PEOPLE talk about...
[1] ABOUT MANILANS BEING HARD-HEADED TOO. Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who has some Cebuano blood, said Monday night, June 29, that the National Capital Region should be reverted to enhanced community quarantine or ECQ due to the people's hard-headedness. Earlier, he said the government's health protocols were not to be blamed. "Ang tigas ng ulo natin."
So it's not a trait that only Cebuanos have?
As pointed out before, there's no hard evidence that any particular group of Filipinos is more stubborn than other Philippine groups.
[2] FURTHER CRIPPLING OF ABS-CBN through a cease-and-desist order from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) immediately stopping the network from operating its digital TV that uses Channel 43 on ABS-CBN TV Plus and a separate order to Sky Cable Corp., a subsidiary of the network, to stop immediately its direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service Sky Direct. Their operations, the solicitor general's office said, were dependent on the ABS-CBN franchise.
Passion for investigations
Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella is being shouted for, among others, his "penchant (for) conducting investigations" in case any controversy involving City Hall arises.
Could be due to his experience as an anti-graft investigator and his belief in the rule of law, which includes the individual's right to be heard and to answer an accusation against him. Labella and his running mate Vice Mayor Mike Rama ran in 2019 with the platform "rule of law."
Nothing wrong with ordering an investigation each time a controversy erupts. The facts are needed for the chief executive to adopt a prudent course of action. But what seems to be picked on by critics is that the results of such investigations are allegedly not being disclosed.
DYLA broadcaster Art Barrit counted "10 or more" investigations that Labella ordered: from a sexual harassment case against a former barangay captain to the deaths of a British national, the mass gathering of seniors at City Hall, the allegedly unaccounted-for 37,000 or more chickens, and Milo's alleged meddling in the distribution of rice aid.
The 'I-will-study-it' governor
Repetition of a course of action inevitably becomes fodder for attack if nothing comes out of it. The public tends to look for what is promised multiple times.
The case of a former governor comes to mind. He would promise "to study" any problem or proposal brought to his attention: "I will study it," he would tell the media. He ended his term with the findings on a lot of promised studies never disclosed.
An "I-will-investigate-it" tease might hound the mayor up to the next election season.
IATF adviser's misfire
Being used against Mayor Labella was the observation of Dr. Teddy Herbosa, an IATF adviser, who reportedly scored "political issues and mistruths floating around in Cebu.
When pressed about "political issues," Herbosa said, none really, just "lack of coordination." As to the mistruths, he was apparently referring to Gov. Gwen Garcia because Herbosa talked about advocacy for "tuob" or steam inhalation as alternative local remedy to coronavirus and about other illnesses such as TB, flu and diabetes as the primary causes of death, not Covid-19. Governor Gwen was reported and known to have made those advocacies, not Labella. And the issue Herbosa raised was the surge in new infections in Cebu City, not in Cebu province.
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