By Herbert Vego THE lesser the power pilferers, the more money the power consumers of Iloilo City save. This was the impression I gathered over coffee with Ariel “Ayê” Castañeda, now the head of the apprehension team of MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power), which is tasked to catch electricity thieves and turn
November 4, 2020
By Herbert Vego IMAGINE the anxiety that his own followers must have endured when re-electionist United States President Donald Trump checked into the Walter Reed Medical Center early in October due to COVID-19. Imagine former Vice President Joe Biden, his presidential rival, visualizing the possible consequences of that hospitalization in his favor come election
November 2, 2020
By Herbert Vego IN this corner the other day, we discussed Malacañang’s “abortion” of the traditional November 1 commemoration of All Saints Day in the cemeteries to avoid congestion that could aggravate the COVID-19 pandemic, replacing it with any day before October 28, and any day after November 4. The dead must be deploring
October 30, 2020
By Herbert Vego IT’S a case of “aborting” what is expected to be a congested get-together. No thanks to the coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic, Malacañang has banned the traditional cemetery visitation on All Saints Day (November 1), resetting it instead to any day not later than today, October 28, or any day after November
October 28, 2020
By Herbert Vego “What’s happening to our country, General?” If you were already of discernment age in 1982, you would remember that question muttered by former Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez while he was being wheeled into the emergency room of a hospital. He had survived an ambush and was talking to then Quezon City police chief
October 26, 2020
By Herbert Vego WHAT do you get when you steal electricity in Iloilo City? You risk being caught and charged with power pilferage or violation of Republic Act No. 7832, punishable by prision mayor (six months and one day to six years) or a fine ranging from ten thousand pesos (P10,000) to twenty thousand
October 23, 2020
By Herbert Vego BY taking up the cudgels for Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark Villar, President Rodrigo Duterte made himself unconvincing. Let us recall how he defended Villar in Monday’s Cabinet meeting: “Si Villar, mayaman. Maraming pera. Hindi niya kailangang mangurakot. Ang problema, sa baba. Malakas pa rin hanggang ngayon. Sa mga projects sa
October 21, 2020
By Herbert Vego THIS corner has consistently expressed doubts about the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) statistics that the World Health Organization (WHO) has been feeding the media with. I have always cautioned against allowing panic to cloud our sensibility because, based on scientific studies, it could engender long-term effects like cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases. In
October 19, 2020
By Herbert Vego WHY is Undersecretary Benny Antiporda of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) so cocky as to “promise” to resign only if President Duterte asks him to? It could only be because, like Health Secretary Francisco Duque, he expects Duterte to declare him “clean” of irregularities. Antiporda is DENR’s “defender”
October 16, 2020
By Herbert Vego US President Donald Trump, having quickly recovered from coronavirus disease (COVID-19), considers his one-week ordeal a “blessing in disguise” because it had proven the efficiency of an experimental antibody cocktail that he had been treated with. Indeed, the unmasked re-electionist President looked hale and hearty when he showed up for his first
October 14, 2020
By Herbert Vego BECAUSE I no longer go to church, my friends and relatives often mistake me for either an agnostic or an atheist. I am neither; I am a theist or believer in God. But I am also an open-minded maverick. For this article, I am exploring the subject as discussed in the books
October 12, 2020
By Herbert Vego GUESS what’s constantly bothering Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas? Our guess is that while he is worried about the prolonged “invasion” of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), there now looms the bigger threat of a dying economy that is frustrating his election-campaign promise to “level up”. The mayor has repeatedly said, “This
October 9, 2020