Bound to fail in Iloilo

By Alex P. Vidal

“Ambition is the last refuse of the failure.”—Oscar Wilde

IT looks like the proposed constitutional amendments being worked out by some excited and ambitious lawmakers will fail anew.

If it didn’t snowball in Iloilo, it will not snowball anywhere in the entire archipelago despite the grand lobbying of the proponents.

The move for a charter change or Cha-cha had failed under the Arroyo administration; it failed under the P-Noy administration; and it failed again during the Duterte administration.

It seems that each time a group of politicians planned to touch the charter with a ten-foot pole, something uneventful occurred like natural calamities. If it’s not a plain and simple coincidence, it’s probably a cursed (this theory is only for those who believe in superstition, of course).

Although members of the House committee on constitutional amendments have been going around the country for a series of consultative meetings, there is no assurance they can get the support of the local officials.

In their recent Iloilo visit, for instance, the proposed House Bill 6805 or “An Act Constituting a Constitutional Convention to Amend the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, Defining the Qualifications for its Delegates Who Shall Be Elected Simultaneously with the Next Barangay Elections, and for other Purposes” did not attract popular support from various stakeholders and was even sternly opposed by those who have sufficient knowledge about the Philippine Constitution.

Also, many local officials—those from the different municipalities and component cities in Western Visayas—didn’t take the consultative meeting seriously by snubbing it.

Another big blow to the proponents of Cha-cha is the lukewarm response of President Bongbong Marcos who has already declared it is not the priority of his administration.

Cha-cha, or whatever they may call this latest ballgame, appears to be the least of the concerns of the Ilonggos, who still prefer to have a stable economic life with lesser politics.

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I’m still planning to visit the centerpiece of Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park, NYC anytime this month as it will reportedly continue until March 5 despite the seemingly abnormal weather condition as a result of climate change.

The 17,000 square foot rink features free admission ice-skating, high-quality rental skates, free skating shows, and events. This after experts said changes in climate are ushering in many full blooms across parts of the country—when they should still be nearly a month away as flowers and trees are blooming up to three weeks earlier than normal in the Eastern US.

Much of the “early spring” reportedly has to do with the warm start to 2023.

Several parts of the South and Southeast are off to their top-10 warmest years on record, and many cities are seeing their top-five warmest: Houston, Jackson, Nashville and Atlanta. It is even more dramatic in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

Philadelphia and New York City are reportedly experiencing their warmest start to the year on record, so the early bloom will most likely expand into the Northeast in the weeks ahead.

HOW SEX CAN DO A BODY GOOD. It protects prostate. Catholic priests have an elevated chance of dying of prostate cancer, and studies point to celibacy as a factor.

In 2003, research on middle-aged Australian men found that those who averaged at least four ejaculations a week had a one-third lower chance of developing prostate cancer than those who had fewer, says Dr. Regina Nuzzo.

SEX REVS UP IMMUNE SYSTEM. Researchers from Wilkes University showed that college students who engaged in sex once or twice a week had 30 percent higher levels of infection-fighting antibodies than did their abstinent classmates.

I am curious about the report that GCash, ballyhooed to be the Philippines’ no. 1 finance app, can now be used abroad with international SIM cards, reportedly making the e-wallet the first and only in the country to do so. I need more of this kind of instant money transmission as I can’t rely 100 percent on some remittance centers that always changed their transmission fees without any notice.

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