Did Noynoying
lead to standoff?

Yesterday, I just read an opinion by a columnist who said that the Scarborough Shoal incident may have stemmed from Beijing’s feeling of slight over the failure by the Philippine government to send an ambassador to the China capital.

That may sound far-fetched, but the thesis is anchored on the awareness of China’s fetish for hierarchical values. In short, what may have sounded a slight offense for us, may actually be an insult to China’s rulers.

So, the thesis runs, the standoff at Scarborough was more intended, not just to call attention to the log-standing dispute between the Philippines and China over what we call Panatag Shoal.

It was only last week that President Benigno Aquino III finally said that he may appoint a new envoy to the Chinese capital.

In short, had he listened to the opinions of members of the Commission on Appointment, especially Senator Sergio Osmeña, the problem could not have ensued.

Osmeña opposed the confirmation of D. Lee, a distant presidential relative, as ambassador to China because he was unable to give a summary of the problems between the Philippines and China.

Had a career diplomat been assigned there, he could have tipped off the Philippines about impending trouble. As it is, the problem just got dumped onto the shoulders of the Foreign Affrairs secretary, and even the President.

In short, by Noynoying on the issue, the President simply triggered a standoff that was so unnecessary.

***

Now, the President, himself, has to backtrack on his stand on the issue of Mindanao’ power crisis.

He must have realized that his dialog with Mindanao local executives had also generated flak from the locals.

Tossing back to them the problem – “you’ve got to confront the issue of rising prices” did not address the problem but only exacerbated it.

Actually, way back in 1990s, when I first returned to Lanao Norte to view the Maria Falls, I already saw the low rate of water flow. It was only when we were there that the National Power Corporation opened the Agus River that flows into the waterfall.

In short, work on the waterway and those of other hydro-electric power sources should have been done a long time ago. The problem was these never were undertaken. Instead, the situation had to reach the proportions they now are in and other possible solutions presented, including solar power as alternatives.

Rep. Mark Cojuangco recently came out with his proposal to review the use of nuclear power.

Unfortunately, Cojuangco may have overlooked what happened to Fukushima, Japan. The Japanese government is beleaguered as the protest against nuclear power and its danger has grown so strident that even just the firing up of two nuclear plants is already a major headache of Japanese official.

But, basically, we just have to remind ourselves what happened to the Bataan Nuclear plant. It is constructed far from the shore, but until now, the threat of a natural disaster has aborted its revival or just testing. So, why further endanger the country, including Southern Mindanao, by advocating nuclear energy?

Okay, that may not necessarily imperil Negros Occidental. After all, the danger of a tsunami is remote insofar as the province is concerned since it is shielded from possibility of such by the Guimaras Strait. However, it must be remembered that the island just recently had another fault discovered running through the Tañon Straight in addition to the previous one.

Thus, there is always the danger of a catastrophic melt down or explosion if we have a nuclear plant in the province.

The more practical solution to our problem is hydro-electric power. We have now the capability of several dams along the Himogaan River in the North, Bago River in the Central area and the Ilog-Hilabangan River in the South.

No, we are not advocating the construction of big dams. Just a series of mini-dams then gradually use the power of these rivers to generate electric power.

A series of mini-dams can also provide irrigation water for farms along the way. They will stimulate agricultural production.

***

Ben Ortega, the president of the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, recently said that the scheduled dialog with members of the Sangguniang Panglungsod of Bacolod City failed.

That was supposed to explore areas of possible compromise on the controversial hit in taxes.

Actually, Ortega said during the 30th anniversary of the Visayan DAILY STAR, the issues are simple. All, he said, could have been solved by the city ordinance bringing down its increases to not more than 10 percent per annum, not the lump sum cumulative dumping the city had deemed was its due.

The same was the issue presented to the Department of Justice by the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry filed by Frank Carbon, the president, Ortega pointed out. Rep. Ruben Ecleo, Palawan ex-Governor Joel Reyes, and Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan are unaccounted for. And they may be just around for some time. The embarrassment to our military and other arms of the law who seem to be fiddling around while the big names enjoys their forced vacations.

So with the smaller ones – the remaining members of the Bacolod police and Noel Ayalin remain at large despite the nationwide alarm for their apprehensions.

More recently, we have the Bacolod police claim that they have seen the members of the Parohinog gang which recently robbed the Ceneco of some P2.6-million in an early morning heist.*

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