All eyes on
Guimaras oil retrieval

The eyes of Negrenses and Ilonggo will remain focused on the retrieval of oil from the hold of Solar I along the Guimaras Strait.

And rightly so. No potential natural disaster has threatened the three provinces, particularly Guimaras, as the sinking of Solar I, a tanker with some two million liters of oil in its hold.

Allied Shields, owned by Sonsub, an Italian firm, reportedly charged P6-million for the retrieval that is expected to last from 20 to 25 days.

The more important point is that Petron has undertaken the expensive project in line with its social responsibility commitment.

More important, this is reportedly only the second time this type of operation is being undertaken. That ensures that the Petron, which operated the MT Solar I, has not shied away from its responsibility to the people of Guimaras who were disadvantaged by the Solar I disaster. Petron, meanwhile, has reportedly spent P800-million for the cleanup of oil in Guimaras. And it also had reportedly paid P120 million to some 11,300 Guimaras fisher folk and P57-million more will be paid to Iloilo fisher folks staring March 26.

Well, that's something that Bernie Miaque, the rival gubernatorial bet of Gov. JC Rahman Nava, will have to contend with. So much money now in circulation in Guimaras long before the balloting. How can they dispute that kind of largesse received through the intercession of Gov. Nava and other local officials?

But then there are always some hidden facets of a project that could be used by politicos to hammer their point against the reelectionist bet.

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The election campaign has not even started yet full blast, but already Comelec officials of Bacolod said they are going to ask Comelec Manila to lend a helping hand in eliminating the profusion of program posters in the city.

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By now, Comelec supervisor Mavil Majarucon must have realized in going around the city that if she and her employees cannot remove the posters now blossoming in various parts, I see no reason why she expects to be able to convince the candidates to have these posters removed by next week.

I see no way she can do it without the candidates or their local handlers doing it themselves under pain of punishment. Otherwise, that could end up again as a dead letter law.

Just like the rules aired by the Traffic Management Group of the city. These are often relegated to the background by obdurate drivers and conniving traffic enforcers.

Thus, Friday, as I moved towards Bata, I found barkers keeping traffic in front of the Robinsons, warding off other jeepneys other than those whom they permitted to park in front of the mall to pick up passengers.

The same phenomenon was evident in front of the San Agustin college. There, Uytiepo jeepneys were parked as deep as three vehicles clogging the street and reducing it to only one lane. And just a distance away was a traffic enforcer.

The same scene was evident in the case of the area fronting the Security Bank along Ninoy Aquino Drive. Two barkers kept the traffic at their on pace, while a short distance from them an enforcer was blowing his whistle. A charade?

The same scene is replicated at the junction of Homesite and Greensville along Montelibano boulevard at the crossroad. Vehicles narrow down the street to only one lane. And I saw how tricycles and trisikads make mincemeat of the traffic enforcers when these turn their backs temporarily.

In short, we have a lot of words mouthed when these cannot be enforced. And that seems to be the future of the rules against putting up posters along open spaces of the city.*

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