Capitol identifies checks scam artists

“Every rejection is incremental payment on your dues that in some way will be translated back into your work.” James Lee Burke

By Alex P. Vidal

BY signifying interest to pay a partial amount of P5 million to the Panay Electric Company (PECO) out of the total P80 million arrears, Iloilo City Hall has restored the faith of other private utilities with pending collectibles from the city government.

The partial amount appropriated for payment of electric bills consumed since the time of former mayors Mansueto Malabor and now Iloilo City Rep. Jerry Trenas may be peanuts, but P5 million is P5 million in whatever dialect.

The biggest power consumption was recorded by the city public markets with bills reaching P30 million, including the P26 million in unpaid bills that mounted last year.

Although there was no available date mentioned for the next payment, at least city hall can now be given assurance that PECO will not disrupt its power lines this Yuletide season.

So many programs and activities in public plazas and other venues (gymnasiums, auditoriums, etc.) maintained by the city government have been lined up this Christmas.

PROGRAMS

One sure way to sabotage these programs and activities is to cut off the power lines in these areas due to non-payment of the gargantuan PECO bills.

The P5 million check is expected to protect all the Christmas-related programs and activities.

The move to pay PECO with the initial amount emanated from the City Council committee on appropriations chaired by Councilor Eduardo Penaredondo.

The windfall could be timely since Iloilo City is also scheduled to host segments of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in 2015.

By the end of 2014, city hall’s power bills are expected to increase now that the city government has installed several street lights and lampposts in the Diversion Road where some of the recently inaugurated state-of-the-art infra and road-widening projects are located.

Both city hall and PECO are studying some mechanisms on how to further reduce the bills without the need to slice a big chunk of the city budget intended for the employees’ benefits and the people’s basic needs.

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We are glad that Roxas City Hall has released the business permit of Kapis Mansions owned by businessman Joaquin “Toto” Diaz Dumagpi, a Capiz-based friend of Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay Sr.

Mayor Alan Celino may have interfered and did not want anymore to further inflame the issue after the delay was linked to Dumagpi’s friendship with the vice president.

Dumagpi had fought tooth and nail since early this year to compel city hall to release his hotel's business permit, insisting his papers were complete and properly documented.

In a press conference last month, Dumagpi scored the repeated refusal of the city licensing division to release the business permit, lamenting that the delay had cost Kapis Mansions millions of pesos of losses since the hotel was supposed to host the Department of Health (DOH) national convention.

Lawyer Leobeth Deslate-Delicana confirmed recently her client did not pay any penalty or surcharge to the city government.

There was no immediate explanation on the part of the city hall why it suddenly released Kapis Mansions’ business permit, which happened after the media extensively tackled the issue.

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Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor is ready to lower the boom on Capitol checks scammers upon his return from a three-day trip in South Korea.

Fact finding committee chief, Atty. Suzette Mamon, has completed the investigation and Defensor was already informed about it.

The Iloilo provincial government had been defrauded with P170,345.21.

This was after Provincial Accounting Office found alterations in 17 disbursement vouchers and checks for the payment of medicines, drugs and medical apparatus.

The Provincial Treasurer’s Office issued P1,652,379.48 check to Diomar, more than the amount due which is only P1,482,034.27.

The transaction was made through Diomar Trading, a longtime supplier of the Capitol, it was learned.

Yes to water, no to MIWD

“Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.”  
W. H. Auden

By Alex P. Vidal

Water and the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) are supposed to be like Siamese twins: inseparable.

Without MIWD there is no water. Without water there is no MIWD. At least that’s how most Ilonggo concessionaires think in as far as the water system in Iloilo is concerned for almost 50 years now.

MIWD produces potable water in the households, offices and farms. Consumers pay for the water supply. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. They maintain this type of symbiotic relationship.

Just like Panay Electric Company (PECO) and electricity, services are smooth and uninterrupted if consumers don’t renege on the payment of their monthly bills. There is no public uproar and restlessness if there are no frequent power outages and atrocious hidden fees. Simple logic.       

But public perception for MIWD has changed critically. Irate consumers have grown tired of its inefficiency and lackadaisical services that MIWD is not anymore indispensable in their eyes.

LIFE

Consumers have realized that there would still be life, after all, even without MIWD. They are not anymore afraid to kick MIWD in the butt and tell MIWD straight in the face to get lost!

When the faucets stopped producing water last June 14 and 15 because MIWD failed to settle the partial payment of its debt worth P2.7 million to its bulk water supplier, Flo Water Resources Iloilo, Inc., the patience of consumers reached the tipping point. Enough is enough.

Picking up the cudgels for the distraught consumers, Iloilo City Rep. Jerry Trenas and Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, who are water consumers themselves, uncorked the heaviest verbal barrage never uttered before by high-ranking local leaders in recent memory.

Trenas, a many-time referee of MIWD internal squabbles, has called for the privatization of the water utility firm. He feared the worst for the consumers if MIWD’s management was not privatized. He has no more love lost for MIWD owing probably to his love for his constituents and, perhaps, to his love for Dr. Rogelio Florete, Jr., his business associate and owner of Flo Water Resources Iloilo, Inc.

ADOPT

Trenas wanted MIWD to adapt to the paradigm shift of water management in the modern world. There is no room for inefficiency, sloppiness and ineptitude in a privatized MIWD, Trenas thought.

Mabilog, on the other hand, wanted to dissolve the MIWD. He wants water consumers in the city to look for their own water distribution system and not to anymore rely on the decrepit MIWD.

He has given up on MIWD’s series of demagoguery. Both city leaders fear MIWD’s lousy services will delay Iloilo City’s march to progress and development. Investors would never risk a long-term investment in a city that can’t quench the thirst of its residents even during rainy season.

The hostile reactions of both Trenas and Mabilog were enough proof that Iloilo City is willing to let go of MIWD after years of mutual co-existence and relationship. Somebody has to pack up and leave. A divorce is inevitable.

Mayor reports for work on bicycle; 1st Iloilo bikefest

Mayor reports for work on 
bicycle; 1st Iloilo bikefest 

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving." Albert Einstein

By Alex P. Vidal

In Vancouver, I covered the city hall beat, among other offices and cities in the British Columbia for a Filipino community newspaper, Philippine Asian News Today, where I briefly served as editor.
It was in this world's most livable city where I saw Mayor Gregor Robertson report for work on a bicycle. He went to city hall riding on a two-wheel bike like an ordinary cyclist without any bodyguard.
After parking his bicycle, he changed cloths right there in the parking area from jersey to office attire before proceeding to the mayor's office on 453 West 12th Avenue. Only tourists could not recognize that the cyclist changing cloths in the parking space was the chief executive of the City of Vancouver. 
Because he loves cycling, his proposal to create more cycling lanes in the streets snowballed. It was not hard for Robertson to get the support of the Vancouver city council which had voted unanimously to spend Canadian $25 million to create and improve bike lanes throughout the city, re-writing the city's map on how people get around.

KILOMETERS

The money would be spent building about 55 kilometers of new bike lanes and construction is on-going. It was expected to also enhance and improve connections from south Vancouver to the Canada Line Bridge.
Other notable changes expected in the project included extending separated bike lanes along Burrard Street and the Dunsmuir Viaduct, a pedestrian cycling greenway along Helmcken Street and an east-west bike route along 45th Avenue.
On March 10, 2010, we witnessed the smiling Robertson, an avid cyclist, open the Dunsmuir Viaduct bike lane. People in Vancouver have high regards for cyclists, who are treated with utmost respect in the roads because of the mayor's influence and advocacy for this mode of transportation.
The last time I was with Robertson was when we watched the 2010 World Cup finals between Spain and The Netherlands on Dunsmuir. I sat beside him on the pavement together with hundreds of soccer fans. "Where's your bike, mayor?" I asked him while he was about to leave after the Spaniards bundled out the Dutchmen, 2-0. "I parked it at city hall," he retorted with a smile.

EVENT

I recalled the biking event last April 1, 2014 when I witnessed the 1st Iloilo Bike Festival with routes passing the Lizares Mansion, Casa Mariquit, Jaro plaza, cathedral and belfry, Sanson-Montinola house, Nelly Garden, Museo Iloilo, the old provincial capitol and Arroyo Fountain, Calle Real, Fort San Pedro, Plaza Libertad, City Hall, San Jose Church and Sto. Rosario heritage houses, Customs House, Molo Church and  Iloilo River Esplanade.
More than a hundred cycling enthusiasts joined the fun ride and helped promote the “Share the Road” movement. 
Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, who joined the cyclists, led the ceremonial countdown together with Iloilo City Rep. Jerry Treñas and other city councilors and city hall officials.
“All of us are concerned in making our respective communities a better place to live in,” Senate President Franklin Drilon said in a speech and called the activity as timely amid the growing concern about the environment.
We've noticed that bike lanes were being built in some highways in the city especially in the Diversion Road. Mabilog, incidentally, is a friend of an Ilonggo cycling association that spearheaded the bike fest. Are we seeing Iloilo City as the next Vancouver when it comes to recognizing the rights of cycling enthusiasts to have separate bike lanes in major roads?