Editorial: Twister alert

TORNADO (“buhawi”) stories abound in Cebu through the decades, but because tornados strike the province rarely, such stories at times took on a mythical quality. It was not surprising, therefore, that the tornado that struck parts of the coastal areas of Talisay City and Minglanilla town the other day merited much attention.

Roperos: Conflict of creeds

WHEN we come down to it, one cannot really equate the current ideological conflict with loyalty to one’s country.

I am not disloyal to my country simply because I do not subscribe to the government’s policy toward the poor. Many politicians are loud-mouthed on their supposed concern for the impoverished masses, yet their public service does not reflect their concern.

So: Sex for fly

I WANT to go home.

It’s a statement wrought with longing, loneliness, tiredness and desperation. It’s a statement uttered by many overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have had enough of being away from their country and family at some length.

Malilong: Embassy officials as predators

WE SHOULD not recall the Philippine Embassy officials whom Akbayan Rep. Walden Abello has accused of sexually exploiting abused overseas Filipino workers in the Middle East. They should be tried where the crimes were committed under the laws of the host country.

If you bring these predators to the Philippines, they will most likely get no more than a slap on the wrist. First, we do not have a death penalty. Second, our justice system stinks.

Seares: Battered wives-- and, yes, husbands

WHAT could Malacañang, the President's Palace, contribute to sounds of homage on Fathers Day?

Hardly anything profound or kind since President Aquino is not a father and not likely to become one soon.

Espinoza: When it rains, it overflows

NATIONAL government agencies involved in running after cybersex or cyberporn should seriously consider the suggestion of Cordova Mayor Ady Sitoy to include in the investigation firms that facilitate money transfer.

Cordova, a third class municipality in Mactan Island and one of the 43 towns in Cebu, is now considered the cybersex den of the province. Twice this year, law enforcement agents apprehended parents and their children, who were made to pose naked before the internet camera.

Editorial: Schooling our leaders

SENATOR-ELECT Nancy Binay and several other first-timers in Congress are attending short courses to help them prepare for their public duties.

According to an ABS-CBN website report, the week-long course Binay has joined in the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance includes such topics as payroll, staffing, budget, congressional committee roles and “how a law is passed.”

Roperos: Crime galore

ONE the frustrating matters that spoils the beginning of your day is when you open the first few pages of your daily newspaper and find that tales of criminality committed in various places in the province have merited enough significance to find print in its prime pages.

Yesterday’s front page headline, of course, already tells us of a case that has alarming ramification to the equanimity of our provincial society.

Wenceslao: CPA’s conflict with City Hall

IS THE Cebu Port Authority (CPA) the monster to Cebu City’s Victor Frankenstein? The CPA was created in 1992 through Republic Act 7621, a law shepherded in Congress by then Cebu City north district congressman Raul del Mar. Its task was to administer ports located in Cebu province.

Nalzaro: Gwen’s return

UNTIL the time I wrote this, no legal impediment has surfaced to prevent Gov. Gwen Garcia from reassuming her position following the six months suspension imposed by Malacañang for grave abuse of authority.

Obenieta: PCOS for barangay elections

FEEL no horror or shame in wearing your wrinkles as if it were a coat of steel. It makes sense, mighty true, to everyone who has survived the slings and arrows of adolescence.

Adulthood, no doubt, can be awful with its challenges lining up like ants. No less risky, however, are the heydays of being both carefree and choked with teen angst.

Carvajal: Big joke

ELECTION cheating continues, this time with the SECE or Statement of Election and Campaign Expenses. Comelec rightly makes no big deal with the deadline for filing of the SECE because it’s such a big farce. It knows as well as everybody else that candidates who won and candidates who were cheated (remember, nobody loses in our elections?) all spent in excess of what the law allows.

Barrita: PCOS for barangay elections

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is planning to use the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines in the coming barangay elections on Oct. 28.

Cebu City is among the first areas identified for the use of the PCOS machines whose use in the last elections was praised by the winners and maligned by the losers.

Editorial: Preparing for the barangay polls

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is currently acting like the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections will go on as scheduled on the last Monday of October, or this coming Oct. 28. Incumbent barangay and SK officials and wannabe barangay politicians should therefore act the same way and prepare for the launching of their own candidacies.

Roperos: People’s taxes

THERE was an eye-opening story in this daily yesterday. It was one that drew the attention of our people to the way legislators perceive their work as public service. I am referring to the accounting report of the Capitol about Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), otherwise known as “pork barrel,” that each legislator receives from Congress.

Wenceslao: That Tom O for barangay chief idea

IT WAS an interesting possibility raised by fellow columnist and broadcaster Bobby Nalzaro about Rep. Tomas Osmeña, whose term ends on June 30, running for Guadalupe barangay captain in the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections scheduled this October. I could not countenance Osmeña doing so, but the idea is entertaining nevertheless.

Malilong: James against Jingjing?

AS AN unrepentant Los Angeles Lakers fan, I am supposed to have only a passing interest in the ongoing National Basketball Association championship series between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. That was so at the beginning; I didn’t even bother to watch the first game.

Seares: When cats, donkeys, dogs run for office

WHEN names of animals are entered in the ballot -- such as Morris the Cat, Chon the Donkey, Tina the Chicken, or Tintan the Dog -- and their campaigns are waged in social media, it's not happening in the Philippines, where Comelec takes its role seriously and doesn't have humor or patience to indulge in filmdom whimsy.

It's in Mexico and actually votes for any animal won't be counted there too although it shouldn't suprise us if Morris, which leads the pack, gets more support for mayor in the Mexican city of Xalapa.

Echaves: The Asian-Americans

TIME was when Pinoys and other Asians living in foreign shores, particularly the U.S., were stereotyped in films as either domestic helpers or uneducated and clueless migrants.

Fast forward to today and the stereotyping has calibrated higher; Asians are now pictured as brilliant computer geeks, lab analysts crucial to solving high-profile crimes, or crime fighters sans the swashbuckling props and anti-gravity leaps into the air.

Tell it to Sunstar: Being holier-than-thou

(The letter is addressed to a certain prolific pro-life e-mail sender)

The slippery slope is not a good enough reason to buy your stance hook, line and sinker. By the way, I think your stance is selfish and ignorant--and it is that kind of holier-than-thou attitude that gives the Church a bad name, and makes people look elsewhere. Yes, for the record:

Nalzaro: Against all odds

THIS is not to intrude into their personal lives. But since this is already public knowledge, we cannot avoid that this is a subject for public discussion since the personalities involved are public figures and a public official for that matter.

There are even people who want to know the personal life of Super Bobby Nalzaro even if I am just an ordinary person, much more the life of prominent individuals in our society, especially those in politics. Even their private lives are always subject to public scrutiny. That is how pakialamero the public is.

Wenceslao: Rain-filled days

RAIN continues to, should I say, bedevil our days (okay, nights too) since the weather bureau Pag-asa grudgingly admitted that, yes, we are smack into the wet season.

The stronger rainfalls mostly visited Cebu at night, which affected us who are at work until late evening. For those who were already home when the rain came, the only discomfort may be the noise of the raindrops pounding the roofs and the rolling sound of thunderstorms. The cold that the wet climate brought obviously made for a more comfortable sleep.

Seares: Annabelle and unspent election donations

YOU’VE heard of that hopelessly trite saying about people running for public office “for the fun(d) of it.”

The fund in the fun, many of us thought, would come from occupying the office once elected. Not from mere running which, it appears, could also make the cash pour in.

Editorial: Our pets, our duties

ASKALS” make the best guard dogs. They are fierce, loyal, cheap and replaceable.

That is a perception that’s still widely held despite the shift of the times. “Askal” has gone out of favor since the slang—combining “aso (dog)” and “kalye (street)”—literally refers to an animal left to roam on the streets.

Mongaya: CPA v. City Hall

CEBU City Mayor Mike Rama is at a loss at how to deal with efforts of the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) to assert its ownership over a piece of land above the tunnel entrance that connects with the south coastal road beside the old Cebu Customs building and fronting the Cebu City Hall.

The CPA has fenced the property it claims. It cited laws to back its claim. CPA police are there to enforce. On the other hand, Cebu City officials still have to legally research the matter. City officials can only effectively use police power by citing the legal basis for its counter-claim.

Sun.star essay: An education story

EVERY pupil in the towns is in public schools now, in classrooms needing repair, in classes under the trees, in gyms, in school offices. The others are in normal venues of learning, those that we know of—with enough rooms, enough chairs, enough blackboards, enough papers and pencils, and enough workable wash rooms.

But there are much more problems than what we watch or read about in media. In 2011-2012 there were 20.48 million students in 45,000 public schools. In the next year, there were 21.49 million children. This, with the beginnings of the implementation of the K to 12

Mercado: Troubled future

TROUNCED candidate Annabelle Rama’s demand for campaign contribution refund won’t affect our grandchildren’s future. But an assertive China will.

Cebuanos can glimpse that troubled future in a new book: “The Grand Master's Insights on China, US and the World” (MIT Press, 2013).

Cabaero: Kasambahay and reality check

IT is good the education campaign on the Kasambahay Law or law on the welfare of domestic workers has started because the measure is laudable but implementation can be tricky.

Lim: Survival skills

NOW that we’ve added two more years to basic education to match global standards, I hope to see more survival skills taught in high school. I don’t mean learning how to survive being marooned in an uninhabited island. I mean, how to survive in the urban jungle.

I find it disconcerting that so few young people know how to change a light bulb. How many know how to sew a button back on when it falls off their shirts? How many know how to boil an egg?

Malilong: Mike’s two major challenges

BARELY two weeks before entering his second term as mayor, Mike Rama is facing two major challenges to his authority, ironically coming from two separate government agencies.

The first one involves his choice of city police chief. Rama has never tried to hide his displeasure over the appointment of Senior Supt. Mariano Natuel Jr. as head of the Cebu City Police Office, even in an acting capacity. He has nothing personal against Natuel, he says, but he wants someone else to be his police chief.