Pet Melliza

At the grotto of Our Lady February 12, 2017 T he pictures here are taken at the Grotto of Our Lady, right side of the parish church of Igbaras, Iloilo (that is, facing the current church itself). The site used to be part of the altar of the old church that survived American bombs and the scorched-earth policy of the USAFFE at the end of WWII to deny the retreating Japanese troops sanctuary. The old church constructed in the Spanish era, was no match to West Panay Fault which moved on January 25, 1948, triggering a strong earthquake named "Lady Caycay". Lady Caycay, the only temblor to have a name, triggered fissures on the ground which looked like it was scratched by a giant chicken. "Caycay" is local for "scratch". The Spanish-era churches of Igbaras, Oton, San Miguel and Maasin crumbled  beyond repair in its aftermath.  Jaro Archbishop Jose Ma. Cuenco, reported that on Panay Island alone, 17 churches were destroyed by the quake. Oton chur...

Iloilo City (January 31, 2017) Homeowners of Parc Regency, a subdivision in Pavia, Iloilo are victims of the combined "budol-budol" and "salisi" gangs, actually company officials disguised as officers of a bogus homeowners’ association. Buyers started residing there in 2011 and more are still coming to occupy over 3,000 plus units. They are all up in arms because to date, the subdivision has no connection to the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD), telephone land lines and cable TV. The basic amenities of modern urban life is yet to reach this subdivision. MIWD cannot set up its pipes inside Parc Regency. The subdivision sells homeowners coliform-contaminated water, at P35 per cubic meter, about twice the rate charged by government-owned MIWD for residential units. Homeowners have to buy drinking water outside. What riled more the residents though is that a cabal of Parc Regency officials usurped the functions of the home owners association that ch...

NPA guerillas doing the "koreo" (choreography of a red song) Guerillas in attention as the sound system plays the "Internationale" SOMEWHERE IN CAPIZ PROVINCE -- Yes to peace talks, no to continued ceasefire. That’s the message Ka Mara, secretary of the political department of the Igabon Platon of the New People’s Army (NPA) declared at the “peace assembly”, a gathering that the Central Front - Panay of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) convened to celebrate its 48 th  anniversary December 26. Musical skit: guerillas depict an event during the early '70s when they puinished an abusive soldier of the now defunct Philippine Constabulary Some 500 people registered at the peace assembly, minus the children who were not listed, which was marked by speeches and cultural presentations by a platoon of NPA guerillas. Ka Mara: yes to peace talks, no to continued ceasefire, unless Duterte makes good his campaign pr...

ICLAJODA president Boyet Parcon ILOILO CITY - Transport leaders assail the two regional offices of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) in Western Visayas or Region VI for not heeding the call of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte to simplify procedures or reduce red tape in order cut waiting time and costs. The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and Land Transportation Office (LTO) both in this city, merely aggravated the woes of public transport operators and drivers, heaves Boyet Parcon, president of the Iloilo City Loop Alliances of Jeepney Operators’ and Drivers’ Associations (ICLAJODA). “They make procedures harder two ways: first by jacking up fees and second, by adding requirements that lengthens waiting time,” adds Alrey Alvarado, ICLAJODA vice president. This writer interviewed the two transport leaders Jan. 9, 2017 at “Kape kag Isyu”, a TV talk show which he co-hosts along with Peter Jimenea. President Rodrigo Dute...

Press statement Statement on the assault on Atty. Merbehn Lumbo December 8, 2016 The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) Panay expresses its grave concern on the highhandedness displayed by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) this morning for roughing up, arresting, handcuffing and detaining a colleague in the legal profession, Atty. Marbehn Lumbo, who was only exercising his professional duty of protecting a client. Atty. Lumbo has rightly responded to his client, Melvin Odicta Jr., who sought his legal aid when PDEA agents raided his residence in Molo, Iloilo City. He had not done anything to stop the law enforcers from conducting the raid: all he asked was to read the copy of the search warrant, if any. The raiders answered that the warrant was only for illegal drugs allegedly kept at the residence of his client . However, on seeing cash and jewelries being collected by the raiders instead of illegal drugs, Atty. Lumbo vehemently objected and ...

Nov. 11, 2016 Meeting Iloilo Provincial Committee on VAWC (violence against women and their children) The second semester of last year (July - December 2015), the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) reported 452 cases of physical assaults, 18 instances of “economic abuse” (deprivation of financial support), 124 incidents of “psychological abuses” (threats, verbal shaming) in Iloilo’s 42 towns and one component city (Passi). In the same period, 45 were sexually assaulted, 18 of whom raped. INSP. MONEVA All victims are women or their children and the perpetrators are husbands, live-in partners or males with whom the women victims had past dating relationship, explains Insp. Mary Grace Ceballos Moneba, chief of the women’s and children’s desk (WCD) of the IPPO. Each PNP station in the towns or cities has its own WCD that investigates cases of abuses against women and minors and, if warranted, file criminal charges against perpetrators. The second semester ...

November 15, 2016 Iloilo City Iloilo Province is "blessed" with enormous mineral wealth but only a handful or even none of its 1.9 million people may enjoy them. Worse this Central Philippine province may be reaping the curse if giant mining firms were to have their way of plundering its mineral wealth. The mining companies have applied to mine 10,000 hectares of its foreshore for palladium, platinum, silver "and other associated mineral deposits", SP Jeneda Salcedo-Orendain Three applicants filed their applications before the central office of the Mines and Geo-science Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) which is a step to process its "exploration permit application" (EPA) that in turn, if the exploratory tests turn positive, would pave the way for the "financial and technical assistance agreement" (FTAA) a nice sounding gobbledygook which simply means a license to proceed with the plunder that i...