Cordova reclamation no one knows about?

Remember some years ago when Mr. Pablo Villaber landed on front page in all local newspapers? That was when he claimed that his company, Malayan Integrated Industries Corp. (MIIC), had the sole license to reclaim any part of the Philippines. Apparently, Mr. Villaber has resurfaced and he is proposing once more to reclaim 3,500 hectares of  Cordova. Good heavens! Who is behind this person? Why doesn't anyone in the Provincial Capitol know about this plan?

I gathered from Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy that Mr. Villaber hasn't coordinated with anyone from the Provincial Capitol or any officials from Cordova. I'm pretty sure that they didn't inform the Regional Development Council (RDC-7) about this humongous reclamation project. I would like to know why Villaber has already signed a contract for filling materials. Does this mean that this is already a done deal? What about the questions raised by then Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal? Is this now being set aside and to hell with the fisherfolk of Cordova?

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There is a local unheard group led by a certain Marlon Douglas Hofer who is purportedly a convenor for the stakeholders, independent film makers, cinephiles and artists who are asking the Cebu City Council for the passage of an ordinance to create the Cebuano Cinema Development Council (CCDC). First of all, I question one of the issues they pointed out: "Moreover the film industry is in dire need of support from the local government units (LGUs) to properly harness the capacities of Cebu-based service providers, suppliers, directors, editors, production managers, production designers and other professionals involved in movie production."

Let me point out that if they are talking about Cebuano movie film production, it died a long time ago. Now if you are talking about a Cebuano video movie, that is a whole different story. I really don't know how big is this group that they would now go to the Cebu City Council for funding. I suspect that this group could be the local counterpart of the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) which was created in a special law to get free amusement taxes for local films in rating that they themselves would do.

A few years ago, FAP Director Laurice Guillen came to Cebu because she demanded that all the local theaters pay their amusement taxes directly to the FAP. But to her consternation, all the theaters in Cebu pay their amusement taxes directly to the City of Cebu. They used their lawyers to supposedly collect the taxes from all the theaters because we did not pay to FAP but to the City of Cebu. We filed a case against FAP and won. After all a special law cannot supersede a law that grants authority only to the Local Government Units the power to collect taxes from movie theaters.

So where does this new group that calls itself the Cebu Cinema Development Council (CCDC)? I really don't know. But I suggest that the Cebu City Councilors study this proposal seriously lest they would be getting public funds for private video producers.

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For those of you who are in Facebook and use your Smart phones to take photographs of your food, especially when you eat out in Restaurants, you better watch out because French Chefs in Paris are up in arms against people like you folks. Apparently those French Chefs do not like their customers to take photos of their food creation calling them "Food Porn." Of course we're talking here about high-end Michelin starred French Restaurants where you have to pay top dollar for the food they serve you.

I would like to believe that our local Chefs in our restaurants in Metro Cebu would not mind us taking photographs of their cuisine. After all, whatever you post in your Facebook account is also free advertising for them. But I don't blame those snotty French Chefs. After all, getting a Michelin Star for your restaurant is difficult and when you get your Michelin Star, it is a feather in a Restaurant's cap. When one gets a Michelin Star, chance is it is due to a Chef's creativity and this is the reason why they don't want people to post their food in their Facebook accounts.

But let me tell you that not all Michelin Star hotels feed you culinary perfection. When we were in Lourdes a couple of years ago, we stayed in a Michelin starred Hotel and Restaurant. But my wife Jessica complained that the food was not that great for one that boasted that they were a Michelin Starred Restaurant. So I guess this issue begins a great debate whether we as customers of a famous restaurant do have the freedom to take photographs of the foods that we pay for in the first place. I dare say that we do have that freedom, simply because we paid for the food. It is as simple as that.

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