Mayor Joe III can't interfere in daughter's happiness

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."
-John Wooden

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- A father can't interfere in his daughter's love affair.
He can only give advice and suggestions, but a father can't control or halt a daughter's heartbeat.
He can't prevent her either from marrying the love of her life--unless it's a shotgun marriage; unless the marriage is fraught with fraud and impropriety.
Such was the case when the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) defied Iloilo City Mayor Jose "Joe III" Espinosa and proceeded with the issuance of notice of award to the MetroPac Water Investments Corp (MWIC) for their P12.349-billion joint venture December 21.

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MIWD showed Mayor Joe III that its love affair with the MWIC is "none of his business" to say the least; that the deal underwent transparent process, legitimate and aboveboard.
Therefore, the city mayor has no right to halt the MIWD-MWIC romance.
As a father, Mayor Joe III can't stand in between his daughter and her happiness.
As long as they are both happy and satisfied, their understanding is mutual; and the marriage doesn't have any legal impediment, couple MIWD and MWIC can live happily ever after.
Mayor Joe III can always run to the court if he still wishes to uncouple the lovers.


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News is when a man bites a dog. Dog biting a man isn't news.
News is when a cabbie or a driver of any public or private vehicle fatally attacks a pedestrian or a fellow driver in a traffic altercation.
They call it "road rage."
A mere exchange of heated words isn't news. A road scene where an angry motorist flashes "F" sign to another motorist or a pedestrian vice versa, isn't even earthshaking.
When irate drivers and passengers tangle in chaotic traffic snarl during rush hours, it's not a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Just like when we see beggars wearing rugged cloths in the sidewalks or a cop placing cuffs on a thief.
They are normal events.

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But when a sweet-looking young lady, who seems can not hurt a fly, punches an elderly driver in broad daylight over a traffic snafu and the victim reels away like a groggy pugilist about to hit the canvas, it's not only news, it's viral especially when the tumult is caught on video.
In our culture, elderly persons are treasured, loved, and respected regardless of status in life.
Even if they commit slight trespasses or simple misdemeanor, we don't lay our hand on them.
If they misbehave or commit unpleasant acts sometimes due to dementia and other age-related ailments, we can chide them surreptitiously but not harm them physically.
We don't assault our own parents.

MIWD directors: Damn if you do, damn if you don't

"Somewhere in the world there is an epigram for every dilemma."
--Hendrik Willem Van Loon

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- We can't blame the members of the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) board if they continued to ignore the order of Iloilo City Mayor Jose "Joe III" Espinosa III to vacate their posts.
They are in a "damn-if-you-do, damn-if-you-don't" situation.
If they vacate, they can be charged with abandonment. After all, they assumed their posts through a proper process and procedure.
And they are all qualified for the job.
If they continue to stay, the city mayor will invoke strong legal arguments to justify their removal. They will be forcefully hounded by a city hall demand to resign.
They will be caught between the devil and the deep blue see, so to speak.
Mayor Joe III insisted that the appointments of Dr. Juanito Acanto, Atty. Josephine Caram, Dr. Jessica Salas, Dr. Teodoro Robles, and businessman Ramon Cua-Locsin by Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. are "void ab initio" based on the SC decision.
Mayor Joe III invoked as the basis for his order a recent Supreme Court (SC) en banc ruling on a case in Cebu City, which, if applied in Iloilo City, will give the city mayor the power to appoint the MIWD directors.
The city mayor has issued a Cautionary/Cease and Desist Order against the MIWD directors. He wants to appoint the new directors.
The MIWD directors, however, have defied Mayor Joe III even as their lawyers led by MIWD legal counsel Roy Villa have asked the city mayor to go to court.
Mayor Joe III can't appoint the new MIWD directors because there are no vacant seats, the lawyers have argued.
If he goes to court and begin the legal debate in the proper forum, Mayor Joe III, a lawyer, will have the upper hand if he believes he is right.
If he won't and will continue his saber-rattling only in the media, he can't physically remove the MIWD directors who are also invoking their own legal standpoint and rights to justify their stay.

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Grandstanding Senator Juan Miguel "Migz" Zuburi has decried the "horrendous" airfare ticket prices in a recent Senate hearing on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), but did not name which airline and how much were the ticket prices involved.
His sweeping accusation could hurt the airline industry unless he will provide details of his allegation.
It's easy to read between the lines.
Some people suspect that Zubiri only wanted to disclose  that some Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) resource persons had approached him to solicit for their airfares.
In other words, he wanted to embarrass those resource persons in a subtle manner.

Three in one

"Juvenile crime is not naturally born in the boy, but is largely due either to the spirit of adventure that is in him, to his own stupidity, or to his lack of discipline, according to the nature of the individual."
--Robert Baden-Powell

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- By issuing an executive order directing the mandatory closure of nightclubs and establishments selling liquors by two o'clock in the morning, Iloilo City Mayor Jose "Joe III" Espinosa III delivered a knockout blow on three wicked activities: drunkenness, prostitution, drug addiction.
It's a three-in-one juggernaut for city hall.
It's during night time or bar hours where these three main producers of criminal and immoral activities flourish.
Joe III's Executive Order (EO) No 146 dated Dec 14, 2017 will not only prevent gangs, ruffians, and drug addicts from straying in the streets like serpents, it will also discourage or minimize prostitution in the city's prominent watering holes.
When bars and establishments selling liquors are closed, these misguided elements will have no place to use as tambayan.
Crimes will be minimized if not totally prevented.
Peace and order will improve.

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In trying to link Iloilo 1st District Rep. Oscar "Richard" Garin Jr. to the Dengvaxia imbroglio and connecting the controversial vaccination program to her rejection by the House Commission on Appointments (CA), former Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial sounded like a sore loser and a cry baby.
It's obvious from the start of the Senate hearing on the ill-fated P3.5 anti-dengue vaccination program that Ubial only wanted to pin down her predecessor, Dr. Janette Loreto-Garin.
Ubial, who was appointed as DOH chief by President Rodrigo R. Duterte, probably wasn't happy as Loreto-Garin's undersecretary during the administration of President NoyNoy Aquino, thus her umbrage and abhorrence toward the Garin couple.
Her sadness probably worsened after she was repulsed in the CA hearings.
If it is true that Rep. Garin "pressured" her to "order" more Dengvaxia for implementation in the congressman's district as well as in the districts of solons who were CA members, how would these solons influence the purchase of the hated P3.5 billion vaccine which was already consummated?

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The "noise" created by the recent Supreme Court decison on the Metropolitan Cebu Water District furor in Cebu City was what prompted Iloilo City Mayor Jose "Joe III" Espinosa III and the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) Board of Directors to scuffle.
Joe III, a lawyer, based his decison to terminate the five MIWD directors appointed by Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. on the SC en banc verdict.
Joe III believes, based on the SC ruling, that he has the authority to appoint the MIWD directors.
MIWD General Manager Imelda Magsuci appears to be cool and isn't bent to engage city hall in a legal collision course.
If they all base their arguments and discussions on legality and reason, confusion and further debate will be avoided.