Pet Melliza

By Pet Melliza/ The Beekeeper Bombo Don Dolido, Aksyon John Paul Tia, Super John Mandario ( Super Radyo ) and Kasamang Rod Tecson (RMN) must now notify the Comelec in writing before interviewing any candidate for the May elections. Their days of unhampered live interviews with politicos are now over. Kaput. And so must Bords Trevor Morales who must give written notice to the Comelec before plotting to interview any politician in his beats since the new rule de facto prohibits ambush interviews. All media people, in fact, must do the same before covering press conferences convened by candidates like the weekly press briefings by Iloilo Gov. Arthur D. Defensor, Sr. They cannot shoot questions nor record their subjects’ answers because Comelec Resolution 9615 requires them to seek the commission’s prior approval. Comelec stands for Commission on Elections, a body whose deficiency in counting is matched only by its notoriety for issuing idiotic rules like Resolution ...

By Pet Melliza/ The Beekeeper Should Rommel Ynion make it to the May 2013 polls as mayor of Iloilo City, he should restore, pardon this unsolicited advice, to the city government full control of the Dinagyang festival. Since the festivity was handed to a private entity, Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation, Inc., (IDFI) a lot of unpalatable commentaries have reached us disproving the canard that taxpayers are better off with the private sector directing the show. The local government, goes this theory, would incur less expenses with the IDFI running the show. That’s the excuse that then Mayor Jerry Trenas hoisted to justify the surrender. Before, the Dinagyang was handled by the Dinagyang Committee which was directly under the mayor’s office. The committee comprised city officials and private individuals. The Dinagyang committee was a much maligned entity during and after the festival but it had one trait that the IDFI doesn’t have – public...

By Pet Melliza/The Beekeeper   Iloilo’s Dinagyang Festival is a tourism event, a religious occasion, cultural milestone even. The streets of the downtown area will be closed to traffic during the Kasadyahan (Saturday) and the Ati-Ati competition (Sunday). All roads will teem with humanity. T he Dinagyang may be a cultural fete but its brand of culture merely promotes mass amnesia as it reenacts the obsession of the slave to thank its master for the chain. This sado-masochism informs the performances of troupes called “tribu” whose aims is to cover the obvious and caps the “religious” celebration with a bacchanalia that turns Iloilo streets into one giant rest room. In pre-hispanic time, communities in what is now the Philippines had already reached the level of development that made them self-reliant. They could build boats to trade with other lands, sell their produce and procure what they needed. They had science and industry that ena...

By Pet Melliza/The Beekeeper   One thing that makes me thankful for having gone to Davao City to attend the 14 th national convention and 40 th anniversary fete of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), January 16-18, is Dr. Jaime Z. Galvez-Tan for his lecture on keeping ourselves fit and healthy.   I must confess that most lectures by lawyers bored me; at times the acoustics worsened them. Yours truly is not alone though in that perception.   My seat mate Atty. Jonel Alipao would invite me: “ ‘Ta, libot-libot ta anay. Kataraka lecture, ah. Mabalik ta lang kon pirmahany ron kang MCLE attendance . (Come let’s walk around. The lectures are boring. Let’s go back only when our MCLE attendance sheets are signed.)   MCLE stands for “mandatory and continuing legal education” which most lawyers I know of wish abolished for being what it is: ineffectual.   The convention hall, 3 rd floor of SMX at Lanang district, Davao Ci...

By PET MELLIZA/ The Beekeeper We can only speculate but I am not alone in this view that the political landscape in Iloilo City might be kinder to Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog had he taken initiatives, not merely react to his challenger, Rommel Ynion.  Ynion, so far, is succeeding in pulling Mabilog by the nose just as Broadcaster John Paul Tia concludes that the latter is merely entrapping himself. The recent fracas of the “libre sakay” (free ride) initiated by Ynion is one flashpoint. The project involves 30 public jeepneys in all routes of the city commissioned daily to transport senior citizens, students and the disabled for free. Ynion contracted jeepney associations in the city loop which in turn agreed to rotate among members the charter. That means, one group today is hired while another group takes over tomorrow, which thus, makes “ebribadi hapi” as the saying goes. Mabilog sees that a threat that at the very dawn the project kicks off, January 8, six drivers fall...

By Pet Melliza/ The Beekeeper   I don’t believe Iloilo City mayor, Jed Patrick Mabilog, is an unreasonable man, much less panicky as to pull off acts that  lead the public to conclude he is one.   Yours truly doesn’t believe he is behind the caper done by a chief lieutenant, Joe Tengco, boss of the TMTRO and inventor of laws, rules and regulations.   TMTRO stands for “traffic management and transportation regulatory office”, the most visible creature of city hall, where the ubiquitous blue-clad traffic enforcers belong.   Two or three weeks ago, a traffic enforcer accosted a tanker that Rommel Ynion commissioned to deliver drinking water to communities unreached by the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD).   The confrontasi was aired on broadcast where a TMTRO official warned the driver he’d be cited for violating the “truck ban”, a national regulation that prohibits cargo trucks and delivery vans from entering con...

By Pet Melliza/ The Beekeeper   No, the Iloilo Sports Complex, a facility owned by the Iloilo Provincial Government, is not a hideous place.   It is just that it should never be allowed again as last judging area for the Dinagyang.   I am not against the festival but racketeers crowding City Hall who treat every opportunity like the proverbial cookie jar to dip their hands into.   Yours truly was among the unlucky souls there last year in the last two culminating days of the Dinagyang, Saturday and Sunday.   The least that I could say is, I regret having been there and second, I wish Gov. Arthur Defensor rejected city hall’s request to use the sports complex anew.   City Hall racketeers, for one, oversold tickets and hapless merry goers have to squeeze themselves through the throng who overflowed the rafters. The stadium of the facility is capable of accommodating 10,000 people sitting capacity.   ...

By Pet Melliza/The Beekeeper   Much has been said on two Philippine Catholic bishops for their gaffes against the RH Law.   One of them, Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo cries that the tragedy – over 1,000 killed and hundreds more missing – when Bagyo Pablo struck Campostela Valley and Davao Oriental December 4, 2012 indicates God’s wrath for its enactment.   Another, Camarines Norte Bishop Gilbert Garcera, calls family planning defiance to god’s plan. “It is God’s plan for Filipinos to be caregivers to ageing nations whose populations have become stagnant…Filipinos have the duty to take care of them”, he preaches.   This space can no more add to flaks fired at them. I can only come to their defense by comparison. Both are mere urchins crying for understanding, not crucifixion that adults at Vatican rightly deserve for corruption, high crimes even.   Catholics are punished by excommunication for mere membership to F...

By Pet Melliza/ The Beekeeper   Leganes mayor, Ike Rojas, a person of foresight, is about to pull off a surprise that can make bureaucrats of Iloilo City jump to their feet.   Leganes and a private group are joining hands to operate a “double A” or “AA” abattoir that puts to shame that of Iloilo City.   Leganes town, 12 kilometers north of Iloilo City, runs an abattoir originally erected in 2005 by the Iloilo Hog Raisers’ Cooperative from the grant of P30 million of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA’s) agricultural competitiveness fund (ACF).   The cooperative, unwelcomed at the DA’s Iloilo Fishing Port Complex (IFPC) in Iloilo City, got a home when mayor Rojas offered the municipality’s land where it now stands.   The cooperative though was riddled by corruption that substandard materials, especially, equipment, were used to erect the facility. The trusses of its roof, for one, were salvaged materials from a piggery own...

By Pet Melliza/The Beekeeper   The next administration will have its hand full wiggling Iloilo City off the debt trap that past and current regimes plunged us into, according to “councilorable” Dwight Trasadas.   The quagmire has shot above P1 B and all that the administration does to repay its obligations is raise taxes.   The city in 2001 under Mayor Mansueto Malabor floated bonds worth P125 million with Philippine National Bank (PNB) as conduit, to construct low-cost houses for city employees.   Malabor returned to civilian life in July 2001 without the chance to start any of the 413 housing units.    His successor Jerry Trenas failed to finish any in all nine years in office. Barely a year in his first term, 2002, a contractor blew the whistle: he and fellow subcontractors used substandard materials because their principal, Ace Builders Enterprises, failed to pay them accordingly.   Ace Builders abandoned the pro...