THE other day, Juan dela Cruz of Villa Arevalo, Iloilo City woke up to find a bad news in the mailbox – a billing statement from the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD). For zero cubic meter consumed, he would have to pay the P159.00 due for the month not later than Friday or be fined 10% for late payment, as if it’s his fault that his faucet does not pour water at any time of night or day.

That makes the MIWD management some kind of magician, making money out of thin air. Collecting payment for service not rendered. Wala huya!

Juan’s is not an isolated case. In fact, most of the residents of Arevalo now rely on expensive bottled water for drinking and well water for bathing and washing.

Off-and-on water supply has worsened over the years despite the fact that MIWD has doubled its minimum residential rate from eighty pesos to P159 (for consumption of 10 cubic meters or less) in the last seven years.

Tongpats has never been that juicy! Yehey!

***

We have heard radio commentators air fear that despite the testimony of murder suspect Dennis Cartagena that Vicente “Itik” Espinosa had masterminded the assassination of Ajuy, Iloilo Vice Mayor Ramon Rojas, Itik would eventually go scot-free because his backer is no less than Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez.

That’s rather sweeping. But can we blame people for distrusting the Department of Justice? It’s that office that had dismissed charges against a certain Buratong, the big-time man behind the shabu tiangge in Pasig City. Tito Raul was also the cabinet official who shamed Ilonggo businessman Boyet Odicta, pinpointing him as “the biggest local druglord,” only to shut up.

Have you ever wondered why Tito Raul has ceased fire? Or why Boyet has refrained from suing him for libel?

Your guess is as good as ours.

***

The act of the Department of Energy demanding the big three oil companies to explain why they had lagged behind the smaller players in reducing oil prices smacks of zarzuela. Somehow it’s a diversionary tactic.

In effect, the small players would look like heroes whose “concern” for the oil consumers forced the big three to toe the line, too.

True, gas prices have gone down by as much as six pesos per liter in the past six weeks, but that doesn’t hide the truth that the local oil cartel has profited even more. It hasn’t followed the world trend. Remember, crude oil has gone down by one-third — from US $147 to $100 per barrel

The last time the world market for crude fetched $100, gas and diesel locally retailed at around P45 and P42 per liter. But now, it’s P55 and P53, respectively.

It appears that the local oil cartel is greedier than its OPEC counterpart. You see, while Dubai makes a lot of money from export, it sells cheap oil to their own people. Do you know that premium gasoline in Dubai costs only the equivalent of seven pesos per liter?

Here, we punish our own people with inflation, compounded by government-imposed VAT as the cruelest of them all.

***

Remember when we exposed the English schools of Koreans for failure to comply with the law (RA 7796) mandating their registration with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)? Until now, only two of these 27 schools are TESDA-registered: the SNS Fame English Center on 27 M.H. del Pilar St., Molo and the Neo International Language Center on 39 Arguelles, Jaro. Registration with TESDA is required under Republic Act 7796.

The latest I heard about these schools is that hounds from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) have been looking into their books of accounts.

And so the administrators of these schools (mostly Korean-owned with Filipino partners or dummies) have been coming to TESDA to register. Their applications, however, could not be immediately acted upon, pending their compliance with prerequisites.

To qualify for TESDA registration, the English schools should be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission; must have at least two full-time instructors with contract of employment; and must have the usual facilities found in classrooms.

Leave a Reply