Lifestyle check for provincial engineers

“You've got to think lucky. If you fall into a mudhole, check your back pocket - you might have caught a fish.”  Darrell Royal

By Alex P. Vidal

DO we prevent graft and corruption in government when we do a no non-sense check and balance?

A lifestyle check for those working in government should be done periodically and shouldn’t be a case only of ningas cogon for those implementing it.

Corrupt government employees and officials who don’t know how to conceal their wealth are usually the ones who end up wrestling with criminal and administrative raps filed against them before the Office of the Ombudsman.

When officials and employees in a certain government agency display ostentatious wealth, that agency becomes the red light for graft and corruption.

How they became instant rich and where they get their loot would be the hottest topic in every nook and cranny.

For instance, many provincial engineers have no qualms parading their luxury vehicles in public and have virtually transformed the capitol parking areas into an exhibit of expensive cars.

When a taxpayer visits the capitol, he will be horrified to find some luxury cars like MU-X Isuzu, Toyota Fortuner, Crosswind Isuzu, Isuzu D-Max pick-up, among the latest car models in parking spaces.

These are purportedly owned by engineers who acquired their wealth from "kickbacks" in various infra and road projects.

RICH

Some of these rich employees also reportedly connived with corrupt area engineers who sell diesel fuel distributed for use of capitol backhoes, loaders, bulldozers and dump trucks in project sites.

Each of the five areas reportedly gets 2,000 liters of fuel for a total of 10,000 liters of fuel distributed in five areas in the province.

For instance, if the tanker deposits 80 liters daily, the corrupt area engineer liquidates 120 liters.

“There is connivance between the tanker and the area engineer and everybody is happy,” sources said. “If the diesel fuel is P30 per liter, imagine how they laugh their way to the videoke bar.”

Sources added: “The sad part is that provincial engineer Gracianito Lucero appears to be unaware of this anomaly because he does not have close and regular dialogue with his men.”

The one who is calling most of the shots in the provincial engineer’s office is reportedly assistant engineer Romeo Andig, not Lucero.

Lucero was not available when we tried to reach him yesterday.

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THE “Kampohan Sang Mga Biktima Sang Yolanda” romped off on February 16 and will last until February 20 outside the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) regional office 6 in Molo district, Iloilo City.

Led by the Paghugpong sang mga Mangunguma sa Panay kag Guimaras (Pamanggas), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU)-Panay, Gabriela, Anakbayan, and Kadamay, an urban for alliance, the group called for the immediate full release of the financial shelter aid for victims of typhoon Yolanda and the scrapping of the Memorandum Circular No. 24 Series of 2014 or the guidelines on the implementation of Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA) for Yolanda victims.

Of the P9 billion approved for the aid of typhoon victims in Western Visayas, only P1.4 billion has been released according to DSWD-6 Regional Director Evelyn Macapobre.

Cris Chaves, Pamanggas secretary-general, said those with totally damaged houses were promised P30,000 each while partially damaged houses were promised P10,000 each.

Winnie Legriso of KMU decried the government’s snail-paced approach in the distribution of funds.

“Biktima ka na sang bagyo biktima ka pa gid sang pagka uyaya sang gobierno. Biktimahon ka pa gid sang corruption (the typhoon victims are also victims of government neglect and corruption),” he bewailed.

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CITY administrator Norlito Bautista did not reveal the names of the four city hall casual employees reportedly caught forging the signatures of city officials in a bogus payroll they made and presented to a cellular phone company in order to avail a promo in the recent Dinagyang Festival.

But he confirmed that the four have been fired or their contracts will no longer be renewed.

They reportedly used the bogus payroll to make it appear that they get a salary of at least P10,000 a month, which is a requirement in order to avail of the promo.

We laud city hall’s decisiveness and quickness in dealing with the case of the four erring employees.

We hope city hall will also be quick to lower the boom on employees and officials who commit more than payroll forgery.

In fairness to Korina

“Fairness is not an attitude. It's a professional skill that must be developed and exercised.”  Brit Hume

By Alex P. Vidal

THE problem with being the wife of a prominent politician is that you are always under close scrutiny; even the way you shape your eyebrows and the manner you move your lips are subjected to microscopic sleuthing.

Such is the misfortune that befell Korina Sanchez, twice a recipient of disparaging remarks from do-gooders and dyed-in-the-wool haters; fault-finders who always find pleasure in mocking the first lady wanna-be with catatonic impulsion.

When Korina committed a lapsus linguae in the super-typhoon “Ruby” forecast during a newscast on ABS-CBN last December 3, detractors were quick to make mountain out of a molehill, tearing her apart like ribbons for being “irresponsible” and a dork.

We know that Korina made the mistake sans malice and bad faith.

Everyone commits a mistake every now and then.

Nobody’s perfect.

One reckless statement does not make a professional media personality a merchant of doom overnight.

Korina did not commit the error with a joyride.

It went viral and the consequences were fatal and unpalatable.

FIRE

After it caught fire and brimstone in the social media, a hoax report was posted on a satirical website parroting that she was supposedly declared persona non grata by no less than Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The hoax report shot: “Abe, speaking in public after his meeting with officials of Japan Meteorological Agency regarding typhoon Hagupit (Ruby), said that for a public figure such as Sanchez, to say such things towards Japan; is an act "definitely unbecoming of a news anchor, let alone an Interior Ministry's wife".

"I am very saddened to hear reports of schadenfreude coming from a TV anchor, who just last year, was put in her place by Mr. Anderson Cooper of CNN," said Abe.

"That is why without a second thought, I am declaring wholeheartedly Ms. Korina Sanchez of the Philippines, as an unwelcome person anywhere in Japan."

The International Business Times, meanwhile, decried that “many in the Philippines were outraged by the insensitive remark made by the prominent TV anchor. However, for Sanchez, this is not the first time that she has courted controversy at the global level.”

RAPPLER

It recalled, citing a Rappler report, that in November last year, Korina, who is ABS-CBN's chief correspondent and anchor of its flagship newscast TV Patrol, had lashed out at CNN anchor Anderson Cooper for criticizing the country's government and their response to handling the Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan).

“Following her insensitive remark, the recent hoax gained more traction, as now Sanchez's husband Mar Roxas is said to be aspiring for the President's seat in the country and any statement from her would have an impact, both at national and international levels,” added the International Business Times.

In another bizarre development, comedian Joey de Leon, of all the people, lambasted the popular TV newscaster on Twitter.

But who is Joey de Leon?

His soliloquy can be easily dismissed as akin to a pot calling the kettle black.

God wanted to stop ‘Ruby’ but He didn’t; He couldn’t

“God used beautiful mathematics in creating the world.”

Paul Dirac

By Alex P. Vidal

WAS super-typhoon “Ruby” or “Hagupit” a “punishment” from God?

Or was it a pre-destined human suffering?

Or “revenge” of nature?

If we believe in the religious philosophy of deism, we will throw away the doctrine of theism; and we will cast aside pantheism.

The deists would never believe that God had something to do with “Yolanda” last year, “Ruby” this year, and other deadly catastrophes in the past and in the future.

They believe that God exists, and that His glory is manifested in the heavens and the earth, but that He does not participate in any way in the events which happen in that universe.

The deist conception of God is that he is a great clock maker, who created the cosmos and stands outside watching the events that unfold within it.

The theists, on the other hand, hold that God is present to the world, yet separate from it; thus if He is a murderous God, He could be blamed for the “Yolanda” and “Ruby” mayhem “to teach us a lesson” for being sinners.

The pantheists believe that God is manifested in nature and, in fact, identical to nature.

CRUEL

Since man has been cruel and irresponsible in dealing with his environment and nature since time immemorial, did God bring the calamities as an act of “revenge”?

From the point of view of Christian precepts, the above-stated arguments seem illogical because God essentially sums up the meaning of love.

Since the theological concept of God is that of having the attributes of omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), omnipresence (present everywhere), omnibenevolence (perfect goodness), divine simplicity, and eternal and necessary existence, God can never be cruel, murderous, vengeful or destructive.

But Yahweh, the God in the Old Testament, was sadistic and cruel who killed 2,821,364 people, mostly Philistines, using biblical numbers, according to Dwindling In Belief.

YAHWEH

Yahweh reportedly killed an estimated 25 million people, added the Dwindling In Belief, an unbeliever’s thoughts about the Bible, Quran, and Book of Mormon.

“I kill ... I wound ... I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and mine sword shall devour flesh.” (Deuteronomy 32:39-42)

In the Flood of Noah, an estimated 20,000,000 were killed (reference: Genesis 7:23)

For more on the number of those killed by God, please read Steve Wells’ book Drunk With Blood, where he documented “God’s killings in the Bible.”

So why did “Yolanda”, “Ruby” and other calamities happen?

Either God wanted to stop them but He did not, or God wanted to stop them but He could not.

This was the same view made by Voltaire, a rationalist, when he criticized Jean-Jacque Rousseau, a romanticist, in the aftermath of the Lisbon earthquake that killed thousands of people in 1755.

    

A draw that meant ‘victory’

“Football is like life - it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.” Vince Lombardi

By Alex P. Vidal

THERE was a time when Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam wouldn’t be satisfied even after blanking the Philippines in men’s football in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
Indonesia was not happy either even if it bundled out the Philippines, 7-0.
The Indons wanted a humiliating 11-0 or even 17-0 (that’s too much insult to bear for the Filipinos).
Those were the years when the Azkals XI wasn’t yet organized.
With most national team members are now naturalized citizens--half British and half Filipino like the Younghusband brothers, among other foreign recruits with Filipino blood, the Philippines, otherwise known as “Azkals”, has ceased to become a David in the field of Goliaths.  
Against the amazing Thailand, a scoreless draw can be considered as a “victory” for the Philippines’ Azkals XI in the first leg of their AFF Suzuki Cup semifinals clash at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila on Saturday (November 6, 2014).
Currently ranked 144th in the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the Thailand national football team, entered in the tournament as “Thailand War Elephants”, is the No. 1 football team in the Southeast Asia (SEA) region.

NEVER WON

The Philippines has never won a match in its last 14 international encounters with the Thais.
Since 1972, our national booters have been the Thais’ favorite whipping boys.
The Azkals XI, in fact, was lucky to escape defeat after Thai forward Adisak Kraisorn was sent off in the final 21 minutes of the match.
Kraisorn received a red card when he appeared to catch Azklas XI defender Amani Aguinaldo with an elbow to the face after an altercation between the pair in the centre circle.
“However, the hosts failed to capitalize on having an extra man, leaving both teams with all to play for in the return match at Bangkok's Rajamangala Stadium on Wednesday. The winner of the tie will face either Vietnam or Malaysia in the final later this month,” reported the FIFA.
FIFA described the opening half of Saturday's semi-final as “a disappointment with neither side able to carve out a clear cut opportunity.”
The match came to life after the interval with Perapat Notechaiya firing narrowly wide for the visitors from a tight angle, while the hosts felt aggrieved when Phil Younghusband was unable to get a clear shot on goal after losing his footing following a Suttinun Phukhom challenge.

CLOSEST

Thailand went closest to breaking the deadlock in the 55th minute as Charyl Chappuis burst into the Azkals box and saw his shot run across the face of the Philippines' goalmouth Sarawut Masuk just failing to make contact with the ball at the unguarded far post.
“The feisty encounter boiled over in the 69th minute when Adisak was dismissed but the hosts could not make the most of the extra man with Younghusband going closest with a shot from the edge of the box that was easily stopped by Thai goalkeeper Kawin Thammasatchanan,” FIFA reported.
The match began around two hours before typhoon Ruby or Hagupit made landfall in the Philippines.
It went ahead despite tournament organizers warning it could be cancelled in the event of severe weather.
PAGASA confirmed storm Ruby crashed into the eastern part of the country with gusts of 210 kilometers (130 miles) an hour, while also bringing heavy rain to the densely populated capital of Manila to the north.