By: Manuel “Boy” Mejorada THE fatal shooting of Adonis Hontiveros at a police checkpoint in Sara, Iloilo on Sept. 23 has attracted my interest the first time it was reported on local radio the following morning of the 24th. I was on my way to the airport for my flight to Manila when I heard
October 4, 2019
By: Manuel “Boy” Mejorada I HAVEN’T fully recovered from a bout of flu that hit me last weekend, but I forced myself to get out of bed and write this column about rogue cops after watching most of yesterday’s hearing of the Senate committee on justice and human rights. That’s because I see similarities in
October 2, 2019
By: Manuel “Boy” Mejorada ON MY way to Roxas City yesterday, I heard a follow-up report on AksyonRadyo Iloilo that three policemen who took part in a checkpoint duty in Sara, Iloilo on Monday night may have fired their weapons at a motorcycle-riding individual, and killing him, are now under technical arrest. As I wrote
September 27, 2019
By: Manuel “Boy” Mejorada THE testimony of former CIDG Director and now Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong on the “bust and sell” activities of certain high-ranking police officials reinforces what most of us have known for a long time: serious corruption is eating up the Philippine National Police. It would be unfair to say that
September 25, 2019
By: Manuel “Boy” Mejorada FRANKLY, I wasn’t so optimistic about the winning chances of Tobias-Fornier SB member Julius Cezar Tajalangit in his re-election bid for the presidency of the Philippine Councilors League-Antique Chapter held last Friday, Sept. 20. With his rival, former Tobias-Fornier municipal mayor and incumbent SB member Orchid Fornier enjoying the full support
September 23, 2019
By: Manuel “Boy” Mejorada TWO days ago, I was shocked to view a video of a retired policeman who died in the middle of the Iloilo Strait as he was being ferried to a hospital in Iloilo City because his health condition had deteriorated while confined at the Guimaras Provincial Hospital. The family of the
September 20, 2019
By: Manuel “Boy” Mejorada JULIUS Cezar Tajanlangit was only 19 when he won his first term as Sangguniang Bayan member of Tobias-Fornier, Antique. At the time, he was pursuing his degree in Agriculture at the Central Philippine University in Iloilo City. He had also served as SK chairman of Barangay Paciencia in his town at
September 18, 2019
By: Manuel “Boy” Mejorada THE magnitude of the corruption that has been uncovered at the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) is almost unfathomable. With the façade of the New Bilibid Prisons as a backdrop, we saw how a law that is supposed to decongest our prisons system was abused by officials of the agency, of course,
September 16, 2019
By: Manuel “Boy” Mejorada OVER the last three years, I have occasionally travelled to Guimaras on business, and took the short pumpboat ride from Parola to Buenavistal and back. All of these trips were uneventful – routing rides that took between 20-30 minutes. I made it a point to travel only when the weather is
September 13, 2019
By: Manuel “Boy” Mejorada IT IS HARD not to feel bad for the situation that hundreds of vendors in Iloilo City who have, through decades and decades, earned their livelihood selling food, cigarettes and other stuff from makeshift stands on sidewalks, particularly in the downtown area. Because of a presidential directive to clear public roads
September 11, 2019
By: Manuel “Boy” Mejorada I STARTED writing a blog in 2007 after I attended a seminar sponsored by the Friedrich Neuman Foundation in Manila. At the time, blogging was slow to gain popularity in the Philippines, and the FNF wanted to encourage the use of the internet as a means to strengthen the principle of
September 9, 2019
By: Manuel “Boy” Mejorada Nicanor Faeldon could have salvaged what was left of his reputation had he just resigned when the scandal over the release of Bilibid convicts under the Good Conduct Time Allowance law broke out. For reasons that are difficult to fathom, Faeldon refused to resign. He insisted that he didn’t do anything
September 6, 2019