THE first time I heard and saw Cezarah Rowena “Sarah” Discaya on video was months before she declared she was running for mayor of Pasig City against the popular incumbent, Vico Sotto. In that vlog hosted by TV personality Julius Babao, she and her husband Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya talked about their “luck”
August 20, 2025
IT must have been more than a score ago when the late businessman Jose “Pepe” Layson granted my request for an interview on how he found his wealth from garbage. As every Ilonggo knows, he was the sole garbage-collection contractor in Iloilo City. As it turned out, however, garbage collection had never
August 18, 2025
IT’S not impossible. We heard this opinion from lawyers who believe that the Supreme Court (SC) may reverse its controversial ruling declaring the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte “unconstitutional”. The SC, they say, might have wrongly interpreted Article XI, Section 3 (4) of the Constitution: “In case the verified complaint
August 15, 2025
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has, at last after three years in Malacañang, lost his cool over expensive flood control projects gone awry, allegedly due to conspiracy between congressmen and contractors. In a press conference on Friday, he lamented, “There are 6,021 projects worth more than ₱350 billion that do not specify the
August 13, 2025
YOU have probably heard this famous quotation attributed to 17th-century English poet Samuel Butler: “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” As a child, I first heard it from my late father Juan, a Seventh Day Adventist, who would often spank us kids whenever we came home beyond our 6 p.m. “curfew”. He
August 11, 2025
WHAT is wrong with the Iloilo Electric Cooperative 1 (ILECO 1) in the eyes of electricity consumers in Miag-ao, Iloilo? Why is there a public clamor for the privately-run MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) to compete with the cooperative, of which they are “owners”? MORE Power is better known as
August 8, 2025
AS of yesterday, the exchange rate of the US dollar against the Philippine peso had climbed to P57.80. Good news for the dollar earners? Unfortunately, inflation is an illusion that has made our peso one of the “worst-performing” currencies in the world today. It means weaker buying power. The economists interpret it
August 6, 2025
FORGOTTEN number of years ago, this writer – who is now 75 — criticized an actor for appearing on a TV ad endorsing a branded mucolytic while showing a woman sweeping lagundi leaves into a dustpan. “Obviously,” I wrote, “the manufacturer of that mucolytic wants us to absorb a subliminal message that
August 4, 2025
DOES the House of Representatives expect a reversal of the Supreme Court’s decision rendering the impeachment articles against Vice President Sara Duterte unconstitutional, therefore null and void? Yes, according to its spokesperson Princess Abante, “because the decision is based on premises or findings that are wrong and contrary to the official record
August 1, 2025
THE newly-opened 20th Congress is not wholly in agreement with the Supreme Court’s decision declaring the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte unconstitutional for having violated Article XI Section 3 paragraph 5 of the Constitution, which states that “No impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once within a
July 30, 2025
WHAT if we end up with only one electricity distribution utility in both the city and province of Iloilo? Would it be good for both the residential and business consumers? If based on the notion that “competition breeds excellence,” that may not be so. But it is correct to say that the
July 28, 2025
“I’d like a rematch,” Manny Pacquiao, 46, yelled after his fight against defending Mexican WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios, 30, which ended in a draw on July 20 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. So, will there be another “last fight”? One recalls that he announced his retirement after
July 25, 2025