Reyes BBQ

No pictures for today of my lunch.

Had lunch with Lyndon today, a classmate of mine from High School.

We walked to the RCBC Plaza and dined at the Reyes Barbeque. I ordered 2 sticks of their yummilicious, juicylicious and super tender pork barbecue served with thick and smoky barbecue sauce, pickled papaya salad and the usual java rice. Had to have Coke light to drain this cholesterol laiden food.

The barbeque is always a delight. I will never get weary in eating barbeque, either with rice or as hors d'oeuvre. It is filling and a great food creation.

I did not see Lyndon for over a year now. He's in Manila since early 2006 and have not had a permanent job. He started to work in a Pre-need company, but eventually quit after 3 days as he did not like the environment at all. He tried his luck at several call centers, but didn't find the right fit either.

He used to have a casual employment with the City of Tanjay as Information Officer under the Public Information Office. I can't remember how long he held that position, I guess, it must be for quite sometime. He quit his job as the possibility of permanency is a remote reality, and as he contends, he is not growing any younger with a growing family to feed.

We talked about the state of political affairs in Tanjay. How chaos was averted when the incumbent family lost the mayoralty post to the tandem of Lawrence Teves and Nilo Tam just shortly after the election results were announced. Well, power can corrupt anyone especially the weak in spirit. You see, in Tanjay, Baltazar Salma has been in power for 9 years or the maximum 3 terms as City Mayor. It was widely known that in last May 14 elections, Salma will turn over the reins to his vice mayor, Lawrence Teves. Salma suddenly changed his mind and fielded his son Neil, to run for mayor.

Candidates and standard bearers of political parties are very much agreed upon by the political stalwarts of the City and the Province way before the dawning of an election year. This prevents turf wars, personal mudslinging and crab mentality syndrome during the term of an incumbent. It also allows continuity of platforms, cooperation and peaceful transition of power.

Truth be told, Salma's son lost in the mayoralty race and for a lot of reasons.

There was one rumor that I found funny about the state of health of then mayor Baltazar Salma during the last half of 2006. It has been reported in the papers that the mayor is ailing and has been in and out of the hospital for quite sometime. Clamor from the Tanjay constituency has it, that the people wanted a pronouncement on the mayor's state of health as it has been awhile since his last public appearance.

Well, the funny story was something like this. One morning, mayor Salma was in the shower when his mobile phone beeped. It was an sms message. The mayor's wife, a DepEd Division Supervisor, reportedly went to check the mayor's phone. Rumor has it, that the text message for the mayor was coming from a girl, maybe a querida or something. Alledgedly, the mayor's wife grabbed a .45 caliber pistol and hit the mayor in the head with the butt of the gun. This caused a major impact on the mayor's head which led to his hospitalization. It was told, that some damage to the brain resulted from this injury. Well, according to some stories, the mayor's wife was only joking when she poked her husband in the head. Only the joke went too far to cause his confinement. Lesson here, throw away those mobile phones, lol.