THE health of Mayor Tomas Osmeña is apparently big news in Cebu. The mayor was hospitalized for stomach cramps the other day. This generated a lot of speculation and concern, even front page treatment by local dailies.
Unfortunately for the mayor’s enemies, the cramps were result of eating spoiled leftover food.
I learned about the mayor’s condition late the other day. A friend who works in Cosap asked about news on the mayor. Nauwahi na diay ko sa balita.
I thought at first that the mayor could not stomach the fact that BDO was able to secure a temporary restraining order. But then, the bank’s bright boys failed to grasp that the issue placed BDO at the losing end even if the court order becomes the lead, even the headline. Every time news about BDO comes out, the fact that the bank’s Magallanes Branch only paid P2,000 in business tax last year, or roughly P6 a day gets mentioned again. Mas mahal pa ang P10 nga arkabala diha sa Carbon.
More than the mayor’s health, the country’s richest bank paying only P2,000 a year is both unhealthy for its reputation and the city’s coffers.
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News about the mayor’s health also affected me in other ways. For instance, I began kicking around this morning an old football ball lying at the lawn.
Then, I checked this Vitality app from Philam Life that’s supposed to monitor my health. Out of the hundreds of health related apps that one can download from either istore or Play Store, I stuck it out with Philam Life’s app that somehow linked the idea of health with financial wellness.
No, they are not pushing for a life plan as a condition for availing of the app which I found much better than the other apps I tried before. Of course, they would say planning for a longer, healthy life includes the ability to take care of yourself when you are old. And the Vitality app is developed by Filipinos.
I like this idea about the future of health care being in your pocket, or in your hands. During a recent health summit in Manila, officials of the Takeda Healthcare Philippines talked about an app that makes cancer patients in the provinces avail of tests in Metro Manila.
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Talking about apps, Tina Amper of TechTalks.ph invited me to an interesting lunch meeting about the Cebu startup community with Jonathan Jaranilla, a Fil-am representative of a venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley. Among others, present were bloggers Mike and Marlen Limpag, DTI’s Nanette Arbon, and Joel Mari Yu of the Cebu Economic Business Unit (Cebu).
Aside from the interesting statistics that Joel regaled us about the local ICT industry, he also gave us an insight on how the Ayalas are coordinating with the city government on addressing problems like traffic that confront Cebu ICT workers.
Taym pa una, the Ayalas? And I thought they are one of those who bought land at the SRP, along with SM and Filinvest that Mayor Osmeña wants back.
While SM is waging an all-out war with City Hall, have the Ayalas found a backdoor and a way on how to warm the mayor’s heart? @anol_cebu in Twitter