Twitter tags Trump claim
US President Donald Trump tweeted Monday, October 12, he "is now immune to coronavirus and is unable to spread it." With the tweet is Twitter's label: "misleading." Would that stop the lying or distortion? Maybe not. But the reader has some kind of guide, like an X rating to a porn film.
Limits eased but not on liquor
Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella has eased restriction on non-leisure businesses by allowing them to operate at full capacity. Restaurants in malls and commercial centers and food outlets may operate 24-hour takeout and delivery service but onsite service is only up to 11 p.m.
EO 94 of October 1 has been amended by EO 99 of October 9. The liquor ban was lifted starting the first day of the MGCQ phase in October but the limit on service of liquor or other alcoholic drink at eateries to two servings is not changed in the amendatory order.
The 11 p.m. curfew and the limit on alcohol service may dampen the zest to drink but some lawyers have a way to go around the restriction, which is said to be imposed by Department of Trade and Industry whose policy-makers apparently don't know the drink habit of Filipinos -- or their ingenuity to evade the law. The serving does not specify size or quantity: the second serving may range from a bottle to a pitcher or a drum.
The lawyers are not griping aloud though. Besides the ways to dodge the cap at restaurants, there is no limit on takeouts from liquor shops.
P.S.: Lawyers are now considered APORs or authorized persons outside residences. All they need to show is their IBP ID. The CQ pass on hand, or the "Lawyer On Board" sign at the car dashboard, is not required.
'Call me Atty.-Dr.'
Speaking of lawyers, a law graduate is now deemed a holder of the degree of juris doctor. J.D. is classified as a "professional doctorate" degree, like the M.D. degree. It does not entitle, however, the holder in the Philippines to be addressed as "Dr.," which, aside from doctors of medicine or dentistry, is reserved only for holders of academic or research doctorate degrees.
There has been some disagreement between the Legal Education Board and Ched on the value of a Bachelor of Laws or J.D. degree, especially on getting employed or promoted. When to address an attorney also as "Dr." is only a side issue.
Confusing doctors, who hold academic/research doctorate degrees, with medical doctors is annoying enough. The doctor-lawyers might add to the nomenclature mess.
Pork's OK but not the cut
If it won't be affected by changes along the way -- by the Senate, the bicameral committee or the president -- Cebu City north will get P992.43 million, while Cebu City south will get P912.78 million in the general appropriation budget for 2021.
South's Representative Bebot Abellanosa is not complaining that his congressional district will get P79.65 million less than Representative Raul del Mar's north district. His gripe is against the allocations for Representative Allan Peter Cayetano, his wife and his allies who are "wallowing in tens of billions of DPWH allocations for their districts" while Cebu City's two districts are getting "only a measly fraction of a billion each."
Examples: Cayetano's and wife Lani's two districts in Taguig City and Pateros get P1.11 billion. Cayetano's "hatchet man" Representative LRay Villafuerte's Camarines Sur district gets P11.74 billion.
But is "pork barrel" not supposed to have long been abolished since 2013 when the multibillion-peso scam was exposed? There are ways and the more efficient is through public works projects included in the budget of DPWH. Technically, there would be no fraud if the legislator would've no say in the choice of contractor and no access to the funds.
Senator Ping Lacson thinks it is still pork as the congressman or senator still dictates on the manner of spending.
There's about P22 billion in the 2021 general budget which is suspected to be pork.
Congressman Bebot isn't complaining about pork, which he also benefits from, just on the slice compared to other House members' cut.