  In spite of the country's many troubles,  people of the P. I.  are glued to the on- going real- life soap which even merited the front page of dailies yesterday.
 I'm talking about the urlLink Kris Aquino- Joey Marquez drama ,  which involves guns,  physical and emotional abuse,  sex,  STD,
 women and fame ( or infamy)  unravelling right before the gossip- obssessed population.  Ms.  Aquino,
 daughter of assassinated Benigno Aquino,  Jr.  and former president Corazon Aquino,  gave an interview last night to shed light on what happened,  and as a reaction to,  Marquez's (
former basketball player,  actor,  professional womanizer,  gossip show host,  current mayor of Paranaque City and a possible candidate for a congress seat in 2004)  allegations and early interviews about the end of their affair which,
 if Ms.  Aquino was to be believed,  involved his cocking a gun at her after an spat that started with a text message.  Can't we all go down any further than this?  I mean,  fine,
 these people are famous and they have loads of money that go with the fame.  But really,  to have their faces splashed on yesterday's front pages was silly.  Publicizing the details of what should be a private,  albeit sordid,  extra-
marital affair is stupid.  ( You can't blame Aquino of course,  as it was Marquez who first gathered the press around him.  And for all of us to be stay glued to the boob tube and sucking up the drama was downright dumb.  The peso has fallen by 19 cents against the US dollar,
 the President's popularity has dropped by 20%  kidnappers are having a field day,  the G- 22 block may be split by rich nations,  the Jose Pidal heist is still yet to be resolved,  there was a leak in the bar exams,
 but here go the tongue- waggers and everything else appeared unimportant compared to Aquino's nth tragic break- up with her nth boyfriend.
