By: Alex P. Vidal
“In the confusion we stay with each other, happy to be together, speaking without uttering a single word.” – Walt Whitman
PANAY Electric Company (PECO)’s refusal to sell its assets to rival, MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power), is a clear sign that there’s still no light at the end of the tunnel in as far as the controversy whether PECO should be allowed to stay and continue serving the Ilonggos alongside with MORE Power, or the latter should call the shots exclusively for power distribution in Iloilo City and eradicate PECO is concerned.
Despite the recent shutout “win” for MORE Power when the House Committee on Franchises’ 44 members shut the door on the proposed bill granting a new franchise to PECO filed by a party-list solon, the situation remains frosty.
There is no clear victory with finality in sight yet for neither party.
In fact, MORE problem and MORE confusion have become the order of the day.
PECO is still fighting back; it’s exhausting all the available legal remedies to survive the Armageddon.
Like Israel, which is under constant threat of annihilation from surrounding Arab and Muslim countries, PECO is apparently prepared to release all its might in order to survive.
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PECO Corporate Communications Officer Mikel Afzelius has stood by his words that any other power distributor has “every right to put up its own facilities and run a power distribution business.”
The Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 37’s August 14, 2091 ruling granting MORE Power a writ of possession to take over PECO’s assets is still being contested in the appellate court.
MORE problem and MORE confusion means MORE litigations, (there will be) MORE attempts for PECO to get a legitimate franchise in the future (this can be done a year after the first rejection by the House Committee on Franchises, according to the law).
PECO’s battlecry doesn’t make them a kontrabida in the eyes of the public.
It’s healthy, democratic, fair, and reasonable.
It only wants to co-exist with MORE Power; PECO doesn’t pretend to be a pot calling the kettle black.
The more the merrier, as the saying goes.
It does not agitate to wrest the franchise away from MORE Power, which has already secured its own in the bag.
PECO wants a separate slice of the pizza, not the entire plate.
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ILOILO’s decision to ban entry of live hogs and pork-related products from areas in Luzon and countries affected by African Swine Fever (ASF) is timely as it will help minimize if not outright prevent the spread of ASF in the city and province.
Experts in the United States have identified the biggest challenges facing the pork industry.
These are foreign animal diseases, the future of trade, and consumers’ fear of science.
The public’s fear and/or misunderstanding of science can and will reportedly lead to freedom-to-operate issues for pork producers.
It can reportedly impact decisions that policy-makers make; it impacts the decisions producers make on their farms–their animal health choices, their facilities-management choices–all of those things.
The culinary name for the flesh of a domestic pig (Sus scrofa domesticus), pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; it is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC.
Curing extends the shelf life of the pork products and examples of the preserved pork are ham, smoked pork, gammon, bacon and sausage. Charcuterie is the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products, many from pork.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)
