Yesterday The Freeman headlines blared, “16 Senators: ML Unconstitutional!” Thank goodness these are Senators and not Justices of the Supreme Court; otherwise they could have stopped the Martial Law in Maguindanao. The problem is, almost half those Senators are running for either President, Vice-President or for reelection. We know that all of them are merely grandstanding to make themselves look good in the eyes of the public. But if only they went to Maguindanao, they will see that Martial Law has helped the AFP disarm those well-armed warlords.
These Senators sound like the mouthpiece of Bayan whose cries to stop Martial Law has been printed all over the place. These Left-leaning organizations are running scared that if the AFP is able to disarm those armed groups, like the New People’s Army (NPA) they won’t be of help to those Left-leaning candidates who are now running for Senator!
Under this Constitution, Martial Law is only good for 60 days and I’m sure that with the swiftness that the AFP has uncovered those cache of arms, Martial Law can be lifted even before its Constitutional deadline. As of press time, more than 2,000 assorted high-powered firearms have been recovered. I’m sure that there are many more that have been buried, but haven’t yet been found.
This huge cache of arms is enough to equip two battalions to fight our soldiers. So please, don’t tell me that Martial Law hasn’t helped in Maguindanao. Again, I’d like to point out that even the media is just too paranoid about Martial Law and are only scaring our people because of their own fears.
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If at all there’s a scary story out there, it was the news that was reported on page 2 of SunStar yesterday about a 13-year-old girl who was abducted by still unidentified men in a van in Carcar. While the little girl got away from the van later, she told the police that there were other children who were also abducted inside that van. Good thing that the 13-year-old was able to escape from the unlocked van; what about those other kids?
Cebu Provincial Police Chief Jesus Gaquing Sr. should sound the alarm for this van and the kidnappers. Parents should also check if any of their children are missing because that 13-year-old told the police that she wasn’t the only kid inside that van. We should also ask the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) to be on a high-alert because those kidnappers might just be here in Cebu City who may have “sold” those poor kids to a prostitution den. God forbid!
Perhaps the police should even raid the various prostitution dens in the city and check out all the hotels or boarding houses for any unusual activities. For as long as the kidnappers are on the loose, our children, especially those in school are no longer safe in Cebu!
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Today the City of Cebu celebrates a momentous milestone as it is the 20th anniversary of the Sister City relations with the City of Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands. The City of Cebu has developed many Sister City relations with other cities, like the one we had with the City of Kaohsuing, where we got a lot of Kaohsuing buses. But the sister city ties with Haarlemmermeer has developed into a youth exchange program dubbed “Dutch Explore” where Cebuano youths get to meet the youth from the Netherlands and consequently, we also send young Cebuanos to see the Netherlands. This knowledge exchange also helped many disadvantaged Cebuanos, city hall personnel and members of the Cebu City Council.
One of the more visible programs that developed from Cebu City’s Sister City ties with the City of Haarlemmermeer is their support for the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (ERUF) that is always on the alert during fires and other disasters. With the reports that most of the firetrucks of the Cebu Fire Department (CFD) are in a poor state of condition, the situation isn’t entirely hopeless as the City of Haarlemmermeer will be providing two fire trucks and a trauma van next year. I also got the information from our good friend, Rep. Raul del Mar that the CFD will get a brand new fire truck hopefully by this month.
So congratulations to this very fruitful 20-year Sister City relation between Cebu City and the City of Haarlemmermeer, a relationship that has truly helped the daily lives of Cebuanos. Indeed, it is a great occasion to celebrate this wonderful friendship between the people of Cebu City and people from the City of Haarlemmermeer.
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Email: vsbobita@mozcom.com