Ilonggos want a stable power, not finger-pointing

“You get a reputation for stability if you are stable for years.”

—Mark Zuckerberg

By Alex P. Vidal

LET us take into consideration the main interest and priority of power consumers in Iloilo City: a stable power supply.

After they have been annoyed by several unscheduled blackouts, “a stable power supply” is the only language they would always want to hear.

The power consumers may be satisfied that the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) has taken an initial step to address the baffling power outages these past months when it called for a committee investigation on June 30, but they will be more happy if given an assurance that there will be no more power interruptions as immoderate and egregious as the ones that occurred while the residents had been mandated to stay at home amid the pandemic restrictions.

They will be happier if the problem on power outage is resolved soon without hearing one party point an accusing finger at another party.

Uninterrupted power supply is their utmost priority even before the COVID-19 pandemic came; they want it now, and they want it quick.

They are aware that the longer it will take for the SP to act on the matter, the more they will agonize now that we are in the middle of the summer season.

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They may not be interested in the dispute between the More Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) and Panay Electric Company (PECO), let alone hear the Department of Energy (DoE) recite some technical terms that will create more perplexing questions than direct answers to their main concerns.

Moreover, the Ilonggo power consumers may scoff at an SP inquiry riddled with so much rancor and extended debate, especially if they feel the commotion will not immediately redound to the quick resolution of the problem.

A long debate means both parties are wrong.

An extended hearing means life will remain unbearable for thousands of power consumers who will end up in the losing end.

The power consumers have a short tolerance when it comes to disruption of their normal lives where the role of electricity is essential and a necessity.

It’s no longer a case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

It’s should now be “fix it and stop fighting. Period.”

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NOW that the law on Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC) has been passed in the Philippines, let us be reminded that manners are actually important to make a good impression on others in everyday life.

They also help us to feel good about ourselves and our identities.

No matter where we are, at home—with kids, at work—with colleagues, or with friends, practicing good manners are important.

If we practice good manners, we are showing those around us that we are considerate to their feelings and also respect them.

We are also setting standards for other’s behavior and encouraging them to treat us with similar respect.

Florence Lewis of Jobcluster has listed some of the basic examples of good manners and etiquettes:

—Choose your words wisely and don’t rush to comment about things you don’t know much about. Being a good listener is often better than speaking. You don’t need to have an opinion on everything.

—Think things out before you speak, especially if you are a person who may be poor at finding the right words to say. Don’t start a sentence, with ‘ums’ and ‘ers’ in between, it seems awkward and you should try speaking to yourself in front of a mirror, it works! It increases your confident in speaking.

—Don’t speak loudly. You will quickly lose respect if you do, as this can be seen as overbearing and rude. It can also make other people angry and upset with you before you even establish some kind of relationship with them. They will see you as a ‘big mouth’ who cannot be trusted with anything confidential. So practice turning your volume down if you tend to have a loud voice.

—Speak with respect to and of others. You can do this by avoiding negative remarks that may insult someone else. The general rule is- if you don’t want someone to speak about you that way, you don’t speak about them to others.

—Do not ever speak of bodily functions even if it is a casual conversation, such as using the bathroom or telling crude jokes, for this shows sign of immaturity and often creates a bad impression of you with your friends, family, and co-workers.

—Always respect older people and listen to them and learn. This applies to all elders and not just parents and grandparents.

Using the terms ‘Thank You’, and ‘You are Welcome’ shows that you have good manners. People who lack manners do not use these terms.

Hold open a door for anyone following you closely. This is a sign of a good manner and has never changed. There are no strict gender rules in this day and age.

—Speak highly of your parents respect them, even if there are things about them that you do not like. If you cannot do that, stay away from speaking about them at all. It looks bad to insult or speak badly of the people who brought you into this world or raised you. Don’t wash dirty family laundry in public. It is negative and rude.

—Do not swear to use filth language and curse words. It is unprofessional! People who do this are usually very immature and have no self-control or respect for themselves and others!

Good manners are simply respect and consideration for others or being aware of the needs of others.

They are the oil which lubricates the friction of interpersonal relations and creates a happy and successful society.

So, Give Respect and Take Respect!

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

 

Quo vadis, IBC station?

“No solution can ever be found by running in three different directions.”

—Deepak Chopra

By Alex P. Vidal

SOME of them have already died, and some have retired “but they have never enjoyed the fruits of their labor and loyalty to the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC).”

Also, their dreams of seeing the once-splendid IBC managed by a private sector and no longer treated as a second class citizen by the government, have remained in limbo.

One of them was Eduardo “Eddie” Laczi, who had served as Iloilo City councilor after his retirement as area manager of the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC-TV12) in Western Visayas.

Laczi died a pauper at 63 in New Haven, Connecticut on October 28, 2013 and reportedly wasn’t able to collect all the benefits due him from the post-EDSA state-sequestered TV station.

The 60-year-old station officially known as IBC-13, now under the management of the Philippine Communications Office, also reportedly owes more than a million pesos in unpaid benefits to former Capiz-based DyJJ station manager Edgardo “Jun” Arbolado, among other former employees and executives.

Arbolado, 52, who had also served as IBC-TV12 area manager before relocating to Virginia, USA in 2008, blamed certain “organic officials” in the management “who did not have the courtesy to officially tell me of the status of my freaking retirement benefit.”

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Arbolado bewailed that he never received a single letter or even a text message on the inquiries he made regarding his unpaid benefits.

Some “neglected” regular employees are also reportedly still hopeful that only IBC’s privatization can lift them from dire straits and solve the TV station’s apparent lackluster state.

But what are the chances that in the remaining two and a half years of the Duterte administration, the IBC-13 will finally be privatized?

It almost reportedly happened, at least during the brief stint of hitherto

president and CEO Kathe­rine Chloe de Castro, who was appointed to the position in August 2018.

“I’m also hoping to bring IBC-13 to the age of streaming which is where everyone in entertainment and broadcast is headed these days, and all these are ultimately geared toward the goal of making the network an attractive investment for privatization,” declared de Castro, as quoted by The Manila Times’ Tessa Mauricio-Arriola in an article on March 8, 2019.

“I find it very challenging to be part of the group that will oversee this crucial phase in IBC-13’s history.”

The “problem” is, “Kath de Castro had been ‘promoted’ to PTV-4 and the optimism she started with IBC-13 had been put to waste,” lamented Arbolado.

“Like the previous administrations since Cory’s, PRRD’s is no different unfortunately, in failing to make things work for IBC-13, despite the high expectations that privatization of the network will take place during Digong’s term. Including myself, many retirees (some have died painfully without enjoying the fruits of their toils and loyalty) have been waiting for decades our retirement benefits. IBC-13 management had been marred by incompetencies and corruption and while many Filipinos over-dramatized the demise of ABS-CBN, the plight of IBC-13 ‘The Orginal No. 1’ and its employees and retirees have been totally ignored.”

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Back in January 2016, then President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III approved the planned privatization of IBC through the Governance Commission for Government-owned and-controlled corporation (GCG).

According to plans, the privatization would undergo a public bidding with an estimated floor price of 10 billion.

Proceeds of the bidding would be reportedly for the increase of state-owned PTV-4’s capital to upgrade and modernize their broadcast capabilities.

The Development Bank of the Philippines had been designated as the privatization’s financial sentinel.

Under the Duterte administration, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, which would coordinate with the GCG, reportedly submitted the privatization plan to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.

IBC’s privatization process had supposedly started in October 2016.

Five groups reportedly showed interest to join the bidding process as of December 2016. They were: Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) and the groups of former IBC president and current RMN president/CEO Eric Canoy and former Ilocos Sur governor Chavit Singson, energy tycoon and Udenna Corporation chairman Dennis Uy (who recently recent acquired the ISM Communications Corporation) and Davao trader William Lima.

There seems to be “no movement” since then.

It looks like de Castro’s “departure” from the IBC, the apparent lack of interest of some officials who fear they might become “irrelevant” once the IBC has been privatized, and the COVID-19, have conspired to again derail the privatization process.

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

 

Herbert Vego: A quality journalist on board

“No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death. He and his are not neglected by the gods.”

—Socrates

By Alex P. Vidal

IF I were a newspaper or magazine publisher, I would take good care of Herbert L. Vego in whatever means and in whatever capacity and circumstance.

With his experience and solid reputation, he is not only an institution in the media industry in Western Visayas, Mr. Vego is also a quality community journalist and one of the most credible and highly respected media godfathers alive today.

Having him on board in any media outlet is like having a LeBron James in the basketball team; it’s like playing alongside David Beckham in the World Cup; or hobnobbing with Kofi Annan in the United Nations.

In this lifetime, there can be no one else like Mr. Vego in as far as being a paragon in community journalism is concerned.

In terms of character, decency, intellect, values, and gracefulness, seasoned journalist Herbert Vego is notches higher and a cut above the rest.

In this generation when the “young ones” in the media almost have a shortage of role models to look up to among the “young once”, soft-spoken Mr. Vego fills the vacuum.   

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Seventy-year-old Vego spent his early years in journalism in showbiz even before the Martial Law in the early 70s, and has been writing for nearly 50 years now; yet, he isn’t rich.

He has broken bread with the who’s who in the world of entertainment, business, diplomacy, religion, sports, and politics, yet his name is not there on the elite list of media’s “Forbes” for the rich and famous.

He still regularly attends in the regular press conferences and other news-gathering events, an imagery that can be likened to jurassic Juan Ponce Enrile in the company of grandchildren Julienne Baronda, Mike Gorriceta, Raul Tupas, Braden John Biron, and Lorenz Defensor.

Had Mr. Vego practiced in Metro Manila, or if he had chosen another lucrative profession when he was 50 years younger, he would now be living in a posh Manny Villar-model gated subdivision if he didn’t own a pricey condo unit in Pasig.

If he didn’t stick to local journalism and became a real estate broker, a government appointee, a diplomat, or an STL franchisee, Mr. Vego would now be driving a Cadillac and jet-setting across Macau to Munich, Hanoi to Cologne, and Zaire to Karachi vice versa for his regular vacation trips.

But his brand of existentialism, his towering love for journalism, and passion for writing had brought him to a life in the Coliboaia Cave, so to speak, instead of the kind of lifestyle where he could saunter in the glamour of paradise and the glitzy world of luxury.

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Even when he was making a name in Metro Manila jockeying for some arcane magazines and periodicals, Mr. Vego was aware there’s no money in journalism.

Unless he engaged in a pyramid scam, purchased his way for a slot in the House of Representatives party-list, became a gambling lord, or dabbled in trafficking of illegal drugs, he knew journalism would only give him peanuts, crumbs and tears, not pelfs and privileges, not a Ford Expedition, an investment in the stock market, or a Tagaytay rest house like the ones being enjoyed by some of his contemporaries in Metro Manila who had shifted to other profitable careers.

Despite a looming economic uncertainty, Mr. Vego decided to return from Manila to Iloilo 40 years ago and opted to stay for good to embrace his first love: journalism.  

He has written dozens of articles detailing why sticking to journalism as a career is equivalent to a vow of poverty like monks and hermits.

In those articles, he empathetically gave his readers a front seat view why journalists like him can never gain some inroads in the pursuit of material wealth.

Despite struggling for decades eking out a decent living in the world of letters, the formula of success could only give Mr. Vego citations and certificates, praises, respect from politicians and fellow media workers, and inner satisfaction, but not financial rewards enough to provide for himself and give his family a comfortable and secure life.  

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Mr. Vego epitomizes the predicament of an enterprising journalist in the Philippines with no security of tenure, no regular employment benefits, and who now faces the grim prospect of retiring a pauper and leaving only a pair of sandals for his loved ones.

Journalists also need a healthcare and regular medical checkups just like other laborers.

We have heard depressing stories before about other senior colleagues who had to grapple as indigents during their last days on earth because they didn’t have enough funds during rainy season.  

Mr. Vego can now be actually considered as semi-retired, but journalists, grizzled column writers in Mr. Vego’s caliber, don’t have a retirement.

We write as long as we have the capacity to think and can still hit the keyboard.

Sickness and old age can’t cripple and obliterate our passion to write and remain in the mainstream.

There have been scores of never-say-quit journalists in sickbed who continued to pound the keys of their typewriters and computers until they could no longer resist death.

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

 

A Babel once again

“If it had been possible to build the Tower of Babel without climbing it, it would have been permitted.”

—Franz Kafka

By Alex P. Vidal

WE have now become a Babel, or a story about a city in Shinar where the building of a tower is held in Genesis to have been halted by the confusion of tongues.

What’s happening in the Philippines is actually like a scene of noise or confusion.

While things are apparently quite in the local front, the country is on the brink of chaos once again what with so many opinions clashing whether the anti-terror bill will violate the human rights of the Filipinos, or save them from home-grown terrorists like those who authored the mayhem in Marawi City three years ago.

It’s now up for President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to turn it into law.

There are strong indications the proponents will have the last laugh on the furor.

Hardly had the duel of opinions on anti-terror bill simmered down in the streets and in the media fora, another wave of controversy distracted the nation from its uproarious battle against the COVID-19.

The conviction of Rappler’s Maria Ressa and Reynaldo Santos Jr. by the trial court for “cyberlibel” on June 16 has placed the Philippines in the global radar once more.

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This double whammy came in quick succession as the President was worrying where to get the next stimulus fund for the families sidelined and “impoverished” by the pandemic-initiated lockdown.

People were again divided whether the Manila court verdict was “a portent of things to come” for the freedom of the press and expression or “it should serve as a wake up call” for journalists to be more responsible and accountable when criticizing people who don’t belong in government.

Others have condemned the verdict as setting “an extraordinarily damaging precedent.”

The ruling was issued by a court in Manila, where attendance was limited due to coronavirus prevention measures. The news website Rappler, Ressa, its executive editor, and former researcher and writer  Santos Jr were accused of cyberlibel over a story that alleged links between a businessman and a top judge.

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Rappler was found to have no liability, but both Ressa and Santos were found guilty.

The court ruled that they are entitled to post-conviction bail, and can appeal against the verdict. The convicted journalists have been ordered to pay P200,000 in moral damages and another P200,000 in exemplary damages.

Rappler and its officers and staff have faced at least 11 investigations and court cases even as press freedom advocates decry that media freedom in the Philippines has deteriorated severely under the Duterte administration.

Out of 180 countries, the Philippines now ranks 136th on the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index.

It was reported that journalists have been targeted through judicial harassment, online campaigns waged by pro-Duterte troll armies, and violence.

Local politicians, it warned, “can have reporters silenced with complete impunity”.

Earlier in May, ABS-CBN, was forced off air by a cease-and-desist order that press freedom advocates condemned as a brazen attempt to silence the press.

Soon after, the new anti-terrorism act has been passed in congress that allows warrantless arrests, weeks of detention without charge and other powers that rights groups fear could be used against government critics.

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

 

Can we bring America to the Philippines?

“It is an eternal obligation toward the human being not to let him suffer from hunger when one has a chance of coming to his assistance.”

—Simone Weil

By Alex P. Vidal

BECAUSE of the Internet, we can monitor what is happening in the Philippines and in other parts of the globe on a regular basis even if we’re now living in a faraway place.

We are very much aware that our kababayans, our fellow Ilonggos, are among the hardest hit and now wallowing in abject economic difficulties as a result of the COVID-19 mayhem.

It’s also disheartening to learn that some public utility drivers had been arrested and jailed for begging in the streets.

Since this is a worldwide pandemic, our imagination conjures up a mirror or events that illuminate a similar scenario in other places with coronavirus commotion.   

Including the United States.

Like the Filipinos and other nationalities, many Americans also lost their employment and livelihood, aside from registering a staggering number of cases and deaths, especially in New York.

They also suffered enormously from appalling economic conditions as a result of COVID-19 lockdown, and their emotional and mental anguish sometimes has led to suicide and nervous breakdown.

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The only difference is the Americans aren’t poor.

Their grief and melancholy is short-lived. Their depression is temporary—and gone as soon as Uncle Sam flexes his muscles and come to his children’s succor.

America is so vast and its resources—food and otherwise—are  abundant they can take care of its 350 million population in any circumstance.

They can quickly rebound from the pit of desolation and despondency and move on to the next chapter of their lives without the need to curse the government.

The federal government’s stimulus checks, passed through a bipartisan legislation, were readily available as soon as the law that created it took effect.

No red tape and corruption. No politics involved.

Emergency food supply and other social assistance in kind and in cash are accessible and always available.   

Unlike in the Philippines.

Even the opportunity for many Filipinos to work again in many essential jobs had been forestalled.

No work means no income and no sufficient food on the table and in the stockroom.   

Some jobs disappeared after only three months since the quarantine or lockdown took effect.

We furthered learned that many construction workers who, after completing the lockdown in La Paz, Jaro, Arevalo, Mandurriao, and the City Proper, have been given termination notices “for lack of budget” even before they could resume their work.

Employment opportunities or the chance to hack out a “boundary” for those in the transportation sector were reportedly scarce during the initial lifting of lockdown.

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Because the government social amelioration funds are not enough, many Filipino households can hardly prepare a budget meal even for a small family.

There’s also an uptick of cases on violence against women and children even as nasty altercations had sparked between suspicious residents and defensive village officials.  

To complete the somber situation, a flustered President Rodrigo Roa Duterte whined about the deficit of stimulus money (where to get the next trance is his biggest headache).

The president had also decried some sneaky village officials who made a pile from the social amelioration program (SAP) intended for the poor residents. Heads were nonetheless expected to roll as proper charges have been readied.

If only the Philippines is a state of America, the Filipinos can also avail of the head-turning stimulus check worth $1,200 each, plus the pandemic unemployment fund of $600 a week.

The next coronavirus stimulus package in the United States could see Americans receive as much as $4,000 as part of a tax-credit scheme aimed at boosting tourism in the country, it was reported.

No need anymore for the elderly drivers to beg in the streets and be arrested and jailed like ordinary criminals.

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

 

Pinoy ‘TNTs’ and the $1,200 stimulus check

“Every time I hear a politician mention the word ‘stimulus,’ my mind flashes back to high school biology class, when I touched battery wires to a dead frog to make it twitch.”

—Robert Kiyosaki

By Alex P. Vidal

BACK in 2008, we helped encourage some kababayans who have overstayed their temporary visitor’s visa and who have worked “under the table” in California to file their income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a bureau of the U.S. Department of Treasury.

Those who file an income tax return are issued with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).

In the absence of a Social Security Number (SSN), an ITIN can be used to open a bank account on a case to case basis, among other documentary purposes and financial transactions within the United States.   

Fearing that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “might monitor them” as overstaying aliens and with a TNT (tago ng tago) status, some of them ignored our suggestions and backtracked.

No transaction with the IRS, no monitoring of our movements and whereabouts, some of them argued.  

The IRS does not discriminate against those who file income tax, we emphasized to them.

It does not determine whether certain tax payers are TNTs and illegal aliens as long as the transaction is valid, we insisted.

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The IRS, actually, performs only three main functions—tax return processing, taxpayer service, and enforcement.

The USCIS and the DHS might have access to IRS data, as well as other federal agencies, but they would never use the act by any TNT or illegal alien of paying an income tax to the IRS as reason to arrest and deport him—unless he commits a crime.

The only thing to fear is fear itself, as they always say.

The advantages of filing an income tax return with the IRS far outweigh the disadvantages, which are sometimes only in their minds.

In fact, it never crossed our imagination that 12 years later, an ITIN can play a big and decisive role to help “bail out” TNTs and illegal aliens caught in the financial quagmire.

The ITIN they acquired and have been using to religiously pay their income tax annually have become their saving graces.

Twelve years later, or in the year 2020, coronavirus butchered the United States, which resulted in the declaration of a mind-blowing home quarantine to slow down cases of infections and deaths.

Job losses followed suit as the lockdown prolonged.

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This compelled congress to pass a law that would give the Americans stimulus packages—1. The CARES Act; 2. HEROES Act— to cushion the economic impact.

Under the proposed $3 trillion Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, or HEROES Act, another batch of stimulus payments for most households would be authorized.

In the first round of stimulus checks directed by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES Act in March, only taxpayers with Social Security Number were included in the $1,200 stimulus check.

ITIN-issued taxpayers weren’t qualified.

Under the HEROES Act, taxpayers with ITIN are expected to also get a stimulus check worth $1,200.

The exclusion of some Americans in the CARES Act was severely criticized by advocacy groups and taxpayers alike.

Most Americans would get more money in a second stimulus under the HEROES Act, according to the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute.

Its analysis found that the average household would receive $2,170 in the HEROES Act, compared with $1,729 for the first stimulus checks in the CARES Act.

Unless they have children or dependents who qualify for a $1,200 payment, wealthier Americans would be excluded in the HEROES Act. Like the first stimulus round, the cutoff would be $98,000 for single taxpayers and $199,000 for married couples.

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

 

NY-based Pinoys: India or China?

“I have never advocated war except as a means of peace.”

—Ulysses S. Grant

By Alex P. Vidal

SOME New York-based Filipinos think most of their kababayans in the Philippines will side with India in the event a full-scale conflict with China will escalate into a major war.

“It could even spark a third world war,” feared Renato, 66, a retired cop from Quezon City who now lives in the Woodside in Queens.

If asked to choose, many Filipinos will side with India because they are familiar with their culture and because of their “generosity”, Renato explained.

“Many small-scale business owners and ordinary Filipino vendors borrow 5-6 from Indian nationals. May pakinabang tayo sa India (we can always rely on China),” Renato said. “On the other hand, China is now the whipping boy of the world because of the COVID-19 (traced to have originated from Wuhan).”

“But the current leadership in the Philippines won’t allow it to happen,” quipped Bernard, 65, a retired employee of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) in Mandaue City.

Bernard said: “President Duterte is beholden to China in many aspects; and should a global war erupts as a result of the feud between China and India, he will rally the Filipinos to take the side of China.”

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Bernard, however, stressed that “it would be safer for the Philippines to be neutral. But if push comes to shove, we should side with India.”

Bernard cited the Treaty of Friendship signed between the Philippines and India on July 11, 1952 five years after India’s independence in 1947.

Tirso, 71, a retired college instructor from La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, who lives near the newly renovated Elmhurst Park, agreed with Bernard.

He pointed to the “joint venture” between former President Ferdinand Marcos and Indian industrialist Aditya Vikram Birla, as the start of the “close ties” between the Philippines and India.

“The joint venture resulted in the establishment of Indo-Philippine Textile Mills, Inc. (Indo-Phil), then the largest Indian investment in the country,” Tirso pointed out.

He said Indo-Phil currently employs thousands of Filipino workers and supplies some 40 percent of Philippine domestic demand for yarn.

The Philippines and India signed a trade agreement on May 29,  1979, recalled Tirso, father-in-law of a 53-year-old Pinoy bartender and COVID-19 survivor.

Rafael, a civil engineer and former chess champion from Pangasinan, cited China’s “bad public relations” with the Philippines to be the reason why Filipinos will side with India.

“China has been bullying the Philippines in the dispute of the Panatag Island. China instills fear in the Filipinos who think the Chinese government is dead-set to invade our territory and govern us,” lamented Rafael.

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Since early May 2020, tensions between Indian and Chinese troops have simmered in the remote, high Karakoram mountains that separate India’s northern Ladakh region from the alkaline desert of Aksai Chin, which is claimed by India but controlled by China and abuts its Xinjiang province.

Former Indian Army officer and strategic analyst Ajai Shuka explained that it is a forbidding landscape of cold deserts, snow-capped peaks, sparse vegetation and freezing temperature about 14,000 feet above sea level.

“On Monday evening, in a brutal hand-to-hand battle, Chinese soldiers killed at least 20 Indian soldiers with wooden staves and nail-studded clubs, in the severest escalation of the dispute on the Sino-Indian frontier in decades,” Shuka wrote in the New York Times.

He stressed that British colonial authorities bequeathed India a border with China that was neither delineated on a map nor demarcated on the ground.

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Shuka wrote: “After China invaded Tibet in 1950 and the two Asian giants sought to formalize their frontier, the territorial dispute emerged. The Sino-Indian border dispute involves about 13, 500 square miles in Ladakh and Aksai Chin and about 35,000 square miles in the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China calls South Tibet.”

The border dispute flared into a war in 1962.

China won conclusively but retreated after a cease-fire to what were broadly its prewar positions.

“That de facto border, which is called the Line of Actual Control, is patrolled by both armies. Occasional unarmed clashes have taken place over the years despite five agreements aimed at reducing the risk of

combat,” wrote Suka.

China has reportedly built a network of roads and tracks on its side of the Line of Actual Control, but the Chinese military has consistently objected to India’s far slower but steady improvement of borderland infrastructure.

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

 

Smorgasbord of news

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”

—Fred Rogers

By Alex P. Vidal

THERE have only been three issues that “interrupted” the daily news headline dominated by coronavirus these past four months: the blackout in Iloilo City, the shifty “close-open” Angelicum School Iloilo ruckus, and the reported filing of double murder cases by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)-Region 6 against several cops involved in the twin killings in January this year.

Headline stories changed each time there were events of power interruptions or reports of looming blackout; and when there were major progress in the Muller-Britanico twin slay.

Blackouts were a prominent story because critics of MORE Power wanted the neophyte electric firm held accountable for the “habitual” power interruptions.

Breakthroughs in the Muller-Britanico double killings were important headline story because Ilonggos who follow the latest about the investigation want immediate justice for the victims.   

News of the sudden announcement of Angelicum School Iloilo’s “closure” elbowed its way to the headline only to die abruptly after it became a dud.  

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Since March when COVID-19 started its murderous rampage, all that we read in the newspapers, seen on primetime TV, and heard on AM radios were news about coronavirus—its destruction to the human life and the global economy.

There has never been a sustained, extended, and protracted reportage of a single event in history other than about the coronavirus in 2020 and the World War II 75 years ago.

Even after the actual combat, post-World War II stories continued to dominate the news media in the 1940s, especially during the reconstruction and repatriation.

Even if COVID-19 cases will decline before December this year, major papers and the electronic media are expected to continue giving emphasis and importance to the post-COVID-19 stories, especially on the search for the pandemic’s vaccine.

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There were instances these past weeks when the debates had shifted from the coronavirus to controversial political issues like Manny Pacquiao’s presidential ambition, the ongoing struggle of the ABS-CBN to obtain a new franchise, the passage of the hotly debated anti-terror bill, China’s non-stop but “silent” incursion on our natural resources and territorial soils, and, recently, the furor about Sharon Cuneta’s youngest daughter engaging in an on-line debate why women are being raped—and the alleged “threat” by a netizen to rape the daughter.

But, after a while, like a pendulum, news would be back again to coronavirus—especially when the policy and guidelines on the quarantine and social distancing had been violated by those who should be the ones to enforce the law.

COVID-19 is a compact subject matter.

Media can tackle stacks of stories about the pandemic: heroism of the front liners, the infected and dislocated OFWs, how the government is solving the social amelioration program (SAP) “shortage” or how it is lowering the boom on corrupt DOH test kit facilitators, DSWD and village officials in charge of SAP distribution; how certain local governments flatten the curve, etcetera.

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

 

What to expect during SP probe on Iloilo City blackout

“Of the various branches of electrical investigation, perhaps the most interesting and immediately the most promising is that dealing with alternating currents.”

—Nikola Tesla

By Alex P. Vidal

AT this early, we already anticipate what might happen on June 30, 2020 when the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) in Iloilo City opens up an investigation “in aid of legislation” on the frequent power outages experienced by Ilonggo consumers these past months.

MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power), the main cast in the hullaballoo, won’t be there definitely just to absorb all the brickbats and catch all the uppercuts and roundhouse kicks.

“In aid of MORE Power”, the Department of Energy (DOE) might pick up the cudgels and help justify the causes of power interruptions like the way it explained everything in the media.

We can already anticipate, in fact, the DOE telling the SP Committee on Public Public Utilities, chaired by Councilor Romel Duron, that the successive power blackouts occurred “because the MORE Power needed complete maintenance work at substation 2 or the Jaro substation of the electric distribution facility.”

The same excuses and justification.

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We won’t be surprised if MORE Power, or even the DOE, will go to the extent of pinning the blame on Panay Electric Company (PECO), which controlled and was responsible for the substation’s maintenance until March 2020 when MORE Power took over the facility by virtue of a court order.

MORE Power had claimed earlier the Jaro substation “had not undergone maintenance for the past six or seven years when it was still under PECO’s charge.”

PECO, of course, won’t allow itself to be used as the punching bag and the scapegoat in the imbroglio and might even take the opportunity to step up its indictment of MORE Power for the seemingly abysmal services to the consumers which happened during the pandemic lockdown.

It will be a pingpong match anew between the two rival electric companies.

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And if lawyers from both parties will be allowed to join the fray, the SP committee hearing could be transformed into another venue for MORE Power’s and PECO’s display of supremacy and authority.

In terms of management capability and resources, MORE Power and PECO will try to out-duke each other in order to avoid the ax of culpability and public rebuke.

Councilors Eduardo Penaredondo and Ely Estante are among those who have openly expressed displeasure on the 13-hour power blackouts that almost occurred on a regular basis especially during the weekend.

They are expected to empty their cylinders during the committee hearing and won’t take sides.

The aldermen are so worried for the consequences in the metropolis’ tourism and economy.

The bottomline here should be accountability and efficient services to the consumers.

We are also weighing the problem of successive and long period of power blackouts to the impact on local economy especially now that everything seems to be in tatters due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Which is why there is a need to conduct the committee investigation in order to iron out some kinks and resolve whatever inefficiency and negligence committed by parties concerned.    

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New York, the place where I currently live, is now inching its way to the last two of the four phases in the reopening of economy.

After the Empire State implemented blanket shutdown orders in March that closed stores, shuttered offices and curtailed business at restaurants and bars, state officials set up a gradual process to restart the state’s economy and ease restrictions.

Regions of New York that show they have been able to effectively keep the virus contained can reopen sectors of the economy in four phases, under the state’s plan.

Still, all phases of the reopening require us here to adhere to social distancing guidelines, including wearing masks or face coverings in crowded public spaces, on public or private transportation or in for-hire vehicles.

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