02/08/2026
Charivaried 73. 8.2.26
Food ng ina mo Senator!
An enterprising carinderia owner in my new found barangay Dontogan put up a small eatery in his place and by way of tribute to his mother who taught him how to cook named it “Food ng ina mo!” His neighbor noticed how long the lines were in the next door eatery and being the Filipino culture of gaya-gaya, he set up a similar eatery next door and called it “Food ng ina mo, rin!” Reminds us of our former PDU30 who has invariably colored his speeches and talks with the “Food ng ina” phrase or I beg your pardon “p**ang ina” which of late caused enough reason for Senators siblings Cayetano, Robin, Imee to be at the end of a million PI’s for being partial Senator-Judges in the ongoing Impeachment trial of VP Sarah. Even then President Obama received a lot PI’s from Duterte during his time.
The Supreme Court ruling way back in 1969 in the case of Reyes v. People,[137 Phil. 112, 120 and reiterated in 2006 in Villanueva v People, G.R. No. 160351, said that the “PI” word is a mere expression and does not create criminal liability for defamation or libel. Flashback to 1961. Rosauro Reyes was an employee at the Naval Exchange in Sangley Point, His store manager, Agustin Hallare terminated a group of employees, she included. Reyes of course was mad as hell and went to Hallare’s home shouting “Agustin, p**ang ina mo. Agustin, mawawala ka. Lumabas ka, papatayin kita.” Of course, Hallare filed a case against Reyes for Grave threats (for saying papatayin kita) and oral defamation (for his p**ang ina).
Hallare complained claimed that the phrase “Agustin, p**ang ina mo,” “in English means, ‘Agustin, your mother is a whore” thus defaming him and his mother. Reyes was convicted in the lower court which the Court of Appeals affirmed. He appealed to the Supreme Court which affirmed his conviction for Grave threats but acquitted him of Oral defamation. The ponente or the one who wrote the epic decision Justice Querube Makalintal who later on retired as Chief Justice said that “’Putang ina mo’ is a common enough expression in the dialect that is often employed, not really to slander but rather to express anger or displeasure. It is seldom, if ever, taken in its literal sense by the hearer, that is, as a reflection on the virtues of a mother.”
In the later 2006 case, Associate Justice Minitia V. Chico Nazarario likewise said ”the expression “p**ang ina mo” is a common enough utterance in the dialect that is often employed, not really to slander but rather to express anger or displeasure. In fact, more often, it is just an expletive that punctuates one’s expression of profanity.”
As former GMA Press Secretary says “in effect, onion-skinned people like President Obama — or his stupid advisers and uninformed foreign press— shouldn’t really be offended and think that their dearly beloved mothers’ virtues are defamed when the word ”p**ang ina,” or even the more direct ”p**ang ina mo,” is used in statements directed at them.
My imagined forefathers of spanish ancestry in Avila, Spain (yes there is a Municipality in Spain named Avila and it is so religious that its main industry are convents and noviciates but that is another story) had a colorful vocabulary of expletives where PI was derived.utang ina came from. “Hijo de p**a,” which is still commonly used by Ilonggos as “yodep**a or “Okinana” of the Ilocanos.
Tricia Zafra wrote an excellent blog piece in which she cited a list prepared by a Michael Estrada, who claimed that most Spanish curses are “mother-directed,” such as hijo de p**a (son of a bitch), p**a madre (bitch mother) and tu p**a madre me la chupa (your bitch mother sucks my dick). Citing a 2015 BBC article by James Harbeck (“Mind your Language! Swearing Around the World”), Zafra wrote: “
The Latin culture has also been specified by Harbeck as among those that have the mother involved most in a list of offensive language. These cultures tend to be extended-family rather than nuclear-family societies.” “The cultures that swear the most about mothers tend to swear about prostitutes a lot, too.” It seems to me that the Spanish, and most probably their colonized peoples, are obsessed with prostitutes in a love-hate relationship, even as they are mamas’ boys yet hate being so. In contrast, Americans, as in their cuisine, are unimaginative in their expletives, which are as limited as the menu of their fast-food eateries: the all-time favorite “f**k,” “sh*t,” “bitch,” “bastard,” “asshole,” “cunt,” and “faggot.” Yet this is common fare in everyday language all over the world.
Thus there is too much fuzz about the PI word for nothing especially the non-neutral senator-judges who have not shown the cold neautraility of a real judge with integrity. Ukis ti saba yu amin! Sigh!
