Treñas-Mabilog city hall meeting a positive sign

“We are each other's harvest; we are each other's business; we are each other's magnitude and bond.”

―Gwendolyn Brooks

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

ALTHOUGH many politically mature Ilonggos are leery of the upcoming meeting between Iloilo City Mayor Raisa Treñas-Chu and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Jed Patrick Mabilog, it may be viewed largely as a positive sign in as far us active collaboration between two public officials is concerned.

Many embittered supporters of the two Ilonggo leaders may feel a little bit uncomfortable since they both belong in the metropolis’ fractured political alliance, but the meeting may also be considered as a step closer to the much-desired reconnection or reunification if the words still exist in their vocabularies.

Things did not work out politically when Mabilog came back on September 10, 2024 from a self-imposed exile after spending seven years in the United States.

The political format and alliances changed dramatically when Mabilog’s ally, Iloilo City Rep. Julienne Baronda, severed ties with Mayor Raisa’s father, former Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas, who used to be Mabilog’s benefactor.

 

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Whatever antagonism that ensued thereafter when lines were immensely drawn might still be fixed, in one way or the other, when Usec Jed and Mayor Raisa hookup and discuss programs, cooperation and solidarity for the good of the Ilonggos.

The upcoming city hall get-together, of course, has nothing to do with rumored plans of Councilor Miguel “Megs” Treñas to run for congressman in 2028.

Ditto with Mabilog’s rumored candidacy for city mayor in 2028.

“Has nothing to do” means any political event in the near future may not be part of agenda while the DILG official and city mayor are in the honeymoon stage of integration and reconnection.

Councilor Megs is the city mayor’s brother and son of former Mayor Jerry.

Mabilog, who once earned the ire of former President Rodrigo Duterte during the past administration’s brutal war against illegal drugs, has not yet publicly announced he’s interested to reclaim city hall.

He first assumed office as Iloilo City mayor on June 30, 2010 after being elected to the position in the May 2010 national and local elections.

Mabilog, 60, served for three terms until October 30, 2017.

 

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Summer’s forecasted “volatile mix” of historic heat has officially arrived early. NYC is shattering a 30-year record this week with a punishing heat wave pushing triple-digit RealFeel temperatures, though we’re still technically in spring.

Brianna Perry of Secret New York City reported that the extreme weather has triggered Air Quality Advisories (in effect through 11 pm May 19) and an official Code Red Alert. Additionally, the National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a Heat Advisory from 11 am Tuesday, May 19, through 8 pm Wednesday, May 20.

We have been advised in New York to call 311 immediately to dispatch an outreach team if we see anyone on the street who appears to be in distress due to the heat.

This came after the New York City (NYC) Department of Homeless Services (DHS) officially declared a Code Red during periods of extreme, dangerous heat and humidity.

Specifically, a Code Red is triggered when: The heat index hits 95°F or higher for two or more consecutive days and the heat index hits 100°F or higher for one or more days.

 

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During a Code Red, shelter options are expanded and enhanced outreach is deployed to protect the city’s most vulnerable unsheltered populations.

High heat is a silent killer. It’s crucial to monitor ourselves, our friends, and our neighbors for warning signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke such as: Hot dry skin (or excessive sweating), trouble breathing, rapid heartbeat, confusion, disorientation, or dizziness, nausea and vomiting.

While the heat affects everyone, those at the highest risk include adults aged 60 and older, young children, and individuals with pre-existing health conditions (like heart disease, diabetes, respiratory issues, or cognitive impairment).

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)

 

An ‘act of God’

“Men must be governed by God, or they will be ruled by tyrants.”

—William Penn

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

MOST of us may not have noticed it, but the saying that God’s hands work in mysterious ways, or God works in mysterious ways, was manifested in brutal fashion in the recent chaos in the Philippine senate.

The phrase is a popular sentiment used to emphasize life's unexpected turns or hardships. While the exact wording isn't found in scripture, it reflects biblical themes of divine sovereignty.

The senate coup that toppled Tito Sotto had to happen, as well as the unmasking of traitors like perennial contrabida Loren Legarda.

The foiled bid by the NBI to arrest Bato dela Rosa, who was eventually allowed to escape amid bursts of “warning shots” by the trigger maniac sergeant at arms and his minions, had to develop.

The tumult, including Alan Pete Cayetano’s “the senate is and was under attack) saber rattling, needed to occur.

It was probably an “act of God” or a severe, unavoidable natural event—such as a hurricane, earthquake, or flood—that occurs without human intervention and could not have been reasonably prevented.

It serves as a defense to excuse parties from liability or contract performance in law and insurance.

 

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But the “act of God” the Filipinos, including some people around the world monitoring the embarrassing event, witnessed on May 11, 12, 13, 2026 was meant to awaken the Filipinos from deep slumber and remind them how important are the events that will unfold once the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio unwraps this week (barring unforeseen circumstances—and maneuvering by pro-Duterte SIN-nators).

The triple whammies (game of musical chairs for senate presidency, Houdini-like escape of Bato, Cayetano’s eruption) could be warnings in disguise.

A portent of things to come.

Warning that if Cayetano (granting he won’t be yanked out himself in another rumored coup set on May 18), et al won’t behave during the Duterte-Carpio impeachment trial, “there will be a prize to pay.”

Warning that if they dilly dally, they will incur the public wrath.

Warning that if they ignore the full weight of “overwhelming” evidence against the vice president and vote to acquit her, there will be a series of devastating political consequences.

 

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Because of the chaos and imminent threat of public censure, Cayetano, et al will now be careful in their moves to shield and rescue the embattled vice president even if the pieces of evidence will show her guilt in the following articles:

Article I: Culpable Violation of the Constitution and Betrayal of Public Trust (Misuse of P612.5 million in confidential and intelligence funds across the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education).

Article II: Betrayal of Public Trust and Unexplained Wealth (Discrepancies in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth and hidden assets).

Article III: Bribery, Graft, and Corruption (Alleged use of cash envelopes to influence and bribe DepEd officials).

Article IV: Culpable Violation of the Constitution, High Crimes, and Betrayal of Public Trust (Publicly threatening to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the First Lady, and the House Speaker, and inciting sedition).

 

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TOP 20 WOMEN, INFANTS AND CHILDREN FRUITS AND VEGETABLES: 1. Bananas, 2. Apples 3. Carrots 4. Tomatoes 5. Iceberg Lettuce 6. Oranges 7. Broccoli 8. Grapes 9. Winter Squash 10. Onions 11. Pears 12. Watermelon 13. Peaches 14. Spinach 15. Zucchini 16. Cauliflower 17. Strawberries 18. Cabbage 19. Cucumber 20. Cantaloupe. (Source: Produce Retailer)

LAST SEASONAL FRUITS. Fresh cherries are one of the few items in the produce department that don't have year-round availability. Imports start in November and run through January from Chile, then pick back up in May from California and end in late August or early September from the North-west and British Columbia. There can be as much as 5 to 6 months with no fresh cherry availability.

WHAT’S THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIFE? They are the ones in which we decide our problems are our own. We don't blame them on our parents and relatives, the ecology, the system, the voters, or the weather. When we realize that we mind our own business and control our own destiny.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines—Ed)

Not a good coach

"Coaches have to watch for what they don’t want to see and listen to what they don’t want to hear."

—John Madden

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

IF President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. were a National Basketball Association (NBA) coach, he wouldn’t win a championship even if he had the best team.

Reason: he appears to be not a good coach.

When the president let go of vastly popular and very effective enforcer of the law, General Nicolas Torre III, last year in favor of DILG chief Junvic Remulla, who rotted for General Jose Melencio Nartatez, it was like letting go a star player for a nondescript cager.

It was like releasing Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic, widely regarded as the best player in the NBA today, for Cleveland Cavalier’s Anthony Bennett, one of the the league history’s draft busts, in the middle of a championship game.

Also, President Marcos Jr.’s dilly-dallying attitude in sacking inefficient and overrated Remulla despite the latter’s lackluster performance is lending credence to criticism that he is a weak leader.

Despite popular calls from people angered by the recent political circuses in the Philippines, including the Bato dela Rosa arrest fiasco, for the president to give Remulla the boot and appoint either former senator Antonio Trillanes IV or former Surigao congressman Robert Ace Barbers, Mr. Marcos Jr. or BBM still hasn’t made a drastic move.

Doesn’t he know how to read the handwriting on the wall?

 

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Leadership, according to Uncoverie, is the ability to guide a group toward a shared goal by creating direction, alignment and commitment.

In practice, this means helping people understand where they are going, how they will get there and why the effort matters.

Many effective leaders operate without positional authority, purely because they demonstrate leadership qualities.

Their influence comes from consistency and judgment built on trust. This is why leadership and characteristics are closely linked: leadership is expressed through behavior over time.

Leadership involves decision-making under uncertainty and communication during change.

It requires judgment and emotional awareness alongside the ability to maintain focus when priorities compete.

 

People look to leaders for steadiness and clarity, especially when conditions are demanding.

 

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Life is always being badgered by a mind-boggling mystery. Our friends today are our enemies tomorrow. Our allies today are our tormentors tomorrow.

Those who heap praises on us to high heavens today will tear to shreds our reputation in hell tomorrow. We can't step on the same river twice, according to Heraclitus.

We kill the goose that lays the golden egg. We bite the hands that feed us. We are adamant to give credit where credit is due. We offend the wrong people.

We have no love lost for the losers. We are in mad scramble queuing to the doorsteps of the winners. We mistake our friends' generosity and humility for their weaknesses.

We kick and spit at people already down on all four. We look at life backwards and refuse to live it forward. We never learned from our mistakes.

NO MAN IS AN ISLAND. The reason why a seesaw was made for two persons is that when you go down, there would always be someone there to lift you up again!

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)

I know of some ‘legit journs’ who are equally corrupt

“Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country.”

—Karl Kraus

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

IT’S understandable for some of our media colleagues to jump the gun on the five bogus Manila journalists (the four only actually acted as “bagmen”) led by a social media madcap, Franco Mabanta, for “shaming” the media profession after being arrested by the NBI in a sting operation for alleged extortion on May 6.

The venal and mercenaries weren’t even legitimate members of the working press, but many online platforms, newspapers and TV networks identified 43-year-old Mabanta as “media executive” and his cohorts—including the Peanut Gallery Media Network (PGMN) charlatans—as “(digital) media commentators.”

The word “media” was a slammer.

For many ordinary people, Mabanta and his ilk were real journalists or dyed-in-the-wool news/commentary anchors.

Normal news listeners and readers, after all, don’t (have time to) distinguish between mainstream professional reporters and social media influencers who act as political paid hacks. All colors agree in the dark.

 

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Thus, the revulsion from the ranks of the mainstream press what with the breathtaking NBI entrapment operation turning into a swashbuckling nationwide blockbuster event.

The holier-than-thou among us naturally cried foul: “We (the legitimate press) worked hard and protected our reputation over the years only to be destroyed in scandalous degree by the likes of Mabanta, et al?”

For a while, it became a sweeping black eye on the media industry as a whole—until legitimate journalists started to quickly correct the “false” impression Mabanta, et al and the real working press are one and the same.

The striking narrative is, “you’re not one of us, of course, that’s why you are corrupt, or that’s why you are capable of doing extortion activity.”

As if all legitimate journalists are pristine and immaculate as Caesar’s wife while all pseudo-journalists like Mabanta, et al are filthy like manholes.  

 

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The bad news is Mabanta, et al don’t have the monopoly of infamy they had brought themselves into.

There are also scoundrels in the ranks of active or regular media, and they’re as guilty as the ones they dread calling “our colleagues” like the embattled PGMN dregs.

Based on personal knowledge and experience, we know a lot of broadcast and print media thugs who operated (and are still operating) worse than Mabanta, et al.

The only difference is the amount involved in larceny. But whether the ripoff amounted to P300 million or P3,000, it’s still plain and simple extortion.

This identity crisis, or the sweeping generalization of the legit and fake ones, is what we have been worrying about ever since media technology evolved over the years and morphed into a giant octopus with mind-boggling tentacles. Confusing and unstoppable.

The assertion that some legitimate journalists are as corrupt as "bogus" or unethical journalists, meanwhile, is a subjective, heavily debated statement that cannot be classified simply as correct or incorrect.

It is a matter of perspective on media ethics.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)