Pet Melliza

ILOILO CITY, PHILIPPINES ( 24 August 2011) -- The reunion was some sort of "ecumenical". We all came from the same religious trunk which splintered or gave rise to several branches. We may have went our separate ways but we share common roots. This night, we converged at the house of Jime Gatusang, class 1977 of the CICM Maryshore Seminary in Talisay City, Negros Occidental. Joining us were Fr. Vic Coronado (CICM class? for sure he is much younger than us), Fr. Rex Salvilla (CICM class 1980), Fr. Noel Octaviano (CICM class? also way younger than us), Doming Oso (1978), Tony Samonte (1980) and Boy Sabido (high school class 1974, classmate of Oso). I am a heretic (CICM class 1978) and care no less belaboring my brain whether god were a triumvirate or that mary Mary were indeed biologically virgin. The CICM congregation Philippine Province split in the early 2000 with majority of Filipino priests and one Belgian in mass exodus to form the Missionaries of Jesus (MJ). Rex S...

BY PET MELLIZA/ THE BEEKEEPER Atty. Edre Olalia, president of the International Alliance of People’s Lawyers (IAPL), deplores the International Criminal Court’s stand on Ghadaffy as “double standard”. “We have no quarrel here: if indeed Ghaddafy were responsible for violating the rights of his people, then he must stand trial before the ICC,” notes Olalia. “But why focus only on Libya when neighboring regimes are committing far worse crimes in suppressing popular uprisings?” As this piece is being written, battles are raging in Tripoli, Libya    between government and rebel forces. The International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague on Monday (August 22) ordered arrested Libyan leader Muammar el-Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and the country’s intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi. The ICC prosecutor asked for their arrest for torturing and killing civilians and rebels. Be that as it may, inflicting violence on civilians and captive enemy troops is not the monopoly...

By Pet Melliza/ The Beekeeper One good thing that happened    in Iloilo City after Jedd Patrick Mabilog took his oath as mayor last year was that he joined the conspiracy to sabotage the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD). I call it “good” because he merely stepped into a booby trap. His cabal failed in scuttling MIWD operations, a scenario that would have justified its privatization. He and his gang in the city council initially gave us a glimpse of privatization through the cute word in vogue “PPP” or “public – private sector participation” which is the deodorized term for the notorious “privatization”. His principal co-players included two overweight national legislators, a group of businessmen, and members of the MIWD board all committed to preaching the gospel of undermining the MIWD so to pave the way for its privatization. The MIWD is considered government-owned and its employees are members of the Civil Service Commission. Its operation is regulated by the Ligh...

THE BEEKEEPER BY Pet Melliza Since your Beekeeper started running this series, our heroine Virginia Palanca-Santiago, director of the Office of the Ombudsman in Western Visayas, made her presence scarce in Iloilo. Even after her boss Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez resigned on the eve of Labor Day (May 1, 2011), Palanca-Santiago still frequented the national office to represent the Office of the Ombudsman (Visayas), bypassing the sitting deputy ombudsman, Pelagio Apostol, Jr. It did not take long though before Apostol flexed his muscle to end the effrontery, and place Palanca-Santiago back to her proper place, as one of the directors of the office, all under his direct supervision. Apostol did not have to stop  Palanca-Santiago from flying to Iloilo which she already did voluntarily. What he did was to stop her junkets to Manila. That might be karma in the making for Palanca-Santiago who I had been describing in this series as the embalmed version of Mommy Dionisia,  a mor...

THE BEEKEEPER By Pet Melliza * Dengue carrying mosquitoes multiplied exponentially as chemicals wiped out natural predators like dragon flies, fish, spiders and frogs Freshwater fish – catfish, mudfish, puyu, and tilapia to name a few – are a making a comeback in Mandurriao, a district in Iloilo City. These bounties, along with ulang (shrimp), kalampay (crabs), paka bug-ungan (bull frogs), igi (snails) dwindled since the late 60s when Iloilo converted to the idolatry of chemical farming that multinationals and their sales agents disguised as government officials promoted. Mandurriao to old inhabitants is still “banwa” (town center). “Mapabanwa anay ako,” is a common expression of locals when all they mean is going to the town center where the plaza is. Three decades back, much of the scenery from the plaza down to San Miguel town is dominated by farms that bloomed with rice during rainy months, and melons and vegetables in summer. Residents still have clear memories of those yea...

Il OILO CITY, Philippines (13 August 2011) -- Today's guest at Reklamo Publico, Randy Pastolero, vice-president for operations and general manager of Panay Electric Company (PECO) explains that PECO's rate is now the cheapest in Western Visayas if not the entire country, at P7.30 per kilowatt-hour. However, that is only for a limited period. PECO power rates will be adjusted after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approved its application for rate increase, probably in September this year. The adjusted price could reach P10 per kwh but that will still be the cheapest in the region where power rates average P10.50 to P12 per kwh,, says Pastolero. PECO is now installing pre-stressed concrete poles to replace the aging ones made of logs. Of the 30,000 or so electric poles in its service areas, 7,000 are logs and have to be replaced, explains Pastolero, an engineer. PECO already installed the pre-stressed concrete poles beside the aging ones because of cables owned by tele...