Pacete: Vigan and Silay
THE recent visit of Mayor Eva Marie Medina of Vigan City in Silay was a pleasant surprise. She was accompanied by her husband, Ferdie, the former mayor, and Vice Mayor Lulu Baquiran. With them were 80 members of the Lakbay – Aral Group composed of councilors, department heads and officials of...
De los Santos: Tupas, Drilon shame people of Iloilo
I CANNOT see how Iloilo should be proud of its two sons in Congress. Cong Neil Tupas, the lead prosecutor in Corona’s impeachment trial, has been regaling the media with Corona’s alleged sins, notwithstanding the impeachment courts’ admonition against trying Corona by publicity. In fact, his...
Legaspi: Envy and too much ambition?
ENVY has been listed by the Catholic Church as one of the 7 Cardinal Sins. It is an ill-feeling against one’s success or one’s gain. Everyone of us, as sinners, are infected by such sin. But the degree of the infection differs and depends upon one’s foundation.
Usually this is the “fault...
Pacete: Our ‘Pureza’
NO SUGAR coating. The premier showing of ‘Pureza’, a film documentary about Negros and the sugar industry brought together the big players to see what is inside the film. Jay Abello, the director, made an intensive research to put into one piece the many faces of our mono crop industry, the...
Sánchez: In this together
THE recent 6.8 earthquake reminds me of the Indian Ocean earthquake that spawned the powerful tsunami that slammed and wiped out the western coastal areas of Aceh, Indonesia.
There is a similarity with a natural disaster that began with an earthquake. When the Philippine Army recently...
Delos Santos: Legal technicalities by the defense
CONTRARY to claims by some circles that an impeachment trial is to be decided by the public’s perception of guilt or innocence, it is actually a legal proceeding to be decided on the basis of facts. While the requirement of proof beyond reasonable doubt may not apply, nonetheless, the pertinent...
Ombion: The face of hazards
THE deadly earthquake that hit Negros this week came less as a surprise to me but a revelation of our vulnerabilities and nature’s retribution for our wrongdoings.
Most of us already know that our archipelagic nation is in the pacific rim of fire, where deadly volcanoes and major...
Jimenez: When do toilets become comfort rooms?
SANITATION is seen when you see the toilet of every home, restaurant, carinderia, hotel, shopping mall, offices, and buildings to be immaculately clean. This is always a serious concern. What you see in one’s toilet is a reflection of the personality of that individual or people behind that...
Yulo: Could the series of earthquakes be the sign of birth pains?
ALL over the world, earthquakes, killings and catastrophes are happening. Even Negros and Panay islands are not spared, though they are not known to be in the fault lines.
Can this be a sign of what Christ said in Matthews’ Gospel Chapter 24 that the prelude to His coming there will be...
Sánchez: At fault
MY FAULT though is that I love living here in Negros Occidental. I have learned to live with all the faults, both human and natural. Maybe in my own way, I can help induce behavioral changes in human faults through this column.
Pacete: Artists’ Confarreation
FEBRUARY is love month. Violet and primrose are the flowers of February. This month bears the eleventh zodiac sign, Aquarius or the Water Bearer. In Egyptian hieroglyphics, it is depicted by a symbol NN (Nun), the god of waters. It is believed to be the oldest of all signs. We are expecting for...
Editorial: No such thing as disaster over-preparedness
ALTHOUGH Bacolod City and Negros Occidental was hit by an Intensity 6.9 earthquake yesterday, we must be very thankful that no casualties were reported nor major destruction was caused by the tremors.
Our neighboring province, Negros Oriental, though, was not as fortunate.
As of...
Delos Santos: Parting of ways
I AM not surprised if Leonardia and Golez have come to a parting of the ways. Their need for each other has expired. In 2010, Golez, a relatively newcomer to Bacolod, needed Leonardia's political organization to win. Leonardia, on the other hand, needed Golezs money.
Not that Leonardia...
Ombion: Political termites
THEY can destroy any structure anytime.
Termites love to eat everything that comes their way. Once they have entered a house or any structure, they destroy everything from wood, paper, books, carpets, cement, and even cellulosic materials.
They are excellent in working as little...
Jimenez: It's fun in Davao with DOT Director Art Boncato
DURING my recent trip to Davao City for the holding of the Sports Tourism Conference 2012 Davao, I had the pleasure and honour to meet the political-willed City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte. She is the daughter of former Mayor Rodrigo Duterte who holds the tag of cleaning the city with those...
Sánchez: Up in smoke
HOLY smokes! There goes the provincial governments 50-hectare Minoyan Reforestation Project in Barangay Minoyan, Murcia, up in flames. Another fire destroyed an adjacent 45 has. of a reforestation area.
Burned were the native premium species. Now the fat is on the fire for alleged...
Pacete: Entertainment
THE Impeachment of CJ Renato Corona on TV has already established avid fans and its popularity is already like a GMA or ABS-CBN teleserye. If given the chance, my friends in the Silay Sarsuela Guild can possibly come up with a fascinating script bursting with colorful sub-plots and a main plot...
Hagad: The impeachment from the eyes of a retired justice
I SHALL waive my space this week in favor of a letter from somebody wiser and possessed with a clearer perspective than I am:
Dear Friends,
Honeyman: Nolo Contendere Corona
THE president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma has, in the context of the CJ Corona impeachment trial, asked the nation to: do whatever is legally and morally possible that truth and justice will be attained I suppose this means that he...
Legaspi: Outstanding NOPSSCEANS and the environment
NEGROS Occidental Private Schools, Sports, Cultural, and Educational Association (NOPSSCEA) has awarded a teacher and an artist with the NOPSSCEA Alumni Excellence Award last January 27 at the gymnasium of the University of Negros Occidental–Recoletos.
Delos Santos: ‘CJ’s many properties’
WITH the long list of properties he had acquired, the simple-minded world readily come to the conclusion that SC Chief Justice Corona had really taken advantage of his position as Chief Justice to amass these many properties.
A closer look however would show that the list appears to be...
Pacete: The Nelly Gardens
NOSTALGIA colored my days when a friend facilitated that I could stay at the guest house of Nelly Gardens while I was in Iloilo City for an official business. The beaux art mansion of the Lopez clan is standing in the midst of a traditional garden and reminds us of Iloilo’s genteel past.
Sánchez: Blessed are the peacemakers
CAN the military reinvent itself? Can citizens trained for war able to retrain themselves for healing, reconciliation, and peace building?
Why not? I joined Ramón Chito V. Generoso and SPO1 Gary Gattud from the Cordillera Autonomous Region for an evaluation of armed civilian auxiliaries...
Ariola: Impeachment bloopers
IN CRIMINAL law, there is a revered doctrine that the burden of proof always lies with the prosecution. As a corollary to the same doctrine, the prosecution is always called upon to rely on the strength of its evidence and not on the weakness of the evidence for the defense. The burden of proof...
Yulo: Sugar industry has many competent leaders
AS SURE as taxes and deaths will come, so problems in the sugar industry will definitely come, too. But I never entertain any doubts that it may not survive in the absence of import tariff. With the able leaderships of the NFSP and other sugar federations, together with the Philippine Sugar...
