BACOLOD CITY — We were in Guimbal, Iloilo last Sunday to attend the turnover ceremonies of the position of “Hermano Mayor” to our brother-in-law Modesto Gargaritano. The new “Hermana Mayor” is Mrs. Norma Genciana Tabigo-on.

Outgoing Hermano Mayor is Dechechado Genona and outgoing Hermana Mayor is Marisol Gayanilo Baluyot. Lawyer Rene Gayanilo told me, like Rotary, they have officers-elect. Incoming hermano is Rogelio Girado while incoming hermana is Gloria Genona.

An hermano mayor takes care of the church upkeep and of the church activities during fiesta, Christmas, and Holy Week. The term is for one year. The hermana takes care of church decorations.

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DR. LYDIA Depra Ramos, Department of Health (DOH) regional director for Region 6, has been repeatedly announced as “outgoing director” of the region. But she is still lording it over, notwithstanding the fact that other officials and employees of Region 6 are already nauseated at the very sight of this notorious person. She must really have used a magic wand waved on my good friend, Health Secretary Duque. Otherwise, why has she remained an immobile object in DOH-R6?

I wonder how Secretary Duque reacted after being informed that Director Depra Ramos claimed attorney’s fees amounting to P250,000. According to information, Madam Ramos had also claimed the same amount as attorney’s fees from former Health Secretary Romualdez, which is clearly a double compensation claim. Records also show that the P250, 000 claim was denied by the Regional Legal and Adjudication Office of the Commission on Audit. Ramos was ordered to refund the amount but we heard that until now, she has not done so. Anong say mo, Mr. Health Secretary?

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ONE of the 2008 Ramon Magsaysay Award recipients I was able to interview recently was Ahmad Syafii Maarif of Indonesia. He received the award in the Peace and International Understanding category.

The banner headline last Monday was “Fighting continues as Ramadan begins.” Just below it was my article with the title “Terrorists hijack God, says RM awardee.” I thought it complemented the banner story.

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ILOILO City celebrates tourism month with six events this September. It’s no heavy load for people who have the passion to make Iloilo City become a prime destination – a place to feel good, to be pampered with food prepared fresh, and where people are friendly and warm.

With the devolution of the tourism function as mandated by the new local government code, the promotion of local tourism now rests in the shoulder of the local government unit. With DOT concentrating on the promotion of the whole country by way of highlighting the eight places – Vigan and Laoag, Baguio, Metro Manila, Palawan, Cebu, Bohol, Davao, and Zamboanga, it is imperative for Iloilo City to work hard for it to be noticed, heard, known, and visited. With some unavoidable occurrence such as Frank, there is a lot of catching up to do.

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ILOILO 4th district Representative Ferjenel Biron’s adversaries this early have launched their demolition job against him. Could it be that 20 months away from the actual election they are already gripped by panic? Their fear is entirely understandable.

Last week right after our weekly program “The Daily Guardian on Air.” my colleagues and I have noticed about the issues touched by two blocktimers. We sensed that the 2010 political pot is being made to boil prematurely.

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THE Commission on Human Rights in its resolution of the issue of the warrant-less arrest of up to 50 media persons who covered the Nov. 29 police siege of Peninsula Manila hotel tried to strike a balance in the clash of press freedom of journalists covering public disturbances and the duty of police to maintain public order. [Read story] The resolution failed to find the balance and left an ambiguous field that gave police ample latitude to restrict freedom of movement of journalists in conflict zones.

The commission found that the warrant-less arrest of the journalists constituted arbitrary arrest/detention in violation of “human rights standards” but at the same time concluded “the facts do not support a clear finding of repression or denial of freedom of the press.” It said that “the act of police operatives in arresting and detaining the media does not seem to have been meant in any way to curtail freedom of the press.”

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IN a previous column, this writer warned against certain medical practitioners affiliated with the Responsible Ilonggos for Sustainable Energy (RISE) who had been guesting on radio and TV talk shows to galvanize the Ilonggos into opposing Global Business Power Corporation’s proposed coal-fired power plant. I wondered whether they were agents of the oil cartel with a “mission” to spread lies about the air pollution that coal could bring. The oil companies are certainly not happy over shift from oil to coal among power plants worldwide.

The doctors, in fact, have repeatedly sought the attention of Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, to “enlighten” him on the so-called environmental hazards of coal.

Alas for RISE advocates, the mayor is more “enlightened” than they. In fact, the mayor and the majority of city councilors have personally paid visits to coal-fired power plants in the Philippines and Taiwan for the sheer purpose of probing the so-called clean-coal technology. If there are coal-caused environmental hazards there, then they would be the last persons to endorse the technology despite our acute power shortage that has been causing brownouts.

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BACOLOD CITY — The one-page open letter yesterday of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters signed by its president Enrique “Nene” Rojas should open the eyes of our lawmakers, specifically the Representatives in Congress of sugarcane-producing areas.

And the sugarcane planters, too, as well as all those connected either directly or indirectly with the sugar industry.

The issue is sugar smuggling. This apprehended smuggled sugar is classified by the Sugar Regulatory Administration as “D” or sugar for the world market.

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GENERAL SANTOS CITY  — By its latest shift of negotiating position with the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front), the AGRP (Arroyo Government of the Philippines) has put itself in tighter bind. Mired now in lost credibility, how can it extricate itself? Malaysia, the Organization of Islamic Conference, and others in the international community may be diplomatically polite but they are not naïve.

Metaphorically, AGRP abandoned its baby – the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain – with the MILF after a lavish party had been prepared and the sponsors and guests had started arriving for the historic baptism. No lies, fallacies, inconsistencies, equivocation and obfuscation, etc. can explain away the abandonment.

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IT OPENED with the La Carlota drum beaters and an all-woman tribal dance. Violinist Jay Cayuca was in his elements when he joined them with a rendition of the Eye of a Tiger. They just emerged on stage unannounced as the lights were dimmed a little past nine in the morning of Wednesday, 27 August 2008, to perk up the people inside the Mindanao Hall of the Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Pasay City. It was an upbeat opening number of the First Philippine Asian MICE Forum and it was much, much better than coffee.

The forum was a timely tipster as Iloilo City prepares for a national conference of tourism officers in October. It is also an eye-opener that our infrastructures - convention halls, hotels and restaurants, transport are limited to mid-sized scale; we are wanting of tour facilities and attractions – places to go and how to get there fast and comfortable. It is also a wake up call for business people to initiate efforts for more investments in this area so that Iloilo City could have a large share of the growing MICE market.

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