Whenever I watch Oscar Awards, I normally am not so interested about who won and what film was adjudged the best of them all.

Rather, my eyes are first glued on what kind of dress was worn by whom and if the actress or actor was dressed up well (that’s quite ambiguous) as what is nice and beautiful to me may not be exactly the same as anybody’s judgment .

I’m sure you made your own choices on whose styles soared and whose, well, sputtered.

So okay, the winners are all in the newspapers. But I’m sure, ladies out there were more interested about the fashion scene.

This reminds me of my visits to the Congress of the Philippines whenever there is a State of the Nation Address delivered by the President of the Philippines.

Modesty aside, I, together with some local friends, am lucky to have been part of this event with the invitation coming from no less than Speaker of the House, Jose de Venecia Jr. and his lovely wife, Gina.

In those times (I lost count already), our group scouts who among the congressional spouses was best dressed.

Gina de Venecia and Imee Marcos always top the list.

But behind their nice ternos or gowns is a question of how much of Juan dela Cruz’ money was spent for that?

Think of poor people having no food on their table, the sick who die for their inability to buy medicines, the old people and the young souls who have to sleep on the pavement in front of a store having only a piece of carton to protect their back against the cold cemented road shoulder or walkway.

See their flashing jewelry, the diamonds every woman loves. Their bags more expensive than my old yet reliable car.

These are the two sides of life in the Philippines.