Wenceslao: Dealing with obstructionists

THE recent Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) gathering at the South Road Properties (SRP) gave us a glimpse of what party chief Tomas Osmeña and his people will do at least in the early stages of Michael Rama’s second term as mayor. So what should Team Rama do in response?

Barrita: My Mactan

NEWLY-ELECTED Rep. Aileen Radaza of the lone district of Lapu-Lapu City is filing a bill that will create the province of Mactan, a move she said, which will hasten the island’s economic growth.

I always thought the Radazas, the congresswoman-elect’s father Rep. Arturo Radaza and mother Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza, have done something to make Mactan prosper.

Nalzaro: Political dynamics

DEFEATED mayoralty candidate Tomas Osmeña just cannot accept his defeat in the hands of his former political protégé, Michael Rama. So too his running mate, Vice Mayor Agustus Joy Young, cannot accept his defeat to Edgardo Labella. Labella won by a margin of almost 200 votes.

Obenieta: Stirring up the source

GROW by going along with the grassroots. No better sense than sticking one’s ear down to the ground.

Earthshaking as his historic ascendancy has been, US President Barack Obama knew all along that he could fall through the cracks if he would wander off and drag on deaf to the source of his power. So he went on poring over the so-called Citizen’s Briefing Book, noting down some insights from ordinary citizens who proposed ways of wising up and tackling the task of nation-building.

Carvajal: Question one

THE number one question after election results is: were elections 2013 better than elections 2010? If you ask Comelec and the winners the answer is a big YES. But if you ask the losers and some watchdogs the answer is a loud NO.

Editorial: Innovative solutions to climate change

NIGHTS are cooler, and we’re regularly getting the evening showers. This means, the hot summer is almost over, and with it, floods, landslides and just about every calamity that we have become very familiar with.

According to the United Nations University (UNU), Philippines ranks third among the countries most vulnerable to climate change and disasters caused by natural hazards.

Gonzales: The merry month of May

THE euphoria over activities related to the national and local elections has kept everyone busy, reflective, anxious and victorious, all at the same time. I am quite sure that what took place during the past few weeks will remain unforgettable for each of the candidates and their supporters. The month of May is also very precious and memorable to me because this is the birth month of our eldest son, Jan, who celebrates his birthday every 20th day of May.

Oledan: Public disclosure

IF MALACANANG can have its way, netizens have to learn responsible social media use, otherwise they can be hounded with criminal sanctions for materials, views and opinions that may be critical of public officials and their actions. It also wants to push for its own version of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill to avoid abuse of information “by those who do not put it to proper use.”

Emata: A great disappointment

A GOOD number of Filipino-Americans in the U.S. continent expressed disappointment to news reports that the last midterm elections in the Philippines was still marred by massive vote-buying and other election frauds. Leaders of various Filipino communities were dismayed to learn that the elections which is supposed to be the last resort of the people to change the stature of the country was mishandled.

Luczon: Trusting the public schools

YESTERDAY was the first time I personally attended an enrolment of a five-year-old boy whose mother have been insisting for my physical presence to “show support” that Xemnaz will finally get his first small steps to the “educated society.”

Despite objections, as it has been in our family’s on-your-own tradition that enrolments are done with less supervision to parents as years would progress, so the parental duty have fell upon this writer to “show support.”

Fernandez: More things to do

I WAS not quite surprised when the National Statistical Coordination Board (NCSB) released last month its latest figures on the poverty incidence in the Philippines.

According to the NSCB data, poverty incidence hardly eased between 2006 and 2009. Poverty incidence was estimated at 27.9 percent in the first semester of 2012, compared to 28.8 percent poverty incidence in 2006 and 28.6 percent in 2009.

Cariño: Hello, mayora

MY FIRST unsolicited advice for the mayor elect of strawberry town is for her to junk that cute yellow SUV people had seen her drive before the campaign period. That car might create a divide between her administration and those who put her back into public office, or impress something nasty on what motivated her bid.

Domondon: The Other Way Around

THE City Council of Baguio deliberated last Monday, during its 17th regular session, a distinctly unique request coming from an educational institution situated within the central business district area of the city.

Alamon: Of patrons and martyrs

WHILE our City is in an expectant and bright mood as a result of the just concluded political exercise, the senatorial elections; however, cast a gloomy shadow over the seeming direction of national politics.

Local politics and national elections are different political beasts that are of course entangled in a warped co-dependent relationship. But while the issues of local politics are more gut-level, the senatorial elections, on the other hand, give us an insight into where we are as a nation.

Ravanera: A book God wrote

WE are now on the 13th year of the 21st century but we don’t know anymore if we can reach the 22nd century which is only 87 years away because the global system is now collapsing. We must now be imbued with a new Gaia consciousness to nurture God’s vanishing creation. To partake of that consciousness, it behooves upon all of us to read seriously the book that God has authored, written in his own handwriting.

That book is opened 24 hours a day and has no literacy requirement for it is not written in alphabets and can be well understood using not one but five senses.

Wenceslao: Staying relevant

OPERATION Day 1” was the buzzword when I covered the Capitol beat in the early ‘90s during the administration of lawyer Vicente “Tingting” de la Serna. Tingting had defeated Annette, wife of former governor Emilio “Lito” Osmeña, in the 1992 Cebu gubernatorial elections. Lito at that time was seeking a national position, leaving his control of the Capitol vulnerable to assaults from the opposition.

Seares: Jun Pe’s derailed test on term limit

CEBU City Councilor Jun Pe of BOPK wanted to probe boundaries of term limit: whether he could secure a fourth consecutive term in the City Council by changing districts.

He wanted to go around the legal barrier by transferring legal residence from the north and filing his certificate of candidacy in the south.

Lee: Law on children

MY WIFE recently gave birth to a baby girl. In between cooing to the baby and cuddling her, I thought it would be good to discuss some of the laws surrounding a newly born baby.

Under Article 40 of the Civil Code, “birth determines personality; but the conceived child shall be considered born for all purposes that are favorable to it.”

Estremera: Typewriters and touchpads

IT’S not easy to be bullied. Anyone who has been bullied will know that. Many adults who have forgotten their childhood would always prattle that anyone bullied should just go to an elder and tell him or her what happened. As if a child can easily do that.

Or a nation. Look at us and our people in Taiwan. One or two, or maybe many, have been hit by the bat of enraged Taiwanese, and what can our people do? Nothing. What can we in the Philippines do? Nothing. Now bring that down to the scale of one bullied child.

Pacete: Negros at IFEX-Philippines

THE Negros staff manning the Negros Pavilion at the International Food Exhibition (IFEX)-Philippines (May 16–19) are in an intense mood while seriously attending to the investors who are interested in Negros products. IFEX is organized by the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

Jimenez: First moves of the new local leadership

THE residents of Bacolod City have high hopes that the new local leadership will be able to have the political will to straighten things in society in a firm but democratic way. This was the main comment that was raised during the coffee session of some informal political analysts.

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Roperos: Automated count

COMES now the disturbing questions about the automated election machines that earlier gave us an immediate glimpse of the results of the voting.

Lots of doubts are now being expressed about the veracity and accuracy of the election results from precincts that used the automated election system (AES).

Editorial: The push for a Mactan province

CAN a neophyte lawmaker like newly elected Rep. Aileen Radaza do it meaning, push through the legislative mill her proposal to slice off Mactan island from the Cebu mainland and raise its status to a province?

It’s an interesting question. As interesting as why her father, outgoing Lapu-Lapu Rep. Arturo Radaza didn’t craft the bill himself.

Limlingan: Whatever might have happened

AS I was reading the news on this paper on Monday, I got struck by the story of an elderly man wanting answers on his complaint against a private hospital in the City of San Fernando. For a gist on the news item, a 70-year-old man named Manuel Bautista of Pilar Village in Barangay San Isidro has filed a complaint before the Department of Health, Center for Health and Development-3 (DOH-CHD 3) against a known private hospital in the city.

Morales: Necro politics

THIS election, as far as elections go, is one most loaded with upsets, and the biggest one of course is Grace Poe-Llamanzares grabbing the hotly-contested top spot, heretofore relegated to Loren Legarda, and, in seasons past, to Noli “Kabayan” de Castro, Mar Roxas, Joseph Estrada.

How did a virtual unknown climb the peak of the political Mt. Everest that had one Senate topnotcher-wannabe try to destroy another’s reputation just to land on number 1?

Tantingco: The Kapampangan in Us

WHO are the Kapampangans?

It’s not just a rhetorical question. Some people really want to know, especially after two Kapampangans from Tarlac were rejected as nominees to the annual Most Outstanding Kapampangan Awards (MOKA) two years in a row.

De Leon: Now Serving: Theme Restaurants (Part II)

ALICE of Magic World -- Tokyo, Japan. Playing cards, oversize teacup booths and heart-shaped light fittings all feature at the Alice of Magic World restaurant in Tokyo. The eatery, which is located in the Ginza district. The waitresses dress up in Alice in Wonderland frocks, and the menus come in mini dioramas with foldout flaps.

Domoguen: Flow gently river of life into our hearts and minds

IF YOU feel like jumping into the water by the river, are you certain it is clean - good to your health even your limbs. A lot of things are not what they seem since you last reckoned them, mind you.

Tibaldo: Protect yourself from 'Phishing' and online fraud

I MAY not be physically present in any discussion, forum, meeting or group encounter but I can be technologically around with the use of modern day communication gadgets. The use of non-voice communication systems such as e-mail, short message sending or SMS texting has been in practice for over a decade already allowing faster and real time correspondence but the fact remains that these are not free from risks and fraudulent acts.

Editorial: Championing our children’s education

AND the countdown begins.

In 14 days, students of public elementary and high schools begin their annual quest for quality education amid the perennial problems our schools are facing.