With the aid of the ever-reliable copy-and-paste function of the computer, I am posting one of the 7 Untold Pinoy Stories a friend sent me via e-mail. (Don't sue me. I just received them. I didn't make them up.) A lot of you might already have read this, as it has been circulating quite profusely on the net. For those of you who haven't, read on and let me know who you think these personalities are.
They were the best of friends. They were always seen together around the University of the Philippines (UP) campus in Diliman: one was undoubtedly a very good-looking guy and the other was unquestionably a plain-looking guy. Opposites really attract. Hey, but they're both brilliant students. Well, birds of the same feather also flock together. Indeed, they were very close to each other. Unusually close.
They were the perfect tandem. Like suman and ripe mango. Or nuts and bolts. Peg and a hole.
They were both proteges of then UP Student Council chairman Chito Gascon. Soon, the good-looking guy took the helm as UP Student Council chairman. But the best friends seem to follow each other's path. The plain-looking guy also ran for the same position with the all-out support of his good-looking friend. He won, of course.
The good-looking guy was the crush ng bayan of the iskolars ng bayan.
During lunchtime, students of all persuasions flocked to the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) cafeteria to catch a glimpse of the good- looking guy. Even singer-actress Regine Velasquez later admitted on national television that she had a big crush on the good-looking guy.
But loveless Regine's daring admission did not earn her even just a movie date invitation from the good-looking guy; instead, the good- looking guy merely flashed a demure smile in response to desperate Regine's thinly-veiled date invitation.
But after finishing college, the best friends went their separate ways. (Or so it seemed). The plain-looking guy pursued his law studies and later taught law courses. The good-looking guy delivered the evening news on TV, hosted a TV quiz show and wrote analytical articles on pop culture. His good looks, intelligence and impeccable manner endeared him to televiewers.
Despite their divergent career choices, the good-looking guy and the plain-looking guy really seemed to follow each other's path. But this time, their path led to a nice little apartment near the Ateneo de Manila campus. And they shared that nice little apartment. Just the two of them.
Yes, the plain-looking guy and the good-looking guy lived together.
Those gifted with wild imagination got titillated at the mere thought of these two young men sharing a lovely apartment. The moralists out there shook their heads at the mere thought of the goings-on beyond that innocent-looking apartment door amid rows of middle-class houses in Loyola Heights in Quezon City.
But the pair would not budge from their nest. Nor would they yield to any pressure. Not even from the plain-looking guy's bible-reading siblings who berated him for living with another guy. The plain- looking guy's own family started to cast doubt about his masculinity.
All telltale signs which have accumulated all those years could no longer be ignored. People started talking openly about the two guys.
Speculations about the true nature of the pair's friendship became a daily fodder for gossip mongers. The academic freedom which alma mater UP's oblation symbolizes seemed to have gone beyond the duo's lust for knowledge.
In order to prove to his family that he was not what they thought he was, the plain-looking guy suddenly announced that he was getting married. His family jumped with joy.
But the plain-looking guy's marriage did not dispel wild speculations about his sexuality; instead, it only succeeded in erasing any remaining doubt about his alleged agenda of using his wife to finally succeed in his failed initial crack at pursuing his lifelong dream.
And it was well worth his efforts. Because this former loser's desperate act finally triumphed. Thanks to his wife.
However, the plain-looking guy's deep friendship with his good-looking friend took a backseat as a result of the former's new civil status. The plain-looking guy did not want to hurt his new wife's flourishing career nor spoil his newfound success. That's why he played his role as a good family man to the hilt. However, he had not forgotten his good-looking best friend at all. As a token of their undying friendship, the good-looking guy stood as one of the godfathers of the plain-looking guy's first baby, together with Edu Manzano, Cesar Montano, Cherie Gil, Ciara Sotto, Angeli Valenciano, Fanny Serrano and a host of other household names. Of course, the plain-looking guy's wife was clueless about her husband's past.
But the plain-looking guy's wife had her share of dark past. She is a single mother who parted ways with her good-looking "first husband" after she discovered that her good-looking "first husband" was already married to another woman when she hastily married him after she got pregnant at a young age. This meant that her marriage to her good-looking "first husband" was not legally binding after all. Now, the plain-looking guy was her knight-in-shining- armor who rescued her from the stigma of being an unmarried mother.
Ironically, while her non-binding marriage with her good-looking "first husband" was solemnized by several high-rankingpriests at the cavernous Manila Cathedral amid countless clicking cameras and thousands of shrieking admirers several years ago, her supposedly legitimate marriage with the plain-looking guy was officiated not by a Catholic priest but by a pastor in a cramped living room, with only few relatives and friends as witnesses.
Later, the good-looking guy reportedly got married also without fanfare. They said that his bride was a creative consultant for ABS- CBN Interactive. However, some women still believe and hope that he is still unmarried to this day.
The good-looking guy soon rose to become ABS-CBN News Channel's (ANC) Director for Current Affairs. He has been circling the globe as host of ANC's weekly travel show.
Hudapakshet?!
But it's that time of the year when all I want to do is pay homage to the most important woman in my and my brother's lives --- a woman who held a respectable position in the civil service industry but chose to be a hands-on mother instead; a woman who took care of our loving father until his very last breath;
a woman who, despite her college diploma and invaluable professional experience, sold fish in the market to sustain our family in our most trying moments; a selfless woman who, gave everything she had and did everything to source out whatever she 
This is Remi --- our Mother. The wind beneath our wings. 
