has the country bracing for one of its longest recessions ever.
DIFFERENT TRUTHS. Spherical truth has multiple dimensions like in the Solar System. Human truth only has two elements: empirical and necessary. Empirical truth says “Four seasons in America are winter, spring, summer, fall.” This is truth as a matter of fact. Necessary truth says “5 + 5 = 10.” This is true and cannot be possibly false. God’s truth is ontological because God is the Author, Source, Determiner, Governor, Arbiter, Ultimate Standard, and final Judge of all truth.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)
