Kneeling to the altar of imperial Manila
For our special presentation on our talk show “Straight from the Sky,” we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the holding of Cebu’s Press Freedom Week. Wow! It seems only yesterday when the leaders of Cebu Media decided to celebrate Press Freedom Week here in Cebu because we found out that there was no one in the media, including our counterparts from Metro Manila, celebrating Press Freedom. We lost the right to free speech 42 years ago on Sept. 21, 1972 when Martial Law was declared.
Twenty years later, Press Freedom Week is only celebrated in Cebu and I just can’t understand why the media people in Manila cannot even find it in their hearts to join our Press Freedom celebration in Cebu. Of course, when I talk with our fellow columnists in Manila, they are amazed that the Cebu Media go out of their way to celebrate Press Freedom. I guess it’s because we cherish having a free press!
So watch this very informative show on Cebu’s Press Freedom celebration with Ms. Eileen Mangubat, publisher of Cebu Daily News and Isolde Amante of SunStar Daily. This show was supposed to be unique in the sense that the major dailies in Cebu are now run by women. Unfortunately, Quennie Bronce, editor-in-chief of The Freeman, was indisposed at that time. Watch it in SkyCable’s channel 61 at 8:00 tonight with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel. We are also shown on MyTV channel 30 at 7:00AM and 9:00PM Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays.
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I’ve been watching intently the referendum in Scotland on independence but alas the “No” won by a 55.42 margin over the “Yes” votes that garnered only 44.58 of the vote. Thus Scotland in the meantime will stay with the United Kingdom. So if you asked why did the “No” votes win? Simple, many Britons who were not born from Scottish families are now living in Scotland and they of course want to stay with the United Kingdom.
The same thing also happened in Canada way back in 1995 when the French speaking Quebecois wanted to have a separate state from Canada. But after a huge voter turnout, the ‘No” vote won 50.58% of the vote, while the “Yes” votes garnered 49.42% and this was also due to the Canadians who were not French speakers who had moved into the Quebec Province.
So we look forward to the next referendum, this time it is the Catalans who want to be out of Spain. It would be interesting how the Catalans would fare during their referendum slated for November. Remember one commonality about those states seeking to be independent; they had a different language from the rest of their respective nations. The Quebecois spoke French, while the Scots speak the Scottish language, while the Catalans too had their own language… just like the Basque who always wanted no part of Spain.
What about us in Cebu? We too have a different language separate and distinct from Tagalog. Now shouldn’t our political leaders think and ponder that the economic growth of Cebu has been stymied by the incompetent centralized government that was put in place by the Americans in July 4, 1946? This is a question I have long wanted to know whether Cebu would be better off if it were separated from the rest of the Philippines? Anyway, Imperial Manila is already giving full autonomy to the Bangsamoro people.
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Imperial Manila has gone berserk as represented by the Department of Transportation and Communications when it leased out the Mactan Cebu International Airport for 25 years to the GMR/Megawide consortium for P14.4 billion and yet, they never thought of allowing MCIA to have this money kept in Cebu. So I think that it is time to call for a movement that promotes a better Cebu or even an independent Cebu!
Even the Cebu Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Inc. the Cebu Business Club and the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Inc. have not issued any statement whether they are for or against this increase in our Terminal Fees.
But an adopted Son of Cebu, Consul Robert “Bobby” Joseph, chairman of Tourism Educators and Movers, has issued a statement strongly against the proposed terminal fee increase asking the MCIAA board to explain to us why they agreed to increase the rates of our terminal fees without telling us whether MCIAA is losing money or not?
This is a very legitimate question to ask: is MCIAA losing money or not? During our time, we always had a surplus that we gave to Malacañang annually. More importantly, why isn’t the MCIAA Board of Directors demanding from the DOTC to keep the P14.4 billion in the Mactan Airport? This fact alone proves that the MCIAA has knelt down to the altar of the central government and the wiles and wishes of Imperial Manila!
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