It must be parliamentary and a federal form!

For our special guest on tonight's talkshow on Straight from the Sky, we bring you once more Mr. Alan T. Ortiz, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Transmission Corporation (Transco) who was also our guest last May when he gave us updates on the flagship power programs for the Visayas, like the 200-MW Leyte-Cebu Interconnection and the Cebu-Mactan underground cable line that would beef up the power supply to the Mactan Export Processing Zone to a high of 400MW. With these two projects in place, Cebu would have more reliable and stable power in the coming years.

This time, Mr. Ortiz comes back to our show to proudly announce to the Cebuanos that the Leyte-Cebu Interconnection and the Cebu-Mactan Interconnection has been finished in record time... meaning, before it's due date, which is rare for a government project. In fact, Mr. Ortiz has already announced that on Wednesday Oct. 26, 2005, Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will grace the inauguration of these two projects at the Pacific Grand Ballroom of the Waterfront Hotel, Lahug. For the record, Pres. Arroyo promised these two projects to us and she has delivered them on time. See Mr. Alan Ortiz tonight on SkyCable's Channel 15 at 8:00 p.m. Replays on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

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Yesterday morning, we rode on our motorcycles to Alcoy town for a short ride because we had perfect weather. Let me report that it was our first time to pass through the South Reclamation Project (SRP) since it was opened by that court decision. No, we didn't encounter any nails or spikes a.k.a. "suyak" on the SRP; however, there was a car accident, a Toyota Corolla that was perched on the median island facing the other way. It was obvious to us that Cebuano still have to learn how to drive safely in a highway like the SRP. As for the spikes... whoever did this should be caught and punished! Accidents can happen if a tire blows up at high speed you know!

The road to Carcar is almost finished except for the three bridges that are in various stages of construction. But basically there's less clogging in the construction areas unlike before. I'm sure that this project will soon be completed... that's if the contractor gets paid for services rendered. Indeed, too often, we blame the contractors for delays in construction, but the truth to be told is that it is the government that fails to comply with its side of the bargain... that aggravates the construction delays.

However, passing through the town of Naga, especially at the junction of the Naga-Uling Road, one cannot help but see that this project isn't anywhere near completion and to think two years ago Pres. Arroyo was furiously mad at the Department of Public Works and Highways for its failure to see the Naga-Uling project through. La Presidenta thought or was made to believe that this infra project was already completed.

Well, Pres. Arroyo is expected to be in Cebu this coming Wednesday for the inauguration of the Transco flagship power projects. It would certainly be tough to explain to the Cebuano public why Transco projects get finished ahead of schedule, while the Naga-Uling project remains bogged down with problems. I will certainly raise this issue to the president if I do get the chance to talk to her.

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Last Thursday the Presidential Consultative Commission (concom) approved the proposed shift to a Parliamentary system of government, a move that House Speaker Jose de Venecia hailed as a "significant step in the right direction". If you ask me, Speaker de Venecia's elation is premature as the work of the concom has yet to be finished... especially to those of us who believe in the concept of our shifting into a Federal form of government. We just might be led to believe that we have been shortchanged by the concom.

Again, let me just remind you that what Speaker de Venecia means as a "step in the right direction" is our shift from the Presidential form of government into a Parliamentary and from a unitary form of government into a Federal one. Having only a Parliamentary without the Federal would be next to useless... as it only promotes the self-interest of congressmen like Speaker de Venecia... who knows too well that he cannot win as president, but has a great chance to be prime minister.

Again, let me remind our readers that there are many people opposed to Federal system for various reasons, both personal and political. But if we have to see real reforms, which should include the shortening of the term of Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, then we must also see the end of the rule of Imperial Manila over the rest of the country... and that can only happen if we made that paradigm shift into a Federal form of government.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila's columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com