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?

Mercado: Hidden price tag

BISAN niwang, basta walay utang. “No matter if you’re skinny, provided you’re not shackled by debt.”

That proverb came to mind on reading a Sun.Star report: Come Aug. 19, City Hall must fork over P282 million to Japan Bank for International Cooperation. That’s only the 14th installment to repay IOUs for the 296-hectare South Road Properties (SRP).

Cabaero: Announcing oil price adjustments

WHEN an oil price increase is impending, consumers learn about it few hours or the night before, not giving them time to rush to gasoline stations before the adjustment takes effect.

When an oil price rollback is to take place, the public gets to hear about it three days or a weekend before the adjustment. Consumers have to wait two to three days, until the Monday when the price decrease happens.

Lim: Crucifixion

MIDEO Cruz is being crucified.

Archbishop Oscar Cruz calls Mideo’s work “sick” and “sickening.” Well, that is a matter of opinion. I’d call it shocking but I think it would be more appropriate to call child molestation “sick” and “sickening.”

Tabada: Our beasties

WHAT'S the greater terror?

Confronting something we don’t understand or recognizing the unspeakable that’s familiar?

Malilong: Atan-Tommy reconciliation

TWO expressions, worn by repeated use, immediately come to mind upon reading the news that Tommy Osmeña and Atan Guardo have settled their differences, as a result of which the Cebu City south district congressman dropped the criminal case for libel that he filed against the rival he defeated in the last elections.

Editorial: Interesting Ciudad project twist

WHEN Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim visited the controversial Ciudad project in the Banilad-Talamban corridor of Fifth Avenue Development Corp. and the Provincial Government, he wore an interested look on his face and a brown “Ciudad” vest.

Libre: Arrest Ecleo

THE Philippines has taken a bold stand in its claim to the Spratly Islands even if it means earning the ire of the People’s Republic of China. In his State of the Nation Address, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III said the country will defend its sovereign territory. "We do not wish to increase tensions with anyone, but we must let the world know that we are ready to protect what is ours," he said.

Wenceslao: Humane legal system

THE noose around former first gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo’s neck is tightening despite his and his lawyers’ attempts to make him do a Houdini. The witnesses that linked Arroyo to the anomalous purchase by the Philippine National Police (PNP) of second-hand choppers but claimed as brand new are credible and a paper and money trail is available.

Nalzaro: Bella Ruby: ‘Catch me if you can’

IT WILL will be a slap on the face of our local police if they cannot arrest Bella Ruby Santos, who is facing a case of kidnapping with murder in connection with the death of six-year-old Ellah Joy Pique.

Before the court issued a warrant of arrest against Santos, the local police, through Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Patrocinio Comendador (who also served as Task Force Ellah Joy spokesman), bragged that Santos’s movement was being monitored. But when the warrant came out, they lost Bella. Morag buwa si Bella nga mikalit lag kawala.

Barrita: Bounty on Bella Ruby

CEBU Province police chief Pat Comendador said they plan to raise at least a P50,000 reward for any person who can inform them about Bella Ruby Santos’s whereabouts.

That’s the price the police have to pay for losing their quarry.

Carvajal: Medium as message

NOT being an artist and not having experienced the “Kulo” exhibit, I am in no position to judge the artistic merits of Mideo Cruz’s “Poleteismo.” I can, however, judge the effectiveness (in conveying a message) of his medium from the tone and decibel levels of the responses of his extreme detractors.

Editorial: ‘Clearer perspective’ on flooding

CEBU City councilors want to conduct a public hearing on the flooding episodes in Barangays Guadalupe and Tisa. They supposedly want to get a clearer perspective of the problem.

The move follows the verbal exchange between Mayor Michael Rama and Genvi Development Corp., developer of upland subdivision Monterrazas de Cebu.

Roperos: Fate or coincidence?

ONCE in a while something unexpected and unusual breaks out, and we suddenly perk up from the usual grind, take notice and wonder why it did occur. The incident in front of the Zapatera Elementary School Wednesday afternoon was such an event. “Tree Falls on Driver,” says the Sun.Star Cebu headline.

Wenceslao: Will Pimentel’s son also rise?

LABEL it “The Son Also Rises,” a takeoff from Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises.” After some bumps and turns, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III is finally senator of the land, declared yesterday by the Senate Electoral Tribunal as the rightful owner of the 12th seat in the 2007 senatorial polls over the recently resigned Juan Miguel Zubiri.

Malilong: Gloria’s illness makes her an underdog

THE announcement that the follow-up surgery on former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s errant spine did not go well is sure to generate public sympathy for her. It also promises trouble for the Aquino administration.

Our love for the underdog is legendary and few situations are more disadvantaged than lying helplessly on a hospital bed. That is why you call a truce with an enemy who is sick. You don’t strike someone when he is down.

Seares: Arroyos’ ill health stalls charges

FORMER president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo underwent last week two surgeries for a neck ailment and needs a third operation soon. Jose Miguel Arroyo, the former first gentleman, had an open-heart surgery in 2007 and now complains of life-threatening medical condition.

Both are under fire for suspected corruption committed during GMA's nine-year term.

Yap: Art appreciation 101

THE cross-fire surrounding the installation work of artist Mideo Cruz’s “Poleteismo” threw me back to that inglorious time when the MTRCB shut off the theaters for Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” because something in it made a close circle of morality guards puke—a “pumping scene” and a “frontal nudity.” In the eyes of that holy circle, all the bleak images of the Holocaust paled in comparison to the sudden view of a woman’s nipple and the vigorous romp of Liam Neeson that was, by the way, properly draped in immaculate sheets.

Libre: Burnt hogs

WASTE, stench from hog farm provoke neighbors’ complaint.

With this claim, the operators may get roasted.

Editorial: No shutting down of ‘Kulo’ debate

THE Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) may have closed the “Kulo” exhibit that featured the controversial “Poleteismo” work of Mideo Cruz, but the tug-of-war between freedom of expression and respect for religion continues.

Indeed, a big chunk of the debate sparked by the exhibit has been about such an extraneous topic and not about “Poleteismo” itself. Cruz’s work, therefore, is but fodder to the continuing struggle between a largely conservative local viewpoint and the progressive thought originating from the west.

Roperos: Trafficking

RECENT developments in the business sector tend to indicate that at least in one particular commodity, the market appears unusually active. I refer to the number of intercepted young people being seduced by shrewd traders to look for “lucrative work” in the national capital.

Stopped at our ports before they were able to board the ships for Manila, the trafficking victims were brought to the city bedazzled by the thought of earning a living not only for them but largely for their respective families. It is need, it is want, it is hunger that may have impelled most of them to go on a risky venture into an unknown way of life.

So: The limbo MCC is in

Dr. Paulus Mariae Cañete, the head of one Mandaue City College, is fending off questions from the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) on the regularity of the operation of his school.

I say one Mandaue City College because there’s another Mandaue City College that’s run by Dr. Susana Cabahug, a former regional director of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (Decs).

Malilong: Show proof that Cebu cheated

WAS there massive cheating in Cebu in the 2004 presidential elections?

Thought to have been long laid to rest, the issue cropped up again recently in the light of fresh allegations of tampering of election results in Maguindanao to favor the then sitting president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The reasoning seemed to be that if it happened in that tiny Ampatuan fiefdom, then it must have also taken place in Cebu where she dealt her rival, the late actor Fernando Poe Jr., a more thorough drubbing.

Seares: That pork ‘fire sale’ in Talisay

WHEN you read or heard the news that people Tuesday queued to buy meat chopped from carcasses of more than a hundred pigs killed in a fire at a hog farm, did you smirk or show a stiff upper lip?

There was a long and unruly line, news reports said: buyers pushed and shoved and some even tried to scale the wall to get inside the farm in Biasong, Talisay City.

Espinoza: Is Tomas anti-progress?

FORMER Mayor Tomas Osmeña, now representative of Cebu City’s south district, figuratively moved heaven and earth to invite investors and buy lots at the South Road Properties (SRP) in order to pay the city’s humungous loan.

Those who blocked his move to sell the SRP lots were branded as anti-progress. SRP, formerly the south reclamation project, has drained the city’s coffers in paying off the loan from the old Japanese International Cooperation Agency (Jica).