Thursday, November 13, 2008 Espinoza: Humility, gratitude and Mayor Tomas By Elias L. Espinoza Free Zone
A man’s behavior and outlook usually change when his future is gloomy.
Turning to God sometimes becomes the last option.
Once tough and arrogant, cancer-stricken Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña seems to realize now that he is only a human being. He now understands humility and gratitude.
Mayor Tomas demonstrated this when he delivered recently his state-of-the-city-address at the Cebu Coliseum where he was joined by his leaders and supporters.
That Mayor Tomas visited the Holy Child at the Basilica del Sto. Niño and, perhaps, prayed was also a revelation.
It’s too early to say that he is a changed man. Let’s wait for his return after he fully recovers from his serious ailment. Get well soon mayor!
***
I am one of the prepaid PLDT-plus subscribers who have stopped using this promo package.
In the first few months the service was good and there were occasions that the P300 worth of load was not consumed in a month. Last month though, three days after I loaded P300, I was surprised when I couldn’t make any call. Before that, I had sent few text messages and fewer calls.
I inquired from a sales woman of a cell phone outlet but she could not explain how the P300 load was quickly consumed.
Bernie, a golf buddy, was dismayed to discover that the P600 load he put in was consumed in one day.
The promo of P1-per minute per-call from a PLDT-plus phone to a PLDT landline or Smart cell phone is not working for me and my friend Bernie.
***
Anytime next week, the Provincial Government will start collecting fees at its parking lots inside the Capitol compound.
Regional Trial Court and city court judges, who have their own parking spaces behind the Palace of Justice, will be spared from the parking fees. But some prosecutors, courts and Capitol employees, lawyers and litigants will have to bear with paying the fees.
I thought Capitol is awash with money. In her state-of-the-province-address, Gov. Gwen Garcia bragged that Capitol has billions of pesos in surplus funds. So why further burden the over-laden car owners?
The parking fee---P20 for the first two hours and P10 for the succeeding hour--– may be negligible for rich car owners but it does not speak well of Capitol’s status as a moneyed local government unit.
I was told this is a project of Byron Garcia, security consultant and brother of Governor Gwen, supposedly to secure Capitol and prevent car owners, whose offices are nearby, from parking inside the Capitol compound.
But I don’t think Byron will personally apprehend car owners who won’t park their cars properly, just like what he did few weeks ago to a Bureau of Jail Management and Penology driver.
There are other ways to prevent car owners, who have no transactions in offices at the Capitol, from parking at its compound than imposing parking fees.
I wonder if the imposition of parking fees is sanctioned by the Provincial Board. But on second thought, what can the Board do when the governor gets what she wants?
Governor Gwen is known for her good governance and public service. So, I don’t see any reason why she would not share Capitol’s wealth by leaving the parking lots free to motorists.
A lawyers’ group is raring to file a case against Capitol once it starts collecting the parking fees.
