New power plants needed

There should be new power plants and the existing ones should be upgraded or refurbished to avoid the power outages that hit a big part of Luzon recently, according to experts.

Many of the present power plants are old and decrepit and no longer performing up to par.

The power plants that are not performing well use fossil fuels and, therefore, are not environment-friendly, according to the experts.

Hydroelectric, solar and windmill power plants are most welcome, as they don’t pollute the environment.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), which delivers electricity to the consumers from the power plants, should not be blamed, experts say.

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A Philippine diplomat has come back to the country and is applying to become the campaign manager of a possible presidential candidate.

The presidential wannabe should be warned about the diplomat.

He was involved in a P1-billion caper involving the importation of food during one of the past administrations.

In fact, he has a pending case with the Office of the Ombudsman concerning the caper.

This diplomat was able to ingratiate himself with the Duterte administration and was given a juicy post where he made another pile.

How he was able to wriggle himself into the Duterte government despite his dark past is a story in itself.

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Secretary Martin Andanar of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) and presidential spokesman Harry Roque are supposed to be working in tandem, but they seem to be crossing swords.

Andanar and Roque give truth to the public perception that the President’s men and women are working at cross-purposes.

Take the case of the latest booboo by Malacañang’s spinmeisters. The PCOO announced that all travelers leaving the country should be fully vaccinated; in other words, having received two doses.

“That’s wrong. It’s not mandatory and will apply only to those who want a shortened quarantine upon their return,” said Roque, contradicting the PCOO announcement.

A foreigner would be laughing at us for having two presidential spin doctors contradicting each other.

During the time of president Marcos and his predecessors, the press secretary and the presidential spokesman were one and the same person.

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The law that says that a patient who is confined in a private room can be detained by hospital management should be amended.

Republic Act 9439, which prohibits the detention of patients in hospitals and medical clinics due to non-payment of hospital bills, exempts patients who got private rooms.

In other words, a patient in a private room can be detained by the hospital until the patient or his/her relatives come up with the money to settle the bills.

The law should be amended so that poor patients needing emergency treatment but who go to a private hospital whose charity wards are full should be allowed use of the vacant rooms free of charge.

It’s not only being charitable on the part of the hospital, but also about obeying the mandate of the Hippocratic Oath.

If hospitals or doctors don’t treat sick patients on account of their low status in life, then they should swear by the hypocritical oath, if there is one.

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Westlake Medical Center in San Pedro, Laguna would not release the cadaver of a female patient to her relatives, leading to an abominable situation.

The cadaver decomposed because the hospital didn’t have a freezer in its morgue.

The cadaver lay in the morgue for more than 24 hours, and when the relatives claimed it, they were assaulted by the smell of its decomposition.

The relatives had to beg, steal or borrow, so to speak, to recover the cadaver from the hospital.

They are poor and the reason the patient, a pregnant woman, was taken to Westlake was because the government hospitals in Laguna were filled to capacity with COVID-19 patients.

The body had to be buried immediately by the funeral parlor where it was taken as the stench was unbearable.

The management of Westlake Medical Center refuses to take responsibility for the decomposed cadaver. The hospital says that the pregnant woman was considered an outpatient, as she was in the ER, but never admitted to the hospital. Also, the hospital said their doctors in the ER were outsourced, as their in-house doctor for pregnant women did not have the expertise for the ER.

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The situation in Dumaguete City is alarming, very alarming!

An open letter from Catholic Bishop Julito Cortes to the Diocese of Dumaguete shows how serious the situation is in the capital of Negros Oriental.

Here’s the letter in toto:

From: Bishop Cortes

To: My brother priests in the Diocese of Dumaguete:

Pray, pray, pray for Dumaguete City! Personally and collectively! Please exhort your parishioners to please pray for, not only the safety of your own parishes, but also for Dumaguete, especially now. Vice Mayor (Alan Gel) Cordova has passed away. Mayor Ipe (Felipe) Remollo is hospitalized at SUMC (Silliman University Medical Center), suspected of having Cytokines Storm, after having been identified as Covid+ (positive). Six of the councilors are Covid+. Meaning, there’s no quorum at the Sangguniang Panglunsod. Three of the SP employees are Covid+.

There is now, I believe, a crisis of leadership in the city. 500 of those around the mayor and VM (vice mayor) have to be swabbed. Please let us pray for the leadership and the welfare of our people in Dumaguete.

Even in the midst of uncertainties we are in, let us lead our people in hope. Our God tells us: ‘Fear not for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; You are Mine.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit…

Mary, Mother of God, Mother of us all, help us!

(Signed)

Bishop Julito Cortes