SMALL but terrible! This cliché may well describe our country. Though a mere dot in the world map, the Philippines today – home of more than 89 million Filipinos (August 2007 national census) – is the 12th most populous nation on earth. We have advanced two steps since ten years ago, 1998, when we were […]

MAYOR Jerry Treñas was so proud of his posters and slogan Bangon Iloilo, Masarangan Naton Ini displayed in subway of the city. I find no fault in this, except, that it suddenly appears two or three days after we are devastated by typhoon Frank.
How can the typhoon victims take it to the heart when Jerry […]

SOME political pundits in the province of Antique predict that a former international flight stewardess will be next governor. They see her on the political radar, flying to a higher level. She is Vice-Governor Rhodora “Dodod” Cadiao, the seventh of eight children born to dad Josue and mom Lolita, who used to be governor and […]

AS IF typhoon Frank was not enough, Iloilo City suffered another debacle when it was dropped from the list of most competitive cities in the Philippines as shown by the Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Project (PCCRP) last year.
The biennial survey participated by major and emerging cities and business entities in the country measures the competitiveness […]

WHEN we asked Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas why Megaworld and other prospective investors have yet to penetrate the city, he mentioned “expensive but inadequate power” as one of the deterrents. He ran short of urging the Global Business Power Corporation (GBPC) to start constructing the first coal-fired power plant in Western Visayas .
If I […]

THE favorite adage among non-government and development workers is, “Give man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life.” Guided by these wise words, those who work for the marginalized sector opted to teach the people how to fish […]

FOR Rotary Year 2008-09, Rotary International President Dong Kurn (DK) Lee chose the theme “Making Dreams Real” to impress upon the membership his thrust towards reducing child mortality – the 4th goal of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) which aims at lowering death rate of children under five years old by two-thirds in 2015.
In his […]

NEVER has there been a regional chief in the Department of Agriculture (DA), Region 6 that impressed me more than Regional Executive Director (RED) Larry Nacionales. I wish this is now for good as what some of the DA employees had been praying for.
Our two good friends at the other side of the world may […]

UNTIL the June 21, 2008 flood, Westwoods Subdivision in barangay Dungon-C, Mandurriao, had been heavily advertised as flood-free. It took typhoon Frank to disprove the claim, Westwoods being one of the worst hit with as high as seven feet of muddy water.
If it was a revenge of nature, it’s a pity the whole of Iloilo […]

CORRUPTION is an ancient issue in the Philippines and raising it seems to be a tired old refrain. But one can’t help raising the alarm again and, if need be, for a thousand times especially in the light of the devastation brought by typhoon Frank.  For a wrecked nation, corruption is a curse that must […]