No one ever wonders how fate has been overly generous to her, this public official whose fabulous fortune far outstrips her visible sources of legal income. She has two condo units in Manila on top of her palatial residence which her salary as government executive cannot buy even if she had two lifetimes.

But she is also a perfect case of the Ilonggo maxim: "Kabalo gid man Dios magbaki-baki (God knows how to balance things).'

She might have amassed a fortune but she is equally blessed with three children with their own pecular traits. Her eldest child, sired by a former provincial treasurer, still depends on her for survival though she is very much employed as well. She (yes, a "she") spends much of her income on her girlfriends (yes, "girlfriends").

Her second child, from a former public prosecutor, acts in reverse. His (yes, a "he") income is dedicated only for his "banaba" and other "batuta", if you know what we mean.

Her third child is a beauty, aside from being young and promising. And is very much like her mother overflowing with estros, libido if you may. A supervisor once ordered the telephone line "for official use" by the mother cut off because of unpaid phone bills, dialled to numbers of a shadowy company selling phone sex that the daughter patronized.

"Indi ako iya kawatan. Ngaa mangawat pa ako kay damu na kwarta ko!" this public official would love to declare.*