Kuryente Issue in Mindoro (sigh...)

Prior to the end of 2007 and most likely in the entire 2008, the global buzz word happens to be global warming (and its related terminologies and phrases). Remember the Bali Conference conducted under the auspices of the UN in the last part of 2007, where there was a high-level of diplomatic acumen and of course a forgetable emotional instance pushed the US to sign -- finally, though with much reservations -- the Kyoto Protocol? By and large, the significance of this lies in the country-signatories' avowal to gradually improve in their use of renewable energy sources and -- the other side of the story -- to subsequently lessen the use, if not the dependence, of fossil fuels.
As of this writing, China is experiencing the worst winter in the last half of the century. Last year, we saw a number of wild fires that did not only consumed forest reserves but also devastated even the posh communities of the rich and the celebrities in US and in Australia. Last year, too, the continuing melting of the iceberg in a number of sites in the world had been brought to the consciousness of the world.
And all of these is said to be in one way or the other connected or related to the phenomenon of global warming.
As this issue hits the media headline around the world, I wonder if it could hit the same chord of interest in the mind of Mindoro people. Well, for some probably -- and I hope so!
As I do this post, I come to realize that in San Jose where the power producer and distributor -- the notorious IPC, NPC and OMECO -- is heavily dependent on bunker fuel to go about with their syndicated business, i.e., to produce electricity.
Naisip ko lang: "Kailan kaya mapapag-usapan ang isyu ng global warming na pinapalala ng kasalukuyang elektripikasyon sa Mindoro dahil sa kanila mismong sistema ng paglikha ng elektrisidad?" Sa ngayon, ang mahalaga sa mga taga-Mindoro ay may ilaw sila (kahit pa nga ba hindi maaaring ihalintulad sa ibang lugar); at hindi pa kasama sa pagtaya ng lipunang Mindoro ang paggamit ng renewable source of energy.
In fairness, may nakausap na akong personalidad at grupong sibiko na nagnanais na magsimula upang masimulan at mapagyaman ang posibilidad ng paggamit ng hangin para panggalingan ng enerhiya. Pero dahil sa takot sa katotohanan ng byurukrasya ng pamahalaan, hanggang ngayon hindi pa rin nagiging realidad ang kanilang nasa kukote.
May isa pang nakakalungkot na katotohanan kasi, ... Ano yun?, maitatanong ninyo.
May sariling problema kasi ang OMECO -- ang kooperatibang hindi naman kooperatiba -- kaya't hindi pa bahagi ng mga pinagkakaabalahan nito ang ibang posibilidad ng pagkukunan ng enerhiya.. Halimbawa, napakalaking problema ng OMECO ang kontrata nito sa IPC. Ang OMECO, ibig sabihin, ang mga consumers ay apektado; samantalang ang pamunuan nito -- ang general manager at mga miyembro ng board of directors -- ay nakikinabang..
Sa katulad na dahilan, di nakakagawa ng hakbang ang OMECO kasi ang mismong lugar ng kanilang bakuran ay napaka-kalat... at nangangailangan ng seryosong paglilinis..

Girlie Villarosa Joins PGMA's Foreign Trip for the Nth Time!!!

Wondering where the Representative of Occidental Mindoro?
Well, she is where her boss is -- in Switzerland. Of couse, it is her boss' official business. She tags along.
She is said to be one of the 86 companions of the President.
According to PDI report (25 January 2008), the lawmakers in the President's entourage have come along in order to talk with prospective investors in the Philippines. And, lo and behold, they were to talk with Dr. Zuellig, a pharmaceutical investor in the Phillipine, in the wake of the issue of the passing of the cheap medicine bill in the congress.
The PDI further insinuates on the cost that each one may incur for the daily board and lodging in the Swiss county -- it was (three years ago!) US$300.00!
Anyway, the 2008 budget is done; and if reports are to be believed it contains heftier porks for the solons...
Sarap maging kongresista! Pag malapit ka sa Pangulo, nagiging insensitive ang iyong konsensiya habang kumakapal ang iyong bulsa...

Post Script to The Changing of Guards in Magsaysay..

There was a rather "confirming", in the sense of validating, observation that many of the people who were in Magsaysay witnessed when the legal-winner Barrera took the mayoralty seat from the election-winner Tria. It was the presence of the priest-defeated-gobernatorial-candidate Omanio serving as aide-de-camp of Barrera.
Talk of a continuing negation of all his brouhaha during the campaign period, it was it!
Of couse, he began accordingly as an independent candidate -- who was simply adapted or adopted by the Villarosa party. Their partnership was not only evident in the campaign paraphernalia that they jointly had; it even extended up to the life-after-elections of Omanio, when he served to manage his lord's radio station, nay propaganda mechanism.
In a way, the presence of Omanio beside Barrera is politically explainable. Marunong lang siguro talagang tumanaw ng utang na loob ang pari (of course, he technically remains a priest). Yan ay kung hindi siya inutusan ng kaniyang panginoon para samahan sa isang napakahalagang pagkakataon ang isang kapanalig sa pulitika, o kasama sa partido.
Nonetheless, Didaskalos for one finds such a scenario morally distressing. At the surface level, it testifies to the continuing actions of the priest to sow division. As I said he remains technically a priest (on account of the indelible mark that ordination effects).
I understand he has expressed his intention to get back into the priestly ministry -- from which he's been suspended.
Thus, one wonders how this transpiration is received by the hierarchy of the AVSJ.
For Didaskalos, the black-and-white scenario is: for Omanio to make up his mind once and for all -- to get back into his ministry (and seriously mean so), or to totally serve the political interest of his current lord and master..

The Changing of Guards in Magsaysay

Days ago, a rather not-altogether expected transpiration took place in the idyllic town of Magsaysay. Mayor Cesar Tria, Jr was unseated in favor of the already "two-timer" (read my lips, as Clinton said) Mayor Marleo Barrera. The latter lost in the elections of May 2007, but -- with a rather legally bizzare manner -- won the seat via a court decision.
I am in contact with another fellow from Magsaysay who's now based in the US of A, and it was him who confirmed or validated my hunch...
What made Barrera snatched the seat from Tria is... Girlie Villarosa!
Well, the issue is significant to me. As in the past elections, the Catholic Church in Occidental Mindoro mobilized its entire resources in order to fulfill its socio-political apostolate that is to ensure a clean, orderly and peaceful election. Now, it is precisely this that baffles me. As per the count of the NAMFREL/PPC-RV, it was actually Tria who won! The thing is, the election sheets that served as the basis for the parallel count done by the Catholic Church ought to be the electiosn sheets that were based upon by the court.
Are we talking here of confusion of basic mathematical operation, presuming that indeed one and only one election sheets were used?
I supposed otherwise... that is, that the election documents that were presented in and used by the court were distinct.
Nonetheless, a consideration of another factor may be made in here -- that which is called HUMAN FACTOR.
Human factor may mean a lot of things... For one, it means Villarosa Factor.
Disgusting... It is our top politicians who decide for whoever is going to govern us...

Done in the still-ness of the night...

There is a rather significant development concerning the supply of electricity in Occidental Mindoro that was realized before the 2007 closed, and which unfortunately was never made public. No, this is not about OMECO -- the fate of which is very bleak insofar as the present administrator clings to his seat and enjoys all the perks made available to him (thanks hugely to complacent electric consumers!).
This is about the alleged sale of the IPC to a what is said to be a foreign personality.
IPC, or Island Power Corp., previously owned by a corporation comprised of the Villarosa's and their business associates, is into a contract with OMECO for exclusive supply of electricity for 25 long years! The power producing corporation, despite its failure to supply the stipulated volume of electricity as per the contract, was recipient -- at least in last year's statistical and financial reports of OMECO -- of millions of pesos as this is provided for in the said contract.
So, if IPC was already sold, what's the heck?
I am raising this point precisely because it is never known to me if together with the sale of the plant and machineries the contract with OMECO is (was) also sold? For, if so, then what can be anticipated as eventualities can be too important to ignore.
While I knew that IPC is a private corporation, I understand that for such a public utility any major corporate decision -- such as the alienation of its major assets -- must be made known to all its consumers.
Unless one argues that Villarosa's are more politician than businessman...

Thanks to Free Media!

Today, we read about Girlie Villarosa's clarification about the PDI report that her husband -- the convicted murderer JTV -- is not actuallymissing. Notwithstanding the cries of the Madam Deputy Speaker (with all the pun intended), I am reminded of the role that the national media played in relation to the Jalosjos release case.
Specifically, what was media's role?
It consisted in their effort to bring to the open the entire brouhaha.. Nobody knew that Jalosjos was already released. In fact, if we are to believe the Secretary of Justice, he himself was not aware that his former colleague in the House of Representatives was already released.
Thanks to the media, we were informed. And thanks to the media, a concerted outcry was made manifest. Which eventually accounted for the metanoia of the prison officials..
We still do not know how PDI would respond to Villarosa's denial that her husband is missing. Baka nga naman nagkamali ang PDI. On such account, PDI will definitely be professional to publish an erratum and seek an apology from the Villarosa's.
But, it would take a resident of Occidental Mindoro to dismiss -- if not altogether -- Villarosa's rebuttal of PDI's report. Why, and on what ground? Well, the lady solon has proven herself that she's very very capable of lying. Remember how she had to tell lies just to distance the president of the strong republic from the bribery issue last year?
Needless to say, between Villarosa and the PDI, I would subscribe to the latter.
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If indeed the convict is really illed with lung cancer, I realize the veracity of a conventional pinoy wisdom that goes: ano/sino ka man (i.e., you may be convict or a free man, a rich or a pauper, an ordinary citizen or a government official, truthful or a duper) darating din ang panahon na haharap ka sa iyong "limit-situation"...

Let us compare... (Kuryente uli!)

It was in November of the previous year when I posted my last post in this blog. The succeeding month of December -- being the last month of the year, i.e., the time when office reports are to be drafted and sent to appropriate authorities -- practically prevented me from keying in some thoughts in this blog.
This time, when I have more time to ponder things over -- and when I am enjoying a little distance from Mindoro -- I cannot but draw a number of comparison and contrast between the province where I am from and the locales I am privileged to see and live in even temporarily.
To the readers of this blog, may I say that in Singapore, an island state which if not for its ports initially was thought to be a place that is not capable of development, a rather interesting plan concerning the household and even industrial use of electricity is being proposed.
In the Philippines, we know of the "tingi" system -- which has been employed even in securing our pre-paid load for mobile phones. Load is secured by card -- in the amount of 300 or 500 pesos (depending on the network provider).
In Singapore, the availment of electricity is proposed to be made akin to "by-card" system. That is, households and even industries can procure electricity "by-card", too. Say, one can go to the store and secure a pre-paid power-card, bring it home and he/she has a supply of electricity for specified period of time...
Hearing this proposal over the broadcast, I cannot but think of our beloved OMECO.
The proposal concerned is to a certain extent not primarily about an out of this world technology. It is born out of, I suppose, a strong desire to innovate -- all for the convenience of and better service to the consumers.