By Tom Seyer

O ur editor passed on to me an e-mail from Don Azarias of Chicago. He is the chairman of the “Filipino-American DOMs.” No, it does not stand for “Dirty Old Men.” To the DOMs, it means “Dashing and Outspoken Mediamen,” which resulted from an online-brainstorming session done by the charter members. Here is Chairman DOM Don’s e-mail . . .

RE: ‘Overseas-Philippine Emancipators’ Rainbow Alliance (OPERA).’ Of all the acronyms you've coined, I think this is the best. I remember one regarding CRABS and ALIMANGO although I can't recall what they stand for. Would you e-mail the list of all the acronyms you've created for our enjoyment? I'm sure most of the people on this listserv would get a big kick out of reading them.—Don Azarias

T he CRABS (meaning, “Citizens Rebelling Against Bogus Spending”) was actually cooked up (pun intended) by San Jose, California-based Tito Cortez and his allies in their fight against Ben Menor of the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations (NaFFAA). This was after the NaFFAA’s Rodel Rodis said in his Philippine News column that Mr. Menor’s adversaries were exhibiting “crab mentality.” The fight by Cortez and Company against Mr. Menor was tagged by Lolo Bobby as the “Menorgate” portion of the “NaFFAAgate Scandal.”

v    ALIMANGO – Alliance to Indict the Malefactors and As_holes of Non-governmental Organizations. (Later, Lolo Bobby replaced “As_holes” with “Abusers” after some people complained about it.)

v    BORAT – Bicolnons Ostracizing, and Reporting to the Authorities, the Thieves (2006, after Rodel Rodis said that “BR” stands not only for Bobby Reyes but also for “BoRat,” after the movie character; Lolo Bobby rebutted Mr. Rodis by using the BORAT as an acronym to get back at the “NaFFAA thieves”).

By the way, LOLO was coined by Bobby Reyes to serve as his slogan for his aborted run for the governorship of Sorsogon in the 2010 election. It means, “Law and Order, Less government and Opportunities equally to all.”

But when Lolo Bobby makes fun of his online detractors, he says that “LOLO” means “Laughing Out Loud Olways (sic).”

W ell, after checking into some saved messages in our editor’s “Saved on AOL” records, here is a partial list of other acronyms cooked up by Lolo Bobby:

v    SOCERMAC – Sorsogon Ceramics Manufacturing Corporation (1984, when Lolo Bobby brought Italian ceramic industrialists to put up an integrated ceramic plant in Sorsogon Province; the project was aborted partly as a result of the EDSA Revolution in February 1986; it is a long story that has to be told in a separate article).

v    PALABAN – Philippine-American Lobby Against the Buyout of the Airline of the Nation (used in 1992, when Lolo Bobby led the fight against the sale of 67% of the stocks of the Philippine Airlines by then President Cory C. Aquino to a group headed by four of her Cojuangco and Tanjuatco nephews, although Poet-pundit Fred Burce Bunao said the “acronym is ‘pilit-na-pilit’”).

v    CASTIGO – Crusade Against the Stupidity of the Tourism Industry and Government Offices (used in 1994 when Lolo Bobby led the fight against the holding of the Miss Universe pageant in Manila in May 1994).

v    YIMBY – Yes, in my backyard (1997, when Lolo Bobby registered Yimby.com as a domain name, proving that he was the first to coin and use the acronym. He still retains control of the yimby.com domain name, after he gave up yimby.net, yimby.org, yimby.com.uk, yimby.biz – after he was told that only the .com had market value).

v    NANAY – National Alliance to Nurture the Aged and the Youth. (March 2000, when Lolo Bobby completed the acronym being formed by Dr. Joy Bruce over lunch at the Excelsior Hotel during the NaFFAA regional convention in Little Rock, Arkansas; Lolo Bobby suggested that the “Y” stand for youth. Eventually, Dr. Bruce accepted Lolo Bobby’s suggestion. Please see www.nanay.com).

v    ATIC – Accountability, Transparency, Integrity and Credibility (coined in 2001 by Lolo Bobby as the slogan in his fight for the ATIC in the NaFFAA).

v    WAWOW – “What a Waste of Wesources (sic)” (2002, when Lolo Bobby made fun of then Philippine Tourism Secretary Dick Gordon’s “WOW Philippines” tourism slogan).

v    BLeSSED – Bicol, Leyte and Samar Socio-economic Development (2003, when Lolo Bobby proposed to then presidential aspirant Nene Pimentel a development plan for the Siamese-twin regions of Bicolandia and Leyte-Samar).

v    UFAC – United Filipinos Against Corruption (2003, when it became the corporate name of a 501 C-3 entity in Los Angeles, California).

v    USSR2 – Union of Socialist Samar and Romblon Republics (January 2008, after Lolo Bobby injected humor in an e-newsgroup discussion about the Balkanization plan for the Philippines). To read more about it, please click on this link:

          A New “USSR2” Being Formed in Some  Philippine Islands?

v    FOOD – Filipino Outreach by Overseas Donors (May 2007, the details of which can be viewed in this article, Reinventing the Overseas-Filipino Diet).

F or the ill-fated presidential run of Manny Villar, Lolo Bobby created acronyms that the Villar campaign managers refused to use, such as:

ü     MONEY – Multiethnic Organization for the Nation’s Elders and Youth.

ü     ABC – Anybody But a Cojuangco.

ü     ABNOY – American-Bicolnons’ National Organization for the Youth.

ü     LABAN – Let the Aquinos Bankrupt Again the Nation.

ü     ORANGE – Overseas Relief and Assistance to Non-governmental Entities.

And today, Lolo Bobby comes up with new acronyms OPERA, YELLOW and RED. To know their meanings, please read this article, We Congratulate President-elect Aquino and Pledge to Observe the 100-Day Honeymoon Period with the Press But . . .

What acronym will Lolo Bobby come up next? Abangan . . . # # #