Editorial: Consequences of our actions

SIBULAN River overflowing affected 800 families and grabbed 15 houses and a few residents along the way.

Covington: Won't work, didn't work

SEEING last Tuesday's cartoon of a blindfolded driver oblivious to road discipline reminded me that lately there have been several items concerning the country's zero-disciplined PUV drivers.

Ledesma: Tax in the city

YOU can avoid sex but not taxes in Davao City. It's not because sex is abhorrent as tax but you cannot get your business license from City Hall if it happens that you or your spouse or anything you own from real property to a small business which you, as a law-abiding citizen, had registered, have some kind of tax deficiency. And because it is a deficiency, you end up paying penalties for failing to pay the tax due on the prescribed date.

Geronimo: APECO not only immoral but illegal too

AS IF the voice from my church (as articulated in my piece last week) were not persuasive enough, the oppositors to the APECO (which, I must insist, does NOT stand for Angara’s Pacific Enterprises and Commercial Organization) presented the views of my compañero, Atty. Ayson Garcia, who was asked to make his assessment of the legality of the APECO.

Cortez: More than the Gift - The Giver

TODAY’S gospel follows incidents of Jesus’ healing and rebuking. Having cured all kinds of diseases and rebuked all the evil spirits that he encountered, a large number of people came to follow him - from Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, Tyre and Sidon. They all came to see him; they all came to follow him.

Sapnu: Hepe ng CSF Police Station, Dalawa?

NITONG nakaraang araw ay napag-alaman ng Dateline na dalawa umano ang Officer-In-Charge (OIC) ng City of San Fernando Police Station.

Langit: Developing self-discipline in your children

THE ultimate goal of disciplining children is to teach them about proper behavior so that they will come to the point where they will monitor their own behavior and make sound choices.

Sabino: Planning - A Must in Education

PEOPLE plan because they want good things to happen. They plan to hope for the best, to eradicate the mistakes of the past and to have a better future ahead of them.

Lintag: Getting Addicted to Computer Games

WITH the invention of modern technology, life has become more complex, giving people a better opportunity to explore, to communicate, to get information globally, to see and observe what is going on in the world.

Calinao: 'Acts of Negligence'

EMBARRASSING and Amusing!!!

Two simple yet broad words are all I have as an initial reaction the latest case of theft or robbery at the Baguio City Hall.

Lleva: Volunteer for a fee

AS WE witness the nation talk about whether or not graduate nurses on volunteer status in hospitals in the country should pay a certain fee is a piquant issue. To enable them to undergo on the job training in dialysis, intensive care unit or cardiac care unit to qualify job placements overseas as well as to render their services to the country before leaving, had been a clamor among parents of these volunteer nurses.

Speak Out: The Council Reports - Working Under a New Budget

THE City Council in its second regular season for CY 2011 finally gave its nod for the approval of the annual budget of the City in the amount of one billion ninety one million and ninety five thousand pesos (1,091,095,000).

Asuncion: Handling team weak links

QUESTION: Dear Mr. A., I'm a Sales & Marketing Team Leader of a big company directly handling 7 team members. Since our work is target-based, I cannot afford to have non-performing members in my team anymore. We are always short of our targets and this worries me a lot as the team member. How do I make my non-performing members improve their work or should I just replace them? I need help on this area please. Great thanks to you and your column! - Joel C. of Baguio/Manila

Sánchez: Huff and puff

“I’LL huff and puff.” The famous line from the Wolf against the Three Little Pigs? Yes, it is once upon a time.

Bacaoco: Family matters

FOR this edition of Cane Points, indulge me as I reminisce on family matters.

Editorial: Total log ban is impossible

A LAW that would impose a total log ban in the country will definitely face an uphill battle in Congress.

Van Vugt: To my friend Jorge Madlos

IN MY previous column ‘NDFP becoming a lost cause’ I may have given the impression that I have lost all hope in the cause of the peace talks. I just want to correct that impression, I haven’t lost hope at all. Just recently we celebrated the Feast of Christmas. Is this not the feast of hope? Imagine God Himself becoming man in the form of a helpless baby. Christmas is the feast of the body: it celebrates matter. As Christians we believe that God sent his Son into the world in order to redeem us, to liberate us from evil, to liberate matter from the evil that has dominated it ever since the beginning of creation.

Editorial: Ensuring safety of workers abroad

CONCERN for the plight of overseas Filipino workers was recently expressed by Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama when he opposed the idea of Cebuanos working in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia, because of reports that they are often treated there as slaves.

Nalzaro: ‘Cebu Pop’ fest entry

THE Cebu Pop Music Festival is one of the highlights of the Sinulog festivities. Conceptualized by the Gullas family and implemented by them for the past 31 years, Cebu Pop has produced quality Cebuano songs, some of them becoming popular and best sellers in the recording industry.

Wenceslao: Rained procession, Sinulog dances

AFEW thoughts on Fiesta Señor 2011: Solemn procession. That rain didn’t dampen the Cebuanos’ devotion to the Sto. Niño is not surprising. Our old beliefs don’t actually consider rain pouring as bad; rather, we take it as God “showering” us with his blessings. So when the rain falls when, say, we are in a procession, no complaints. We endure the wet feeling. If not, there’s this thing called umbrella.

Malilong: Placer and Masbate rising

IT warms the heart to hear nice things happening to your home province, warmer still when they happen two years in succession.

I was a 15-year-old fresh high school graduate when I left Masbate more than 40 years ago. To describe the community that I left behind as backward is an understatement.

Barrita: Brillantes to do ‘what is right’

NEWLY appointed Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes said he “will do what is right” as he fended off brickbats from critics.

But that doesn’t speak well of his predecessors, does it?

Carvajal: Reducing risk

AS WE speak, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Australia and the Philippines are being devastated by heavy and protracted flooding. My guess, therefore, is that when local government executives signed up to reduce disaster risk, foremost in their minds were the risks from flooding. The equipment and supplies they thought of acquiring would, therefore, most likely refer to rubber boats, trucks, earth-movers, food, clothing and medicines.

Dimalanta: The haling wonders of colostrum

IN PROMOTING health and wellness, A Child’s DREAM starts the year 2011 with a free seminar on the “Healing Wonders of Colostrum.”

Domoguen: Upholding local champions of local agricultural industries

I HAVE followed up with interest, the reports in this paper, about Congressman Ronnie Cosalan’s prioritizing rural infrastructure in the allocation of his share in congressional funds. This initiative, I understand, is meant to enhance access to and among communities in the province of Benguet.

McEachern: The Constitution and the national language

IN THE past few weeks we’ve taken a look at the history of the national language up until 1950, and how by then it was still essentially synonymous with Tagalog. Today, some people will tell you that the national language, Filipino, is now different from Tagalog.

Aquino: Additional Benefit Availment Conditions

LET me explain today the additional guidelines we released late last year and through which we expect that members and stakeholders will be clarified on various issues concerning benefit entitlements under the PhilHealth program.

Mercado: Blueboy, Edpam welcome poll chief Brillantes Jr.

SUPPORTERS and allies of former city mayor Francis “Blueboy” Nepomuceno expressed delight and hope over the appointment at Atty. Sixto Brillantes as Comelec Chairman.

Sison: ALE Rep. Bagasina welcomes lady bus drivers

A KAPAMPANGAN lawmaker supported the proposal of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) urging bus companies to employ lady drivers to handle their bus units plying Metro Manila. Rep. Catalina Bagasina (Party-list, ALE) said the proposal of MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino is a welcome development since "its objective is to lessen the high incidence of vehicular accidents involving male drivers."

Tulabut: Concern and care

RENAL failure, such a dreaded case.