THERE was a time when Manny Villar seemed to have turned everything he touched into gold, including the farmlands he had bought and converted into subdivisions for the well-heeled. He delights in being the richest Filipino billionaire. But the latest news about the former Senate President (circa 2006-2008) is that he has
February 8, 2023
WHEN asked for her impression on the new congressman of Antique, Antonio Agapito “AA” Legarda Jr., former Governor Salvacion “Sally” Zaldivar-Perez opted to answer in writing. This writer, therefore, is yielding this space to her narrative: IN seven months in office, Antique Congressman Antonio Agapito “AA” Legarda Jr. has already made an indelible
February 6, 2023
A news item in this paper yesterday reported that the Iloilo City Council had passed a resolution asking President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to help relocate the 299 families whose homes in barangays West Habog-Habog and San Juan perished in Saturday’s fire. This corner wonders whether presidential intervention would still be necessary. It’s
February 3, 2023
MANY columns ago, I wrote my “Search for True Religion,” where I said that I had attended services and masses of various churches in the hope of discovering God, but to no avail. Let me say in addition that it was because of their irreconcilability with each other. In Christianity, for example,
January 30, 2023
WHILE sitting down to write this article yesterday, I remembered it was January 26, the same date in 1970 or 53 years ago when the so-called “First Quarter Storm” flared up to dramatize student discontent over the re-election of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in the 1969 presidential election. That rally coincided Marcos’
January 27, 2023
I’VE been hoping for the latest movie of Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone, “Samaritan”, to be shown in local theaters or streamed on Netflix. The movie casts him in the role of Joe Smith, a garbage collector who becomes “superhero” in the mold of Superman to rid his neighborhood of criminals. What amazes me
January 25, 2023
IT is not unusual for electricity consumers to curse their distribution utility (DU) each time the power bill reveals a higher amount per kilowatt-hour. In Iloilo City, the DU is MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power). The province is presently served by three independent branches of the Iloilo Electric Cooperative (ILECO).
January 23, 2023
IN a TV interview, former Economic Planning Secretary Winnie Monsod laughed off the on-going participation of Pres. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in the five-day World Economic Forum (WEF) in snow-laden Davos, Switzerland as a “waste of time and money”. “He just loves to travel!” she roared. I agree. Now in his unprecedented
January 20, 2023
LEGEND has it that in 64 A.D., while fire was ravaging 70 percent of the city of Rome, Roman emperor Neru was playing his fiddle 35 miles away in his Golden Palace. He didn’t care about his people losing lives and homes; hence, an ineffective leader in moments of crisis. This nugget of
January 18, 2023
INTERNET scammers have turned to Facebook (FB) as an outlet for announcing their services and products. The more “successful” ones have even upgraded to paid ads for bigger patronage. Beware! If they promise big income, on the contrary you could lose hard-earned money to them. The familiar ones include “insertions” in the
January 16, 2023
WE have yet to hear a farmer praising President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for appointing himself Secretary of Agriculture. This is where he sounds Greek to us who doubt whether he has ever held a plow. His decision to import 22,000 metric tons of onion does not make sense since it collides
January 13, 2023