News bits

Dr. Raul Fabella whose scholarly study I cited in a series on the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program will present his position paper in a forum organized by the Council of Past Presidents of the Negros Press Club, the Negros Press Club and Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters sa Pilipinas, Negros Occidental Chapter. The Forum will be held at the Social Hall of the Provincial Capitol on March 28 at 9 in the morning.

Readers who are interested to attend can contact the Negros Press Club.

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All the complaints from the public failed to convince the new potentates of Bacolod to remove the tarpaulin that covers the Welcome Arch at the north terminus of Araneta Street at the public plaza.

Even the fury of Typhoon Yolanda that uprooted thousands of decades-old coconut trees, toppled buildings and lifted iron barges and dumped them over houses, failed to remove the tarpaulin.

But perhaps nature has had enough of pride and arrogance, a Signal 1 Typhoon Caloy, that hardly brought down a nipa hut, ripped the tarpaulin apart and exposed what was behind it – an icon replica of the Bacolod City Government Center.

As if Adam and Eve hiding their nakedness with leaves, someone placed a small tarpaulin to cover a small portion but revealing the best part and most of the structure.

But this is not as important as the question of how much each tarpaulin cost, whether there was bidding for each tarpaulin that by its sheer size, could cost several thousands of pesos. Add the several tarpaulins since July last year, you can compute over a million pesos.

Who got the contract, considering there are now many tarpaulin printers that could be vying to print it?

Let's wait what the Commission on Audit will say about these tarpaulins when audit time comes.

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Whatever happened to Resolution of No Opposition (RONO) that the Bacolod Sanggunian has refused to issue to the gambling casino in Aguinaldo Street? Has it been issued or not? Whether issued or not, the SP has the duty to inform the people of Bacolod of its decision. Or were they hushed up?

Since Councilor Cesar Distrito had asked the City Engineer's office to measure the distance of the gambling joint to the nearby Bonifacio Elementary School, has the distance been measured at all? SP Distrito owes Bacolod that information or explanation.

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Is Grupo Progreso splitting or has it already broken up?

Bacolod Councilor Alex Paglumotan filed a resolution that the SP approved unanimously to divide Bacolod into two congressional districts in direct opposition to the statement of the GP head, Cong. Evelio Leonardia.

Without going into the justifications for the resolution, the bigger question is why Paglumotan and his fellow GPs asked Councilor Carl Lopez to follow up the matter in both Houses of Congress and not first with the Bacolod congressman?

Why did they have to break protocol or basic courtesy?

Paglumotan's explanation that, as SP members they are independent and need not consult with their party head is laudable but in real politics that rests on unstable logic considering that without Leonardia's consent this move gets nowhere.

The Paglumotan resolution is just the beginning of interesting times.

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First he applied before the Sandiganbayan for permission to leave the country and when the SB's decision imposing stringent conditions, Monico Puentebella boldly declared he has no plans to go abroad. If he had no plans, why apply for permission?

Then his office released news that he was invited to a Singapore conference and he accepted the conditions including an arraignment of the accusations of the Ombudsman in connection with the computer scam that used PDAF.

If he had no plans, why go through the process? This is characteristically Puentevella – one cannot take his word seriously to be honest.

Remember how he enforced what he believed is the law against the Lopezes and kept a blind eye to the violations of Francis Cabuga? And he declared no one is above the law!

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After all the publicity about clearing up Libertad Market of sidewalk vendors, the city government forgot the place. Last Monday I went there and the place is as congested, dirty and stinking as before. Vendors have appropriated the streets and sellers of live chicken are in the sidewalk with the chicken shit adding to the odor of rotting vegetables.

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Are the Chinese communists planning to take over the Philippines? Let's take a look at recent developments tomorrow*

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