The sinking of the S.S. Corregidor
While the start of World War II began with the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Imperial Navy 74 years ago on Dec. 7, 1941 (It was Dec. 8th here at home) to many Cebuano families the horrors of war happened exactly 74 years ago when on Dec. 17, 1941, the S.S. Corregidor struck a mine near the Island of Corregidor and sank in just five minutes. The S.S. Corregidor was formerly the HMS Egadine built in 1911 and was a Seaplane tender in the era before aircraft carriers. She participated in the famous Battle of Jutland in May of 1916 and was later sold to Compania Maritima and renamed the S.S. Corregidor.
It was estimated that the S.S. Corregidor carried between 1,200 to 1,500 passengers, amongst them the famous Filipino golfer Mr. Celestino Tugot of Del Monte Golf Course, Mrs. Adelaida Javier, mother of Ms. Tessie Javier and my father's only brother Benjamin "Bing Bing" Avila and Doc Alviola, who was our family dentist from the University of Southern Philippines. It was Doc Alviola who testified to our family that he was one of the last persons who saw my uncle alive as he went back to the cabins to help the women crying for help. But the boat sank so fast, it was estimated that nearly a thousand passengers perished in that sinking.
We only have photographs of our uncle Bing Avila who was an all out athlete with the De La Salle University and an expert swimmer. But that didn't help him on the night of Dec. 17, 1941. If there were no maritime investigations of that sinking, it was only due to the reality that war has dawned upon the Philippine Islands and everyone was making plans to evacuate to safer ground and away from the advancing Japanese Forces.
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Yesterday we wrote about the suspension of the Department of Tourism's Star-Ratings program because the DOT bigwigs dared to fight the Cebuano Hotel industry. Yes the first to express his negative sentiment of this program was Mr. Manny Gonzales of Plantation Bay because he felt and believed that the Internet hotel websites like Agoda, Expedia and Hotels.Com has done a better and commendable job in getting great hotel deals or room rates, while getting the feedback from the clients themselves.
But the DOT went on a "damn-the-torpedoes" mode and went along with it because it got a grant of $7 million Canadian dollars to implement this program. Funny, but the Canadian government does not even have any hotel ratings program and yet it has money to give to the DOT to implement its Star Rating scheme?
I just got hold of a letter from Canadian Ambassador Neil Reeder in response to the article that we wrote in the Philippine Star on this issue and allow me to reprint an excerpt of that letter. "Meanwhile, the industry skills grant scheme mentioned above, provides grants to tourism businesses (hotels and resorts) and various industry associations to implement training programs to upgrade skills and competency levels of the industry. To date, skills grants worth US$1.2 million have been awarded to 48 establishments that are expected to train more than 8,000 members of the tourism workforce."
Of course, his excellence Amb. Reeder did not realize that the implication of the suspension order by the House Committee on Tourism led by Rep. Rene Relampagos last week meant that with Congress running out of time to conduct sessions, there will be no more material time to conduct another Committee meeting like it had last week. Thus as we wrote yesterday, the Star Ratings program of the DOT has been permanently frozen by Congress.
But with this letter from the Canadian Ambassador, it gives us another incentive to look into this ill-fated program where US$1.2 million or P56 million have been spent on 48 establishments. It is easy enough for the Tourism Industry insiders to check and find out whether this money was wisely spent and that the 8,000 workforce supposedly trained with this money have had their skills upgraded in order to upgrade the standards of their respective hotels. So despite this issue being literally put in the freezer, this story doesn't end here. We will conduct an in-depth investigation on this where who knows we could find some worms inside the DOT.
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As usual, the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People's Army, have declared a holiday truce, which they always do during the Christmas season. But as usual, it is done by sheer treachery because they just ambushed a military patrol in Capiz using a landmine where six soldiers were hurt. On Dec. 26th it will be the 47th anniversary of the founding of the CPP. This should be a reminder to all Filipinos that it is about time we put a stop to this insurgency problem…through peace talks and if that fails, through a rigorous non-stop military campaign. Whichever way… it must be done!
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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.
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