THE talk among coffee shop habitués nowadays is how foot-and-mouth disease seems to have afflicted the leadership of the Liberal Party (LP). No, not the kind that infects cattle, deer, goats, and other cloven-hoofed animals. Rather, it is a sarcastic take on the propensity of LP officials in the PNoy government to put their foot in their mouths.

Lately though, this scourge has turned into an epidemic, with its latest victim being LP secretary general and Transportation Secretary Jun Abaya.