By Herbert Vego IN a previous column, I toyed with the likelihood of re-electionist Congresswoman Julienne “Jam-Jam” Baronda defending her Iloilo City turf against outgoing Senator Franklin Drilon in 2022. This time, however, it might spoil the fun that Baronda’s bill (HB No. 3074) has hurdled third reading in the House; it’s a matter
February 5, 2021
By Herbert Vego HOW true is the rumor that Mayor Jerry Treñas would no longer run in tandem with Congresswoman Julienne “Jam-Jam” Baronda in 2022? My coffee mates at Hotel del Rio have been talking about that possibility. Everybody wants to know each other’s two cents’ worth on the above question. My opinion is
February 3, 2021
By Herbert Vego YOU must have heard it said that the young look forward to the future while the old, back to the past. In a sense it’s true, but if you’re 71-years-old, as I am now, looking back to the proverbial “good old days” would be worth wishing for. If I could travel
February 1, 2021
By Herbert Vego IF proven guilty of shooting an innocent to death, the accused police officers would somehow bolster the prevailing notion that the Philippine National Police (PNP) is “licensed” to kill suspected drug pushers and users. This is not to say that the late Delfin “Del” Britanico – son of former Congressman Buddy
January 29, 2021
By Herbert Vego HOW would Dr. Farah Agustin-Bunch have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic? I tried to reach her online, but all I got was a short message that she was still “not here” – obviously her only response to any inquiry from her thousands of patients. It could only mean that her medical
January 27, 2021
By Herbert Vego LAWYER Dominador Tersol, a former consultant at the Iloilo Governor’s Office, deplores the conflicting views of national government officials vis-à-vis the confidential disclosure agreement entered into by vaccine czar Carlito Galvez and an unnamed China official. Tersol noted in a Facebook post that while Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra vouches for absolute
January 25, 2021
By Herbert Vego PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte could not hide his irritation when he sneered at senators who had opposed the importation of China’s anti-COVID Sinovac vaccine. “Gusto ninyo ng Pfizer, kayong mga senador? In Norway, 25 persons died after receiving Pfizer vaccination,” he said on Monday night. News reports from Norway had mentioned that 23 senior citizens had
January 23, 2021
By Herbert Vego “CHINA is a sleeping giant.” Hearing that statement from Prof. Leticia Dava in our Political Science class at the MLQ University in 1967, I knew she was pinpointing at the “backward” economy of the giant hotbed of communism. That opinion does not count anymore. What resonates in my mind today is
January 18, 2021
By Herbert Vego It’s all over but the shouting! That idiom aptly describes the peaceful turnover of the business office of the defunct Panay Electric Co. (PECO) to MORE Electric & Power Corp. (MORE Power) the other day. The security guards and caretaker made no resistance when a city sheriff served the order of
January 15, 2021
By Herbert Vego WHEN the business world speculated last week that Chinese billionaire Jack Ma was “missing”, it was literally true because he has not been seen or heard in public since October 2020. Was the Alibaba founder “silenced” – whether literally or figuratively – by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)? “He is just
January 13, 2021
By Herbert Vego THIS is not to say that a royal couple of the United Kingdom (UK) is running after an Ilonggo businessman, Martin Soriano. In fact, Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle might never have heard of him. But if you have not heard of Victor Martin J. Soriano, you were either unborn
January 11, 2021
By Herbert Vego YOU must have known of job retirees who wish they have not retired but had no option but to retire. The typical ones are the police and military personnel who still feel too young to hang up their uniforms at their retirement age of 56. And so they find ways and
January 8, 2021