Edit: the disbarment was never filed at the Supreme Court

woman scornedLet’s just assume that indeed Maria Celia Virginia Suarez (otherwise known as Maricel or Virgie) is the former mistress of the First Gentleman, Mike Arroyo then she must have had some knowledge of the “Etiquette of being a Mistress”. Her complaint, Disbar the First Boor is either a black propaganda of the first gentleman’s enemies or a result of a woman scorned. The petition says that “Sometime in the mid-1980’s, the relationship turned sour when petitioner discovered Respondent’s secret relationship with Vicky Toh (Vicky).”

I am not an expert with mistresses but I have met a few who would rather move on with their lives than fight out a legal battle. Still, I am sure Celia Suarez felt betrayed.

Whatever made her file this disbarment petition looks like a “Hell Hath No fury Like a Woman Scorned” action.

You know there can never be a promise of marriage until the final papers of annulment are approved. This is so funny.

Well settled is the rule that when a member of the Bar seduces a woman to have carnal knowledge with her on the basis of misrepresentation that he is going to marry her is deemed a grossly immoral act. (Almirez vs. Lopez, G.R. Adm. Case No. 481, 28 February 1969, 27SCRA 169). In fact, the acts of Respondent are so corrupt and false and so unprincipled or disgraceful to a reprehensible degree which will justify his disbarment! This is reflected in the that all throughout their relationship, Respondent would always promise to marry petitioner declaring that she was already separated from GMA. The petitioner readily believe the respondent the latter being a lawyer at that. It was only after a while that petitioner came to know that Respondent Arroyo tricked, deceived and used her in order that she would continue in allowing him to 1have carnal knowledge with her.

Even without the promise of marriage, most mistresses know that it does not happen overnight and some are resigned living that kind of life. I think most mistresses know they are contented to be with their lover even without the benefits of marriage. It’s terribly naive of any girl to think that she wasn’t aware of the marital status of their lover.

Read More →

firecrackers[tag]Happy New Year[/tag] [tag]2007[/tag]. My ears are still ringing from the din of our neighbors merriment. The house across our home were filled with party revelers spewing [tag]firecrackers[/tag] blast and [tag]fireworks[/tag] display starting at 9:00 PM till midnight. It’s been a long time since I’ve inhaled so much toxic smoke considering the village we live is relatively peaceful. Next year, I should remind myself to check in at a hotel to avoid this racket. The street looked like a warzone with debris of the fireworks strewn all over. The firecrackers’ explosion created so much noise I could barely hear anyone beside me for the whole duration. The girls were furious and scared of the noise. I mean , we can take in some noise but these were like total destruction to our eardrums. While taking the video, sparks flew towards our front porch hitting me on my arms. That’s how powerful it was. Listen to this nerve-wracking firecrackers explosion.

Our celebration is so tame compared to our neighbors. Here are videos of our fireworks

1. Serenity fountains,
2. Dancing Dragons
3. Angels in the Sky (mini rockets) and
4. Peacock fountains.

I placed the garden hose beside us just in case the fireworks go haywire.

Read More →


fireworksAfter having an early dinner, Butch dragged all of us to the SM Mall of Asia. Knowing there are [tag]fireworks display[/tag] at 7:00 PM every fridays and saturdays, the idea of sipping coffee and watching the outdoors fireworks display sounded like a swell idea. Just as we sat down on our chairs in the UCC Vienna Cafe, the crowd of mall shoppers started to swell. Fumbling with my camera’s navigation buttons, I failed to see the video option. Fireworks’ images don’t say much of the dazzling display . It’s the video that captures the splash of colors and the sounds of the crowd’s gasp of oooooh and ahhhs. Too bad I didn’t get to take a video of the 5 minute fireworks’ display. It’s my first time to see a huge fireworks display amidst a wide area of black space of Manila Bay. It’s really pretty.

Just as we went back to the coffee shop, Steven Tan, the general manager of SM Mall of Asia called out my husband’s name. What a delight to see Steven! He invited us to their New Year Eve’s [tag]fireworks[/tag] display at 12 midnight. According to Steven, the pyrotechnics cost 1.8 million pesos. What a hefty sum to blow off for just a few minutes. Perhaps the fireworks play a purpose to drive away the evil spirits and bring in good luck and harmony for the new year. I don’t know if we are going to watch the fireworks display. It’s always been our New Year’s Eve tradition to create loud noises ,toot the horns, light up a few sparklers and fireworks and then eat our noche buena. Safety is an important consideration . I get paranoid of stray bullets and careless people who just throw off fireworks to passing cars. We’ll see if a change of scenery might be worth it.

These are a few Photos of the Fireworks display that I took tonight.

Read More →

One of the [tag]Christmas presents[/tag] I gave the two girls is a BLESSING BOX, an idea I got from Darcie Sims’ The Blessing Box tip. And no, I don’t think it’s Oprah’s original idea.

blessing box

Inside this little box, are tiny messages and reminders of the joys and blessings of my life. Instead of keeping a litany of hurt and failure in my head, now I commit these “gifts of love” to paper and place them in my box, where I can read them, touch them, hold them any time I need to. This little box represents the best things in my life and I never again have to fear forgetting the love and the light in my life. They are all here, in my Blessing Box, waiting for me to cherish them again and again and again…

Make a [tag]Blessing Box[/tag] for yourself this season. And watch it change your life. Never again will you count what you have lost or forgotten. Now you will always be reminded of the treasures in your life. No matter how sparkly or rusted, these memories and blessings are yours, to treasure, to cherish, to keep, to hold, to share.

Read More →

christmas20061.jpg
[tag]Christmas Day[/tag] has just begun. The season flows. Magic is in the air. The girls are giddy after gift opening. The hubby is mushy and romantic. It’s a wonderful start of the day. For others, the holidays can be lonely and difficult. You are not the exception if you find yourselves facing a less-than-ideal holiday. How easy, but untrue to tell ourselves the rest of world is experiencing the perfect holiday and we’re alone in conflict. We can do something about it. Create our own holiday agenda. Buy yourself a gift. Find someone to whom you can give. Unleash your loving , nurturing self and give in to the holiday spirit. Go with the flow.

If I could give each of you a gift I would want to give you the gift of peace, as much peace as you can possibly find. If you find your situation is less than ideal, I hope you take what’s good and let go of the rest.

Enjoy and cherish this holiday.

christmaschristmas"

I am going to let the photos speak for itself. Click Christmas Eve/Day 2006 photos

last christmas
(Luijoe’s last Christmas in 1999, Baguio City)

Christmas is a special time of year. Although shiny decorations and twinkling lights are the window dressing for this exciting festivity, it is the warmth and love of family and friends that make the holiday season so memorable. However, it can be a painful time for those experiencing the recent loss of a loved one. It must be hard for the newly bereaved family members who lost Anne Sherina only last Monday, December 18, 2006. Anne Sherina died of “pulmonary affliction due to Dengue Shock Syndrome”. Grief in Christmas is doubly daunting for this family.

So when ABS-CBN “Salamat Doc” called me up to guest live for tomorrow’s Christmas Eve 6:00 AM episode, I didn’t hesitate. Though my busy schedule was full, I made room for this show. I know there are a lot of newly bereaved and seasoned grievers who are still coping with the difficulties of the holidays. My heart sometimes still echoes with emptiness as I roll out the gingerbread dough or hang the Christmas Angel cookies near Luijoe’s Memorial shrine. I think that hurt will always be with me, but now I know it only as a momentary ache – not like the first year when grief drowned over me in huge waves, each new wave hurling me deeper and deeper into despair.

My husband and I have walked that difficult road every Christmas.

The staff took a VTR of how I coped with Christmas through the years. I showed Luijoe’s memorial table, his memory box, toys, books and all the angel decors of our family den. I thought that my husband would buckle down in tears because he has never opened Luijoe’s photo album in years. The staff told us to sift through Luijoe’s photos. This VTR is indeed therapy for my husband. Knowing we are helping others gives us the courage to share our story, on how we coped and survived. We want to show that love isn’t something that ends with death.

Read More →

my dadToday is the third death anniversary of my dad. I miss my dad terribly. My dad outlived two of my brothers, my mom and his grandchild, Luijoe. It’s a grand slam. He was a bereaved spouse, a bereaved father and bereaved grandfather. Now who could beat that? During the funeral of my brother, Oscar in April 1999, my dad collapsed right after the burial. Dad never got to walk again till his death in December 5, 2003. I didn’t tell dad that Luijoe died because my dad was already sick in the year 2000. Another loss would surely devastate him. We were afraid dad would join him in death if he ever found out, knowing how he doted on all his grandchildren. We couldn’t risk telling him because we were not ready to see dad go yet. Four years later, dad died of complications from diabetes and hypertension. Often, I question God why my father who was a good man, a loving father, a generous provider had to suffer for 4 years. All these deaths in my family made me wonder if our family was cursed or something. Should I dare say that I am blessed that God took my family members? That my dad, mom , two brothers and son ‘s mission on earth is done?

I know my father was not perfect but I adored him. When I was in college, dad often travelled to Manila to visit us at our dorms. He was never too busy to set aside family time for us. As a young widower, he often brought his girlfriend when we had dinner. We encouraged dad to re-marry but he never did. He didn’t want to cause a family rift. I thought husbands were made like my dad. I was so wrong. A lot of my marital problems was because I compared my husband and dad. Hehe, I think my husband also compared me to his sweet mom. Too bad, he married a bitch.

Christmas is fast approaching and I remember how dad made it so much fun for us. I will always associate Christmas with my dad. He literally spoiled us to death. The best gift dad ever gave us was the gift of laughter. Dad’s booming laughter often rings in my ear even in times of adversity. It is the same gift that I continue to give to my children when the going gets rough.

In honor of my dad, I now sign as Noemi Lardizabal-Dado because much of who I am is because of my dad. My dad lives on in me and in my work. I can just imagine my dad smiling at me as I do service to others.

My Dad’s Memorial Site

(Photo above is my dad during a Christmas presentation where he dances to the music “Macho Man”)

infidelityWith the arrest of Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan at the vicinity of Ingrid Ramos’s townhouse, the question is Who is Ingrid Ramos?. In today’s issuse of Philippine Star , “Mystery woman: Who is Ingrid Ramos?” sheds some light…

PNP chief Director General Oscar Calderon….refused to answer questions regarding allegations that Honasan has an intimate relationship with Ramos, who was reportedly a former secretary of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile.

Enrile, in a press conference, denied knowing Ramos: “I don’t recall any woman by the name of Ingrid or with the family name Ramos. Maybe if that was her middle name I could not recall. Maybe she was one of my campaign supporters but I have so many thousand campaign supporters and I did not know all of them.”

Pray tell me, what is Gringo doing at 2:00 AM in Ingrid’s townhouse? There seems to be two versions on how Gringo was captured making me suspicious that they are trying to protect Ingrid and Gringo’s wife from undue embarassment. Tito Sotto’s version is that ” Honasan was arrested by police after a brief car chase at the vicinity of Christ the King Church. He said the fugitive senator jumped out of the moving vehicle and tried to hide in the neighborhood. It was while scaling fences that he hurt his right leg,” but the police operatives insist he was arrested while visiting the woman at 2:00 AM. Media seems to play the mystery woman to the hilt.

Police sources said they witnessed a confrontation in which Mrs. Honasan shouted profanities at her husband, accusing him of being unable to control his libido.

She vowed never to visit him again, the sources said.

(Source:Fugitive captured in ‘lover’s’ townhouse)

I can’t blame Gringo’s wife. If that happened to me, I’d smack my husband on the head with my Macbook , oh not that…my kaldero (pot). Even if my husband has a working relationship with a fellow lady lawyer, I find it despicable for two people to be working in the dead of the night and at a townhouse at that. It’s just too bad Gringo got caught in the place of residence of this mystery woman.

Stories of spouses getting caught is nothing new. With the advent of cellphones, a philandering spouse is sometimes caught in the act if their cellphone is turned on accidentally. I know of a friend who overheard the illicit conversation between her husband and the other woman in a hotel room. Apparently, the cellphone’s setting is such that a call is answered when any button is pressed. Imagine the anguish and anger of the wife upon hearing her husband’s romantic advances with this woman. The wife lost all respect for him and felt so violated.

Read More →

IMG_0653.jpg
All Saints Day seems more like a school fair to me except there are gravestones, tents, picnic tables all over the cemetery. The mood at the cemetery is festive with children running around, the ice cream man ringing his bell, the taho vendor yelling taho, kids playing with melting candle, teens surfing at the SMART BRO internet booth, food vendors raking in some sales from the crowd. It’s a yearly ritual for our loved one whom we love, miss and remember always. Once a year, we share that common bond with families with a similar loss.

The first All Saints Day for Luijoe in 2000 felt surreal. The marble tombstone felt cold to the touch but the laughter and the crowd reminded me that Luijoe is never far from me. To my dear son, my dad, my mom, brothers Oscar and Ruben, they have not really left us but just gotten ahead of us to their real home. The memory of my loved one is a part of my life forever. Today is a celebration that love never dies.

all saints day

Read More →

johnhay.jpgMy husband and I just arrived from an overnight trip from Baguio. Oh I just love Baguio on a non-peak month. Traffic was so smooth all the way to Baguio and back. We were supposed to stay at the Baguio Country Club but the club gave such a lovely promo to its members , like pay one night for a two nights stay . Naturally, all the rooms were fully booked. We decided to stay at my husband’s ancestral home instead. Not quite the romantic interlude I expected for the weekend but oh well, at least I was with my loving husband. Revisiting Baguio is such a bittersweet experience. Every summer and Christmas season, we bring the three kids to bond with their roots or rather with their father’s roots. I also bring them to Cebu, where I grew up. Camp John Hay is one of the places that my son and I use to play during the summer months. I have not been here for such a long time since his death. I cannot help but miss his physical presence so I breathe in the cold pine scent hoping to feel a spiritual connection with him. Knowing he was here at one point in his life is enough to make me smile.

I looked around for a wifi enabled coffee shop on an early sunday morning.

fillingstation.jpgfigaro.jpg

The best place to get an internet wi-fi is at the Filling Station in Camp John Hay. It’s quiet and has a spectacular view of the pine trees. There is a butterfly farm beside it but the rains prevented me from strolling further. So there I was sipping coffee and looking out at the pine trees hoping to catch a moment in time. Those moments when the laughter of my son and girls used to reverberate the cool air of this city. God, how I miss those days.