Roperos: Unity boulevard

ONE wonderful project a-blooming in the heart of this city is the beautification of Osmeña Blvd., named after the man who became the first political personality in Cebu to win respect nationally. If I recall my history correctly, he was provincial fiscal and then provincial governor before he became a senator.

Wenceslao: Lessons from subway accident

FIRST things first. The tunnel portion, or subway if you will, of the Cebu South Coastal Road is a project of the National Government. That means, according to Nicomedes Leonor Jr. of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), it can’t be turned over to the Cebu City Government.

Malilong: Consider existing laws on porn instead

THE paragraph that I quoted yesterday from Hollis Alpert’s essay on censorship actually read:

“Of the two dangers, restrictive censorship on the one hand and unrestrained pornography on the other, the latter would seem to be the lesser, by far. For the former can create real harm. The unscrupulous politician can take advantage of the emotional, hysterical, and neurotic attitudes toward pornography to incite the multitude toward the approval of repressive measures that go far beyond the control of the printed word and the photographed image.”

Seares: Tabloids are not contraband

AMID the lawsuit filed by the Cebu City Antiindecency Board (CCAIB) against two Cebuano-Bisaya newspapers and the proposal in the Provincial Board to ban tabloids, one wonders if censors and legislators have a clear idea of what they're doing.

First, the problem of determining obscenity. The censors must think that what they see as smut is smut. Wrong. Community standards, or "aggregate sense of the community," must be determined by the court, not the censors.

Yap: Art and tabloids

HERE are some of the things this man did. He brought photography to the level of assault, taking pictures of the Forbidden City, flashed a dirty finger at the foreground and called it art. He took serial photographs of him dropping and smashing ancient, sacred china. He installed a collage of a list of men, women and children who died buried under a flattened school building after an earthquake when government refused to release a list of quake victims. He had a table bent at 90 degrees, and called it art.

Libre: Lazy as a pig

CAPITOL supports call for Ferdinand Marcos’s burial with honors.

All our officials needed was a serenade from Imelda.

Editorial: Helpless firefighters, again

THE big fire that hit Barangay Carreta and a small part of the neighboring Barangay Tejero yesterday should prod Cebu City Government and barangay officials to, as they say, take the bull by the horns.

The problems confronting firefighters in yesterday’s blaze have been noted in previous fires that hit the city’s crowded residential areas not only recently but also in the past several years. Meaning, it’s time for officials to get serious about looking for ways to solve these problems.

Roperos: Making ‘sin’ useful

WHAT President Noynoy Aquino has in mind is extraordinary: making popular “sins” useful tools for human health. In this sense, he has become a practical leader and an alert user of available resources.

So: The goatnapping of Billy and Doe

SOMEWHERE in the pages of Superbalita [Cebu] today is a story about highway goat robbery. The story would not have merited space in the daily tabloid, whose contents two members of the Cebu Provincial Board (PB) consider as “luridly or vulgarly sensational,” for the reason that it is not lurid, vulgar or sensational if one goes by their definition of tabloid.

Malilong: Pornography: two views

WHAT is pornography? Is it objectionable simply because it arouses sexual desire or lust or prurience in the mind of the reader or spectator?

That’s a silly Victorian notion, smirked Irving Kristol, a professor of urban values at the New York University, in an article published in the New York Times Magazine. A great many non-pornographic works-–including some parts of the Bible-–excite sexual desire very successfully, he said.

Seares: SRP tunnel 6-vehicle pileup: Did anyone talk of safety?

THEY must have considered public safety when they planned and built the road tunnel, 20 feet below sea level, connecting Cebu City and Talisay City, basic in any such facility, more so in tunnels and subways where confined setting makes rescue and control tough.

Checking news clips though, one sees stories about concern to preserve history and aesthetics at Fort San Pedro and Plaza Independencia, which ruled out a flyover and relocated 60 trees (with only four casualties).

Espinoza: Charge erring barangay officials

THE autonomy that former mayor and now south district Rep. Tomas Osmeña claims he left as legacy to the barangays was a political strategy to keep barangay leaders literally under his thumb.

But it appears that the political strategy backfired. The barangays, he claimed, abused the autonomy.

Editorial: A provocative proposal

WHILE discussing a proposed ordinance banning the sale of “sexually provocative” tabloids, a member of the Cebu Provincial Board (PB) suggested regulating, as well, radio dramas with suggestive storylines or lewd sound effects.

There must be no other social problem more urgent in this blessed island—no more children who hunger, no more crime, no more communities threatened by landslides or floods—that one of the province’s lawmakers thinks the authorities have nothing more urgent to do than monitor radio dramas for the first suggestive moan.

Roperos: Having a good Cabinet

A CHIEF executive in a democratic government like ours has to have a staff. Called a Cabinet, it is supposed to be composed of men and women knowledgeable in their respective line of work, each known to and holding the President’s trust as a friend and confidant. They are official extensions of the President’s imaginary arms, helping operate the national government’s executive machinery.

Wenceslao: Better Pasigarbo, bad probe result

IT'S getting bigger and better. I am referring to Pasigarbo sa Sugbo, the highlight of the week-long festivities for Cebu province’s founding anniversary (for this year, it’s the 442nd). This is a natural progression, of course, after festival seeds were planted in most towns and component cities of the province. The seeds have grown and the harvest is naturally plenty.

Nalzaro: Mike Rama’s political will

CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama vowed to issue a cease-and-desist order against erring developers and quarry firms in the mountain barangays even if these are owned by his friends and supporters.

The mayor made the vow following the finding of the City Mining and Regulatory Board that the quarry operation of businessman Michel Lhuillier in Barangay San Jose exceeded the 1,000 cubic meters granted in its permit to haul filling materials. The company denied the accusation claiming they were allowed to haul 10,000 cubic meters.

Barrita: Taliban’s applause

A PROPOSED ordinance filed by Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale and Provincial Board (PB) Member Peter John Calderon seeks to ban the sale and distribution in the province of “sexually provocative” tabloids.

If only a portion of a page is sexually provocative, will the ban cover the rest of the tabloid?

Carvajal: Hostage

WHAT was essentially wrong with ex-mayor and now second district Rep. Tomas Osmeña was his refusal to listen to anybody but himself. He invariably insisted he was always right. Moreover, to him reality was what he said it was---like he declared Cebu City clean and beautiful even if evidence to the contrary stared him in the face.

Cabaero: Consumers’ right to know

COMPLAINTS on the manner oil price changes are implemented in the country can be addressed by giving consumers information they can use to make informed choices.

The sentiment that oil firms do not consider the welfare of consumers is getting widespread, especially after the recent rollback. It took industry players three days to implement the rollback after announcing it. Yet, in cases of price increases, the adjustment takes effect in 6 to 12 hours only.

Editorial: Osmeña ‘reconciling’ with Guardo

WHEN you are assessing “political” developments, like Rep. Tomas Osmeña accepting rival Jonathan Guardo’s apology and dropping the libel case he filed against the businessman, consider what’s in it for the public.

The Osmeña-Guardo rift was, like what usually happens in conflicts the mayor-turned-congressman engages in, a noisy and protracted one. It lasted years and two elections.

Roperos: Progress, politics

IF THE effort to push the economy forward has given rise to the “pantawid” social program or 4P, a contrary state is represented with three Ps---progress, politics and politicians. The sequence is deliberate. To me, progress is determined by politics and the latter by politicians.

Malilong: Government’s delayed reaction

THE town drunkard used to tell the young boys when he caught us fooling around, “your foolishness will go home to your body.” We would roll our eyes in reply: really, some counsel coming from someone who seemed to dedicate his lifetime wasting his body.

But while the grammar and the source of the advice may be flawed, its logic is undeniable. You do something foolish at your own risk.

Seares: Popularity or peace? Not just PNoy choice

MILF, or Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), is reportedly asking President Noynoy Aquino to choose between popularity and peace on the issue of granting it a Muslim "sub-state."

The options that MILF gives PNoy assume he'd be unpopular if he'd accept its proposal but it would end the armed conflict in Mindanao.

Niñal: The flunkers

A COLUMNIST is most sincere when he writes about something he knows from experience.

That’s why early morning yesterday, before I sat down to write this column, I went outside the house, lay face down on the ground, placed my palms flat against my sides and had the wife take photographs of me performing what is probably the most noble and self-sacrificing act of this generation-–planking.

Editorial: No “trafficking scare”

RONALD, 37, earns on the side, procuring house helpers for city-based acquaintances who want to bypass agencies or even the experienced helpers who’ve worked in Manila or Cebu and demand more from their employers.

Wenceslao: On the right track

CEBU City, for the uninformed, is a land of two worlds: the urban and the rural. Or if you go by terrain, you have the flat lands going to the shoreline and the mountains in the interior. The boundary of the “two worlds” used to be the hemline of the island’s mountain range, or the lower part of the slopes, until developers began building subdivisions in these areas. But the upper reaches of the mountains, while increasingly being populated, are still agricultural and backward.

Nalzaro: Forgive and forget

THE settlement between south district Rep. Tomas Osmeña and businessman Jonathan “Atan” Guardo on the libel case filed by the former against the latter has raised more questions than answers.

First, who brokered the negotiation that enabled the two to reach a compromise, wherein Tommy would drop the case in exchange for Atan’s public apology? Who made the first move? Was it Atan, fearing that if the case would prosper he could be convicted?

Seares: Imelda’s stumble at Capitol

BEFORE you titter over Imelda Romualdez-Marcos’s stumble and fall at the Capitol social hall stage, think of other famous people in similar incidents.

Former first lady, now congresswoman, mother of a senator-son and a governor-daughter, Imelda was in Cebu Saturday for Pasigarbo sa Sugbo Festival. She fell on her back but wasn’t hurt.

Mongaya: Lim resigned before Micecon?

IF WE believe the statement of presidential spokesman Lacierda, outgoing Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim tendered his resignation more than a week ago and President Noynoy Aquino accepted it last Monday.

The official announcement was moved to Friday. The purpose was to allow Lim to attend the opening and address the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, Exhibitions/Events Conference (Micecon) 2011 in Cebu on Thursday.

Sunstar Essay: Saving the child

HOW much are we missing in terms of faith and self-esteem in the face of child trafficking?