No Justice

By Labay2x

It’s been months since the provincial prosecutor’s office dismissed the criminal complaint filed by the Iloilo Provincial Police Office against Jevron Parohinog and several others over the grisly murder of three persons in Estancia last year.

Not satisfied with the dismissal, a motion for reconsideration was filed seeking a reversal but to no avail. The prosecutor’s office dismissed the same just recently.

So, the victims were victimized twice over. First the murders. And now, the dismissal of the murder charges.

Case unsolved. The true killers remain unknown and are not brought before the bar of justice.

Big Fucks Small

Not a few Ilonggos thought that Panay Electric Co. was unmovable. We thought nobody can put PECO under the rubble of its incompetence, inefficiencies, lack of conscience and a host of other complaints from the public it used to serve. Given PECO’s decades of lordship over its franchise area, it must be safe to assume that the Cachos were billionaires in their own right, power distribution business being the playground of the big boys.

Then along came More Power of billionaire Enrique Razon. Obviously a much bigger frog in the pond.

Then suddenly PECO lost its franchise, and the rest is history. More is new power lord, substituting PECO in the distribution of electricity that power the homes of city folks including big name politicians, celebrities, and many members of the local press.

Indeed, in this dog-eat-dog world, the gangland Jew in the Netflix TV series Peaky Blinder was right in saying that “big fucks small.”

Question: Are Ilonggos happy with the present state of things?

My personal experience tells me that MORE is much better than PECO in terms of services rendered, thus far. As regards the rates, well, the fluctuations in the supply market makes distribution utilities at the mercy of their own projections. It must be emphasized that distribution utilities – be it a private company like More of Iloilo City or the electric cooperatives such as the Ilecos in Iloilo province and Ceneco in the case of Bacolod City – are at the mercy of their own research that guides them in their competitive search for the most affordable power supply available in the market.

Recall that MORE became the darling of the press and the public when for a certain period last year it charged the lowest on a per kilowatt hour basis. This “lowest rate” became the fodder in the cannon of those who helped MORE Power expand its franchise in the jurisdictions of Ileco 1 and 2. But last I heard, a case seeking to thwart this expanded franchise was filed before the Supreme Court on the grounds of constitutionality.

The Constitution aside, it will look absurd and impractical for two distribution firms to operate in the same area. Having two separate high voltage wires on opposite sides of the road may even prove dangerous to public safety.

By the way, MORE has already proposed a Joint Venture with Ceneco to control the distribution business in Bacolod City.