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Thursday, June 22, 2006
Wenceslao: ‘Selda elektrika’
By Bong O. Wenceslao
I heard this phrase from a radio commentator on the latest Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) tragedy: “selda elektrika.” That was a spin off “silya elektrika,” the Cebuano term for electric chair. Those five inmates who died in jail Tuesday were no death row inmates, but they died from electrocution nevertheless.
I don’t know why the BBRC administration allowed those electric wires to dangle dangerously off the ceiling. But in a rickety and overcrowded facility, what else is impossible? BBRC warden Efren Nemeño pinned the blame on inmates, who he said would pull the wires to make their own connections. At least to make electric fans work.
I take it that Nemeño and Cebu City Hall will now have the jail rewired. That’s another case for the saying, “unya ra manguros pagkahuman sa kilat.” But then again that wouldn’t solve the problem because the root cause of all BBRC woes is overcrowding and rundown buildings. And city officials that don’t seem to care? That’s a problem too.
Okay, some Cebu City Government officials do care, or a new jail in Kalunasan wouldn’t have been built at all. Unfortunately, Mayor Tomas Osmeña does not like the face of top officials of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and thus couldn’t countenance them running that new jail. That explains the seeming lackadaisical attitude.
But I do say there is a need to hurry up the transfer of the inmates to a new jail facility, after all, prisoners are people, too. Plus they have relatives who care for their welfare. If only for them, Osmeña should end the sulking and help Vice Mayor Michael Rama find ways to speed up the completion of the Kalunasan jail. Makonsyensya sad ta, ba.
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I lived in Barangay Inayawan for more than a year before I herded the family to our new residence in Pakigne, Minglanilla. And when you are in Inayawan, Barangay Pardo is not far away. Because of this, I found interesting the report that the Pardo public market grabbed the nationwide government-initiated “Huwarang Palengke 2006” award.
I once brought a t-shirt in one of the stalls of the market’s upper floor. Of course, those stalls are gone now, replaced by classrooms as ordered by Osmeña, who had no love lost for a building constructed during the term of his political rival, Alvin Garcia. Yet, the same market whose operation the mayor scuttled has won an award. How ironic.
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I have always been a sports fan; I read newspapers back to front. Unfortunately, football is not my cup of tea, although I used to watch the Southwestern University football team practice in the grounds near the high school building. I just couldn’t connect with players running back and forth for an hour without scoring a point.
So instead of the football World Cup, the National Basketball Association finals series between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks was what caught my attention. I am writing this because I rooted for the Heat, the underdog in the series even with Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade there. Well, the Heat won the title yesterday. Bravo!
(khanwens@yahoo.com/ 0915-9228651/my blog: cebuano.wordpress.com) |
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