By Modesto P. Sa-onoy Catholics have entered the season of Lent with the imposition of the ashes last Wednesday. The usual call is for fasting and abstinence; the skipping of a meal for those who are required to fast. Abstinence is for those who fast and those that cannot, like the elderly, the sick and
February 29, 2020
By Modesto P. Sa-onoy On Tuesday I was interviewed by Bombo Bacolod with a question: Is there a possibility of another People Power like the one that toppled the regime of President Ferdinand Marcos? Offhand I replied that the current ideological, political and economic conditions are not enough to fire the people to take to
February 28, 2020
By Modesto P. Sa-onoy The bill filed by Bacolod Lone District Congressman Greg Gasataya last year to create a Bacolod Economic Zone Authority has passed the House Committee on Economic Affairs during the committee hearing last week. There are yet little details published on the bill but from its name, the proposed measure promises exciting
February 27, 2020
By Modesto P. Sa-onoy Yesterday’s commemoration of the People Power Revolution of 1986 did not evoke much enthusiasm as it was a few years after that historic moment when the Filipino people joined in mass throughout the nation to demand the end to martial law and dictatorial regime of President Ferdinand Marcos. There was a
February 26, 2020
By Modesto P. Sa-onoy A recent report cited Education Secretary Leonor Briones saying that her department has “identified the curriculum for teachers as one of the gaps in the education system” and that DepEd does not “know how universities and colleges train students to pursue education majors.” In the Philippine set-up, the DepEd is concerned
February 25, 2020
By Modesto P. Sa-onoy Servicing the electricity needs of the people of northern and northeastern Occidental Negros is Northern Negros Electric Cooperative, Inc. that is based in Tortosa, Manapla. Its distance from Bacolod where media concentrates, NONECO has sort of been left out in the news and the scrutiny of the journalists. Its forerunner, VRESCO
February 24, 2020
By Modesto P. Sa-onoy Pain and suffering are the lot of humankind. No one is ever free of them. Some take them philosophically while others could not bear the suffering that they end their lives. As Hamlet would put it, “To die, to sleep – no more – and by a sleep to say we end the
February 22, 2020
By Modesto P. Sa-onoy Another reason supporting the termination of the VFA complains that the “desultory flow of US materiel to the AFP underscores not only the unsatisfactory speed, quantity and quality of the goods delivered but also the political strings attached to them.” Do we expect the US to provide things we needed under
February 21, 2020
By Modesto P. Sa-onoy One of the justifications for the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement is that “relying on another country for the defense against enemies would eventually weaken and stagnate the Philippines defense capabilities.” This reasoning seems odd because the very purpose of the VFA is to strengthen our capabilities through a military
February 20, 2020
By Modesto P. Sa-onoy Now that the Philippines has sent a notice to the United States of its decision to abrogate the Visiting Forces Agreement, the VFA automatically terminates in 180 days from the date of the notice which was February 11. Malacanang reported that US President Donald Trump in a phone call tried to
February 19, 2020
By Modesto P. Sa-onoy I’m unaware whether the Thai sugar industry has a railway system for the delivery of the canes to the mill, but I had not seen huge trailers carrying canes to the mill as we have. I also did not see cane trucks with stalks protruding out into the open. Overloaded cane
February 18, 2020
By Modesto P. Sa-onoy Another observation of the officials of the Sugar Regulatory Administration in their trip to Thailand’s sugar industry is the system of milling of the canes. Their report said, “Deliveries of sugarcane to the sugar mills are programmed and scheduled by the mills from their registered sugarcane farmers and the time between
February 17, 2020