Thursday, November 06, 2008 Espinoza: All about sludge By Elias L. Espinoza Free Zone
ON Monday, a day after All Souls Day, Christmas carols were played in malls and FM radio stations here. It means Christmas is just around the corner.
Malls are aglow and people stroll around unmindful of the international market turmoil and the hotly contested US presidential elections between Democrat Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain.
But judging from the way most of us are doing our daily chores despite the global economic meltdown, December 25 will still be celebrated with enough fanfare.
Based on tradition everybody, rich or poor, always celebrate Christmas come hell or high water. Let me take this opportunity to be the first to greet everyone, Merry Christmas!
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I don’t personally know Customs policeman Clint Ecleo but he deserves commendation and not condemnation for holding the release of a tanker truck loaded with oil sludge owned by the family of Presidential Assistant Felix Guanzon for lack of the required papers.
Ecleo’s zealousness should be praised.
Reports that Cristina, daughter-in-law of Guanzon, is into the business of buying used but recyclable oil did not surprise me. I knew about it beforehand. I even received reliable information that she muscles her way into buying the sludge by easing out her competitors.
Since she is a daughter-in-law of somebody who is close to the powers that be, who would deny Cristina the privilege of acting as the sole buyer of the material? Remember the saying, “What are we in power for?” during Ferdinand Marcos’ time?
This sludge story is not as interesting as ride-by-shooting reports. But what got somebody’s goat was Guanzon’s letter to President Arroyo, through Presidential Management Staff Director Cerge Remonde, asking for Ecleo’s immediate transfer.
Ecleo, according to the letter, allegedly victimized legitimate businessmen, including Guanzon’s daughter-in-law. It was not explained, though, in what manner Ecleo did the harassing.
But Customs officials insisted that aside from the obvious violation of environmental laws, the Guanzons failed to pay the correct duties and taxes for the sludge.
Guanzon did what a father normally does in any given situation, especially one that involves the family’s business. But as a presidential assistant, he should have been more circumspect.
As the top government official in the Visayas, Guanzon should have made sure that the family business becomes a role model when it comes to paying the correct taxes to the government.
That banner story about Guanzon perhaps did not draw the interest of Ombudsman Director Virgie Santiago since she did not call for an investigation.
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There is a new craze in the cell phone business: PLDT Plus. Call it a contradiction, but in street parlance PLDT Plus is called “wireless landline.”
People are crazy about it because the rate, as advertised, is only P1 per minute call to a PLDT landline or a Smart number within Cebu.
But many people (including me) are bewildered by how fast a load of P300 is consumed even if registered for 30-day use.
Last month, I loaded P300 and it would have been due on Nov. 16. To my dismay, the load left only three day’s later was P17. I hope this is not a scam.
Can anyone in PLDT or Smart be kind enough to explain to us some more the intricacies of PLDT Plus?
