Divine hand stopped RH Bill debate in Congress?

Supposedly last Tuesday, Congress was supposed to debate on the plenary hall the highly-controversial Reproductive Health (RH) Bill. But due to an unforeseen problem, the centralized air-conditioning of the Plenary Hall conked out, forcing house Majority Leader Rep. Neptali Gonzales to cancel the session last Tuesday. I don’t know what you folks are thinking, but I see the divine hand answering our prayers to stop the RH bill. What else could it be? Who expected that the air-conditioning of the Plenary Hall would break down right at the moment Congress was to debate on the RH Bill?

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If there is anything I’m happy with the administration of Mayor Michael Rama, it is that at least he is moving forward in clearing the riverbanks, especially the Mahiga Creek. In fact, the City of Cebu has also provided temporary shelters to those whose homes would be demolished so that finally those creeks and riverbank would no longer be clogged. How I wished that the previous administrations before Mike should have done more to prevent those shanties from being constructed in the first place. As we’ve always known, ”An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.”

Again, I’d like to drive home my point that there is a need for the Cebu City Council to strengthen the Office of the Building Official (OBO). While we are far from that dream called “Zero Squatter Growth”, we can, with the help of our barangay officials, ensure that no house, shanty or edifice can be built without the nod of the OBO. This is a noble goal that would restore Cebu City to our old prominence of being one of Asia’s most livable places. But all this needs political will. I hope that our City Councilors have this trait, which should be present in each public servant.

Finally, I would like to emphasize to Mayor Mike Rama that clearing the Mahiga Creek from the Cebu City end would not solve the clogging issue until and unless he calls upon Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes to also do his share in clearing the tributaries of the Mahiga Creek especially across Mandaue Foam along H. Cortes, at the back of hole no.13 of the Cebu Country Club. These homes are no longer shanties; they boldly built those houses on top of a creek.

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Now that Norwegian Sven Erik Berger and his girlfriend, Karen Esdrelon are free, there is no question that this brings the Philippine National Police (PNP) investigators back to square one. But they should not just focus on searching for those suspects here in Cebu. There are so many expats in the Visayas and Mindanao who are permanent residents here. The killer, no doubt, is still in this country. We are dealing with a pedophile that victimizes small children.

While the PNP is having a difficulty finding the killers of Ellah Joy, at least the police in Daanbantayan were able to arrest that American who was caught taking video footages of seven minors who wrestled while being topless. These minors were allegedly paid a measly P1,500 for their stunt, which, to a poor provincial lass is already a princely sum.

This is one of the more difficult problems we have in the fight against human trafficking because more often than not, it is the mothers or the fathers of those girls who peddle them off to those pedophiles. Years back, a friend told me that in Leyte, he was approached by a man selling a girl for the night. The man turned out to be the father of that girl. This is indeed the sad plight for our country, where poverty drives us to lose our morality. This is why our fight to stop human trafficking also includes fighting corruption in the government. Didn’t P.Noy say “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap”?

Talking about corruption, at least the impeachment proceedings against inutile Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez is underway. If I were in her shoes, she might as well resign as it is the honorable way for her to make her exit now rather than face impeachment. She can always shout to the world: “In the name of politics, my rights were violated.” But in our book, Merceditas Gutierrez sat down on so many celebrated cases not just in Manila but also here in Cebu.

Perhaps our Congressmen should give out a testimony on this or give the House Committee on Justice the letter of our beloved Ricardo Cardinal Vidal asking the Ombudsman whatever happened those cases. As I’ve always maintained in so many columns before, corruption would disappear if our nation can fix the problems in our justice system. The answer really is so logical. If elected or appointed government officials know that if they are caught with their dirty hands in the cookie jar and are jailed within six months of the filing of their cases, I’ll bet corruption would soon disappear.

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