Pet Melliza

The Oil Cartel jacked up again fuel prices by P2 per liter triggering uproar from advocacy groups, one of which is the nationwide transport alliance PISTON. The cartel has no reason to burden consumers further given the super-profits its members already raked even before the Oil Deregulation Law took effect in 1996. The Philippines used to have Petron, which refined crude oil and distributed its products nationwide. Petron, established during the time of dictator Marcos, had a sister, PNOC,  mandated to explore oil deposits in the country, source crude oil abroad. PNOC had a fleet of ships to transport fuel. Petron and PNOC made money for government. They were the proverbial stone that hit two targets during the Marcos years: they served their mandate of earning profits for the government and keeping the cartel at bay, or at least prevent it from causing as much damage as it does now, the cartel could not readily blackmail Filipino consumers. Marcos toppled in Februa...

Caligula, monarch of yonder kingdom  appears to be losing grip of his royal  entourage who suddenly became noisy after sensing he forgot the adage that among thieves, there is still honor to observe. He gobbled up all the racket without spreading the sunshine. Hence, the uproar now rocking yonder kingdom from the poor, deprived and oppressed of the supreme council. This yarn is a yarn, nothing but pure fiction and whatever similarity it may strike with reality, is mere coincidence. The dragon which spews fire and  venom once grabbed opportunity to feather its nest in yonder kingdom whose piece of land and existing pier fall squarely into its scheme to erect a structure to roost travellers while waiting for their boats. Mala Kanyang committed 125 million to develop the pier while yonder kingdom a piece of land spanning 10,865 metros cuadrados adjacent that. The dragon that spews fire and venom will erect a building, one with a space for pre-departing t...

An employee of the Iloilo Provincial Government and her child  collapsed at the pedestrian crossing connecting  Casa Plaza Building from the Capitol Building, Iloilo City.  The driver of the speeding taxi luckily stepped on the break on time; his victims suffered minor injuries. Her husband though, also a provincial employee, saw the near-tragic scene and rushed to apprehend the driver, giving the latter a couple of hooks to the jaw. That portion of the street used to have clearly painted pedestrian marks. Years of use faded the white painted lines. The city government, its TMTRO which should read “traffic mismanagement and transport regulatory office”, failed to repaint it. And so did the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). We have roads or portions thereof waiting for repairs and maintenance, which include repainting of faded pedestrian lanes.  But government would rather opt for the binge of demolishing serviceable roads instead of repairing di...

Wish to sing hallelujahs to Sen. Frank Drilon for pushing Iloilo River close to the trophy and bag the $200,000 the shadowy outfit based in Australia, Thiess International Riverprize award, dangles for whoever wins the title “cleanest river in the world.” Iloilo River, an arm of the sea, not a river actually, is among the four contenders. Drilon sees mangroves  as culprits for silting the pseudo-river,  an arm of the sea actually.  By ridding it of mangroves, Iloilo River is back to its glorious past as navigable and place for recreation. But excuse me, Mr. Senator.  Mangroves don’t cause siltation and flooding; deforestation and erosion do. The river is already tagged “biggest septic tank” in the Philippines, after Pasig River, not due to mangroves but to more than 300 business (including three hospitals) and government establishments that directly discharge their effluents to the river. Instead of establishing septic tanks, buildings empty their toilet...

In these days when dengue patients crowd even corridors and every available space of district hospitals in Iloilo Province, it is still: bawal magkasakit! And only health professionals, not this writer, can suggest cure for ailments. Dengue has downed over 1,200 persons in Iloilo, 10 of them mortalities, the highest in Western Visayas. The region’s casualties hit past 2,000 cases since January. The cases are counting now that its rainy days when the population of mosquitoes explodes; two species of that are Aedes aegyptii and Aedes al bopictus that carry the dengue virus. If you are stricken once, you are only assured immunity from one serotype; dengue virus has mutated into four ( http://www.earthclinic.com/CURES/dengue.html ) : the DEN  - 1 , DEN - 2, DEN – 3 AND DEN – 4. DOH Secretary Eric Tayag admits there is no medicine against dengue. Dengue is a “self-containing disease”, thus, the conventional treatment of reducing the stress on patients and increasing their...

We are not alone in asking the query above. Broadcast commentators in fact pounded on that earlier. Bedlam reigns in Iloilo City roads daily.   We don’t want to add to the barbs already slung on Joe Tengco, head of the TMTRO which should read “Traffic Mismanagement and Transport Regulatory Office”.  He already has enough.   If I were Joe, the best that I would do is resign and return to his mother office where work is less stressful. Tengco is being asked to perform a miracle when he has been crippled at the outset. On paper, he is the commander of a battalion-strong “traffic enforcers”. In reality, he is not.   Over “Kape kag Isyu” cable TV show hosted by Peter Jimenea, Tengco admitted  traffic aides under his command reached 375-strong, supposedly that is, because that’s the one appearing in paper. The warm bodies actually reporting for duty is not even half that for the obvious reason that the TMTRO is an office of ghosts comprising the...