Bro. Mike Velarde of the Catholic charismatic group El Shaddai dreams of becoming the country?s next president.

If he gets elected, this country will become a theocracy, a government run by the religious.

Hallelujah!

* * *

If Velarde became president, Amvel would grow into the biggest real estate firm in the country.

Even now, when he?s only a religious leader, Velarde?s firm was paid 1,000 percent of the value of a piece of land through which the government built a road.

You know how much the firm was paid? More than a billion pesos!

Many people think they?re in the wrong profession.

* * *

If Velarde became president, the Catholic Church would no longer be a thorn in the side of government.

Why? Because the Church and State would be one.

Many priests and bishops would be appointed Cabinet members and others would run for congressman, mayor or governor in their respective religious turfs.

* * *

Of course, lucrative government posts like the Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Internal Revenue and Pagcor would go to El Shaddai members.

?Love offerings? would no longer be in centavos and small peso denominations but in the millions of pesos.

Mike Velarde?s administration would usher in the golden era of the Catholic Church in the Philippines.

* * *

Former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn ?Jocjoc? Bolante has lost another case in the United States in his petition for asylum.

This paves the way for his eventual deportation to the Philippines.

When that happens, Bolante would become a Pandora?s box pried open.

Many dark secrets of the Gloria administration might be exposed.

Bolante has reportedly told some friends he felt bad that the Gloria administration didn?t do enough to help him in his predicament.

* * *

I was in Davao City over the weekend to attend the wedding of a nephew, and took the opportunity to ask how ordinary people felt about the scrapped memorandum of agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

If only Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo could hear the reactions of ordinary people I talked with!

They?re all unprintable Visayan words.

If I were GMA, I wouldn?t go to Mindanao when she?s already out of power.

* * *

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was booted out of office by a constitutional court for violating a conflict-of-interest law by hosting two TV cooking shows while in office.

If that law were in effect in this country, many government officials, both elective and appointive, would be kicked out.

Many elected officials host TV and radio shows, accept movie contracts, or write newspaper columns.

These officials have no shame! They should concentrate on their jobs to which they were elected by the people.