Roperos: Troubled economy

A BASIC and common economic concern among the nations is how to market their products to each other. They call it “export marketing.” This notion struck me recently when I read a report in this newspaper about the threat faced by the Seaweed Industry of the Philippines (SIAP), which produces and exports carageenan as food additive.

Wenceslao: That ‘60-30-10’ poll count ‘pattern’

AN interesting article was posted recently in the Scientific American website (www.scientificamerican.com). It was aptly titled, “Moon Landing Faked!!!—Why People Believe in Conspiracy Theories.” I say the article is interesting considering insinuations raised by some sectors recently that tend to put doubt on the result of the senatorial polls.

Malilong: Move to postpone barangay polls

THE term of office of barangay officials, which is fixed by the Local Government Code, has undergone two changes: on Feb. 14, 1998, when (according to a Rappler report) nobody was looking, Congress extended it to five years through Republic Act 8524 and on March 19, 2002, when it was restored to three years, again by another act of Congress, Republic Act 9164.

Seares: The new senators you or PCOS have picked

A person's opinion of the quality of his country's senators usually depend upon what he believes qualify them for the office.

The Constitution's requirements though are limited to citizenship (natural-born), age (35 or older), residence (two years before the election), and, for education, mere ability to read and write.

Sanchez: Death penalty as murder

WHY don’t we just call it death? Or more apt, just plain murder? Let’s stop with the cutesy legalese “death penalty,” as if the verdict came from a legitimate court.

Frankly, the verdict of guilt on the “accused” is in fact an admission of guilt on the part of the executioners and their controllers for the crime of murder and a violation of international humanitarian law.

Ombion: Hocus PCOS

IF I WERE to believe the loose reports that the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines determined the outcome of the recently concluded mid terms elections, then I could as well conclude with a new thesis that election cheating in this country has become more organized, systematic and sophisticated, and only those in position of power could do it.

Who can argue that the entire election day also was marred with numerous PCOS problems ranging from failure to initialize, ballot rejection and unexplained shutdown, among others. In some cases, election inspectors had to be creative just to fix the technical problems encountered by the machines.

Libre: Computer glitch

Joavan Fernandez transferred to CPDRC.

Be careful, some insiders there may be envious of your claim as Public Enemy No 1.

Pacete: Negros Occidental: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

YESTERDAY: ‘Buglas’ was the ancient name of Negros that literally means ‘torn from’. Our island was torn from Cebu and Panay during a geological upheaval 50,000 years ago.

The Spaniards who came here first in 1565 called the island ‘Islas de los Negros’ because of its Negrito inhabitants. The colonizers divided the island into ‘encomiendas’ or lands granted to favored person for services to the Spanish Crown. The ‘buena familias’ from Iloilo were invited by Fr. Eusebio Locsin, parish priest of Silay, to come to Negros in 1840 to transform the forest into ‘haciendas’ or sugarcane fields. The Negros ‘haciendas’ produced the best sugar in the country.

Pangan: Back to Work

IT'S normal work for most of us while those newly elected individuals are gearing for their respective elective positions come June 30 this year.

Everything is in tentative mode yet, but school habitues are now preparing materials, instructional aids, and other paraphernalia in time for school opening for 2013-2014. The K-12 program is being implemented in earnest, with the passage of its enabling law.

Peña: Isang Pasasalamat

MGA minamahal kong Mabalaqueños,

Sa ngalan ng aking pamilya, ako po ay taos-pusong nagpapasalamat sa paghalal ninyong muli sa akin bilang konsehal ng ating minamahal na siyudad ng Mabalacat. Mahirap po ang ating naging laban ngunit ating napagtagumpayan dahil sa inyong suporta. Ang mga salita ay hindi po sapat upang maipadama ko ang aking pasasalamat.

Alamon: Of patrons and martyrs (part 2)

THE previous column was an attempt to make sense of our current political culture in the face of the apparent widespread disillusionment over the latest national elections. Never has there been a roster of senators-elect that reveals the few families that make up our political elite. And if there are exceptions, they win because they offer symbolic alternatives to elite rule.

Why is it then that the people choose either political patrons or heroic martyrs?

Montalvan: Exorcising CdO from Emano

EVERY Monday morning after flag ceremony, Vicente Emano gathers all his councilors for sumptuous breakfast.

What takes place in those meetings? A former councilor told me that when he was new with Emano, he would offer suggestions during the meetings. “I would be met with a cold shoulder instead. Then I realized he loathed suggestions. All the agenda had to be his alone.”

Vugt: OFW phenomenon – an anomaly

THE fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman by Filipino Coast Guards has led to harassment and attacks on Filipino workers in Taiwan. According to news reports, the Coast Guards acted in ‘self-defense.’ The Taiwanese fishing boat had tried to ram their vessel in Philippine waters and then fled. They made a chase, firing at the boat’s engine to try to stop it. A Chinese resident was hit and killed. Clearly, the report shows that the Taiwanese had violated international law on maritime waters. The victims here are the Filipino workers in Taiwan, OFWs. They are innocent and should have been spared from retaliation in this political conflict.

Uyboco: The failure of grades (2nd of two parts)

I TOOK the Masters program in Educational Leadership and Management at De La Salle University around eight years ago. One of my most memorable experiences then was visiting a school that had successfully done away with grades. I expected this school to be one of those new and innovative small schools.

I was surprised to learn that this school had already been existing since 1972, is Paascu-accredited, has over 7,000 students, and whose graduates go into mainstream colleges without any unusual problems. This was Angelicum College, founded by the Dominican visionary Fr. Rogelio Alarcon, OP.

Millan: Star trek into darkness

THE campaign is over, and so are the days of the poster boys, or the poster girls for that matter, and everybody else who have in one way or the other were hired not only to install posters but also to distribute leaflets or otherwise became guardian angels on campaign sorties, events and activities.

Obviously, there will be no more, or not much, need for warm bodies at this time. Hopefully, though, there will be a need for bright minds.

Editorial: Waging the war over AIDS

ACCORDING to a report posted by the Philippine National Aids Council, the hunt for an HIV vaccine has eaten up at least $8 billion in the last ten years.

The report added that failure of the most recent efficacy trial has delivered yet another setback to 26 years of efforts based on a research at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative laboratory works on samples in New York.

Sungduan: Travel

TRAVEL the world and you will know more about yourself and broaden your horizon as well. If you get lost along the way you need not to worry because there will always be good people who will help you find your way.

In Hong Kong, you will meet some Filipinos who are based there and more than willing to help you find a good place to stay with reasonable price like in guest houses along Nathan Road in Kowloon which is just a walk away from the famous malls and boutique hotels selling original branded goods. From Tsim Tsa Tsui train station, with just two stops you will reach Mongkok where you can shop cheap but quality products.

Vicente: City High Class ‘89

THEY have it in them, the professionalism, the enthusiasm, the limited but working manpower and the willingness to work with other groups that knows better of the work at hand.

City High class ’89 recently hosted the Baguio SUMVAC Arnis Encounter last May 20-21 2013 at the PFVR Gym, Upper Session Road, Baguio City, which went well despite the glitches that the group had to overcome.

Editorial: Reconciliation

ACTING Gov. Agnes Magpale, who won the post of vice governor in the May 13 polls, is not the first winner in a political joust to wave the “reconciliation” word like a flag. But calling for reconciliation after a bitter political war is one thing, actually seeking it is another.

Roperos: ‘Chilling’ act

I DO NOT know how I should react to this bit of incident. But I believe that this has a grave implication on the exercise of the media profession in the globe. I am referring to the complaint by the Associated Press (AP) against the US government’s Department of Justice.

Malilong: Tommy O’s electoral protest

LOREN LEGARDA, Chiz Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano and Sonny Angara were big winners in the May 13 senatorial elections in spite of it. On the other hand, Mitos Magsaysay and JC delos Reyes missed the target by a wide margin (5 million votes?) also in spite of it.

In Cebu, political giants Reps. Pablo Garcia and Eddie Gullas tasted bitter defeat for the first time after so many elections, likewise in spite of it.

Seares: Coca Cola metaphor of PNoy and Nancy

IN September 2011, President Noynoy Aquino, when asked about his love life, said, "It's like Coca Cola. Before it was Regular, then it became Light, now it's Zero."

Last week, Nancy Binay, still basking in the light and warmth of election victory, finishing fifth in the Senate race, was asked about how she'll "make a name separate" from her dad, Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Espinoza: BOPK councilors should cooperate

FILING an election protest is a right of a poll loser who thinks that the results of the election were highly irregular or were rigged.

Rep. Tomas Osmeña, allegedly upon the prodding of his supporters, will protest the victory of Mayor Mike Rama and vice mayor-elect Edgar Labella in the just concluded May 13 polls.

Pacete: Dealing with the children of the sweet potato

YES, there is a tension between the ‘Pearl of the Orient’ (Philippines) and ‘Ilha Formosa’ (Beautiful Island) or Taiwan (Terraced Bay). The early Portuguese gave that name to the beautiful enchanted island. The main island is shaped like a ‘kamote’. The native Taiwanese call themselves ‘children of the sweet potato’.

Lee: Elements of a Bouncing Check

LAST week we discussed the Anti-Bouncing Checks Law (Batas Pambansa Bilang 22), as well as its main thrust and how it imposes criminal liability on the issuance of a bouncing check.

This week, let us discuss, briefly, the elements of a violation of Sec. 1 of B.P. 22.

Velez: Of braggadocios and yada-yadas

THERE are over 90,000 overseas workers in Taiwan that includes my two uncles. There is a Davao-Taiwan friendship ties with Filipino-Chinese here. But now these ties are shaken.

Taiwan and Philippines are now embroiled over the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Philippine Coast Guard two weeks ago when its fishing boat crossed Philippine seas.

Cortez: The Holy Spirit: The God in Us

OF THE three Persons of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit is often the least known and understood. Many know the Father and the Son but have a limited knowledge of the Holy Spirit. Yet the Holy Spirit is God himself, one with the Father and with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Libot: Image Politics

TRUTH be told, I am one of the many who did not welcome the Election of Nancy Binay, daughter of Vice President Jejomar Binay and now Senator-elect of the Philippines. Nancy Binay could perhaps be the most victimized figure of the campaign period.

And her name was subject to many internet creations, her personhood subjected to a slew of social media attacks, many perhaps starting in range of platform but mostly and quite heavily on her skin color.

Ravanera: The Many Faces of Oppression

OPPRESSION has many faces and it is committed in various ways but nothing could beat that of a tribal community that had been coerced to live with cows. How was that? Here’s the story.

That happened in Panalsalan, Maramag, Bukidnon in the late ‘60s when a rich influential man holding a high elected position from a region in the Visayas turned the barangay (called a barrio then) into a ranch. He came one Christmas day in 1969 distributing “gifts,” P20 per family (in the ‘60s, P20 is now equivalent to about P1,500). A month later, that powerful man came back with his armed cowboys, fencing the barangay with barb wires (6 ft. high) claiming that those “gifts” were his payments for the land.

Editorial: To be forewarned is to be forearmed

THE war on dengue in Baguio City and Benguet is on. Not that it has ever been off.

But every year, approaching the rainy season, the Departments of Health and Education, other government agencies and private sector launch a massive campaign against dengue.