Pet Melliza

Tigbauan, Iloilo (August 28, 2017) -- This town, 20 kilometers south of Iloilo City honors its Communist son, Jose Aquilino Tronco Tangente with local and national heroes today, celebrated nationwide as “National Heroe’s Day.” Town employees led by Mayor Suzette Alquisada, young people, teachers and kins of Tangente laid flowers to the foot of the monument of national hero Jose Rizal followed by the unveiling of the marker four meters away which sums up the life and struggle of Tangente, born on October 9, 1949. Two representatives from the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation, Maria Cristina Rodriguez and Susan D. Macabuag who is in charge of the Bantayog Museum, attended the ceremonies. The foundation. a private entity, maintains a park in Quezon City called Bantayog ng mga Bayani which has memorial walls where the names are etched of some 300 persons who died fighting the Marcos dictatorship whether in the legal opposition or the armed  resistance. Tange...

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 charged th...

Jose Aquilino Tronco Tangente wearing his pre-sacerdotal vestment EG Tangente holding copy of the resolution; flanked by Mayor Alquisada and Vice Mayor Teruel PNP officers PNP officer The newly unveiled marker to Tangente EG Easter Grace Tangente, elder daughter of Tangente Iloilo City (August 28, 2017) -- Tigbauan town, 20 kilometers south of this city, celebrates today the National Heroes Day by laid boquettes to the monument of Jose Rizal and unveiling the marker for its own son, Jose Aquilino Tronco Tangente, communist guerilla killed in combat 30 years ago.   Bantayog nga mga Bayani Foundation's Maria Cristina Rodriguez  Tan with Boy gente's younger Sibling Orvillo Mayor Suzette Alquisada, was almost in tears, as she expressed gratitude that Tangente, her uncle, is finally recognized and thanks members of the municipal council for enacting a resolution for that. "I am grateful to the municipal council for recognizing his grea...

ILOILO CITY July 31, 2017 Banias (right): we are not prepared for a new district hospital Iloilo Province is no longer in position to establish a new district hospital because of budgetary restraint and more so, because the national health insurance provider PhilHealth has changed the “definition of indigents”. That’s the response of Raul Banias, MD, provincial administrator and concurrently, acting head of the Hospital Management Service (HOMS). PhilHealth shouldered a big chunk of patient expenses in the past two years under its scheme “point of care” where indigent patients are enrolled automatically upon admission. Last year, Iloilo prepaid PhilHealth over P100 M for the automatic coverage. “PhilHealth’s new definition of ‘indigent’ excluded more than half of our poor constituents,” Banias heaved. “For 2016, the Province operated on a P2.3 B budget, P900 M of that was allotted to our hospitals,” Banias said at the public hearing here convened by SP Brya...

"Public infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and rural health units shall not be utilized for military purposes such as command posts, barracks, detachments, and supply depots;" Article X (22) (e) of RA 7610   Is it proper for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police (PNP) and paramilitary groups to occupy and convert schools, day care centers, clinics, social welfare offices, barangay halls and playgrounds, into barracks? That is happening right now at Cabatangan, mountainous barangay 25 km. from the poblacion of Lambunao town, Iloilo. This forested barangay of some 900 Tumandok families, perhaps, is one of the few places in the Philippines where the Army reigns supreme as a rule. thus, ditching the Constitution's precept of  “civilian authority over the military”. Photos here shows adults and children of this village engaging in workshop discussions under a parachute tent organized by various cause-oriented groups October 7, ...

In previous years the rice paddies in photos below, at Brgy. Balabag, Pavia, Iloilo would be blooming  with summer crops after the the rice harvest -  tomatoes, melons, eggplants,  thanks to the intricate network of irrigation canals of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) that brought water from Aganan River Dam from neighboring S an Miguel town. Families along the irrigation canals further add to their keeps by growing taro (dagmay, gabi), alogbate, kamote, bananas and raising livestocks like ducks. Today, only the dried, stumps of palay and some shoots thrive now. There is no water.  The NIA canals have dried up. The NIA canal has dried up this early. No, the drying up is artificial. It is intended to add pressure to farmers to leave as demanded by Deca Homes. Some of the farmers are EP (emancipation patent)  or (Certificate of Land Title) holders, meaning, they have the rights to own their farms...

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...