A Sinulog treat flying over the parade route

Since we started the Year 2009 with the 2008 Economic Report and our Year 2009 forecast, then went on talking about the problems in the Rural Banking industry, Straight from the Sky goes further in bringing you another first on our show: Understanding your Credit. This is a very timely topic that few people talk about with friends, especially about the credit squeeze! I’m sure some of our televiewers have tried getting a loan from a bank and was refused. You end up scratching your head. But the bank officer who did your "credit investigation" can’t give you any reasons, except that you were denied this loan.

On Oct.31, 2008 Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) signed Republic Act. No.95101, the "Credit Information System Act" authored by Sen. Edgardo Angara whose primary purpose is to receive and consolidate basic data on the credit history and financial condition of borrowers. This is good news to the business community but this law is not yet enforceable because it lacks the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) to begin operation.

Our guest tonight is Mr. Ed Fernandez Limtingco, Senior VisMin Manager of CIBI Information, Inc. (CIBI) who also writes a weekly column in The FREEMAN entitled "C&C Views". If you had any questions about credit, from credit cards to loans or even simple information as to how to ensure that your credit standing would always be good, Mr. Limtingco is the man to ask. So watch this very interesting show on SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00PM tonight.

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It’s been 29 years since we’ve been celebrating the Sinulog. I asked myself, what else I have done during the Sinulog? I’ve never missed a single Sinulog Festival from its beginning. I heard over the radio about Y-101's yearly Sinulog activities, where they ferry guests on board the Y-101 helicopter and I said, "That’s it, that’s something that I haven’t yet done!" So I called Councilor Sylvan "Jak’ Wak" Jakosalem and he arranged for the chopper ride.

Yesterday onboard the Y-101 chopper, an Opulent Air Aerospatiale "Ecureuil" piloted by Capt. Leo Dimaala (a faithful BLD member) who together with Jak Jakosalem threw flowers at the participants below. It was truly a different experience. You can see the entire Sinulog Parade route in just a few minutes after takeoff at the Ayala Business Park. Upon lift-off, you’re already along Mango Ave. barreling towards Fuente Osmeña, then on to the Cebu City Sports Center grandstand. Then we flew over P. del Rosario St. and back to Mango. Thanks to Jak and Leo, I got another unforgettable Sinulog experience!

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It’s been two weeks since the Rural Bank of Subangdaku (RBS) declared a Bank Holiday. Later we learned that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) have put it under receivership. But the rumour mills seem to be churning a lot of smoke. We go by that dictum, if there's smoke, there's fire! These rumors seem to persist in the light of too many unanswered questions about the fate of RBS.

First off is the acceptance of by the RBS Board of Directors of its President Paz Radaza for health reasons. People are asking whether Mrs. Radaza is healthy or not. If she’s not really that sick, why then use "health" as the excuse for quitting RBS? The least that the irate depositors of RBS need is for RBS to be giving them nothing but lies. If indeed Paz has quit RBS for health reasons, then don’t you think that she should also be quitting as head of the Association of Barangay Councils in Lapu-Lapu City?

Perhaps maybe RBS is referring to the financial health of Mrs. Radaza? Could it be linked to that P1.2 billion in reportedly "fictitious loans" that were allegedly granted without proper approvals? So many questions and no one is giving us any answers. The moment we can get into the bottom of this, we’ll know for sure why RBS went under.

Already, independent Councilor Junard "Ahong" Chan (I didn’t know that he already split from the Radaza camp) has been asking piercing questions against Mrs. Paz Radaza on why the bank that she has faithfully worked on for many years suddenly fell apart. So far, we haven’t heard of any answers from the Radaza camp except a statement that she will in due time give out the whole story of RBS.

Now I don’t believe that the RBS fiasco had any political implications; what we know is that Mrs. Paz Radaza is poised to run for Lapu-Lapu City Mayor and if she cannot answer with all honesty and sincerity the questions thrown at her, then her ambitions to be the next mayor of Lapu-Lapu City might be doomed.