Why do we Cebuanos suffer in silence?
For our special presentation on our talk show “Straight from the Sky,” we join in the 25th celebration of one of Cebu’s foremost covenanted charismatic community called “Bukas Loob sa Diyos” (BLD). I joined this charismatic group when I first joined the Sons of David, which belongs to the BLD way back in 1997 or was it 1998? I’m really getting deep into my senior years.
Twenty-five years later, BLD has grown in size and spirituality. So this week is a red-letter week for BLD as this was when the first Marriage Encounter was held. With us tonight are BLD’s Servant Leaders, led by chairman of the 25th celebration Nonoy Espeleta, Vic Bathan, Ferdie Jakosalem and Fr. Mon Ofredo who is the spiritual director for Charismatic Communities for the Archdiocese of Cebu.
So watch this very interesting interview on SkyCable’s channel 61 at 8:00 tonight with replays on Wednesday and Saturday. Replays on MyTV’s channel 30 are at 7:00AM and 9:00PM on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
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Have you gone around the Metro Cebu lately and noticed why certain areas have bad traffic jams? Along M. Velez St. is 9-year-old road widening project that is still unfinished until this time. Then along the Banilad-Talamban (Ban-Tal) road, there seems to be a small road widening that is causing traffic jams even on Saturdays. Then there’s the cementing of AS Fortuna, which is the principal cause of traffic jams there and finally there’s the road works for the Mactan Road from the old bridge to Plantation Bay. All these road works are the principal reasons why traffic in Metro Cebu is so congested these days.
So what I can’t understand is, why do we Cebuanos suffer in silence? Is it because we have already embraced the idea that we’re a 3rd world country and government projects in 3rd world countries just take a damn long time to finish! Perhaps we have already accepted the reality of the curse of Pres. Manuel L. Quezon who quipped, “I would rather see this country run like hell by Filipinos than run like heaven by Americans.” We should demand from DPWH to speed up their works or we don’t pay their salaries!
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There’s more bad news in this 3rd world country of ours under the leadership or should I say the lack of leadership of Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino, III; apparently the Philippines went from 5th poorest to 3rd poorest country in Southeast Asia as pointed out by the Asian Development Bank in their special report “Poverty in Asia: A Deeper Look.” That report says that by the year 2015 Indonesia and Lao PDR will overtake the Philippines. Gads, that prediction is coming fast in the next four months!
Perhaps we should ask ourselves…how could it be that Asia’s most stable economy, which has been praised the world over hasn’t improved its poverty record? This only proves what we’ve known all along that in the Philippines, the rich has become richer while the poor has become poorer. I would like to believe that this situation is directly linked to the Janet Lim Napoles scam which has exposed the corruption of the political elite that has ruled this nation since the 1986 EDSA Revolution.
Remember those times when no one could give you an answer as to why these politicians run for positions that only pay P35,000 per month, yet they spend millions during the election campaign? No one could give a logical reason why the politicians did this. But with the expose of Janet Napoles, suddenly the puzzle is complete…everything fits into place. The P35,000 per month salary is nothing compared to the millions annually that these politicians pocket in their own savings accounts taken from the people’s money using fake NGO’s.
But since the arrest of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, and Sen. Bong Revilla, the Office of the Ombudsman apparently stopped there even if the affidavits of Janet Napoles exposed the names of other senators and congressmen involved in her scam. Therefore we ask, why has the wheels of justice suddenly stopped?
Meanwhile, the corruption scandal affecting Vice President Jejomar Binay has escalated when his own Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado told the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee last Thursday that Binay received 13 percent in kickbacks from every contract for projects entered into by the Makati City government during his incumbency as mayor of Makati.
In that hearing, Mercado said the 13 percent is divided into three portions — one for Mayor Junjun Binay, Binay’s son who was then a councilor. He said he personally delivered the money to the three men. So do you believe that Binay should be impeached? I submit that this was politically motivated, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is corruption staring into our faces by a man who wants to be our next President! Impeach Binay now!
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