Pet Melliza

T oday's guests, Jefrey Celiz, political liaison officer of Iloilo City mayor jed Patrick Mabilog, and Ed Penaredondo, declare more multi-million projects await the people, the latest being the P300 million relocation site at Sooc, Arevalo, Iloilo City. The project comes from the lobby of Sen. Franklin Drilon and is billed as a "model" in relocating informal settlers and marginal residents. It will be ready for occupancy, with access road, water and electrical facilities. "Before, the city spent only from its resources with very negligible external funding. Today, the heavier percentage is accounted for by grants from the outside," noted Penaredondo. "Our mayor (Mabilog) is a persistent solicitor of help from national leaders." Celiz said that the Mabilog admnistration is gaining ground in its implementation of the solid waste management program with the objective of turning the 26-hectare open dumpsite at Calajunan, Mandurriao district into ...

BY PET MELLIZA/ THE BEEKEEPER We join the community of a Tsinoy high school celebrate its centennial but can’t help but comment on the knack of its leaders and the acquiescence of the Iloilo City government for allowing the celebrants drag an entire population to their otherwise private affair. Iznart Street from corner Solis until Plazoleta Gay, and Delgado Street, from corner Valeria until the corner of Muelle Loney, are closed to traffic, snarling the flow as the un-announced rerouting and closure grinds to its third day as of this writing, February 22. Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog allows a tiny segment of Iloilo City to paralyze travel in the heart of the commercial district. The community has all the facilities inside its school to hold such celebration. Why drag us into their festivity? Why allow them to erect a stage at Delgado, a busy street? Mabilog, much less his traffic czar Mitch Antiquena, has no power to close public roads. The Local Government Code lodges that authority...

And retiring as well. Pete Montejo is now retired. He was with a fellow retiree public school teacher from Cagayan de oro who went to Iloilo to attend the State Colleges and University Athletic Association meet at the Iloilo Sports Complex. they side-tripped to Boracay before flying back to CDO at noon, February 22, 2012. Pete Montejo. He and wife Dangdang, a public school teacher who retired earlier, plant to go back to Magsaysay town, Misamis Oriental to erect a cottage fronting the beach while occasionally visiting their house in CDO which they bequeathed to their only child Randy who now works in Qatar and has a family of his own. Ernesto Belesario, Pete's friend, also a retired public school teacher Well, who else. This man also wants to retire, perhaps, in two years' time.

BY PET MELLIZA/ THE BEEKEEPER With the filing of the certificate of candidacy to start and end in October 2012, the political grapevine rattles with queries whether this person-who-and-that will throw his or her hat in the political arena. In Iloilo City, not-so-few pundits focus their inquiry on Mayor Jedd Patrick Mabilog, Rep. Jerry Trenas, businessmen Rommel Ynion and Larry Jamora, and former justice secretary Raul Gonzalez, Sr., the stars of the political show, so-called. Will Mabilog run for reelection in 2013. Or will Trenas move down to clash with him. Or will Mabilog and Trenas swap seats to avoid a collision course that will only benefit their common enemies, namely: Gonzalez, Jamora and Ynion. Jamora vehemently denies any political agenda much less run for mayor but his acts merely draw suspicion from Mabilog. Jamora only reinforces the perceived agenda of his with a seemingly harmless statement: “Ngaa makulbaan sila sa akon kay madugay pa eleksyon? Ang ginahimo lang na...

By Pet Melliza/ The Beekeeper Here comes dengue again. This January alone, it already claimed the lives of two persons in Iloilo from ten time that figure that had fallen ill from it.  That reminds me of our son weakened and gasping 13 years ago at the emergency room of a hospital as we lined up examination. Diosa and I took turns coddling him; he listed when we sat down. He had little sleep and food the last two days; he woke up repeatedly, cried for pain in his stomach. He wanted milk only to vomit it as his fever alternately surged and calmed down. Timely medical intervention saved him. At that time (1997), dengue claimed more than 50 lives in Iloilo, mostly children. We were ignorant of herbs that could have prevented those deaths or raise the afflicted's resistance. Dr. Glenn Alonsabe, regional epidemiologist at the Department of Health (W. Visayas), notes that the dengue virus have mutated into four deadlier strains and that it now spawns in murky pools instead of clear w...

BY PET MELLIZA/ THE BEEKEEPER The Western Visayas office of the Ombudsman, at Luna St., Iloilo City, changed guards with lawyer Ma. Antonette Sevilla-Daquita as acting head. Her predecessor, Virginia Palanca-Santiago, is back as director at the Ombudsman-Visayas in Cebu and no longer sports the title "Assistant Ombudsman" which does not exist in RA 6770.. The newly installed Seville-Daquita considers investigators vital to successful prosecution and in de-clogging the office of baseless suits. She would be launching trainings to sharpen the investigation skills of her people. Another item she stresses: the Ombudsman will take cognizance only of significant cases of graft and corruption. For that, she will refer to proper administrative bodies those to be handled by the Civil Service Commission (CSC), the Commission on Audits  (COA), and the Department of Justice (DOJ), among others. I pilloried the Ombudsman-Visayas at the time it was de facto headed by Virginia Palanca-S...

April 5, 2011, employees at the Iloilo Provincial Capitol held an earthquake drill replete with mock rescue and evacuation (by ambulance). Jerry Bionat, secretary of the provincial disaster coordinating council, giving instructions on bullhorn. The first lesson is stop, look, listen; don't panic, don't rush Employees walking calmly to the exit, their hands covering their head Building occupants walking out orderly with arms clipped on their heads. I did not participate directly because I documented the dry run with my camera. However, the lessons I got from the briefing proved useful to us, to me personally.  When an earthquake struck noon of February 6, 2012, the earthquake drill enabled provincial employees to stage an orderly evacuation. The tremor measured at 6.9 intensity in the Richter Scale at its epicenter in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental. Once on the ground, they are instructed to go to their designated assembly point per office for a count-off after the "quake...

ILOILO CITY (11 Feb. 12) -- Former justice secretary and representative Raul Gonzalez, Sr.,  admits he and businessman Larry Jamora are regularly in-touch with each other. Come this June, both will announce their plans. "By that time then, I might withdraw my electoral protest," says Gonzalez in today's episdoe of Kape kag Isyu at Sky Cable's channel 13.   Standing by. Shaking hands after arrival That statement implies that the former justice secretary and congressman, may throw his hat in the political arena in 2013 that warants a withdrawal of his protest now pending with the Comelec. His son, Raul Jr. has a pending protest before the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) which already ordered the revision of votes for 25 percent of the precincts. If the trend showed discrepancies with the official tabulation, the HRET will next order the revision (recount) in all precincts. Standing by before the camera starts rolling Gonzalez jr. lost to form...