No respect for Christmas

“Let’s be naughty and save Santa the trip.”

—Gary Allan

By Alex P. Vidal

BOTH the feuding Panay Electric Company (PECO) and the MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) appear to be disrespectful of the Yuletide Season, where the Christian world celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ and promotes Christian ethic, love, peace, humility, and forgiveness.
They kept on firing bullets in their respected cylinders as the Ilonggo consumers, their clients, observed the spirit of Christmas.
Following the filing of administrative charges in the Supreme Court by MORE Power against the presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 35, Daniel Antonio Gerardo Amular, PECO head of Public Engagement and Government Affairs Marcelo Cacho accused MORE Power of bullying Amular, who took over from Judge Yvette Go and issued an Order, later on, suspending the expropriation case MORE Power had filed to take over PECO’s electric distribution facilities.
Amular’s Order halted the issuance of the actual write of possession earlier granted by Go before the Supreme Court required Go and MORE Power to show cause why they should not be cited for contempt for proceeding with the case despite the pendency of MORE Power’s own appeal before the Higher Court.

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We understand that the legal battle between the Cacho-owned PECO and the Enrique Razon-backed MORE Power is far from over and is expected to exacerbate in 2020, thus they should have a tacit agreement to spare the season from their fireworks and resume their shootout in January or any month after Christmas 2019.
With a week more to go before 2019 expires, we expect the two warring camps to finally have a ceasefire until the New Year.
If one camp can’t control its enmity toward its rival, the other camp should reserve the bullets and ignore the rival’s saber-rattling.
The court won’t side with the loudest and the more loquacious adversary.
There’s neither gain nor merit if one party will use the season of love and forgiveness to question the motive of one party and prolong the legal argument.
Public opinion will be harsh to those who will transform “the most wonderful time of the year” into an occasion of vitriol and acrimony.

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Also, we can never expect any credible ceasefire between the government forces and the Communist Part of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
Since time immemorial, both camps have poor records in ceasefire during the Christmas Season.
While the cooler heads are heading to the negotiating table, the war freaks, those with guns and other deadly weapons, plot an ambush or engage in a treacherous undertaking without any sanction from the ones willing to smoke the proverbial peace pipe for the time being.
Since the time of Marcos, Aquino the mother, FVR, Erap, Gloria, Aquino the son, and now President Duterte, we haven’t heard of any credible ceasefire between the military and the leftist rebels.

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FEUDING Bacolod City Mayor Evelio “Bing” Leonardia and Youtube broadcast commentator Ben Tulfo also did not have a ceasefire while the Christian community was waiting for the baby Jesus Christ to be born.
Leonardia’s supporters in the City Hall, as well as in the City Council and the media, blasted the hard-hitting Manila commentator in their own locality, while Tulfo used the power of his national program to paint Leonardia, some “corrupt local media”, and Councilor Al Victo Espino in bad light.
Their quarrel, which wasn’t settled as of this writing, is also expected to languish in 2020 and, perhaps, beyond with no possible peace in sight, judging from the heavy emotional outbursts both camps have been shelling out these past weeks.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

 

Best Christmas gift: chocolate with health benefits

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.”

— Charles M. Schulz

By Alex P. Vidal

EXPERTS are saying that over-eating of chocolate can be tantamount to slow motion suicide, although it contains health benefits if we eat moderately.
Too much chocolate-eating, they say, will not only cause diabetes but also obesity.
Some of the health benefits of chocolate are:
–Cacao, the source of chocolate, contains antibacterial agents that fight tooth decay. However, chocolate with high sugar content will negate this benefit, according to Cocosymposium. Dark chocolate contains significantly higher amounts of cacao and lower amounts of sugar than white chocolate, making it more healthful.
–The smell of chocolate may increase theta brain waves, resulting in relaxation.
–Chocolate contains phenyl ethylamine, a mild mood elevator.
–The cocoa butter in chocolate contains oleic acid, a mono-unsaturated fat which can raise good cholesterol.
–Men who eat chocolate regularly live on average one year longer than those who don’t.
–The flavanoids in chocolate help keep blood vessels elastic.
–Chocolate increases antioxidant levels in the blood.
–The carbohydrates in chocolate raise serotonin levels in the brain, resulting in a sense of well-being.
The health risks of chocolate are:
–Chocolate may contribute to lower bone density.
–Chocolate can trigger headaches in migraine sufferers.
–Milk chocolate is high in calories, saturated fat and sugar.
–Chocolate is a danger to pets (chocolate contains a stimulant called theobromine, which animals are unable to digest).

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Christmas is a time for eating chocolate.
Consumption has come a long way since the first “eating” chocolate was introduced in England by the Bristol firm of Fry and Sons in 1847.
Much debate and mythology surround people’s craving for this confection, which has been blamed on depression, the menstrual cycle, sensory gratification, or some of the 300 plus chemicals that it contains.
The sensuous properties of chocolate depend on the fat it contains.
Roger Highfield explains in The Physics of Christmas that
Cocoa butter can solidify in half a dozen different forms, each of which has a different effect on “mouthfeel” and palatability.
Form V predominates in the best chocolate, making it glossy and melt in the mouth.
Unlike other plant edible fats, which are usually oils, Highfiled explains that cocoa butter is enriched in saturated fatty acids so that it is solid under normal conditions and has a sharp melting point of around 34C, just below the temperature.
Heat is absorbed when this occurs, giving a sensation of coolness on the tongue.
“Another reason we like chocolate is the stimulatory effects of caffeine and related chemicals. Every 100 grams of chocolates contain 5 milligrams of methylxanthine and 160 milligrams of theobromine (named after the cocoa tree, whose botanical name, Theobroma cocoa, means “food of the gods”). Both are caffeinelike substances,” Highfield points out.
Originally, chocolate was a stimulating drink. The name is derived from the Aztec word xocalatl, meaning “bitter water.”

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In the 17th century a physician from Peru wrote how it is “good for soldiers who are on guard.”
Highfield stresses that indeed, some people have suggested that it was Casanova’s favorite bedtime drink—to give him a boost when he needed it.
Medical textbooks do note, however, that when taken in large quantities, these stimulants can induce nausea and vomiting.
This effect can also be observed in children (and others) who of overindulge on Christmas Day.
He cites that every 100 grams of chocolate also contains 660 milligrams of phenylethylamine, a chemical relative of amphetamines, which has been shown to produce a feeling of well-being and alertness.
“This may be why some people binge on the stuff after an upsetting experience—or perhaps to cope with the stress of Christmas shopping,” Highfield theorizes.
He also observes the following:
-Phenylethylamine may trigger the release of dopamine, a messenger chemical in the brain that plays a role in the “reward pathway” that governs our urge to eat or have sex.
-Phenylethylamine raises blood pressure and heart rate, and heightens sensation and blood glucose levels, leading to the suggestion that chocoholics “self-medicate” because they have a faulty mechanism for controlling the body’s level of the substance.
However, if a person consumes too much phenylethylamine or has an inability to remove it due to the lack of a key enzyme (monoamine oxidase), blood vessels in the brain constrict, causing a migraine, according to Highfield.

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More recently, it has been found that chocolate also contains substances that can act like cannabis on the brain, intensifying its other pleasurable effects.
Highfield says three substances from the N-acylethanolamine group of chemicals can mimic the euphoric effects of cannabis, according to a study by Daniele Piomelli, Emmanuelle di Tomaso, and Massimiliano Beltramo of the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego.
Their works date back in 1990, when scientists found a site in the brain that responds to cannabinoids, the class of compounds that include the active ingredient in cannabis.
Recently they have discovered the specific substances in the brain that bind to this site. One is a fatty molecule dubbed anandamide after the Sanskrit word for “bliss.”
Piomelli investigated chocolate, which is rich in fat, because he correctly suspected that it might contain lipids related to anandamide.
Piomelli was first inspired to look into the mood-altering effects of chocolate when he became addicted to the stuff one gray winter in Paris.Now that he has moved to California, which is as sunny as his homeland of Italy, he is no longer a chocoholic.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

 

Prayer and poverty in Christmas

“Silent night! Holy night! Guiding star, lend thy light!”
— J. MOIER

By Alex P. Vidal

IN many parts of the country today, poverty is being blamed chiefly to be the reason why many of us continue to find it increasingly impossible to enjoy “the most exciting season of the year”, the season that carries a strong emotional resonance for many Filipinos.
We continue to pray nonetheless.
We believe that “prayers can move mountains,” as the saying goes.
As obedient Christians, we continue to follow the church-mandated traditions on how to celebrate Christmas.
Christmas is probably ideal only for those who don’t have a daily bout with financial difficulties.
Can prayers save us from poverty?
Will there be a miracle if we pray hard for gifts and for Santa Claus and his reindeer to knock on our doors this Christmas season?
Francis Galton, the progenitor of human genetics, said in his 1872 Statistical Inquiries into the Efficacy of Prayer, he could find no evidence that prayer is effective.
Galton found no scientific grounds for believing that prayers are answered.
But he conceded that “prayer can strengthen resolve and relieve distress.”

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Many people now begin to believe and realize that society celebrates the so-called season of the birth of Christ heavily from the commercial point of view.
We equate Christmas with material possessions.
When think of gifts, decorations, parties, wines, caroling, merrymaking, vacation, etcetera, we think of extra funds and extra expenses.
Christmas has become synonymous to expenses and money.
Without extra funds, many Christians tend to develop a morbid feeling of insecurity and inadequacy.
How can one actively take part in Christmas parties and gift-giving binge if he does not even have enough to buy a decent meal for his family?
However, we can always celebrate the Yuletide season on a different perspective: embracing the spirits of love, humility, simplicity, forgiveness, hope and understanding.
Expecting nothing and continue living a simple life is a key to overcome anxiety, stress, emotional and mental anguishes if we don’t have economic capacity and abundance in life.
A very interesting piece about science and Christmas has rekindled the debate whether the scientific worldview somehow undermine the religious beliefs that are the basis of Christmas for so many people.
Science has been viewed suspiciously as a force that turned people away from God ever since 1916, according to Roger Highfield, author of The Physics of Christmas.
In that year, an oft-cited survey by James Leuba of Bryn Mawr University found that 60 percent of American scientist did not believe in God.

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Highfiled revealed that the finding caused a scandal at that time, prompting warnings from politicians about the evils of modernism and accusations that scientists were leading college students away from religion.
Leuba himself predicted that disbelief among scientists would only increase in the future.
“But research conducted recently, repeating the 1916 survey word for word, has proven Leuba wrong,” Highfield contends. “The proportion of scientists who believe in God has remained almost unchanged in the past eight years, despite the enormous leaps of discovery made during this century.”
Highfield cited Edward Larson, from the University of Georgia, and Larson’s colleague Larry Witham, from Burtonsville, Maryland, who questioned 600 scientists listed in the 1995 edition of American Men and Women of Science.
It reportedly achieved the same results as Leuba: about 40 percent of scientists believe in God.
“The future of Christmas and Hanukkah in our increasingly technological age seems assured,” concludes Highfield.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

 

Maguindanao Massacre verdict: Better late than never

“There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts.”

—Mahatma Gandhi

By Alex P. Vidal

THE guilty verdict came 10 years after the grisly massacre happened; when some people have forgotten how the 58 non-combatant civilians, including 32 media workers, were killed and why they were murdered like animals in Maguindanao.

It would have been sweeter, to say the least, if the historic reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment verdict came at least eight years earlier, when the alleged massacre “godfather” Ampatuan, Sr., Sen. Manny Pacquiao’s former mahjong partner, was still alive.

But nonetheless the long wait is over and, while others are saying that “justice delayed is justice denied,” some are also declaring that “it’s better late then never.”

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Remembering our Capitol press corps days in the early 90’s, the gory massacre of our colleagues on November 23, 2009 had terrible effects on me personally as a media worker.

The scenario was very familiar: they were on a van escorting the wife of a gubernatorial candidate and her entourage when waylaid by more than 100 armed men led by the powerful political clan Ampatuan in a secluded area.

When members of the entourage were wiped out by a hail of bullets, our colleagues in Mindanao were also shot execution style one after another.

We also used to go out-of-town in a van or as a group in Iloilo, Capiz, Aklan, Antique, Guimaras, among other provinces in Western Visayas and Negros to cover important events and conflicts involving feuding political clans, groups and the encounters between the military and the insurgency.

We faced the same danger our murdered colleagues had gone through before they were killed violently, but were just lucky we didn’t end up as collateral victims or intended targets of violence on several occasions.

We were just fortunate our politicians and military officials did not have the kind of mentality of the dreaded Ampatuans.

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Before checking the updates on the Ampatuan massacre verdict, I was monitoring since morning the intense and fiery debates between the Democrats and Republicans in the US House of Representatives during the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

The House finally voted to impeach President Trump on both articles of impeachment, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

The votes came after weeks of testimony related to the President’s dealings with Ukraine and hours of fiery debate over the process.

Some of the highlights were: dozens of congresspeople uttered tens of thousands of words during the marathon debate; President Trump a rambling six-page letter December 17 to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, calling Congress’ impeachment inquiry a partisan “crusade,” an “unprecedented and constitutional abuse of power” and a “spiteful” “election-nullification scheme”; the House Judiciary Committee released its full 658-page report just after midnight Sunday, in which the majority calls President Trump the “Framers’ worst nightmare.”

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

 

They give us shame and scandal

“The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.”

–Che Guevara

By Alex P. Vidal

AYN Rand would have been amazed by the force and effectiveness of today’s netizens to influence and shape public opinion.
In this generation, they constitute the social media’s New Intellectuals, the most vigilant vanguards of the nation’s social, cultural, and political spectrum via the Internet.
No act of brutality, arrogance, malfeasance and demagoguery in the civilized society can escape the radar of amazing digital world.
A hailstorm of public censure and condemnation awaits those who possess the delusions of putting the law in their hands; those who think they are above the law and reason, owing to their power and influence, pelf and privileges for belonging in society’s higher social and political strata.
Gone are the days when publicly performed criminal acts and other forms of civil disobedience can be kept under wraps and the culprits getting away with impunity.
Today there’s always a big brother and sister watching: CCTVs and mobile phone cameras.

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Meanwhile, objectivist Ayn Rand held that abstract ideas are man’s basic means of dealing with practical life.
She stressed that abstract ideas enable man to understand concrete issues, to evaluate them, and to act successfully to deal with them.
Rand further held that the problem with Western civilization was not that it was too intellectual, but that too many of its intellectuals accepted and propagated fundamentally wrong ideas.
Rand believed that what the world needs urgently are New Intellectuals.
As civilization marks this year the official end of the French Revolution on December 15, 1799, we begin the era of fighting graft and corruption, abuse of authority in military and government through a new wave: the social media.
We cannot afford today to give life to a modern Napoleon Bonaparte, the dictator who wanted to overrun Europe had it not been for his Waterloo defeat.
Politicians who want to overrun our treasury via pork barrel and other thinly-veiled acts of plunder and graft and corruption, are the smaller versions of Napoleon.
The specter of graft and corruption in government today is the rallying point of public anger and disgust that transformed into a bloody revolt; the tipping point that brought down the monarchy and cut off King Louis XVI’s and Marie Antoinette’s heads in the revolutionary scaffolds.

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Under the mantra of “Liberte, egalite, fraternity” (liberty, equality, fraternity), French society itself underwent a transformation as feudal, aristocratic, and religious privileges disappeared and old ideas about tradition and hierarchy were abruptly overthrown.
Under the mantra of “papatayin ko kayo” (I will really kill you), the President has failed to curb the age-old graft and corruption and illegal drugs.
The rich becomes richer; the poor becomes poorer.
Marie Antoinette wanted to give the French people with empty stomachs cake; our government has been giving us empty promises and empty treasury.
The wealth of the nation has been wasted.
Our leaders have abandoned the spirit that ignited the “Cry of Balintawak” or “Pugad Lawin” of the katipuneros, and the “Cry of Sta. Barbara (Iloilo)”.
We give them our votes and confidence; they gave us shame and scandal via plunder and graft and corruption.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

 

Santa Claus’ timely visit to City Hall

“No sane local official who has hung up an empty stocking over the municipal fireplace, is going to shoot Santa Claus just before a hard Christmas.”

–Al Smith

By Alex P. Vidal

SANTA Claus came to Iloilo City Hall just in time.
The check worth P134,927,522.63 personally delivered by Panay Electric Company (PECO) Public Engagement and Government Affairs office boss Marcelo Cacho to Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas and City Treasurer Jinny Hermano for its real property tax arrears on December 9 can be best described as “Merry Christmas payment.”
The gargantuan amount was timely as it could help cover up so many expenses to be incurred by the city government in the Yuletide season, including the Christmas bonuses of employees, among other year-end financial obligations.
If Santa Claus did not come to the City Hall on time, Santa Claus and his family would have lost some multi-million pesos worth of properties the city government had been preparing to auction off.
It was but a right move in the right circumstance at the right time.

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As a quid pro quo, the auction had been called off and everyone was happy, to say the least.
The decision to settle PECO’s “long-overdue” (it reportedly accumulated since the past two administrations) real property tax arrears certainly wasn’t made overnight.
The Cacho family and Mayor Treñas, a long-time family friend and once-upon-a-time PECO’s legal counsel, probably had a “heart-to-heart” talk prior to Santa Claus’ dramatic show up in the City Hall on Monday.
Thus I don’t see any point why City Hall will continue to sustain its animosity with the controversial power firm now that the tax arrears have been settled.
Mayor Treñas, however, has to be fair to both the MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) and the PECO, and will never interfere in the ongoing legal battle between the two firms.
If Ilonggos know how to read between the lines and the city mayor’s body language, they can’t make any absolute conclusion yet that the city mayor is hell-bent to abscond from its past relationship with the PECO.

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ASIDE from the cash windfall Ilonggo athletes who won gold, silver, and bronze medals in the recent 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) hosted by the Philippines will get from the national government, the city and provincial government of Iloilo should also chip in and set aside special funds for these sports heroes in time for the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
We suggest that a gold medalist be given P200,000; P100,000 for a silver medalist; and P50,000 for a bronze medalist.
The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) will reportedly give P600,000 for a gold medalist; P400,000 for a silver medalist; and P200,000 for a bronze medalist.
The athletes have sacrificed so much to give our country honor, thus it is but proper that the national and local governments acknowledge their efforts and heroic performances by showering them with financial incentives.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

 

PECO’s ‘humility’; my advice to Bacolod aldermen

“Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.”

–Saint Augustine

By Alex P. Vidal

THE humility shown by the Panay Electric Company (PECO) when it settled its real property tax arrears amounting to more than P134 million with the Iloilo City government on December 9, has eclipsed all the negative stories appended to the power firm’s name by its detractors these past months.
It also stunned PECO’s enemies who have been composing its obituary these past 11 months.
No less than PECO Public Engagement and Government Affairs office boss Marcelo Cacho personally delivered a check for P134,927,522.63 to the City Hall received by Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas and City Treasurer Jinny Hermano.
Cacho’s classic move beat to the draw the threat of the city government to auction the multi-million worth of PECO properties included in the tax arrears.
The payment covered the value of PECO properties covered by two tax assessments.

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PECO showed to all and sundry it’s not yet a dead horse or a Zeppelin Hindenburg that is about to burst into flames contrary to what its critics have been portraying PECO.
No giant company under threat of extinction can hammer out such brilliant move just when everyone thought it was ready to be nailed in the coffin.
How can the City Hall now adopt an indifferent attitude toward a productive and “responsible” tax payer?
City Hall can’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
It would be estoppel if the city government will cease to transact business with PECO now that it has wiped out all its outstanding tax liabilities.
PECO’s latest action can certainly help boost its case against MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power), which has been granted a franchise to operate as power distributor in Iloilo City when PECO’s 24-year franchise expired in January 2019.

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The Bacolod City Council will look and sound ridiculous if it goes on with its threat to declare Manil-based broadcaster Ben Tulfo as “persona non grata” or an unacceptable or unwelcome person.
The city aldermen’s beef against Tulfo came from the broadcaster’s criticism and “embarrassing” attack against Bacolod City Mayor Bing Leonardia “and (for) putting the city of Bacolod in a bad light in his YouTube program without first verifying the claims of a certain Norma.”
“Norma” supposedly sought Tulfo’s help alleging she was not paid for a basketball tournament she organized in Bacolod City last October during the Masskara Festival.
Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran and city councilors sympathetic to Leonardia claimed the Masskara Festival had nothing to do with “Norma’s” basketball event.
They vouched for the city mayor who claimed innocence on the issue and who himself begrudged Tulfo’s tirades.
What will the Bacolod City Council or the Bacolod City government in general get if Tulfo has been declared as persona non grata? Nothing except a waste of time and a waste of tax payers’ money.
Tulfo is “only” a broadcast journalist and will remain as such even if all the city councils in the Philippines will declare him as persona non grata. He has no supernatural power; he isn’t the court and doesn’t have any legal personality.
His job is to bark at inept and corrupt public officials and men in uniform and make them angry. When they are mad, that’s when the likes of Tulfo become successful.
Making people in government and military men blow their top is mission accomplished for crusading journalists.

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The persona non grata tag won’t stop Tulfo from his role as watchdog and “fiscalizer” of the government’s three branches: executive, legislative, judiciary.
Tulfo, or any journalist for that matter, doesn’t fear such threat from any legislative branch of the government. It will even embolden Tulfo to further scrutinize and lambast corrupt and inept public officials.
My advice to the Bacolod City Council is this: Belie Tulfo’s accusations and unmask Norma in the same platform: public forum or the bar of public opinion; and call a press conference and/or issue a press statement airing Leonardia’s side.
The people aren’t stupid not to distinguish who’s telling the truth.

That’s how democracy works.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)