DR. JOSE RIZAL has withstood the test of time as “the national hero of the Philippines.” This is understandable because of his unequalled reputation as a polymath, nationalist, and writer who played a crucial role in the country’s 333-year struggle for independence from Spain. But others believe it’s Andres Bonifacio who deserves
August 26, 2024
ILOILO City will mark its 87th Charter Day on Sunday, August 25. It was on that date in 1937 when the late President Manuel Luis Quezon signed Commonwealth Act 158 declaring Iloilo as a charter city. The declaration granted Iloilo City special jurisdiction to create its own governance system and enact policy
August 23, 2024
YESTERDAY’s bad news was the sudden increase in prices of gasoline and diesel by P1.00 and P1.20, respectively. The good news is that MORE Power’s residential electricity rate in Iloilo City has decreased from P12.86 to P12.66 per kilowatt-hour for bills received from August 18, 2024, to September 12, 2024. I can’t
August 21, 2024
ONCE there was a radio jingle, “Ang utang ay dapat bayaran, nang tayo’y pagkakatiwalaan.” Yes, we have to pay our monetary debts, lest we earn the ire of our creditors. It’s somewhat a different matter, however, when what we owe is a debt of gratitude – utang na loob in Tagalog, utang nga buot or utang nga
August 19, 2024
THE other day, we chanced upon Rep. Wilbert T. Lee, who was here in Iloilo City for a speaking engagement. Lee, 55, who represents the Agri party-list, is passionate about turning our country around from rice importer to rice exporter once again. He must have learned from his elders that we used
August 16, 2024
IT was in 1981 when I left behind 14 years of life in Metro Manila to reside and work in Iloilo City, my birth place. The reason: I had gone weary of the snail-paced back-breaking daily bus rides between my residence and my office. Time would come, I feared, when I would
August 14, 2024
AS reported in this paper, the Iloilo City council, through councilor Romel Duron, had filed a resolution half a year ago (in January 2024), urging President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to certify the urgency of passing a law amending certain provisions of the 23-year-old Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA) or
August 12, 2024
THIS corner thinks that the proposal of Iloilo City councilor Romel Duron to delay the implementation of the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) for being premature is meritorious. It falls in line with Senate Resolution No. 1096, passed on July 31, seeking to suspend the implementation of the program in response
August 9, 2024
NO thanks to disinformation, there are disabled overseas – or those no longer fit to board again — who give up on ever getting disability benefits that they are entitled to. If truth be told, they have good chances of earning disability benefits on demand. For mere failure to fight for it,
August 7, 2024
THE month of August augurs well for thousands of electricity consumers in Passi City and 15 towns of Iloilo province. Now they have a choice – either to remain connected with the Iloilo Electric Cooperative (ILECO) or shift to the Iloilo City-based MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) in accordance with
August 5, 2024
WE found ourselves having coffee with former Iloilo City Mayor Jose “Joe” Espinosa III at Hotel del Rio last Sunday. The one and only question I asked him was whether he had smoked the peace pipe with his brother-in-law, incumbent Mayor Jerry Treñas. He would not comment for whatever reason. But his ear-to-ear
August 1, 2024
A nanny’s life in Saudi Arabia THE TYPICAL Filipina nanny in Saudi Arabia is well-respected even in the homes of princes and princesses. So said our informant, Kristine Dela Peña of Barangay Bacan, Cabatuan, Iloilo. She had worked as a nanny for a10-year-old daughter of a royal family whose identity she would
July 29, 2024