Will lightning strike twice in city hall?

“If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.”

--Thomas J. Watson

By Alex P. Vidal

NEWARK, New Jersey -- An illiterate but patriotic public servant is as dangerous as the corrupt public servant.

The only difference is, corrupt public servants are really the real menace to society.

The illiterate will mismanage the government. The corrupt, on the other hand, will impoverish the nation.

The country can easily rebound from the doldrums of mismanagement.

If public coffers have been emptied by corrupt public servants, every citizen or member of the family will suffer from a hodgepodge of government neglect and dispossession.
Former Supreme Court Chief Justice and Senate President Hilario Davide prefers the illiterate over the corrupt.
I reject both.

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THE presence of Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque in the 50^th Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo City in the Philippines on January 28, 2018 didn’t sit well with those wishing to oust Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III before the May 2019 elections.

Roque, President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s representative during the festival’s final day, reportedly conveyed the President’s message of support for the festival’s golden edition.

Roque’s gesture could be interpreted that everything is well between Malacanang and Iloilo City Hall in as far as political relationship is concerned.

Those who believed that “stubborn” Mayor Joe III may have committed a serious gaffe by his refusal to recall the much-criticized executive order that closed a portion of Rizal Street in Plaza Jaro in connection with the Feast of Our Lady of the Candles Nuestra Señora de la Purificacion y Candelaria on February 2, however, think the city mayor is ripe for a kill.

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CRITICS surmise the city mayor can be eliminated through a case for “violation” of anti-graft practices act before the Office of the Ombudsman and, thus, suffer the fate of his predecessor, Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog.

They suspect his much-ballyhooed “cordial” relationship with the hard-hitting President from Davao City is a myth or like a bubble that can explode anytime.

They viewed President Duterte’s non-appearance in the Dinagyang Festival as a tell-tale sign that the President’s relationship with the City Hall has remained frosty even after Mabilog’s overthrow.

They are apparently cynical on a scenario of President Duterte coming to Mayor Joe III’s rescue in the event the city mayor will end up facing the slammer.

And if ever a case of that nature be marshaled against Mayor Joe III, it would most likely come from former Iloilo provincial administrator Manuel Mejorada, author of the Ombudsman case that toppled Mabilog last year.

If Mejorada is convinced that Mayor Joe III really violated the law when he defended and sustained his controversial Jaro Plaza road edict, the former capitol bigwig probably must be hoping that lightning will strike anew in the Iloilo City Hall.    

Incidentally, Roque is Mejorada’s former legal counsel in the latter’s libel cases filed by Senator Franklin Drilon.

His other legal counsel is Atty. Eduardo Jalbuna, former president of the Iloilo Press Club (IPC).

Dinagyang’s lifeblood

“Generally, when I come to festivals, I just wander freely and see what happens.”

--St. Lucia

By Alex P. Vidal

NEWARK, New Jersey -- The just-concluded 50^th Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo City in the Philippines wouldn’t have reached the golden year if not for the strong and unwavering support of the advertising industry.

This is where we can best appreciate the role of capitalism.

This is where business, religion, and culture blend together and become vital cogs in progress and productivity.

In any gargantuan undertaking, money is the game changer and trailblazer.

Commercials easily strike a chord with consumers during gigantic events like the Dinagyang Festival held on January 27-28, 2018.

By shifting away from downbeat and snarky campaigns, companies with wise investment in Dinagyang and other prominent annual festivals in the country, can easily connect with consumers, thus their participation also contributes an uptick in local economy.

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Without money, the talents and sacrifices of ati-ati warriors, choreographers and other stakeholders will not be given justice.

Business has pumped millions of advertisement in promotions and sponsorship in the tribes participating in the Kasadyahan and Ati-ati dance competitions, side events like the Miss Dinagyang pageant, sports and other religious and cultural programs related to the week-long feast in honor of Senor Santo Nino, and media commercials and coverage.

Advertisement and sponsorship has become a necessary lifeblood for the promotion and sustenance of the annual festival, now known worldwide because of its sophistication, uniqueness, and grandeur.

The Iloilo Business Club (IBC), Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation, Inc. (IDFI), Filipino-Chinese business and community, Department of Tourism (DoT), Iloilo City and Provincial Governments, and participating schools are actually the primary heroes of the Ilonggo festival that has attracted thousands of visitors and millions of viewers in “live” television and social media coverage.

When chroniclers of this colorful religious and cultural festival produce a manuscript, they will not forget to emphasize that without its lifeblood, Dinagyang Festival, as an integral part of our culture and history, could never breach the golden age.  

Why 'terrorists' won’t bomb Iloilo City

“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said.”

-- Peter Drucker

By Alex P. Vidal

NEWARK, New Jersey -- At the risk of being accused as an imbecile, I reiterate my stand against the decision of authorities to “jam” or suspend cellular phone signals in Iloilo City in the Philippines during the highlights of the Dinagyang Festival on January 27-28, 2018.

If cellular phone signals are jammed or suspended, users along the parade route may not be able to access call, text and mobile data services, according to an advisory from a giant telecommunication firm.

If the purpose is to “prevent” terrorists from disrupting or sabotaging the Ilonggos’ religious and cultural festival, it’s an absurd wishful thinking.

It’s the users that are being punished, not the “terrorists”.

It’s the users that are being inconvenienced, not the enemies.

Cellular phone users with reserved seats in judging areas and those lining up in the streets to watch the performances of competing tribes, will be cut off from their loved ones for several hours only because our authorities are jittery about terrorism.

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They may argue that “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure”; but, in the first place, it’s the job of the police intelligence unit to monitor whether a terrorist group has arrived or is now present within the vicinity of the metropolis days ahead of the festival.

Strict monitoring and sleuthing is part of effective preventive measures.

With their high tech monitoring gadgets, police can always intercept any hostile communication by any intruders.

There should be no more need to disrupt the normal life of civilian mobile phone users.

A cellular phone is man’s most important gadget in this age of social media and 3G mania.

Sometimes he can afford to lose his wallet or even a backpack, but not his cellular phone.

Mobile phone users in the crowd who can’t send a text message or check their Facebook and Instagram accounts for just a few seconds even while watching the ati-ati performances, will surely utter unprintable words or hoist a goblet.

Globe Telecom has nevertheless complied with the directive from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to “temporarily suspend mobile services within the immediate vicinity” of Sinulog festival in Cebu City (January 20-21) and Ati-atihan festival in Kalibo, AKlan (January 21).

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The possibility of organized or home-grown terrorists penetrating the Dinagyang parade routes to create mayhem is next to nil, to say the least, if we consider the following reasons:

1. Iloilo City is well-guarded and secured. The Police Regional Office 6 (PRO6) is three minutes away by car from the Plaza Libertad, which is adjacent to the City Hall;

2. Some 3,314 police security personnel will be deployed within the vicinity of the parade;

3. Enemies or armed bandits will find it hard to reach within the festival’s parameters because traffic is usually blocked across the bridge in La Paz district for north-bound vehicles, and in Molo district for south-bound vehicles. Unless the bombers are parade participants, it’s impossible for them to reach even the rotunda of Gen. Luna St. and Bonifacio Drive;

4. Iloilo City, as the “City of Love”, is not the right place for brutal malcontents and invaders wanting to foment violence or terrorism. Its leaders are not known to taunt or spit any inflammatory diatribe against jihadists or other known Islamic extremist groups; and

5. Since time immemorial or since the Dinagyang Festival romped off officially as a religious and cultural festival in 1967, the Ilonggos have not experienced any violent disruption of horrific proportion from outsiders that would erode their faith on the security measures undertaken by authorities.

Let’s think positive, pray, be vigilant, be merry and enjoy the 50^th Dinagyang Festival. Hala bira!