I will remember September as the month which featured the date 09-09-09, on the morning of which, at exactly 9 seconds 9 minutes of the 9th hour I was supposed to make a wish but overslept and woke up at 9:12!

If that wasn’t bad enough, my friend Belinda reminded me that such a configuration of nines would not come again till a hundred-something years later. Problem was, she texted her message 24 hours late, on 09-10-09.

People with less addled brains will remember September for an entirely different reason: as the month when “promising” politicians came out of the woodwork and made known or threatened to make known their plans of “to be or not to be,” with whom and against whom. Next in line, all within the month, ex-President Estrada, Vice President De Castro, and GMA’s Lakas-Kampi-CMD.

Whether the remember-September theme is an effective mnemonic device or a bit of musical nostalgia, one of the most political persons in town is capitalizing on those two words to sell tickets to a benefit concert—“Remember in September”— at which he and his twin will play the guitar, sing old songs and try not to create another incident of climate change.

The President’s political adviser and secretary-general of her party, Secretary Gabriel Claudio, and his identical twin, Dr. Rafael Claudio, a bone cancer specialist, have chosen the Bone Cancer Indigent Fund of the Philippine Orthopedic Center to be the primary beneficiary because, as Dr. Claudio explained, “It’s very hard to see patients dying before your very eyes.”

At a preview staged at the lounge of the Local Water Utilities Administration, the twins were backed by a professional four-piece band, using a brand-new sound system acquired by Chairman Butch Pichay. Secretary Claudio invited media and walk-in guests to the show on Sept. 18 at Wack-Wack with an irresistible come-on, “That’s when I will announce who our candidate will be!”