Pet Melliza

By Pet Melliza/ The Beekeeper If you can’t beat the, maake them “ sana mapikon man lang ”. Harry Roque said that in one break of the ASEAN Media Litigation Defense Conference which he and another UP Law professor Romel Bagares convened in Cebu October 2009. He was referring to the brazen indecency of Malacanang, to be  more specific,  by one Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, husband of Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in handling criticisms. The Arroyos drew flaks from the media but they responded the wrong way, with a  deluge of  libel suits. The complaints were hastily resolved by prosecutors, some even without the respondents being notified. The rule says, the respondent has the right to be notified so to file counter-affidavits for rebuttal. Mike Arroyo charged not only the writers or reporters but everybody  – publishers, chief editors, desk editors, radio anchors and managers. It was so devious; in a short time, the investigating prosecutors resolve...

BY PET MELLLIZA/ THE BEEKEEPER Two employees accused for grave misconduct and dishonesty still remain jobless despite the order of the Ombudsman clearing them of any administrative liability. Pio Elumba, accounting clerk, and Cynthia Cabanero, municipal treasurer, both of Igbaras, Iloilo, were kicked out of office August 2009 by order of  Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. They filed a motion for reconsideration January 9, 2009 which Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales granted in a resolution that reached the two on October 4, 2012. They are supposed to be back to work by now. The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Pelagio Apostol, Jr., deputy Ombudsman – Visayas sent separate orders on Igbaras mayor Vicente Escorpion Jr. to implement the Ombudsman’s decision, that is, reinstate the two employees. Those orders remain unenforced to date. They fell on deaf ears. Escorpion continues to defy the DILG and the Ombudsman.  Here’s one instance where a local ...

BY PET MELLIZA/ THE BEEKEEPER   It is just baffling how government could spend money repairing functional roads in Iloilo City while neglecting those in need of one.   The sides of Luna Road, formerly “McArthur’s Highway”, the stretch fronting San Agustin University and the Iloilo City PNP station, doesn’t need repair at all but is now being wrecked by jackhammer preparatory for reconstruction.   Another road, also named “Luna” from La Paz to Jaro undergoes the same activity. It sides are being punched with holes from hydraulic jackhammer and abandoned indefinitely until such time that the contractor decides to repair them. For the time being, the wrecked sides of the road slow down traffic flow.   In our ordinary thinking, only roads in the state of disrepair, which is aplenty in Iloilo City, ought to be repaired but what we see and lament is that,  scarce resources are being squandered on streets that need no repair at all, like wha...

By Pet Melliza/ The Beekeeper Vicente Escorpion, lawyer and mayor of Igbaras, Iloilo, continues to defy orders from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Office of the Ombudsman to reinstate two employees. We don’t know his reasons. The latest order came two weeks ago from Pelagio Apostol, Jr., Deputy Ombudsman – Visayas directing him to implement the order of the Ombudsman who had cleared municipal treasurer Cynthia M. Cabanero and accounting clerk Pio Elumba of any administrative liability. Apostol, in brief, told Escorpion to reinstate the two who a scoundrel, the embalmed version of Mommy Dionisia kicked out of their jobs in August 2009, or three years ago. Mommy Dionisia II retired in July and carted off a booty of more than P4 million lump sum from her leave credits alone. She got that much because throughout all 16 years that she worked in the Office of the Ombudsman, she incurred not a single absence nor tardiness. She never got sick in a...

BY PET MELLIZA/ THE BEEKEEPER   Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog does it right by just taking in stride Iloilo   Gov. Arthur D. Defensor’s remark.   The media blew up the governor’s commentary   as derogatory of the city.     Mabilog’s mouthpiece Jefrey Celiz took that as declaration of war and tersely reminded Defensor he had already too much to handle in the province itself. Mind your own business, Celiz snorted in effect.   Defensor merely called a spade a spade:   neither the city nor province has sufficient infrastructure to cater to large tourist arrivals, although the governor took more time to dig at the city for its perennial problems like insufficient potable water supply and sanitation.   The problem is not Defensor but the overly sensitive ear that refuses to listen to the wisdom behind his candid remark.   Defensor is just unfortunate that Mabilog has the likes of Jefrey Celiz who considers it ...

By Pet Melliza/The Beekeeper A radio commentator queries: if Iloilo Gov. Arthur D. Defensor, Sr. can afford to allot P35,000 in “productivity enhancement incentive” (PEI) on top of Christmas bonus and 13 th month pay to each capitol employee, how much will Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog give? The anchorman chuckled after raising that question. The city can give only P3,000 to each employee because it has no savings at all due to its oversized army of casuals and job hires, he declares. That’s an overstatement though. Iloilo City is set to break records, mostly its own. As elections 2013 looms nigh, it will be bloating its ranks by 7,000 more, an insider says. So far, we have only “guestimate” of its present work force: at least 2,000 regulars and casuals/job hires of around 7,000 to 10,000. The number of regulars, 2,000 appears to be questionable already. Iloilo Province has about the same figure of regular employees but that is justifiable by the fact ...

Some pictures taken during the medical mission held at the Holy Rosary Academy. The free medical check up include free medicines and, before leaving, beneficiaries are given a loafbread and calender. The activity is regularly held in different barangays by the local of the United Nationalist Alliance whose standard bearers include Rommel S. Ynion for mayor, Raul Gonzalez Jr. for Congress and Jeffrey Ganzon for vice-mayor.

By Pet Melliza/The Beekeeper In school year 2010-2011, the University of Iloilo’s – Phinma’s college of nursing had 699 senior nursing students. That’s only the graduating class and not counting those of lower years which could be more than four times that figure. Today, had management not gone astray, its entire nursing student population might still approximate that number or slightly less considering the decline in the demand for nurses. However, UI-Phinma failed 325 out of its 699 senior its nursing students in 2010-2011 for outrageous reasons. It ensured that low figure of graduates by raising the cut-off average from 75 to 77. Pure sadistic and arbitrary. UI-Phinma reaps what it sowed, since then. Its nursing enrollment plummeted; This school year, only 16 enrolled for the first semester. Its faculty or the bulk and the best thereof, migrated to rival schools like St. Paul University, St. Therese College, and John B. Lacon Maritime University. Phinma stands for Philipp...

BY PET MELLIZA/ THE BEEKEEPER Until today, yours truly is still at a loss how in heaven, or hell, has Rep. Sharon Garin qualified to represent Filipino farmers in word, deed or affiliation when she ran and got elected under the Aambis-OWA partylist in 2010. Two years past since her election, yours truly is still groping for the bills or laws that she authored, co-sponsored or supported that has anything to do in enhancing the lives of Filipino farmers that her partylist supposedly advocates. Section 2 of RA 7941 has two keywords for qualifying an organization or group into the partylist system, “marginalized” and “underrepresented”. Rep. Sharon Garin hails from the scion of an overrepresented and mainstream, not marginalized or underrepresented, political clan, based in southern Iloilo or what is commonly called “first district”. The riding comprises the home base of the Garins which are Guimbal and San Joaquin, plus Igbaras, Miag-ao, Tubungan, Tigbauan and Oton towns....

BY PET MELLIZA/THE BEEKEEPER Our hero PNoy is already 28 months in office but all he has shown is prove that his battle cry “matuwid na landas” is but an empty slogan; “it’s only words,” as the BeeGees croon, reminding us of somebody insisting that his “reporma kag pagbag-o” (reform and change) is now in place when all we see as proof is the pair Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde feathering their nests and muscling their way around that, in effect, only skims off the votes their boss may garner come 2013. During the last campaign, candidate PNoy vowed to push for the passage of the  Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  Even Cook Islands, a state that yours truly doesn’t know where, already enacted its own FOIA back in the ‘90s yet. In Asia, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Taiwan and Japan have theirs, too. The FOIA guarantees transparency in governance: it enables access by citizens to records held by government; it also mandates of governments to publish actions, transactions,...