‘Anyone who has been following the issues hounding the candidacy of Ferdinand II know how touch and go this case will be, but then I also have friends who drop the word ‘syndicate’ in discussing the potential outcome. Except they refuse to elaborate.’
I GREW up loving DQ. As in Dairy Queen. In the 1970s they had an outlet in Cubao, in the New Frontier Cinema building. Every time I would watch a picture at New Frontier (which, together with sister cinema Nation had a “cinerama” or wider screen) there would be the temptation to pass by the Dairy Queen shop and get a dipper. This was their unique ice cream, super creamy in short pudgy cones, and you have your ice cream dunked into a vat of thick quick drying chocolate syrup that became brittle on the vanilla ice cream.
If you were not a quick eater like me you had to rush to lick off the dripping vanilla ice cream on the sides of the cone and had to make sure you could swallow the stub of the cone in one blow before the ice cream turned it into a soggy mess.
The taste of DQ was unique. They still have Dairy Queen outlets now, and still do the same “dunk in a vat of chocolate” flourish if you ordered the classic cone, but I have to admit the vanilla doesn’t seem to be as creamy as it was before. Then again times change, sometimes formulas change, too. Not to mention the need to adjust things in keeping with rising costs and all.
DQ, however, did not always stand for something so sought-after.
By the time I got to university, DQ had a different and less savory meaning. This time it had something to do with not being compliant with all the requirements expected of a student enrolled in a specific number of units per semester. My memory isn’t so fresh anymore so I don’t really remember the specifics, but in UP you were supposed to complete (as in receive a passing mark) in I think 60% of all the units you enrolled in for a semester or else you get into trouble with the registrar. You get DQ’ed if I remember right — meaning, delinquent. Again, I think being delinquent for more than one semester (or maybe two semesters in succession) can in turn get you into deeper hot water — you can get booted out of the university. And you wouldn’t want that because then you wouldn’t get the diploma your parents wanted you to get in the first place. And even if you had the means, you wouldn’t be able to buy a diploma. So we all did what we could to avoid getting DQ’ed even if it meant dropping the classes we felt we could not pass no matter who our parents were.
My thoughts turned to DQ today because my friends have been talking about nothing but the DQ (as in disqualification) case against Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that is pending before the Commission on Elections and will be decided soon. I even have friends who are betting on the outcome — something very Filipino. Anyone who has been following the issues hounding the candidacy of Ferdinand II know how touch and go this case will be, but then I also have friends who drop the word “syndicate” in discussing the potential outcome. Except they refuse to elaborate.
So I guess we will all just have to wait. Whatever the decision is, some will be joyous and some will be appalled but most will probably just take notice and then shrug their shoulders.
Me? I’ll head for the DQ outlet at SM San Pablo and treat myself to a childhood fancy, which I will enjoy while watching social media erupt in flames. Figuratively.
