In the barrios most churches and “capellas” have within the grounds cemented basketball courts with two opposite goals with a painted – “Donated by...” Most courts are the first important structures appropriated by thankful winning politicians.

Filipinos also love drama. In the barrio where I grew up,fiestas are made livelier with “personal appearances” of matinee idols – and come with them the ever-present “romansa”.Today our Filipino audience couldn’t get enough of the made-for-TV romantic fares that we have had to import from as far away as Mexico and South Korea.

Basketball, boxing and “dramas” make Filipinos alive and happy. So we have of late a much more entertaining distraction, another spectator sports with an added twist which all Filipinos also love – “political entertainment”.

And the main player here is no less than PNoy.

I am talking about “Dodgeball” or also known as “Touchball” locally. As defined in Wikipedia:

Dodgeball is a game in which players on two teams try to throw balls at each other while avoiding being hit themselves.

There are many variations of the game, but generally the main objective of each team is to eliminate all members of the opposing team by hitting them with thrown balls, catching a ball thrown by a member of the opposing team, or forcing them to move outside the court boundaries when a ball is thrown at them.

The key words from the definition above are:“to avoid being hit by the ball”. That is just how easy dodge ball is. So basically, you win the game if you are not hit.

What is the connection between theDodge Ball and Philippine Politics? Well, it has all the ingredients that Filipinos love: sports, drama & entertainment?

Let’s start with Team PNoy as the primary player. Kung sa pambatang laro pa, “Si Pnoy ang taya”. He has the sole authority to throw the ball and hit whoever he wants.

So to whom did he throw the ball first?

Former Chief Justice Renato Corona was PNoy’s first target. With a keen aim, he hit the Chief Justice with the ‘ball’ of corruption issues. Corona couldn’t dodge it, so out he goes!

1-0 Pnoy’s favor...

PNoy still holds the ball. So who do you think was the second target?

Who would have guessed,PNoy aimed at multiple targets!It was those Pork Barrel Scammers. There were more than a hundred of them! However, only the three senators (Estrada, Enrile and Revilla) including businesswoman Napoles were hit. (Conveniently all four out of the hundred were from the opposition).

2-0 PNoy’s favor...

However, before the detainee Jinggoy was out, he had the chance to cast the ball off to PNoy. This is when he exposed the DAP or the Disbursement Acceleration Programfor what it was – PNoy’s own Pork Barrel that helped fund the ouster of Corona.

2-1 PNoy’s favor still, however...

Team PNoy appealed to the “Referees”, the Supreme Court, but DAP was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and impeachment complaints have been filed by the opposing teams.

So what did PNoy and his team members do? They aimed the “dodgeball” at the SC(referee); pushing for the abolition of the JDF andfor “overreach”. SC nevertheless remainsin the gamestill the referee but now also the target of PNoy’s “dodgeball”.

So, PNoy wants to change the rules of the game. He wants to extend his playing time – for perhaps another six years!

The game of “political dodgeball” is not finished. Now his team-mates Trillanes and Cayetano are carrying the ball for the team captain. They now have in their sights the Binays.

But this whole charade of a game is becoming boring – and the fickle audience may just want to throw away the team captain and his whole team in another game the Filipino did twice in the recent past.

The “People Power Game”