Carvajal: Destructive

ONLY one party needs to be negative for any dynamic to be counter-productive. But when both parties are negative, the counter-productiveness is compounded and the dynamic gets on track towards destructiveness.

The dynamic between re-elected Mayor Mike Rama and the BOPK majority in the city council is of the destructive variety. The only time political rivals become productive is when they work on a bi-partisan approach to governance. Evidence now abounds that bipartisanship remains a rare bird in the jungle of Cebu politics.

Editorial: Mayor’s desire

IT'S a setup conjured from the lessons of the warlordism prevalent in pre-martial law Philippines. To prevent the police from becoming mere goons and armed units of local chief executives, the 1987 Constitution mandated the creation of a national police force, thus freeing the police from the clutches of the mayors and governors in the localities.

Roperos: Business outlook

WHEN I was a kid in knee pants, my mother, a public school teacher, kept saying that the one thing that made people rich is going into a business venture. She pointed to people she thought were moneyed because they were in the buy-and-sell business. She was a grade one teacher, however, and our neighbors thought highly of teachers who lived off their individual monthly salary.

Wenceslao: Annabelle and Joy

ANNABELLE RAMA has always been a character. People’s perception of her was showcased recently when she guested in GMA 7’s “The Ryzza Mae Show” hosted by eight-year-old Ryzza Mae Dizon. The young host, who campaigned for Annabelle in the May 13 congressional race where she lost, mimicked how “Bisaya” dealt with her celebrity children Ruffa and Richard Gutierrez and earned some laughs in the process.

Malilong: Senior Supt. Santiago’s revelation

RAUL DEL MAR'S hold of half of the city’s political territory is almost as old as the Cory Constitution. It has been Raul, directly or through a son or a daughter, who has represented the city’s north district since 1987.

Not a shabby record for one who got quite a drubbing when he offered himself to the district’s electorate for the first time as an independent. Call his reign a dynasty or by any other name but since that election (in the latter part of the Marcos years), Raul has received nothing but a resounding mandate each time he ran.

Seares: Davao’s Duterte and law on poll expenses

DAVAO City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who returns to the mayor's seat on June 30, publicly said he won't file a statement on election contributions and expenditures (Sece).

He doesn't have to, he said, because he didn't spend anything last elections in which he ran unopposed. He told "Sun.Star Davao" in yesterday's paper: "Wala man koy kalaban. Unsa man akong gastohan? (I didn't have a rival. For what would I spend?)"

Libre: Principals

LIFEGUARDS find 100-kilo ocean sunfish stranded off Talisay City.

No one dared perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on it.

Editorial: Worries about police claim

INVESTIGATION into the killing of PO3 Gerlito Estremos took an interesting turn with the arrest of a certain Ian Canseco, said to have been identified by a witness as the one who mauled the policeman and shot him Monday night in Barangay Kamagayan.

Roperos: Seeking a refund

TRUTH to tell, I laughed when I opened my copy of this daily yesterday and read the headline about Annabelle Rama asking her cousin, Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama, to refund her the last-minute political expense of P3 million that she gave him. If my senior citizen memory still serves me well, this is the first time that a candidate openly asked for a refund of election-day expense.

Obenieta: Being effortless at running on empty

NO SWEAT to see evidence of waste. Everywhere, what’s wanting or lost can easily be found. Money, for instance, is so easy to blow away though it’s often no breeze to make it.

Forget about the frequency of hearing the ho-hum about economic catastrophe, and consider how one online article counts the “13 Ways Americans Throw Away Money.” Thus the spree for squandering can be done to the tune of “over half a trillion dollars each year” through “fines, bad investments like lottery tickets, and unhealthy consumption items like cigarettes and alcohol.”

Seares: Annabelle, Mike, Joy: post-poll ‘sitcom’

ANNABEL RAMA, buried with a 98,383-vote majority of her rival Raul del Mar in the Cebu City north congressional race, has just shown she's clueless about politics.

Espinoza: A quick reply

We celebrated yesterday 115 years of Philippine independence. Viva Pilipinas!

What comes to mind when we commemorate Independence Day is this question: Are we truly independent? Of course we are, in thought, in words and in deeds. But economically, much is still to be desired.

Editorial: Proving the obvious

WHILE most of the government will take a break today, Independence Day, the offices of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will stay open to receive the candidates’ statements of contributions and expenses for the May 13 elections. These are due tomorrow afternoon, without extension.

Sadly for the Comelec, the effort will probably not pay off.

Roperos: Independence

TODAY in our annual calendar is Independence Day, a national holiday. And so we celebrate this date as the day we became a free and independent country. And, indeed, we have been recognized the world over as a free nation in Southeast Asia, independent ahead of the other countries in the Asian region.

Wenceslao: Natuel’s ‘Lacsonesque’ move

IT IS difficult to debate when we do not have the figures to back up our arguments. So we may have to give Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama the benefit of the doubt regarding the peace and order situation in his turf. Okay, the thinking that criminality has surged may only be a mirage.

Nalzaro: Next PRO 7 chief: Angan or Oppus?

THE turnover of command at the Police Regional Office (PRO 7) was originally set for this Friday. But for unknown reasons, Camp Crame cancelled the activity and moved it to a later date. Sources say this was because of last-minute maneuvering by two newly promoted officers who are lobbying to replace PRO 7 Chief Marcelo Garbo, who will be assigned to the directorial staff in Camp Crame with the rank of two-star general.

Barrita: DOH to dance dengue away

ASSISTANT Health Secretary Eric Tayag has practised some dance routines with Cebu’s famous dancing inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC).

Dr. Tayag will dance with inmates Jory Tupas, Francis Diego and Carlo Viteo during the Department of Health (DOH) Asean Dengue Day on June 15 at Cebu City’s South Road Properties.

Yap: Resil’s archive

IN RECENT years, I tried collecting the works of Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges—from fiction to poetry to his musings about writing. A student of mine once complained to his classmate about my seeming obsession to the writer’s works. Well, I told him, it’s not an obsession. I have read only a handful of Borges because it would entail handcuffing clock hands to appreciate each of his story. Well, okay, it’s an old man’s Angry Bird or Candy Crush.

Carvajal: Ghost freedom

BY NOW we are already familiar with and inured to ghost projects, ghost employees, ghost foundations, etc. This country wastes too much people’s money on ghost disbursements government officials routinely incur with impunity.

Editorial: Frats and their elders

HERE we go again. Despite Republic Act 8049 or the Anti-Hazing Law, some fraternities continue to inflict physical harm on neophytes in utter disrespect of authorities.

Roperos: Criminal acts

WHAT struck me instantly when I pored over the news were the criminal incidents that occurred in various parts of our island. The circumstances under which the crimes happened are troubling enough when we consider the fact that the social milieu in which each one occurred invited no serious scene that could have attracted attention.

Malilong: Killing law enforcers

WHEN even those who are tasked to enforce law and order are assaulted in the streets, how could we feel safe?

Seares: Gridlock at City Hall worse than traffic jam

A TRAFFIC jam at a busy intersection in which no vehicle can move in any direction is a gridlock.

Annoying but transitory: with enforcers' help, vehicular flow soon resumes.

Echaves: Self-talk

THERE are only two things that I wake up earlier than usual for-family-related matters and the NBA games.

Used to be when I’d start watching and monitoring my favorite teams as early as the playoffs. When time ran short, however, I could start only with the Western Conference and Eastern Conference games.

Editorial: Stop bullying

BE MORE sensitive to affected but silent students.

That’s a message reinforced by the suicide last March of Kristel Tejada, the University of the Philippines Manila freshman who was prevented from re-enrolling for failing to repay on time a tuition loan.

Wenceslao: Worries about Camotes’s growth

THE Ramon “Nito” Durano III faction of the Durano clan seems to have made the correct move in aligning itself with the Liberal Party (LP) of President Noynoy Aquino. Nito’s son, Rep. Ramon “Red” Durano IV, recently announced the approval by the Senate of its version of the young Durano’s bill seeking reclassification of much of the land in the Camotes group of islands from timberland to alienable and disposable. The House version of the bill was passed months ago.

Nalzaro: Defective units?

MR. JANES “Jay” Zozobrado, a junior executive of Ayala Group, bought a new Ford Focus Titanium from Ford Motors Cebu at Nivel Hills last April 12 with his hard-earned money. The unit cost P1.228 million.

Ford Focus is one of the top of the line units manufactured by Ford Motors. It is designed to meet the high demand of buyers of small cars. It’s fun, attractive, well-equipped but also affordable. It’s in demand in China.

Seares: Graduating senators: when they leave with no goodbye

“I DO not say goodbye. I believe it’s one of the bu..sh..iest words ever invented.

It’s not like you’re given the choice to say bad-bye, or awful-bye, or couldn’t-care-less-about-you-bye. Every time you leave, it’s supposed to be a good one.”

Mongaya: Why settle for trickles?

FOR poor Filipinos, the much-talked about economic growth has not translated into additional food on the dinner table–though many still gather around the food laid down on the floor.

The government’s pangtawid money is just that, pangtawid. It is just additional money to be able to survive until the next payday. And the pay for those with regular jobs–more don’t have regular jobs if they have jobs at all–has not increased much.

Sun.star essay: Time culture

THE last time Cebuana Fil-Am playwright Linda Faigao Hall came back for a short visit to her home city, as much as in the previous times, she couldn’t help but feel the changes of Cebu seen in the eyes of a Filipino immigrant in New York—growing population (and what happened to the trees along Osmeña Blvd.?), lack of breathing space free from carbon dioxide emissions, and the same old sense of time in a people always late.