Sánchez: Death penalty revisited
I KNEW that it was just a matter of time before the gruesome murder cases of Dr. Andrés Gumban and other hate crimes against gays would revive calls for the reinstitution of the death penalty.
I was right. Social networks are abuzz with shrill calls for the re institution of the death...
Sanchez: Murderous social media
SOCIAL media has made the world smaller with our interconnectedness with new and old friends and acquaintances. It has also made the world a bit more dangerous, as Dr. Andrés Gumban found out.
“The message is simple: you wouldn’t invite a perfect stranger into your house simply because...
Sánchez: Fire hazards
ALL around Bacolod, we see signs of disasters of fire and rain waiting to happen. Major fire hazards include the three major public markets that need immediate repairs as they are already old and considered fire hazards.
Sánchez: Way to go
WHERE do we go when tariff on imported sugar dropped from 38 percent last year to 28 percent this year, then to 18 percent in 2013, 10 percent in 2014 and 5 percent in 2015?
I like what I’m hearing from the provincial government to the Sugar Regulatory Administration from taking part in...
Sánchez: Over the years
HO-HO-HO. I know, I know, even by Filipino standards of a prolonged Christmas celebration, I can’t but feel like that red-suited fellow and his flying reindeers this early.
I received an email from Jasper M. Coriana who wrote a wish list to this corner to “make concise in dept &...
Sánchez: Big brothers (and sisters)
FICTION comes to life in a reality TV at the NAIA Terminal 3. George Orwell's real-life Big Brother took a cellphone video and then uploaded his footage in YouTube to showcase what netizens dubbed the Thrilla in NAIA.
The cast of characters include Ramón Tulfo being ganged up by husband-...
Sánchez: AFSS
OF COURSE, what is sauce to the goose is sauce to the gander. The law enforced in the whole Republic of the Philippines should apply to Negros Occidental as well.
Not so, according to seven business groups in Bacolod City who beseeched President Benigno Aquino III over the weekend to...
Sanchez: Alliances and common grounds
PHILIPPINE Army Chief Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista expressed his willingness to sit down and talk peace with priest-turned-rebel Frank Fernández, secretary of the Komiteng Rehiyonal-Negros. “We are inviting him to sit down and discuss problems and issues, and not just to get acquainted and see him...
Sanchez: The bees, the birds and the trees
LAST week, I received an advisory from Avaaz.org warning of bees dying in their billions. According to Avaaz, or "voice" in several European, Middle Eastern and Asian languages, their deaths threaten our global crops and food security.
Blamed for the apiculture genocide is the German...
Sanchez: Filipino
“FILIPINO” is not just our common nationality in the Philippines; it’s also the language that we speak.
Filipino was the lingua franca here in Cagayan de Oro during the Annual General Assembly and the silver anniversary of Amnesty International Philippines.
Sanchez: Scot-free
THIS time, the murder victim was a judge, killed using a modified version of the same modus operandi—a .45 caliber pistol and a tricycle.
Felled was Judge Henry Arles, of the Kabankalan City Regional Trial Court Branch 61, who was ambushed and killed in Ilog town.
With a motorcycle...
Sánchez: Bioplastics from BM
A RECENT column sent a responsive chord from this corner’s reader Cárlo José García. He inquired, over email, on any information on the process of producing biodegradable plastic from sugarcane waste.
A potential source of creating bioplastics from sugarcane waste is the microorganism...
Sánchez: Nuclear debates
THE debate on nuclear energy is heating up in the province. Former Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco was in town last week, batting as expected, for the construction of nuclear power plants in the country, including Negros Occidental, to ensure cheaper electricity and to save the country from power...
Sánchez: Groupthink
I AM a court-annexed mediator, a veteran for eight years running. I apply my mediation and facilitation experiences not just in pretrial but into my other work for sustainable mountain development in fostering dialogue and creating convergence among parties in conflict.
For some people in...
Sánchez: Impunity in motorcycles
NEXT time you hear a report, make sure it’s really a car backfiring. For all you know, that could be a motorcycle with two riders riding in tandem shooting at their target of assassination.
If we think motorcycle riding hoods are criminal staples in southern Mindanao and Luzon, look far...
Sánchez: Seeing beyond our noses
COME to think of it, agro-tourism has been with Negros Occidental for quite some time. It’s a case of bringing the mountains to Muhammad or, in this case, bringing mountain and coastal products to the 19th Panaad. If we can’t bring the tourists to our mountains and other rural areas, then we can...
Sánchez: Bailouts
WE HAVE in Bacolod a case of government bailouts of losing businesses. Recently, the city’s three public markets and the Manokan Country appealed to the City Council to immediately enact the ordinance condoning the surcharges, interests, penalties and arrearages on the rental obligations...
Sanchez: Bioplastics
IT’S better to light the candle than to curse the darkness, so goes the Chinese proverb that Adlai Stevenson used to pay tribute to Eleanor Roosevelt and adopted by Peter Benenson for Amnesty International.
Rather than curse the darkness of 2015, I am excited with the light that Sugarcane...
Sánchez: Investing in the future
NEVER prolong the agony, I always say. Let’s get it done and over with, whether it’s going for a root canal operation, or spending money for something mundane as buying groceries, or for building costly energy renewable megaprojects.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has approved and is...
Sánchez: Separating the chaff?
WHO would have thought that the 15-day trial period for the implementation of the “No Segregation, No Collection” policy in Bacolod would coincide with the call of recycling, avoiding crass consumerism and reducing trash as fitting acts of penance during the Holy Week?
“The serenity of...
Sánchez: The other cheek
“TURNING the other cheek” is a Scriptural phrase that refers to responding to an aggressor with non-violence based on the Beatitudes at the Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament. It seems to belong to peacemakers but not to military strategists who one would expect to bat for “an eye for an...
Sánchez: Apis dorsata laboriosa
THIS corner’s online edition is reaching out to the out-of-the-way readers. That is, connecting with readers from outside Negros Occidental. This time, a feedback from Bicol.
Ludwig Weber reacted to my column "No honey, no money," a commentary to the Department of Agriculture’s support to...
Sánchez: Overplasticization
TALK about a Bacolod community newspaper being read by the global community. Recently, I received a gentle nudge on a recent column.
Dr Ross Headifen emailed me to advise me to “Stay firm and ban the (plastic) bags.” Most likely Dr. Headifen reacted to my take to give plastic bag...
Sánchez: Recasting sugar
MAKE that recasting sugarcane. Many of us grew up thinking of sugarcane as the agricultural version of metamorphosis -- from cane cutting (patdan) to sugarcane to sugar.
Sánchez: Leap to the frying pan?
IS THE proposed plastic ban a case of leaping from the frying pan into the fire? Is it really smart “green” move, or will it create more problems for the environment?
