THE February 2, 2022 retirement of Rowena Guanzon as chair of the First Division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) seemed to forebode distrust brewing between presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos and his running mate, Sara Duterte Carpio. She had repeatedly ranted at fellow Commissioner Aimee Ferolino, ponente of the disqualification case
February 4, 2022
“YES, the bill aimed at expanding our franchise coverage is constitutional.” Speaking was Alyana Babayen-on, lawyer of MORE Electric and Power Corp., in an interview with us (Neri Camiña and this writer) over “Tribuna sang Banwa” on Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo last Sunday. House Bill No. 10306 proposes to grant MORE Power – the sole electricity-distribution
February 2, 2022
IF most of today’s teenagers have no idea what pen pal writing is all about, it’s simply because it is no longer in vogue. I no longer know of nobody who spends time hand-writing letters to a stranger he would like to befriend via postal mail. What we now call “friends” are
January 31, 2022
ON reading the news that national artist for literature F. Sionil Jose had written 30 at the unusual old age of 97, I could only mutter, “He has lived a good life.” Incidentally in journalism lingo, to write 30 is to end a story with “30,” as I did in the early
January 28, 2022
DURING an interview with former Congressman Ferjenel “Ferj” Biron on the radio program “Tribuna sang Banwa” on Aksyon Radyo last Sunday, we grabbed the chance to complain about the apparent non-compliance by certain drugstores of the law he had authored, the Cheaper Medicines Act of 2008. The law (RA 9502) as passed
January 26, 2022
THE odds are in favor of MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) expanding its services to 15 towns and a component city via an amendment of Republic Act No 11212 — the law providing the franchise for MORE as a distribution utility in Iloilo City. Having seen the live video coverage
January 24, 2022
THE month of January is about to end, but for most daily-wage earners, the time to settle debts incurred during the Christmas and New Year celebrations has only just begun. This is also the month when we who think of ourselves as “middle class” grimace over sudden rise in prices of food
January 21, 2022
DOES it matter to us Ilonggos that Enrique Klar Razon Jr. is the third richest man in the Philippines with a net worth of 300 billion pesos? It matters — even if he is no Ilonggo but a Manileño – because he is eager to spend a big portion of his wealth to
January 19, 2022
THE first time I noticed construction work going on at the Iloilo Division Office of the Department of Education (Dep-Ed), in La Paz, Iloilo City, I sensed something wrong. It seemed as if a container van was jutting out of the second floor, defacing the façade. The side view also reminded me
January 17, 2022
IN a telephone conversation with Iloilo City councilor Duron, I expressed concern over the proposed ordinance seeking to restrict the mobility of unvaccinated individuals within the city. As I was writing this yesterday, the Sangguniang Panglunsod’s committee on rules and committee on health – chaired by Duron and councilor Allan Zaldivar, respectively
January 14, 2022
DO you think that we senior citizens enjoy the privilege of buying prescribed medicines at discounted prices? In the sense of paying a lesser amount than the younger patients, yes. But as to whether we “enjoy” in the more familiar meaning of the word – which is to derive pleasure from something
January 12, 2022
AS national and local elections on May 9 draw near, “noel” rumors loom wider. The word is short for “no election”. Why so when the Constitution mandates an election every third year on the second Monday of May? In view of President Rodrigo Duterte saying “joke only” whenever proven lying, any “assuring
January 10, 2022