Sputnik

"Are you OK? We heard the political situation in Manila has started to deteriorate," my father sent this SMS message to me.

"I'm not joining any rally and I live far away from Malacañang," was my terse reply.

"The provinces are calm," he replied, it's as if the country were in a civil war. He seems to think I live next door to the EDSA Shrine. Well, my neighborhood's a stone's throw away from Camp Aguinaldo.

Unlike my mom who reacts calmly, my father always panic-reacts.

Although he's been to Manila several times in the past, he once told me to be careful in the big city lest I encounter members of the dreaded Sputnik Gang. I didn't even know how to react. Tabloids, TV Patrol and AM radio fired up his imagination.