Why subject GSIS members to long wait?

Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) members have certainly a reason to complain. They have been going back and forth to the lone ATM at the Union Bank of Bacolod to withdraw their dividends.

And there is only one Union Bank branch to serve the hundreds of thousands of GSIS members of Bacolod and nearby areas! Several teachers had been to the bank as much as four times in the past two weeks with no success.

The problem seems to be the GSIS eCard, which can be used only in the Union Bank ATM. Whoever had that bright idea must have been a sadist. Imagine, hundreds queuing up for hours just for the slim chance of eventually withdrawing their meager cash.

With only one Union Bank branch in Bacolod, anybody with common sense could have immediately visualized what could happen. Systems are okay so long as they are efficient, but not when they become stumbling blocks to service. And there are thousands of GSIS members now frustrated.

There was a handful who managed to get their dividends from other ATMs. But they were far in between. In short, GSIS should better mend this mistake fast or face a major uproar.

TV watching can be deadly

Newspapers and television newscasts have been reporting how TV watchers all over the country enthusiastically welcome Manny Pacquiao’s TKO of Mexican Erik Morales in Las Vegas.

But watching the exciting bout between the two pugilists also proved fatal to 74-year-old Rolando Arpa of Manapla town in Negros Occidental. He was reportedly enthusiastically rooting for Pacquiao when on the second round, he suddenly slumped down in his chair, according to his widow, Milagros, 72.

But that was not an isolated incident. In Iloilo, a former barangay official, 58-year-old Agustin Borda of Barangay Central, Ajuy town, also suffered a fatal heart attack while watching the sensational Pacquiao-Morales fight Sunday.

This time, though, according to two friends of Borda, he had the chance to see the fight up to the fifth round.

Borda reportedly complained about heaviness in his breathing before the start of the round. He stood up from his chair, and drank some water in the kitchen, then returned to his seat.

Upon his return, Borda showed signs of a heart attack. His two friends tried to help him, and then rushed him to the Sara District Hospital. There doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

The lesson: for excitable people with heart problems, their families should make sure that they don’t watch exciting shows such as the Pacquiao-Morales fight. TV watching can also kill.

Uproar over PRC test

I thought that the authorities of West Negros College of Nursing have already ironed out the impasse with the Professional Regulations Commission over the withholding of the examination results of some 400 nursing examinees.

But I just learned that several of the frustrated examinees have filed a mandamus suit against the regional officials of the PRC with Branch 22 of the Iloilo Regional Trial Court. The presiding judge is Guiljie Delfin-Lim.

The examinees asked the court to compel the PRC to release their exam results.

Named respondents in the suit were the PRC chair, and Eufemia Octavio of the Board of Nursing.

PRC Region VI head Lily Ann Baldago had her share of denunciatory language from the frustrated WNC examinees. They have been calling her "ponderosa" (powerful). But Baldago pointed out that Memorandum No. 9 of the Commission on Higher Education allows only deregulated and autonomous schools to offer nursing degrees. She claimed that the Bacolod-based WNC is not a deregulated school.

The problem with the situation is simply that the examinees were issued their credentials by both the West Negros College and the CHED. The examinees also paid a test fee of P900 each and complied with other requirements. Not only that, the PRC allowed them to take the examination. The issue reached a boil only when the PRC refused to release the test results of the WNC graduates, numbering about 400.

The reason — academic overload, some reportedly having been authorized to take on as much as 45 units more.

Many of the examinees were already readying to travel abroad to accept placement. Now, they have to wait for the impasse to be resolved. And their parents and families are now getting restive with no solution to their problem in sight. Rep. Monico Puentevella said he will ask Congress to look into the mess. But then he marched off to Las Vegas to personally watch the Pacquiao-Morales fight.

But top PRC officials and the CHED should get their act together. Most of the examinees were second-course takers. They include physicians, lawyers, teachers, etc. It is not fair to have them hanging while the authorities try to untangle the mess.

Mysterious death of Bacoleña

The body of 31-year-old Johanna Cel "Binky" Leonardia was found Sunday noon seven kilometers from the hotel where she worked.

"Binky" is the niece of Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia. She is the daughter of Cesar Leonardia, director of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative, and Cecilia Montilla.

A search was immediately launched for Ms. Leonardia when hotel authorities raised the alarm Saturday morning. Her companions at their Oman flat called the hotel to inquire whether she had reported for work.

Ms. Leonardia was working at the communications department of the Shangri-La Bar All Jissah Resort and Spa.

She had a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from De La Salle University-Taft. The Philippine consulate in Oman is assisting the Leonardia family to ensure the swift return of her remains and to investigate the cause of her death.

Tribute to Talisay mayor

There was no disputing that Talisay City residents truly held their former Mayor Anthony Lizares in high regard. This, when they trooped by the thousands in a massive turnout. Ranking government officials of Negros Occidental also joined the throng that crowded the San Nicolas Tolentino Church and afterwards the funeral cortege that ended up at the Lizares Mausoleum in Talisay City.

A bevy of 20 clergymen, headed by vicar general Victorino Rivas, joined the Mass celebrated principally by Fr. Bernard Ybiernas-Mapa.

Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon described Mayor Lizares as a dedicated local official and said his achievements in the past eight years were "impressive."

Well, Talisaynons may never forget "Mayor Ton" so long as their brand-new City Hall exists.

Sometimes, we miss a person only when he or she is finally no longer around. Be that it may, hardly had Mayor Eric Saratan stepped into Anthony’s shoes when local politicos started talking about new combinations.

This shows you that they never remember that their time is limited and that they have to answer for their actions afterwards.