I LIKE Atty. Jesus Hinlo Jr. Soft-spoken. Simple. Like me, he commutes going to the Hall of Justice. Sometimes we get to eat at one of the diners across La Consolacion College-Bacolod.
Besides, he’s a mediation-friendly counsel. In other words, he gives court-annexed mediation a chance to weave its magic among my parties.
My only issue against him was his support for Rodrigo Duterte whom I painted as a Hitler in the making in my columns. Be that as it may, I still like the USec and the Man himself: Rody Duterte. They advocate industrialization.
I agree totally with the Undersecretary. Lately, he emphasized that the Negrense economy cannot forever depend on agriculture or on sugar. The way to go, according to Hinlo, is for the region to industrialize.
During the opening of the 11th Negros Island Organic Farmers Festival, the Undersecretary emphasized the need to build manufacturing plants and factories to be able to provide massive work for the people.
“I appeal to our political and business leaders in Negros, prepare for the future, we have to industrialize," he said.
Wow, as in wow. Hinlo proposed a shift in mindset: think like a first world country, and not be trapped in the comforts of the haciendas. Talk about visions.
“For Negros to be able to give mass employment, we need to follow the examples set by Singapore, South Korea, Japan and other industrialized countries,” Hinlo said. Oh, so true.
Now is the time for Negros Occidental to industrialize. We can backstop the manufacturing industry with excessive solar energy. Our local political leadership should put front and center the establishment of manufacturing plants in its local economic development.
The construction of the Cebu-Negros-Panay 230KV Backbone project will be able to accommodate excess solar power to be used by other neighboring islands, said the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.
“Oversupply of power is a good thing because it means you have so much power to use, but they have a limitation in their transmission system, especially between Negros and Cebu,” said Christian Ereño, NGCP Visayas Systems Planning Division head.
If Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. stresses Negros First well, those excess solar power should be used by Negrense manufacturing industries first.
Otherwise, the lion’s share of energy will primarily go to Cebu, the most industrialized city in the Visayas. The Cebuanos will race far ahead while the pace of the Negrense economic will shuffle if it walks with bound feet solving today’s problems with yesterday’s solution, based on the hacienda system. (PNA)
*****
(bqsanc@yahoo.com)