Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors

For tonight's special presentation on our talkshow, Straight from the Sky, we help celebrate the 34th year of Zonta 1. This is one women's international organization that is making its mark not just in Cebu, but throughout the Philippines, coming out with so many programs that uplift the lives of our womenfolk. My mother, the late Ascension S. Avila was once the President of Zonta 1 in Cebu. So for tonight, we have with us the top officers of Zonta led by Zonta Area 17 Governor Winnie Teoh from Hong Kong, Zonta Area Director 3 Anita Sanchez and Cebu Zonta 1 President Lucille Colina. So watch this very interesting show on SkyCable's channel 61 at 8 p.m. with replays on Wednesday and Saturday and on MyTV's channel 30 at 9 p.m. and M-W-F.

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Finally, the Christmas Season is over and done with! Yes in Cebu, Christmas officially ends with the celebration of the Sinulog Fiesta. So now what's left in my calendar is the Yee Sang Toss to greet the coming of the Chinese Lunar Year of the Horse which the Mactan Island's Shangri-La will be having tomorrow. With the coming of the New Chinese New Year, you can literally say that the Year 2013 is gone to the pages of history.

While we greet the New Year with a new hope, I'm saddened by the fact that the caddies of the Cebu Country Club fell to the glib tongues of the Associated Labor Unions whose officers cajoled them into disturbing the 33rd Coral Invitational Golf Tournament 2014. Yes, last Thursday; their protest went overboard when these caddies blocked the main road leading to the clubhouse by lying on the ground to prevent golfers from playing the tournament. This effectively brought a halt to the tournament and the first day's scores were used as basis for the winners of the tournament.

But what did these militant caddies gain? Nothing! For all intents and purposes, they can make their protest on the main gate of the CCC for the next 10 years and nothing will happen to their cause simply because there is no employer-employee rela-tionship between the CCC and the caddies. It is we, the members, who have to pay for the services of these caddies not the CCC and certainly, they are not our employees! It is a contractual thing!

With no more tournaments in the next couple of months, it is sad to say that those caddies would starve unless ALU gives them money to feed their families. This situation reminds me of that labor protest at the Community Hospital where strikers stayed for years only to end up packing and leaving because their labor union failed to support them. So will ALU pay those caddies for as long as they want to protest? I doubt it.

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The last typhoon that struck the Philippines in 2013 was super typhoon Yolanda which came and went without even a thank you! It was the world's strongest typhoon and perhaps the fastest as it just breezed through, devastating anything on its path. Now the first official typhoon for the Year 2014 is Typhoon Agaton and it is almost the exact opposite of Typhoon Yolanda. It isn't bringing a huge amount of rain or winds, except in the open sea and it seems that it loves the Philippines it went on a stationary mode for more than four days already.

But the strong winds of Typhoon Agaton has resulted in a near maritime disaster when three passenger vessels, the M/V Joyful Star of Roble Shipping Lines and the M/V Our Lady of All Nations of Medallion Shipping ran aground with the M/V Subic Bay of Carlos A. Gothong Shipping Lines off Barangay Ibo, Lapu-Lapu City. It just makes you wonder, why couldn't the captains of these vessels prevent their ships from running aground?

It reminds me of that old African Proverb that says, "Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors." Indeed, this quotation can also be used for airline pilots. The best pilots or ship captains are those who have tried the worst weather because that's where their skill is tested to the limit. A calm sea can never test your skill as a ship captain. You can say that about life itself.

At this point, we ask the Maritime Industry Authority to investigate this incident and find out why three ships ran aground. Sure there were strong winds, but that shouldn't have been a problem with a seasoned ship captain. We've just had one too many near ship disasters happening in the Port of Cebu which is too much for comfort. Meanwhile, still talking about typhoon Agaton, the British Broadcasting Company came up with a short commentary quoting certain scientists as to saying, "The sun is in the phase of solar lull" wherein they said that the sun is falling asleep. The US is having a harsh winter, but if you looked at what's happening in Australia, where it is experiencing a historic heat wave, the one can say that the sun is very much wide awake there.

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