Boy Started California Fire

Here's a remarkable piece of news from the U.S. Officials there claim that a boy playing with matches actually started the fire which has consumed some 2,000 homes and blackened 800 square miles of Californian landscape. Earlier, investigators were following the arson lead and even arrested five suspects but later released them for lack of evidence linking them to the fire. The Los Angeles sheriff's department has said that prosecutors were yet to determine if the boy's parents would be held accountable for any financial losses caused by the fire. Now there's one hell of a good reason why parents should admonish their children not to play with matches!

The "boy playing with matches" theory seems too incredible to be true and the American public might not believe that story. In fact, I am waiting for the U.S. authorities to take back or correct the press statement because it might have been very funny if not for the immensity of the destruction wrought by the fire. Actually, what this news report calls to mind is the Glorietta "Bombing or Gas Leak?" incident a couple of weeks ago wherein our own police authorities gave conflicting reports and theories on what really caused the explosion with Senator Trillanes even putting forth his "Oplan Greenbase all-over-again" theory. In this day and age, there is too much information available that it confuses most people. Eventually, one believes what one wants to believe.

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As a footnote to the recently-concluded barangay elections, I had this truly hilarious conversation with a man who won as kagawad in our barangay. While buying a pack of Marlboro Lights in our local tiangge store, I chanced upon our neighborhood tambays celebrating the "surprise" victory of their fellow tambay as Barangay Kagawad. They were quite loud, sincerely happy that one of their own is now holding the "reins of power" in the barangay and I can see that their group had already consumed at least one case of Red Horse beer. Their group was noisily discussing what they will do with the reported P3,000 allowance that a kagawad reportedly receives every month. A humble, jobless old man, the kagawad-elect (naks) would just nod to acknowledge all of his friends' wacky suggestions. When I asked him seriously (but only half-seriously) what he plans to do with his first salary, he replied (seriously) "mapahimo ko pustiso." (translation: "i'll go get a set of dentures.") I almost swallowed my cigarette.