Dumaguete Metropost, Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2021 edition

Dive industry against

V o l . X X I I No. 1107 • Dum aguete Ci ty, Phi li p p i nes • Sept ember 26 - O ct ober 2, 2021 • P15. 00

reclamation Dive shop and resort owners in Negros Oriental are apprehensive over the possible negative impacts of the proposed 174-hectare offshore reclamation project in this capital city on the diving and tourism industry.

Glenn Carballo, president of the Negros Oriental Dive Association (NOrDA), said in an interview they decided to conduct an initial dive on Tuesday to determine the current state of the corals and sea grass beds in the area.

Carballo said more or less 40 divers joined the dive Tuesday morning along Escaño Beach in barangay Piapi to also show their solidarity to the “No to 174 Reclamation” movement which has been calling for the scrapping of the project for more than two months now.

NOrDA, comprising some 30 resorts and dive shops in Negros Oriental, and owned by some of the “most experienced people in the diving industry in the Visayas”, noted that Dumaguete is the gateway to some of the most famous dive spots in the Province and in the world, including the renowned Apo Island in Dauin town.

Earlier, Carballo wrote Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo inviting him and the City’s representatives to join NOrDA in the dive, and to participate as well in a number of programs on understanding marine life and how people here benefit from it.

“As an organization, we are deeply concerned about the grave impact of the proposed to page 2

Dumaguete City officials, led by Councilor Chaco Sagarbarria, meet with officials and residents of barangays Mangnao and Banilad to discuss plans for the flood control project that has an initial funding of P8 million. (Photo from Lupad FB)

metro

POST

Guv vetoes ordinance banning reclamation

Empowering the people of Negros Oriental and the worldwide community for 21 years and counting!

Gov. Roel Degamo has vetoed the ordinance passed last month by the Provincial Board declaring the Province’s marineprotected areas as “reclamation-free zones”.

2nd District Cong. Manuel “Chiquiting” Sagarbarria inaugurates the newly-completed multipurpose building in barangay Jilocon in the town of San Jose, north of Dumaguete. With him were Carolina Dijino, Vivencio Rendo Jr., Alvin Uy, and Woodrow Maquiling Sr. (Photo by Anicee de la Rama)

CoViD-19 Cases in the Philippines

as of Sept. 25, 2021

San Jose Dgte City Level Robinson Place #3 #3 San Jose St., St., Dgte City L evel 1 R1obinson Place Confirmed 2,453,328 No. 225-4440 City Tel o: (035) 2 25-­‐ 4440 D gte Dgte City Tel. Tel no: n(035) (035) 225-­‐ 4 440 Dgte.

City

0ror 422-9482 421-1524 or 422-­‐ 9482 T el TNo. el o: N(035) o: (035) 421-­‐ 1524 422-­‐ 9482 Tel. N (035) 421-­‐ 1524 Recovered 2,240,599

Deaths 37,405 #3 San Jose St., Dgte. City

Level 1 Robinson Place

#1 SJose an Jose Street, Dumaguete City #1 Dumaguete CityCity #1 San San Jose Street, Dumaguete Street, No.: Tel n(035) o: (035) 421-­‐ 0338 Tel.Tel 421-0338 no: (035) 421-­‐ 0338

Active Cases Population

175,324

111,372,663

Source: Worldometers.info

In a veto message to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, Degamo described their Ordinance as ultra vires, or beyond the power of the Provincial Legislature.

Some lawyers have said that the Fisheries Act already bans reclamations in MPAs, five of which were set up in Dumaguete City.

Vice Gov. Mark Macias said the Governor’s veto message will be brought to the attention of the Sanggunian when it meets on Monday, and the Board Members will decide whether or not to override the veto.

The Ordinance seeks to include all MPAs in the Province in one network for “better inter-LGU cooperation when it comes to protection and preservation of our environment,” Macias said.

In a previous resolution passed in July, the Provincial Board urged the Dumaguete City Council to “defer and re-evaluate” the authority given to Mayor Felipe Remollo to sign a contract with proponent EM Cuerpo Inc. to reclaim 174 hectares of the Dumaguete coastline.

The resolution cited the lack of prior consultation, and the absence of a technical study.

The National Academy of Science & Technology, in a statement issued last month, said Dumaguete’s MPAs are “part of a system of protected coral reefs, seagrass beds, and soft-sediment ecosystems that are meant to boost fisheries productivity, conserve marine biodiversity, and support tourism in Negros Oriental and the Central Visayas area.”

An MPA site or an MPA network may contribute to “longterm productivity of shallowwater fisheries” where small-scale fisherfolk thrive through proper protection of critical marine habitats, a book on managing MPAs in the Philippines explained.

In this process, the scientists said, coral reefs and ecosystems support and sustain the fish production which serves as important subsistence and livelihood for local fisherfolk communities around the country.

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september 26 - OCTOBER 2, 2021

2

MetroPost

NEWS and UPDATES

Josy pledges support to Macias for governor

MDW opens online payment channels

First District Cong. Josy Limkaichong has announced that she will support Vice Gov. Mark Macias should he decide to seek the governorship in the 2022 elections.

Limkaichong pledged her support for a possible Macias candidacy, in her program Heart ni Josy aired Saturday on Energy FM. Congressman Limkaichong, provincial chair of the Liberal Party in Negros Oriental, also committed the support of the Liberal Party for Macias.

Vice Governor Macias, however, has not yet announced his plan to seek the governorship.

Macias and Limkaichong have been political allies since the beginning of his political career. Macias ran as Limkaichong’s vice gubernatorial candidate when the latter ran for governor in 2013.

Macias won two more terms in 2016 and 2019, and is now on his third and last term as vice governor.

Alliance formed vs carbon emissions

Racing against time to address the worsening climate change crisis, multi-sectoral representatives have joined a movement initiated by geothermal power leader Energy Development Corp. aimed at attaining zero carbon emissions among businesses in the country.

EDC, the country’s largest renewable energy producer owned by First-Gen, which operates the 222.5MW Southern Negros Geothermal Plant in Valencia, Negros Oriental, spearheads the movement dubbed Net Zero Carbon Alliance, a media release from the power utility said Tuesday.

Launched virtually on Monday, the movement pushes for the country to become carbon neutral, in line with the Department of Energy’s goal to reduce emissions by as much as 75 percent. This is part of the government’s nationally-determined contributions to the landmark global United Nations’ Paris climate change agreement or the Conference of the Parties (COP 21).

“We are putting into action our revitalized mission in the Lopez Group to ‘forge collaborative pathways for a decarbonized and regenerative future’ by seeking partnerships and synergies with fellow enterprises in the country,” said EDC president and COO Richard Tantoco.

The Net Zero Carbon Alliance Program aims to “provide partners with a roadmap to attain carbon neutrality through the sharing of best practices and scaling up of carbon emission offsetting and tracking, as well as assistance in obtaining third-party certification of carbon emissions and offsets, and even access to “green” financing, among many other capacity-building tools,” EDC said in its media release.

Partners in the carbon-neutral alliance will be guided

by EDC’s experience as a carbon-negative company through its 100 percent renewable energy operations and to page 8 Dive....from p. 1 174-hectare ‘smart city’ reclamation to the future of the diving industry,” Carballo said in his letter to the Mayor.

The “ambitious project” will affect the coral reefs not just in Dumaguete but also in Bacong, Dauin, and Zamboanguita, he noted.

Neither Remollo nor any of his representatives were present in the dive, said Carballo, proprietor of Azure Dive Resort in the southern town of Dauin.

The NOrDA President told Remollo in his letter they will submit to his office a “thorough and [the] latest assessment” of the City’s marine environment “to enlighten him”.

Remollo has repeatedly said in his statements the reclamation project will benefit the people here through the generation of jobs, livelihood opportunities, and a boost in the economy, among others.

He said the project will be built “at no cost

to the City” and is still in the early stages, with no permit application yet submitted to the Philippine Reclamation Authority or the Department of Environment & Natural Resources.

The Mayor had also commissioned a group from outside of Dumaguete to conduct an underwater/ marine survey although the results have yet to be divulged to the public.

However, a coalition opposition group of environmentalists, scientists, church officials, and people’s organizations, among others, has noted alleged legal irregularities in the process by which the P23-billion unsolicited project is being pushed.

They also cited moral and environmental reasons in opposing the project, which was proposed by E.M. Cuerpo Inc., a Quezon City-based group which has ties with a Chinese firm, Poly Changda Engineering Co. Ltd. (Judy F. Partlow/ PNA)

Cong. Josy Limkaichong and Vice Gov. Mark Macias (Photo by Ikay Villanueva)

DENR consults country’s coral restoration experts

The Biodiversity Management Bureau of the Department of Environment & Natural Resources has written the country’s few experts in coral rehabilitation to get technical advice on coral restoration.

The BMB decided to get the advice of experts after receiving a request for technical advice on coral restoration from a Manilabased contractor.

The contractor, EM Cuerpo Inc., had submitted an unsolicited proposal to Dumaguete Mayor Felipe

Antonio Remollo to reclaim 174 hectares of its coastline.

EM Cuerpo Inc., which signed in 2019 a memorandum of understanding with a China government-backed contractor to reclaim 85 percent of the Dumaguete coastline, wrote a letter to DENR Region 7 asking about coral nurseries, which is one method for restoration.

“I think the BMB wanted to do the right thing, and so they wanted the opinion of the other experts in coral restoration,” marine

Republic of the Philippines Supreme Court of the Philippines REGIONAL TRIAL COURT OF NEGROS ORIENTAL 7TH Judicial Region Branch 35 Dumaguete City In re: Petition for the issuance of new owner’s duplicate copy of original certificate of title No. 46 in lieu of the lost one Nedilyn Tinio Magalso, Petitioner Cad. Case No. 2021-5080 -versusRegister of Deeds of Dumaguete City, Respondent X--------------------------------------------------/ ORDER Raffled to this Court on June 24, 2021 is a verified petition for the issuance of a new owner’s duplicate copy of Original Certificate of Title No. 46, covering Lot No. 3904-C, Csd-07-03-001126, and situated in TabucTubig, Dumaguete City. Petitioner Nedilyn Tinio Magalso, through counsel Atty. Rey C. Himpayan, prays for this Court to declare the original owner’s duplicate copy of OCT No. 46 as lost and to direct the Register of Deeds for the City of Dumaguete to issue a new or replacement owner’s duplicate copy in lieu of the lost one.

On August 4, 2021, this Court received a Motion to Admit Amended Petition, praying that the attached verified Amended petition be admitted to form part of the records of this case. The said Amended Petition was filed to correct the dates of the Verification and Certification of Non-Forum Shopping to be consistent with the date of submission, as well as to comply with the 2019 Amendments to the 1997 Rules in Civil Procedure.

Petitioner alleges that OCT No. 46 is registered in the name of the “Hrs. of Maria Belen rep. by Cruz Tinio”, and that she is one of the heirs and coowners of the said parcel of land, by virtue of an Extrajudicial Settlement dated January 7, 2009. According to petitioner, she was the one entrusted by all the other co-heirs with the possession and custody of the original owner’s duplicate copy of OCT No. 46, which she placed inside a cabinet in her room.

Recently, she tried to locate the said owner’s duplicate copy of the title in order to process the transfer of ownership of the same to their names and pay the taxes and fees thereon. However, despite diligent efforts to locate the owner’s duplicate copy of OCT No. 46, the same could not be found, and is now considered lost for all intents and purposes.

Thereafter, petitioner executed an Affidavit of Loss and caused the annotation thereof on the original copy of OCT No. 46 on file with the Registry of Deeds of Dumaguete City as Entry No. 2021000985.

WHEREFORE, finding the Amended Petition to be sufficient in form and substance, the same is hereby admitted and the petition is hereby given due course. The petition shall be heard on October 26, 2021, at 10:00 o’clock in the morning at the Session Hall of this Court, at which date, place and time, any interested person may appear and show cause if any, why the prayer in the petition should not be granted.

At petitioner’s expense, let this Order be published once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in this province and its component cities.

Pursuant to Sec. 109 of P.D. 1529, furnish the Register of Deeds for the City of Dumaguete with a copy of this Order. Likewise let this Order be posted by the Branch Sheriff at the Bulletin Board of this Court, the Office of the Clerk of Court, the Provincial Capitol of Negros Oriental, the City Hall of Dumaguete City, and the Barangay Hall of Tabuc-tubig, Dumaguete City, where the subject parcel of land is located.

SO ORDERED. August 5, 2021, Dumaguete City, Philippines.

(Sgd.) Glenda J. Yee-Uymatiao Presiding Judge MetroPost 2021

September 26 • October 3

scientist Dr. Rene Abesamis said, when asked to comment about Cuerpo’s request from DENR. He said the consensus among his colleagues in the marine sciences is that if we are not doing it right, we may be doing more harm than good.

The UP Marine Science Institute released a statement saying that all available coral restoration technologies are “limited to very small scales”. They said the largest ongoing coral restoration experiment to page 7

Metro Pacific Dumaguete Water Services Inc. or Metro Dumaguete Water recently launched online payment channels to provide convenient payment options, and keep customers safe during the pandemic.

The online payment options were launched barely three months after MDW announced the opening of more than 100 additional over-the-counter payment options for its customers last May. MDW COO David Berba said customers can now pay their water bill in the comfort of their homes through four major online payment options.

“When we first started operations, linking up with other payment partners and launching online payment options were at the top of our to-do list. Now, paying your water bill is hassle-free with multiple options to choose from,” he said.

Customers may now pay their water bills through popular mobile wallet apps Paymaya and GCash, while payment through online banking is now also made possible through the BDO mobile app and DragonPay. DragonPay also allows water bill payments made to Robinsons, SM Department Stores, Palawan Pawnshop, Cebuana Lhuillier, MLhuillier, and GrabPay. MDW Finance Head Christian Mark Villanueva said the pandemic has to page 6

Republic of the Philippines Regional Trial Court of Negros Oriental Branch 43 7th Judicial Region Tanjay City Stationed in Dumaguete City Boston Finance & Investment Corp., EJF No. 2020-01 Mortagee, For: Extra-Judicial Foreclosure -versus- of Real Estate Mortgage Danilo R. Rosales and Patricia R. Rosales, (Under Act No. 3135 as amended) Mortgagors x------------------------------------------------/ NOTICE OF EXTRA-JUDICIAL SALE Upon extra-judicial petition for sale under Act 3135 as amended, filed by Boston Finance & Investment Corp. (Mortgagee) against Danilo R. Rosales and Patricia R. Rosales (Mortgagors), with postal address at Purok 6, Brgy. Obogon, Tanjay City, Negros Oriental, to satisfy the mortgage indebtedness which, as of Oct. 23, 2020, amounts to P7,942,500.00, excluding penalties, charges, attorney’s fees, and expenses of foreclosure, the undersigned will sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash and in Philippine currency on Oct. 4, 2021 at 9:00 in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon at the office of RTC Branch 43-Tanjay City, stationed in Dumaguete City, located at the 3rd floor of Hall of Justice, E.J. Blanco Drive, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, Philippines, the hereunder-described property of the Mortgagors, together with the improvements now existing thereon, to wit: Transfer Certificate of Title No. 103-2017000764 Lot No. 3 Plan No. Pcs-07-004071 Portion of: Lots 1076-D, 1076-K, 1076-L Psd-161677 Location: Barangay of Obogon, municipality of Tanjay, province of Negros Oriental,

island of Negros Technical Description Boundaries: Line Direction Adjoining Lot/s 1-2 NW Lot 1076-F (LRC) Psd-161677 2-3 NE Lot 1076-C (LRC) Psd-161677 3-4-5 NE, EAST Lot 1076-B (LRC) Psd-161677 5-6 NE, EAST Lot 4, Pcs-07-004071 6-7-8 SE Lot 5, Pcs-07-004071 8-9-1 SW Lot 1, Pcs-07-004071 the point BLLM No. 10 Cad. 119, municipality of Tanjay, province of Negros Oriental Line Bearing Distance (meters) To corner 1 N. 520 47’E 154.75 1-2 N. 660 24’E 6.12 2-3 S. 160 47’E 3.08 3-4 S. 160 49’E 22.06 4-5 S. 730 14’E 6.43 5-6 S. 180 51’E 18.66 6-7 S. 750 43’W 4.98 7-8 S. 750 49’W 8.24 8-9 S. 200 00’W 27.43 9-1 S. 080 46’W 18.83 Area: 474 square meters, more or less Description of corners: All points referred to are indicated on plan, and marked on the ground as follows: Points 2-3-4 by old Ps Cyl. Conc. Mons. 15x60 cm, and the rest

by Ps Cyl. Conc. mons. 15 x 40 cm.

All sealed bids must be submitted to the undersigned on the said date and time.

In the event the public auction should not take place on the said date, it shall be held on Oct. 7, 2021 without further notice.

Given this 26th day of August 2021 at Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, Philippines.

(Sgd.) June Dennis E. Carugda

Sheriff IV Noted: (Sgd.) Rowena Fely S. Licas-Dumalagan Clerk of Court VI & Ex-Officio Sheriff MetroPost 2021 September 19 • September 26 • October 3

MetroPost

september 26 - OCTOBER 2, 2021

NEWS and UPDATES

3

Teachers to take LET today

Resort owners, professional SCUBA dive instructors from Dauin, and other divers join the throng of people opposing the proposed 174-hectare offshore reclamation project dubbed as ‘smart city in Dumaguete by conducting an independent marine survey off the coast of Escaño Beach in Piapi. (Photo by Glenn Carballo )

Aspiring teachers in Negros Oriental who were previously registered to take the Licensure Examination for Teachers administered by the Professional Regulation Commission will finally be accommodated this week after the activity was canceled last year due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

Gerdel Bordadora, chief administrative officer of the PRC in Region 7, in an interview on Monday said the first batch of 515 examinees are scheduled for the teachers’ board to page 6

Slain priest’s kin Docs worried forgive killer COC over medical File with no oxygen supply fanfare Comelec to politicos:

The head of the Negros Oriental Medical Society here on Monday said the supply of medical grade oxygen in the Province’s biggest hospitals is dwindling, amid what he perceives as another surge in coronavirus disease 2019 cases.

Dr. Joven Occena, NOMS president, in an interview said that hospitals are “living by the day” with regard the supply of oxygen as there is also limited availability among suppliers in Cebu City and Bacolod City.

He expressed concern over the possibility of hospitals running out of oxygen as the Covid-19 isolation bed occupancy in these facilities is increasing and some are already at full capacity.

The hospitals can

only rely on what is made available to them by the day, even as the Department of Health has warned against oxygen hoarding, Occena said.

The waitlist of Covid-19 patients is continually increasing, he noted, and a handful of those who died were being reportedly treated or isolated at home due to lack of hospital beds.

The health care system is also at risk as some medical workers are being infected and admitted to hospitals, Occena said as he pushed for a speedy rollout of the vaccination program.

He said Negros Oriental is now experiencing another surge in Covid-19 cases, which he believes is caused by the Delta variant considering the fast transmission and the sudden spike in infections

Over 120T persons fully vaxxed

Some 120,616 individuals have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in Negros Oriental based on recent data from the Integrated Provincial Health Office.

IPHO records show as of Sept. 17, the total refers to individuals who have completed taking their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine and the one-shot Janssen Vaccine by Johnson and Johnson.

Assistant Provincial Health Officer and Provincial Inter-Agency Task Force-Emerging Infectious Disease Incident Ground Commander Dr. Liland Estacion said in her virtual press conference on Sept. 17 that the figure translates to 13.2 percent accomplishment for completely vaccinated persons compared to the target of 908,939.

On the other hand, around 119,378 individuals have been injected with their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

This covers those under the A1, A2, A3, A4, and A5 priority groups.

Estacion noted that there are now 34,155 senior citizens or persons under A2 category for vaccination who are fully vaccinated while 27,618 more are awaiting their second dose.

She is hopeful that the province will be able to reach almost 50 percent accomplishment for A2 once the remaining 27,000 senior citizens will get their second dose.

To further accelerate the vaccination rollout in rural areas and in local government units with low vaccine turnout, the IPHO conducted mobile vaccination in several cities and municipalities in the Province.

Estacion said this initiative along with the walk-in vaccination incentive they have granted to senior citizens and their companion has helped to page 6

over the past recent weeks.

He called on authorities and the people to prioritize giving attention to the Covid-19 situation here which has taken the backseat, noting that the controversial proposed 174-hectares offshore reclamation project in this capital city is now in the limelight.

“I am not saying that the activities on the reclamation project be totally stopped, but rather prioritize right now the Covid-19 situation before it becomes a medical emergency for us that we can no longer handle,” he said in mixed English and Cebuano dialect.

Negros Oriental is currently under general community quarantine with heightened restrictions. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)

The Commission on Elections here has reminded local aspiring candidates for the May 9, 2022 polls to file their certificates of candidacy personally without fanfare due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The filing of COCs for national and local positions is set on Oct. 1 to 8.

Election Officer Atty.

Ian Macaraya of Comelec Dumaguete laid out strict health protocols for the filing of COCs inside their offices.

The candidate is allowed to bring only one companion when filing their COC at the Comelec office.

Macaraya said no COCs shall be filed or accepted by email or mail, telegram or facsimile. to page 8

EARLY BIRDS. Board Member Erwin Macias who’s running for vice governor, Bais Councilor Thirdy Bouffard, Cong.

Arnie Teves, Anton De Guia, Tamisu Bais Barangay Capt.

Anabel Jimenez, Crislene Repollo, Bais Councilor Mikael Villanueva (back), Bais City Administrator Luigi Goñi who’s running to replace his mom Bais Mayor Mercy Goñi who is running as vice mayor, 2nd Districit Cong. Chiquiting Sagarbarria, and Board Member Jack Raymond who’s running for Bayawan mayor. (Contributed photo)

The family of the late Fr. Antonio Magalso of the Diocese of Dumaguete, who was stabbed dead by a parishioner, will commemorate his sixth death anniversary this month with hearts filled with the hope of finally obtaining peace and closure after the perpetrator was meted with life imprisonment last July.

“We have already forgiven him (the accused).

But we were determined to seek justice for our beloved brother-priest, and so we are happy that the court has finally sentenced his attacker to spend the rest of his life in jail,” Gina Magalso Noval, sister of the late priest, said in mixed English and Cebuano dialect in an interview over the weekend.

Noval said their prayers, faith, and patience paid off when the court finally ruled on the murder case against respondent, Dionisio Rodriguez Tejamo.

As this developed, Dumaguete Bishop Julito Cortes on Monday said the diocese will look into ways of offering a healing journey for the perpetrator.

On Sept. 29, 2015, Fr. Tony, as known to many, then the priest in charge of the Holy Cross Parish in Barangay Sta. Cruz Viejo, Tanjay City, about an hour’s drive from here, was scheduled to say mass at 10 a.m. during the village’s fiesta at the newly constructed chapel in Sitio Nagsala.

Court records show that Magalso arrived at the chapel grounds on a motorcycle together with a back rider around 9:45 a.m. shortly before the incident.

His back rider, a certain Vernie, and another parishioner, Fernando E. Villaflor, went ahead to the chapel while the priest was parking his motorcycle at a shaded area nearby.

Shortly thereafter, the two heard a loud thud behind them and when they looked back, saw the priest already on the ground.

Villaflor, who later became the main witness in the murder case, told investigators and the court that as they rushed over to Magalso and he saw Tejamo pulling out a knife from the back of the fallen priest.

Tejamo fled as parishioners took Magalso on board a truck to the Holy Child Hospital in this capital city, where he was pronounced dead on arrival due to multiple stab wounds.

Police investigation showed a 12-inch knife was used to stab the priest.

Tanjay police personnel arrested Tejamo several hours later at his home, but he initially denied the allegation, saying he would not mind killing another person as he already killed one that day, the court records showed.

Noval said that her brother may have been a to page 9

MetroPost

september 26 - OCTOBER 2, 2021

4

O pinion

EDITORIAL

The time has come

As we have all observed, political candidates are now making public their plans to seek elective positions in the local elections scheduled for May next year.

The official filing of the Certificates of Candidacy is scheduled from Oct. 1 to 8 but some early birds have already announced their plans.

Last Thursday, Bayawan City Mayor Pryde Henry Teves announced that he is running for Negros Oriental governor, alongside Board Member Erwin Macias as his vice gubernatorial candidate.

We were expecting Gov. Roel Degamo to announce his candidacy for the same post as well. He will be running with Guihulngan City Mayor Guido Reyes as his vice gubernatorial candidate.

And there will also be a third candidate for governor -- Vice Gov. Mark Macias who is expected to run without a vice gubernatorial candidate.

We expect both Degamo and Macias to announce their respective gubernatorial candidacies soon.

All these political announcements are once again stirring excitement among the populace.

Politics is once again the flavor of radio talk shows (or has it ever stopped since 2019?), and soon, we will sit back and watch politicians jockeying for their respective positions for 2022 and beyond.

But we hope that all this excitement will not take our attention away from the more pressing issue of managing COVID-19.

Reports are still projecting higher active positive numbers of the coronavirus. The cases have been climbing steadily for over a month now. Two Fridays ago, the number of active positive cases all over Negros Oriental was at 1,143. Last Friday, that number rose further to 1505, while the Integrated Provincial Health Office also announced 17 recent CoViD-related deaths.

The task of preventing the spread of COVID, however, is not just the government’s but it is everyone’s concern. We in Negros Oriental may consider ourselves fortunate that we are not as restricted as some areas like in Metro Manila, but that is no reason for us to let our guard down.

We must continue doing what we can to keep our families and communities safe from the virus by observing minimum health protocols.

That includes avoiding crowds, and the proven vote-getter — the handshake.

Not to be outdone, the Commission on Elections has advised candidates to avoid the usual fanfare when they bring along their supporters to cheer for them as they file their Certificate of Candidacy.

This will be a different exercise from the previous elections we’ve been used to. And there’s no other way around it.

Atty. whelma Siton-Yap

Econ 101

F

whelmayap@yahoo.com

ormer President Ferdinand E. Marcos signed Proclamation No. 1081 dated Sept. 21, 1972, placing the Philippines under Martial Law. By the morning of Sept. 23, 1972, Martial Law forces had successfully implemented a media lockdown.

The 14-year Martial Law period is historically remembered for its unprecedented record of human rights abuses, particularly targeting political opponents, student activists, journalists who were trying to do their job, urban poor, farmers and other laborers, and religious workers who joined the cause to fight against the Marcos dictatorship.

B a s e d o n t h e documentation of Amnesty International- Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, the Marcos authoritarian rule was marked by 3,257 known extrajudicial killings, 35,000 documented tortures and forced disappearances, 70,000 incarcerations; 2,520 of the 3,257 murder victims were tortured, cannibalized, and mutilated before their bodies were dumped in various places for the public to “discover”.

Such tactic -- called salvaging (which means in police and media parlance to apprehend and execute a suspected “subversive elements” without trial) -was allegedly perpetrated by hoodlums in uniform, crime syndicates, urban vigilantes, or hit squads, and was meant to sow fear among the public.

Due to plunder, cronyism, and corruption under the one-man rule, the country experienced the worst debt crisis, extreme poverty, and

The huge foreign borrowings were also due to the Marcos’ massive “edifice complex” on infrastructure projects that left the poor Filipinos poorer by more than $28 billion; increased military spending amidst high oil prices, high interest rates, capital flight, and falling export prices of sugar and coconut.

At present, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., only son of the dictator, is reportedly running for President or Vice President of the country,

severe underemployment.

Poverty incidence grew from 41 percent in the 1960s when Marcos took the Presidency to 59 percent when his administration was toppled and stripped from power.

Foreign debt increased significantly when government borrowed massive amounts in the early 1980s to finance the lavish lifestyle of the Marcos family and his cronies (giving rise to the word ‘Imeldific’ to mean “ostentatiously extravagant to the point of vulgarity”, pertaining to the characteristics of Imelda Marcos).

while making an attempt to whitewash and rewrite history, sanitizing the darkest period of the nation’s history through massive propaganda efforts -- TV interviews, social media posts, trolls, and cellphone messages.

The propaganda effort is particularly aimed at some 31 million ‘youth vote’ who did not live through the Marcos era and events from Sept. 23, 1972, and those political elite/ cronies who benefited from the Martial Law years.

UP Public Administration Prof. Alex Brillantes Jr. (1987) identified three reasons for

Never forget! (Sept. 21, 1972)

atty. jose riodil d. montebon

THE EMPEROR’S NO CLOTHES joseriodil@yahoo.com

Member, Philippine Press Institute

Alex Rey V. Pal Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Irma Faith B. Pal Managing Editor JOEL V. PAL Online News/North America Editor Richli D. Aves Cartoonist 2018 National Awardee: Best in Photojournalism 2017 National Awardee: Best in Photojournalism 2017 Best in Visayas: Best in Photojournalism, Best Editorial Page, Best Edited Community Newspaper 2016 Best in Visayas: Best in Photojournalism, Best in Environment Reporting, Best Editorial Page, Best Edited Community Newspaper 2007 National Awardee: Best Editorial Page The MetroPost has business and editorial offices at Scoobys Bldg., Real St. (across Noreco II), Dumaguete Tel: (035) 420-5015. Mobile: 0918-9400-731 Email: UniTownPublishing@gmail.com Website: www.DumagueteMetropost.com The MetroPost is published by the UniTown Publishing House. All rights reserved. Subject to the conditions provided by law, no article or photograph published by the MetroPost shall be reprinted or reproduced in whole or in part without its prior written consent. The views expressed in the opinion pieces are those of the Columnists, and not necessarily of the Editors and the Publisher.

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.

You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’” -(Matthew 25:21) his week, I would like to reflect on talents and their accounting. As the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee relentlessly pursues the truth in the Procurement Service-Department of Budget & ManagementPharmally Pharmaceutical transactions, President Duterte is also frantically going directly to the public to convince us that in these transactions: 1.there was no overpricing, 2. there were no ghost deliveries, 3. the quality of the delivered goods were not substandard, and 4. there were no lapses in the procurement procedure set forth in the Bayanihan 1 Act. On its face, it would seem that the President is right, and that the PS DBM-Pharmally Pharmaceutical transaction was above board. It should therefore pass the audit by the

T

Commission on Audit.

So is the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee wasting our precious taxpayer money?

Are some Senators pursuing a Presidential witchhunt to further their electoral ambitions? With election fever in the air, this preoccupation threatens to overtake Covid-19!

Whatever motive our Senators may have in pressing

between Michael Yang and President Duterte (as his alleged “economic adviser”), and Michael Yang’s role in brokering for Pharmally Pharmaceutical in front loading its financing, and, later, facilitating Pharmally Pharmaceutical’s supply chain with Taiwanese manufacturers.

The connections are too

on with their investigation, certain legitimate issues have come to the fore: 1. The gap in the PS DBM Law and the Bayanihan as 1 Act which fails to require a full investigation into the financial capacity of bidders/ suppliers before being awarded contracts. At the moment, PS DBM simply checks the physical existence of required documents, but does not examine the content or substance in these documents!

2. The clear connection

glaring, and they demand to be fully explained to the people. Otherwise, Michael Yang’s involvement in the PSDBM transaction casts a giant shadow over the President’s integrity and credibility.

3. The favored son treatment of Christopher Lao, who shot up in the ranks of the Executive ladder, earning juicy promotions from Malacañang on the basis of his credentials as a Bong Go/Duterte boy from Davao! Lao’s occupying high government positions

the declaration of Martial Law then: A response to various leftist and rightist plots against the Marcos administration (to save the republic from the ‘Red scare’); the consequence of political decay after American-style democracy failed to take root in Philippine society (to reform the country dubbed as the New Society); and a reflection of Filipino society’s history of authoritarianism and need for iron-fisted leadership (to instill discipline on the citizens with the slogan ‘Para sa ikauunlad ng bayan, disciplina and kinanailangan!’)

After the 1983 assassination of Sen. Benigno Aquino, Marcos’ most vocal critic, the country suffered further economic decline and unabated unrest in all sectors until the peaceful EDSA ‘People Power’ revolution in February 1986, the installation of Corazon Aquino as President to avert a looming civil war, and finally, Marcos and party of about 80 loyalists fleeing the Philippines after much pressure from the US President Reagan administration that transported them to Hawaii, where Marcos died in exile in 1989.

In another magnanimous gesture, President Cory Aquino allowed the remaining members of the Marcos family to return to the country five years after their US exile.

Marcos Martial Law. Never again! We will never forget! Let us vote wisely in 2022.

is not in itself wrong; but the coincidences which hover over him invite an itchiness in the back of one’s spine of a conscience. The emergence of Christopher Lao in our public consciousness provokes and tickles our suspicious and doubting collective imagination!

From the President’s perspective, there is clearly no corruption in the PS-DBM -Pharmally Pharmaceutical case. From the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s line of questioning, there seem to be strong suggestions that wrongdoing was afoot!

How should it be seen from the public eye? To my mind, it is all about accountability.

As our officials are imbued with a Public Trust, whether you are the President, a Senator, or a high, government executive, there is always a day of reckoning, a time for accounting.

Everyone is endowed with a bag of talents. Sometimes the talents manifest themselves in power over others. Sometimes these talents come in material wealth. Still at times, talent surfaces as popularity.

And how are we expected to use our talents?

We are measured by the depth of our kindness

A parable of government talents

to page 6

MetroPost

Peoples corner

I

t is only eight months before the next national elections, and we now see the perennial politicians reminding us of their presence via TV ads and media interviews.

One of them is former vice presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos, son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who until now has not acknowledged his defeat in the 2016 elections.

Bongbong’s father, Ferdinand Marcos, declared martial law on Sept. 23, 1972 (though he fixed the official date as Sept. 21) in a bid to stay in power indefinitely.

We should all remember this historical fact because as Spanish philosopher George

But he was no ordinary reporter. He was Marcos’ purveyor of fake news, and one of the very few who had direct access to the President on a daily basis.

Given Mijares’ insider status, his book was hailed and found credible and authoritative from the time it was first published in the United States in 1976.

However, it was banned in the Philippines during the years that the Marcoses were in power.

Those who were able to get a copy read it surreptitiously, and at their own risk (including this writer). The book had a second printing in 1986 after the EDSA People Power Revolution booted Marcos out

testify, Mijares received a call from Marcos trying to dissuade him from appearing in the hearing.

An aide subsequently offered Mijares $100,000 (a huge amount in the 1970s) as hush money.

Mijares chose to testify just the same, providing details about the briberies, payoffs, voter fraud, corporate theft, unlawful arrests, and corruption happening under the dictatorship.

Shortly after his testimony, Mijares went missing. He was believed to have been abducted and executed by the military.

Nobody has seen him alive to this day.

As a damning document against the excesses of Marcos’

Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” A cliché now, but one we should continue repeating.

Everyone should read The Conjugal Dictatorship, the first tell-all book on the Marcos martial law regime. It narrates firsthand accounts by someone who used to belong to Marcos’ inner circle, and is packed with details about the excesses of the Marcos dictatorship, and the private lives of the First Couple and their cronies.

It reports on the best laid plans that led to the Philippines’ dark history: the imposition of martial law in 1972, and the schemes that built and held its infrastructure. It also exposes the massive corruption and military abuses under the regime.

Primitivo “Tibo” Mijares was Marcos’ media adviser. He was a reporter of the Marcoscontrolled newspaper, the Daily Express.

of the country.

What drove Mijares to cut his ties with Marcos? In the first chapter of his book, he addressed this question: “I started entertaining second thoughts about my support and propaganda work for Marcos towards the end of the year 1973.

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact time when I did, but it must have been right after Dec. 30, 1973, the final day of Marcos’s second and last term in office under the 1935 Constitution. At about that point in time, I began to realize that Marcos imposed martial law not to save the country from Communist rebellion and to reform society, but to hold on to the presidency for life—and as a dictator.”

Mijares decided to defect, while in the United States on official mission in 1974.

In June 1975, he found himself preparing to divulge damning information about the Marcos dictatorship before a US congressional inquiry.

On the night before he was to

dictatorial rule, this book is a must-read for all Filipinos, especially those who are still clueless about the inexorable assault on our freedoms by martial law.

This book should also be read by today’s millennials, and those born after the martial law years who never got to experience the dark days under the dictatorship. Some of these people are under the wrong impression that the Marcos regime was the “golden age” of the Philippines—another fanciful yarn spun by the dictator’s publicists and blind supporters.

We need to be reminded of the past to ensure that the Marcoses are never allowed to return to power, as they are trying to do now.

Never forget the conjugal dictatorship

Dr. Crispin C. Maslog Former journalist, Agence France-Presse Retired communication professor, UP Los Baños and Silliman University

Ponciano Ligutom

BOW & ARROW

S

pligutom@yahoo.com

ynergy is defined as the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than sum of their separate effects.

The mathematical equation designed for synergy 1+1=3.

A synergistic relationship occurs when two people create a greater contribution together than they would independently. It usually arises when two persons with different complementary skills cooperate or disagree without being disagreeable to each other.

In business, mergers and acquisitions “ s y n e r g y ” , “rationalization” and “streamlining” are bandied about as if they are positive but soon these words bring chills to the officers and rank and file because the sum of the three is actually only one – the “chopping block.”

Examples of mergers creating synergy would be the merger of PNB and Allied Bank, and the marriage of Imelda Romualdez and Ferdinand Marcos, which created a synergy that resulted in a conjugal dictatorship for more than 20 years.

On the other hand, the William, Gothong & Aboitiz merger in the shipping industry did not produce the desired synergy, leading to its failure.

The opposite of synergy is discord, disunity or non-

co o pe r a t i o n . S o me sa y “antinergy” (using the pairs synthesis/antithesis). Others propose “anti-ergy” to get the “working against” elements.

Other ideas are “antigy” or “obsygy” and “dysergy”.

Another opts for “lessergy” and “unergy”.

We may just call it negative synergy. Some say that “antergy” is possible but might imply complete cancellations as in another suggestion of “antagonistic effect.” (most common in the interaction of chemicals).

Another proposal is “obsergy”, reasoning that if the Latin prefix for -syn is

of groupthink are group cohesiveness, overall group isolation, decision-making stress, belief in the absolute goodness of the group and group leadership.

There’s always a danger to groupthink when two leaders are so alike. The mathematical equation of groupthink could be 1+1=1 in such a case.

Autocratic, dictatorial, and insecure leaders discourage discussion, or even mere playing devil’s advocate.

Objections are more likely censored, and many have become victims of the “bypass mechanism.”

“Every leader needs to give friends, family and staff permission to speak up if they say danger while being loyal to the leader or organization. Followers don’t follow blindly. They have an obligation to strongly express disagreement with the leader,” says leadership consultant Ram Charan.

In the book Why Great Men Fail by Wayde Goodall , “expectation of silence” is one of the causes of failures.

I hope leaders and managers are always reminded of a literary folktale written by Hans Christian Andersen about a vain emperor who gets exposed before his subjects in The Emperor’s New Clothes.

Basically, the emperor had caused such fear among his subjects that no one dared tell him that the expensive

Aftermath of 174 translated literally as “with”, and concomitantly the Latin prefix for –ob means “against” then obsergy is an acceptable antonym to synergy.

In the leadership and management parlance, the best antonym to synergy is “groupthink.” It is the process of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility.

Groupthink leads to bad decisions because it encourages members of the group to ignore possible problems with the group’s decision, discounts the opinions of others, and tends to override the realistic appraisal of possible courses of action.

Among possible causes

to page 8

september 26 - OCTOBER 2, 2021

O pinion

5

jg umbac

The Way It Is

F

bjplug@gmail.com

ording a river is not a problem at all even if my truck does not have a snorkel. Still on Tuesday, I called my friend in Dumaguete to give him a heads-up that I would be calling him the next day as I near the City from Bayawan so he may tell me if it was raining there or not.

That was important for me because I did not want to be bogged down by the slow traffic in a procession of vehicles fording the overflowing river.

I just was not in the mood for that. Even if I had a boat in tow, would I leave my truck on the riverbank to get on it?

Of course, not! That would be the biggest hassle yet, if ever I have seen one.

My friend Dick said he did not think it would rain for the remainder of the week but that if it did, he would immediately call me. With enough warning, I would be able to take another route into Dumaguete that would spare me from having to negotiate that river.

I wish the river went all the way to Bayawan so I, along with the thousands of other motorists, could just take boats to Bayawan instead of our nonamphibious vehicles, saving precious time, and at the same time, staying safe.

If that were the reality, some of the more innovative vehicle dealers would start to carry amphibious cars and trucks.

For now, although the river is such a pain-in-the-youknow-what, the problem is still not big enough for them to make such a huge jump.

Anyone would be afraid to make such a sizeable investment because the government may yet build a highway or a bridge over the river.

As far as I can remember, the Banilad River did not exist during my high school days.

A highway going to southern Negros Oriental went through there, and it puddled up when it rained. I even remember one time my cousin and I hydroplaned on one of those puddles because I drove too fast. But they were just puddles that hardly even went up to the side walls of your tires. They were not hazards at all unless, like I did, you drove too fast, and the tire grooves could not get rid of the trapped water fast enough, as in balding tires, which our jeep must have had.

Normal speeds did not slow traffic down at all.

Photographs of the Banilad River are now mainstay features on Facebook. You often see them taken from the banks by people walking along its length. It is clear in these photographs that vehicles are bumper-to-bumper, fording along, wasting time.

In most of the photographs, debris can be seen floating alongside the cars and trucks.

Recently, it was found that the old highway I mentioned above is still there, sometimes concealed by the river’s murky waters. This phenomenon was discovered when one hot and sunny day, the waters subsided. “What? A highway was underneath the Banilad River all this time,” a bystander exclaimed. The rest of the city shared the same amazement and surprise!

Obviously, I mean that as a wry joke. The Banilad River is actually that portion of the national highway that runs through Banilad. I called it that because whenever it rains, it floods, hiding the highway.

In photographs, if you did not know where it was, it looks like a river. And when vehicles are present, they look like they are fording it.

The flooding there slows traffic down considerably,

making it unsafe for everyone, especially pedestrians and motorcyclists. Those driving cars are also exposed to extreme hazards as motorcyclists try to evade floating debris that takes them into the path of the cars.

This is one situation that has existed since I came back in retirement close to four years ago now. I often wonder how the City government could allow this to go on and on. That alone is amazing in itself!

Recently, the local government unveiled plans on how to mitigate this problem.

Their solution is to build earthen dikes upstream of the creek that runs through Banilad.

This three-pronged approach, of course, has differing costs. After studying the three options presented by the Department of Public Works & Highways, the City’s committee on Engineering & Public Works made its decision. The project would cost ₱56 million. Now, it is just a matter of waiting for the funds to start it.

The lack of ready funds may be an unavoidable part of our government process, but it seems to me there are certain “little” things that can be done in the meantime.

water pipe that is corroded enough on the inside that only a little amount of water could go through, building pressure before it. It could also be likened to the veins in your body that could get blocked by a clot. The blood, restricted by the clot, builds up pressure before the obstruction, until the vessel ruptures.

The City could launch a massive drive to thoroughly clean all the canals east of the national highway in Banilad, wait for a heavy rain, and see if all the effort were worth it.

There is no way to tell if this would work until it is tried. If it works, it will give the City all the time to wait for that budget, while alleviating the problem of the Banilad residents and the commuting public even if, in the scheme of things, it would only be temporary. It will cost something, but it would be money well spent.

With the way it is, I could not understand why the government will not try anything and everything to immediately address the people’s very valid complaints.

Residents of Banilad do not like a river running through it! How much longer will they have to endure this problem?

Well, how much longer will COVID-19 be around?

A river runs through it I visited my friend who lives in Banilad, on account of his telling me there are rain sewers or canals, as they are called here, that have Noreco 2 poles right inside them.

I had to see for myself. He did not disappoint me at all.

He showed these canals with the poles in them, and they were sprouting in different spots along its length, like they just grew from wild seeds.

Just so no one can say I am exaggerating, I took pictures.

It is not only the poles that are restricting the free flow of rainwater, but the unbridled growth of weeds and grass in the canals as well.

To me, it would only be prudent, after identifying the problem, to seek what seems obviously the simplest, cheapest, and fastest solution.

There is nothing that can be done immediately about the upstream problem, where the floodwaters come from, but they could at least ensure that downstream or east of the national highway where it floods, all paths where water could flow, are unobstructed.

I could liken this to an old iron

MetroPost

september 26 - OCTOBER 2, 2021

6

O pinion

Peoples corner

Technology is the measure of how much a country can provide for its people, or how well it can protect itself, and has become the basis of a nation’s success -- Tibajia (2004). He further says that as the bearer of information, technology undoubtedly plays a significant role in bringing forth growth and prosperity to a nation.

The Philippines has been fighting an uphill battle towards upgrading its educational system ever since.

for Computer-Assisted Instruction; Information & Communications Technology Education; the School NET project; and e-curricula for public high schools through the Foundation for Information Technology Education & Development Inc. (DepEd Updates, 2004).

The role of technology is acknowledged to be of great value in education. Nowadays, teachers without technologyrelated skills could encounter

reliable internet provider for research purposes, etc; 3.Unrestricted access to electric power in every school while depending on technology; 4. Teacher capacity to manage technology -- of which there remains some doubt whether we have succeeded in this regard.

The desire to support every classroom with the use of technology -- which has proven to be highly beneficial for both

It has been initiating programs to address the problems facing Philippine education today.

In-service teacher education in the Philippines, with emphasis on the technology, is going through the initiatives of various institutions, including the Department of Education.

Special activities that also involve the launching of technology-based programs include video materials development for the Continuing Studies for Teachers via Television (Project ConSTel); the materials evaluation

difficulties in the classroom.

Technology has become a necessity in teaching and learning delivery.

The answer to one questions remains unclear: Has technology made a breakthrough in every classroom in our locality?

Consider these many factors when utilizing technology inside the classroom: 1. Availability of the technology unit that is needed (laptop, desktop, tablet, android phone, etc.); 2. Unlimited access to a

the learners and teachers -might only be successful in schools with complete facilities and with teachers who are technologically skilled.

Schools and classrooms that operate even without electricity, equipment and tools like computers, and the teachers with the needed expertise will continue to pose a challenge to the educational system.

Role of technology in education

Over 120T....from p. 3

encourage more people, especially those under A2 category, to get vaccinated.

“There are LGUs na ginahakot ang ilang vaccinees (there are LGUs who collect and transport people) to the vaccination site and that is a good initiative of the local chief executive,” Estacion said.

She added that some local chief executives have also rolled out incentives to entice more people to get vaccinated.

“We also have other LCEs, like in Guihulngan, they give an incentive like five kilos (of rice) sa mga nabakunahan.

The Department of Health said LGUs can have their own incentives ug unsa ila mahuna-hunaan if it could attract their constituents to get vaccinated then that is a good initiative (We also have LCEs like in Guihulngan City wherein they give five kilos of rice as an incentive to those who are willing to get vaccinated. The DOH said LGUs can have their own incentives or think of some strategy that could attract their constituents to

get vaccinated. That is a good initiative),” she added.

Estacion earlier said that the mobile vaccination program of the IPHO is to augments the LGUs’ efforts in increasing the number of vaccinated persons in their area.

IPHO has visited San Jose, Sta. Catalina, Bayawan City, Pamplona, Guihulngan City, Basay, Vallehermoso, and in an upland barangay in Tayasan town for the mobile vaccination.

The IPHO vaccination team is currently in Tanjay City and then in Bindoy on Sept. 22, San Jose and Sta. Catalina towns on Sept. 21 and 23, respectively to administer the second dose of COVID-19 vaccines.

Estacion hopes that the number of fully vaccinated individuals will increase in the coming days as the IPHO, which operates the mega vaccination site in Dumaguete City, will be giving the second dose of vaccines to individuals who have received their first dose last month. (RAL/PIA7 NegOr)

Republic of the Philippines REGIONAL TRIAL COURT OF NEGROS ORIENTAL 7th Judicial Region Branch 41 Dumaguete City In the Matter of Petition for Issuance of New Owner’s Duplicate Copy of Transfer Certificate of Title No. FT-187

Cadastral Case No. 2021-5098

George L. Uymatiao, Petitioner X--------------------------------------------------/ ORDER Petitioner, through counsel, field a verified Petition praying that after due notice and hearing, an order be issued directing the office of the Register of Deeds of the City of Dumaguete to issue a new owner’s duplicate copy of Transfer Certificate of Title No. FT-187 covering Lot No. 3904-A Dumaguete Cadastre, situated at Barangay Banilad, Dumaguete City, lieu of the lost one.

The Petition shall be heard on November 23, 2021 at 8:30 in the morning.

Let this Order be published in a newspaper of general circulation in Dumaguete City and the Province of Negros Oriental, once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks prior to the scheduled hearing.

SO ORDERED. Witness my hand under the seal of the Court, this 7th day of September 2021.

(Sgd.) Leoncio R. Bancoro Presiding Judge MetroPost 2021

September 26 • October 3 • October 10

Perygen R. Mariot

Coordinator, Senior High School perygen.mariot001@deped.gov.ph

THE EMPEROR’S....from p. 4

to others; temperance in the exercise of our strength; and grace in the governance of our affairs.

When one is in government, the standards are higher.

Unlike the ordinary citizen who may have one or a combination of talents, a public official has at his command all of these talents in mind-boggling measure.

He has the intimidating powe r of s upe r ior f or c e authorized by a Constitutional monopoly of firearms and weaponry; the access to unimaginable riches which belong, not to him, but to the sovereign people; and a popularity, sometimes undeserved, which allow him to sway the masses to a frantic frenzy in his favor!

When one is drunk in the trappings of government, there is every temptation to believe in his infallibility and to forget the source and power of his office.

Maybe it’s timely that issues like the PS-DBMPharmally Pharmaceutical deal are exposed at this time.

As the elections draw near, and we will know our public suitors by Oct. 1- 8, it will be the time for accounting; it will be the day of reckoning.

Hopefully, a new page in our political history will take a turn towards the age of the good and faithful public servant who will do well in his service. Let us pray that we come to that day of joy!

Teachers....from p. 3 exams on Sunday,Sept. 26 at the Negros Oriental State University main campus here.

This is the first-ever LET to be held in Negros Oriental. In the past, examiners usually took the tests in Cebu City.

Bordadora said the exams will be for teachers in the grade school and secondary (junior and senior high) levels.

Last year, the PRC admitted around 2,000 applicants from Negros Oriental to take the LET here, but the quarantine restrictions caused the examinations to be postponed, she recalled.

The second batch of examinees is scheduled for January next year, the third batch in March, and the fourth batch in June, Bordadora noted, adding that each batch consists of 500 individuals.

She also said they are not yet accepting new applicants for the LET, although inquiries will be accommodated at the PRC satellite office at Robinsons Mall here. (Judy F. Partlow/ PNA) MDW....from p. 2

pushed customers to stay indoors to limit their exposure, and pay online instead.

He shared that 10 percent of the total payments in August were made either online or through newlyopened ECPay partners located in Lee Plaza, 7-11 convenience stores, and sarisari stores across Dumaguete.

“Slowly, our customers are adapting to digital transactions, and the new online options have been well-received. We plan to open more online payment options as we envision cashless transactions at MDW moving forward,” shared Villanueva.

MDW, a joint venture between Metro Pacific Water and DCWD, plans to open more online banking options within the year in response to public clamor.

Villanueva said this feature is vital, especially with the surge of COVID-19 cases and quarantine restrictions imposed by the national and local government.

With the extension of payment options to more than 100 partners through online and over-the-counter channels, MDW now limits its operations from 7:30 am to 3:00 pm from Monday to Friday to regulate exposure between and among people not belonging to the same social bubble, and to allow a thorough disinfection of its offices everyday. (PR)

70 Rizal Blvd., Dumaguete City Tels. 225-7725, 422-9209, 225-4488

* For legal notices, display advertisements, and subscriptions, please call (035) 420-5015 * For news,600-word features, letters-to-the-editor, feedback on People’s Corner, please email to unitownpublishing@gmail.com * For photos, please save them as high resolution JPEG files on a USB, include captions, and drop at the MetroPost editorial office in 3F Scooby’s Bldg.,Real St., Dumaguete City (across Noreco 2) Republic of the Philippines Province of Negros Oriental Office of the Sangguniang Panlungsod City of Tanjay EXCERPTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF THE 99TH REGULAR SESSION OF THE 8TH SANGGUNIANG PANLUNGSOD OF THE CITY OF TANJAY HELD AT THE SP SESSION HALL ON AUG. 31, 2021.

PRESENT: Hon. Neil T. Salma City Vice-Mayor/Presiding Officer Hon. Domiciano R. Catubig Jr. Member Hon. Jovencio S. Bumanglag Sr. Member Hon. Arlot T. Regalado

Member Hon. Felix R. Mira Jr. Member Hon. Regalado D. Salma Jr.

Member Hon. Joselito R. Manso Member Hon. Amado T. Orlino

Member Hon. Uldarico Ma A. Ramirez III Member Hon. Juanito S. Condes Member Hon. Epifanio T. Busmion Member Hon. Segfredo O. Buagas (ABC President) Member Hon. James Kenneth G. Aguilar (SK President) Member ABSENT: N O N E

RESOLUTION NO. 21-305 A RESOLUTION ENACTING AN ORDINANCE INSTITUTIONALIZING THE ANNUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE LINGGO NG KABATAAN IN THE CITY OF TANJAY, PROVINCE OF NEGROS ORIENTAL Author: Hon. James Kenneth G. Aguilar Chairman, Committee on Sports and Youth Development “WHEREAS, Article 208 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 7160 otherwise known as the Local Government Code mandates for the observance by LGUs of Linggo ng Kabataan annually; “WHEREAS, Section 33 of Republic Act No. 10712 or the Sangguniang Kabataan Reform Act of 2015 mandates the observance of Linggo ng Kabataan in every barangay, municipality, city and province on the week of where the 12th of August fall, to coincide with the International Youth Day; “THEREFORE, the Honorable Sangguniang Panlungsod, on motion of Member James Kenneth G. Aguilar, seconded by Members Domiciano R. Catubig, Jr. and Epifanio T. Busmion “RESOLVED to pass the following ordinance, to wit: ORDINANCE NO. 6 AN ORDINANCE INSTITUTIONALIZING THE ANNUAL OBSERVANCE OF LINGGO NG KABATAAN IN THE CITY OF TANJAY, PROVINCE OF NEGROS ORIENTAL “Be it ordained by the Honorable Sangguniang Panlungsod, that: “Section 1. Title. The ordinance shall be known as “An Ordinance Institutionalizing the Annual Observance of Linggo ng Kabataan in the City of Tanjay, Province of Negros Oriental”.

“Section 2. Linggo ng Kabataan in the City of Tanjay shall be observed every second week of August of every year.

“Section 3. Pursuant to Article 208, Rule XXVII of RA 7160 or the Local Government Code, a citizenship training through the annual observance of Linggo ng Kabataan shall be conducted in coordination with the Pederasyon nga mga Sangguniang Kabataan in the entire city.

“Section 4. Children and Youths representing the school or community organizations, upon the recommendation of the school Heads/Advisers or Punong Barangays, respectively, shall be the qualified individuals to participate in Linggo ng Kabataan.

“Section 5. Election of the counterparts of all Elective Local Officials and Department Heads, as well as heads of National Government Agencies such as Department of Interior & Local Government, Philippine Postal Corp., etc., stationed or assigned in the territorial jurisdiction of the City of Tanjay, among 10-17 years old school participants shall be conducted during the observance of Linggo ng Kabataan.

“Section 6. The Pederasyon ng mga Sangguniang Kabataan shall spearhead the implementation of this ordinance with the appointed or the designated Local Youth Development Officer.

“Section 7. A partnership or sponsorship with Local Civil Society Organizations concerned with the welfare of the youth is encouraged to participate in the conduct of Linggo ng Kabataan.

“Section 8. Suggested activities that shall be conducted by the Pederasyon ng mga Sangguniang Kabataan with the elected and appointed youth officials during Linggo ng Kabataan are: 8.1 Commemoration of young Filipino heroes who made significant contributions to the development of the county or the locality; 8.2 Recognition and awarding of outstanding youth organizations for their achievements and contributions to the development; and 8.3 Awareness campaign and environmental issues, sports festival and competitions, cultural festivals, arts and skills exhibition, volunteer work, tour of historical places, and such other youth-oriented activities as maybe deemed relevant.

“Section 9. Appropriation. Funds shall be incorporated in the Annual Budget of the City every year for the conduct of the activities in line with this celebration, amount of which shall be decided upon by the Local Chief Executive as deemed appropriate.

“Section 10. Applicability Clause. The provisions of existing ordinances dealing on the same subject matter which are not in conflict with, or contrary to the provisions of this ordinance are hereby adopted and made an integral part of this ordinance.

“Section 11. Repealing Clause. All ordinances, rules, and regulations or parts thereof, the provisions of which are in conflict with or contrary to the provisions of this ordinance, are hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly.

“Section 12. Effectivity. This ordinance shall take effect 15 days after approval and posting in three conspicuous places.

“UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.” _____________ I HEREBY CERTIFY to the correctness of the above-quoted resolution.

sgd JOSELITA C. FLORDELIZ SP Secretary sgd DOMICIANO R. CATUBIG JR. sgd ARLOT T. REGALADO sgd REGALADO D. SALMA JR. sgd AMADO T. ORLINO sgd JUANITO S. CONDES sgd SEGFREDO O. BUAGAS

sgd JOVENCIO S. BUMANGLAG SR. sgd FELIX R. MIRA JR. sgd JOSELITO R. MANSO sgd ULDARICO MA A. RAMIREZ III sgd EPIFANIO T. BUSMION sgd JAMES KENNETH G. AGUILAR

ATTESTED:

APPROVED: sgd NEIL T. SALMA sgd REYNALDO S. CONCEPCION City Vice-Mayor/Presiding Officer City Mayor

MetroPost 2021 Sept. 19 • Sept. 26 • Oct. 03

R E S T A U R A N T

Rizal Blvd. cor. San Jose St., Dumaguete City For TAKE-OUT. We also DELIVER. Please call:

0928-776-7213 • (35) 225-4491 • (35) 522-1965

MetroPost

september 26 - OCTOBER 2, 2021

7 DENR....from p. 2 that has been published in refereed scientific journals started in 2013, and covers only about 0.01 hectare.

“Aside from being an underdeveloped technology, the scale of coral restoration projects is severely limited by the high cost of implementation,” the UP MSI statement said. The cost of restoring one hectare of damaged coral reef can range from US$11,717 to $2,879,773 (or about ₱580,000 to ₱144 million).

“Hence, current coral restoration technologies cannot be used to rehabilitate, recreate, or replace entire coral reef ecosystems,” experts from UP MSI said. “Coral reefs are far more complex, and are many orders of magnitude larger (typically hundreds to thousands of hectares) than what is typically-feasible and economically-sensible with currently available coral restoration technologies,” they added.

The UP scientists said coral reefs are geological structures that develop where conditions are right, like a stable substrate. “It would still take several centuries to thousand years to develop a reef.”

They reiterated that coral restoration technologies are “still at the experimental stage” and are carried out at small scales. “Thus, results from these efforts…cannot be recommended for use in large-scale restoration initiatives.”

In her reply to BMBDENR, marine ecologist Dr. Aileen Maypa said coral rehabilitation and relocation in the proposed 174-hectare area in Dumaguete are not feasible.

“Massive reclamation will cause irreversible damage to the marine life of the Dumaguete coast,” she said.

Maypa, who has implemented small coral reef rehabilitation projects in Central Visayas, noted there is no coral restoration, rehabilitation protocols, nor relocation technology exists for this massive scale of damage. She added there is also no sciencebased, successful, nor sustained facility in Central Visayas that is culturing and growing corals for restoration efforts.

Citing a pilot study from 2003 to 2006 to test a lowcost, low-technology coral rehabilitation protocol in a dynamite-blasted reef in the Calag-calag Marine Sanctuary in Ayungon, and an assisted coral reef recovery project in eight marine protected areas in Siquijor from 2013 to 2029, Maypa said the success

rates could be attributed to the fact that they were small-scale, specific to rubble-dominated areas, and were conducted in enforced MPAs. “No projects within Region 7 have been attempted to relocate, mitigate, or rehabilitate entire ecosystems that were destroyed by reclamation projects,” Maypa said.

She said building two islands through reclamation that will occupy 85 percent of the Dumaguete coast will “bury almost all of the marine life or will be killed by sedimentation and abrupt changes in water circulation and current patterns”.

Maypa also warned that coral restoration or rehabilitation of this scale will cost around billions of pesos, excluding the cost of restoring large areas of seagrass beds – the cost for which is not included in Cuerpo’s P23 billion budget.

She also cautioned Cuerpo, through EMBDENR, that based on the IUCN Red List Categories, 17 of the 165 coral species in the northern Dumaguete coast, and 53 of the 315 coral species in the Apo Island seascape are currently considered ‘threatened’ (endangered and vulnerable).

Maypa said it is alarming that EM Cuerpo has not undertaken any effort on scientific modelling to predict the transport of silt along existing water currents. Apo Island is about 27 kilometers south of Dumaguete.

In its reply to a City Council Resolution, Cuerpo had stressed that “no tremendous damage will be caused to the environment” because of the reclamation that marine scientists here and abroad have warned would bury over a hundred hectares of coral reefs and seagrass beds.

EM Cuerpo also did not specify the technology they would use, or show the Council detailed mitigation plans, nor their budget for it.

Mayor Remollo had repeatedly said there are no more corals in Dumaguete, and assuring the thousands of oppositionists to the reclamation since July that he will use AIR to appease the people’s fears: Avoid-IntegrateReplace, a concept that coral restoration expert Dr. Laurie Jeanne Hutchison-Raymundo at the University of Guam said has no scientific basis.

“Replacing [corals] is not an option because there is nowhere to replace them,” Raymundo explained in a Learning Event Series in August on Zoom. She said the 30-meter bathymetric line is ideal for the port’s berthing area, but too deep for seagrasses and shallow

corals. “Unfortunately, there is no [other] space to replace [the corals] anymore; nothing that grows on the shallows can be planted down there, [where] there’s no substrate.”

Raymundo said she was wondering if the Mayor is aware that about 1.6 millions of coral communities would have to be “replaced” within the 122.13 hectares of coral reefs along the Dumaguete shoreline.

In another Learning Event Series organized by the Rotary Club of Dumaguete South and Lions Club Dumaguete, Dr. Abesamis warned of the “irreversible damage” that coral restoration can cause, citing 100 square meters as the usual size of coral reef restoration.

He said the current maximum size of restoration in the world is even only one hectare, which could cost about P270 million for 30 years – the natural reef recovery period.

“Because the science of coral restoration is in its infancy, no one has the capability to restore on that massive scale,” Dr. Abesamis said.

He added that at this stage, restoration in little patches is only applicable to a small number of coral species due to limited technology and know-how. “You cannot do restoration work on an entire coral reef ecosystem,” Abesamis warned.

Reclamation proponents at City Hall had cited the “success” of coral restoration work in a reclaimed area in Jamaica.

What was not explained is how the reclamation project for a cruise ship terminal there had to relocate and replant 150,000 hard/soft corals, sponges, seagrass found in 11 hectares of reefs – which is a mere six percent of the size of the Dumaguete project.

“Palpak (failure) nga yun sa Jamaica! We cannot justify killing an entire ecosystem by simply saying they are able to restore,” Abesamis said, worried that the contractor is downplaying the massive extent of the marine resources as “small patches” of corals.

The coral relocation in the Caribbean also took eight months, cost $3.2 million plus additional compensation of the damaged corals, and two more years of monitoring.

“We use coral restoration as a management tool for conservation. Restoration should not be considered as a replacement for conventional strategies like marine coral protection and threatreduction. It’s not a solution for the wholesale destruction like in a reclamation,” Dr. Raymundo said.

“We don’t know how to replace entire ecosystems. We don’t know enough to do it on a wide scale,” Dr. Raymundo stressed, as the field of coral restoration only began in the last two decades. (Irma Faith Pal)

Marine scientist Jean Utzurrum conducts a fish visual census at Apo Island, off the coast of Dauin. (Photo by Oliver Paderanga)

EULOGY

H

ow to begin? Though death was not a stranger in our lives, notice of the deadly disease that she shared a month before the end in a last email bidding farewell to her friends with amazing calm acceptance, was an utter shock.

But I could understand why, with her sense of privacy, she had kept things to herself for the past two years, and this was no reflection on our friendship, as her daughter, Rachel Maria, assured me.

Still, if only I had known…I would have written more often, responded to her emails sooner, told her how much her friendship meant, etc. etc.

Regrets…regrets…guilt deepens grief.

Her remarkable accomplishments by now are well known: Outstanding Sillimanian Awardee in Education (2004); AB English, magna cum laude; Editor, Sillimanian (196061); Editor, Silliman Journal (1966-67); M.A. (American Lit) at Stanford University; Administrator of programs in International Education and Intercultural Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, Northeastern University, and Boston University; Educational exchange programs travel to Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, as well as New Zealand and Australia; Member of the Silliman Alumni of New England (SANE) where she had served as president.

In addition, her many writings in her distinctively graceful and lyrical prose are well-crafted, introspective insightful essays on spirituality and inspiration, and on navigating the two cultures—Filipino and American— impacting her life.

In the mid 50s, I had heard of Pris before I knew her personally. She was in my father’s biology class, and sometimes my father would mention at the dining table the students who

Photo by Urich Calumpang well, lest people think of him or her as elitist, overeducated, or showing off.”

While others may have considered her English an “affectation,” as a teacher and student of English, she was just doing what second-language speakers who want to communicate effectively in English, especially with non-Filipinos, should be aware of— that English, the lingua franca of our global community, “deserves to be handled well,” meaning not only observing proper grammar but pronunciation as well. (She had discussed her concerns for the future of English before the Rotary Club of Dumaguete South on Feb. 23, 2011, while on a balikbayan visit.)

At a later date, on the topic of English as she used it in her Philippine classroom, she stated in an essay: “…more than once, I felt self-conscious about my Boston [American] accent and my use of elegant rhetoric in teaching British and American literature to graduate students who spoke, to my ears, an unsavory mixture of English and the local dialect.”

She was not expressing prejudice against Ceb-glish, but just acknowledging that she had

Priscilla Lasmarias-Kelso, 1941-2021

A personal remembering

made an impression on him: the brilliant and the hopelessly dull. He would say: “Pagka bright nianang Lasmarias!” (How bright that Lasmarias is!”)

I finally met Pris (a year behind me in college) when we were together in two or three English majors classes. Our common interest in literature inspired a friendship that lasted through the years. We supported each others’ writings, mine in poetry and hers in essays, creative non-fiction, sharing them with each other through time.

Pris taught in the English department after her return from Stanford with a Master’s degree.

She was a born teacher, loved by her students, and respected by her colleagues. She would teach in the US later, stating: “Whether in Asia or North America, or elsewhere, my vocation as a teacher is my gift to the world.”

When I moved to the US myself, our regular exchange of letters between the east and west coast would start. I would meet Pris’ suitor Bart Kelso (handsome, bright, well spoken) for the first time in 1968 when I dropped by Philadelphia where she was working, on my way to summer school in Vermont. I’m not sure now, but he was preparing for the ministry.

Always intuitively spiritual and active in campus religious activities, Pris, while at SU, found a renewed dedication and commitment to her Christian faith that shaped her life. She and Bart shared deep commitment to their faith, as well as an abiding interest in literature.

Our correspondence would continue when Pris and I were already married. As housewives, we compared notes on our “trials” about living in the US when we had to do everything. For both of us, cooking was not a strong point, having that done by others in the Philippines. Planning for supper was our least favorite task. Getting home from work, we just wanted to be able to sit or lie down and not have to worry about fixing supper.

Once, she said, feeling very tried after a difficult day, she thought she would just lie down on the couch for a short time before getting supper. When she woke up hours after, she felt so guilty when she saw her uncomplaining husband sitting at the table munching on a cookie.

But, as “necessity is the mother of invention,” in time we would learn to be passable, maybe even decent enough, cooks.

Pris and I loved teasing our husbands about the joke that fate played on them who must have thought they were marrying traditional Asian women who were excellent homemakers, submissive, obedient, quiet, whose joy is to serve their men, period.

We told them they made a mistake by choosing well-educated, bright women with their own minds. We all had a good laugh over that.

Pris always spoke proper English with an American accent ever since I remember. After all, English as Americans speak it was/is our model in school.

But as she stated: “My one observation is that one is almost apologetic about speaking English

been gone too long, and recognized the changes in the use of English in schools during our time and much later.

Before, as educated people, we were expected to use straight English when speaking English, not Ceb-glish. That was before nationalism was promoted, and required in the country, and self-consciously employed in social discourse.

As expatriates experience, the fact is, disorientation not only with place but also with language, is expected and not easily ignored; as she noted: “…both mind and body had to accommodate the psychological and physical distance between my original homeland and adopted home”.

(Often, in my emails, I would intentionally write in Ceb-glish to tease her, hoping to get a reaction. How it must have pained her, but she never made a comment, bless her heart.)

Pris and I were concerned about keeping the memory of our fathers alive. She spoke warmly of my father. While I didn’t know her father as well, he had always been helpful when I went to his office to file my tax returns and have my travel papers notarized and approved.

After I shared with Pris an essay about my father’s life as a single father with very young children, since he got widowed during the war, she emailed back: “I feel deeply the poignant memory of your Dad’s life. I too have made sure that my father is remembered by preserving his war diary from 1941-46 and giving copies of some of his writings to family and relatives. He, like your Dad, was a teacher and engineer; played varsity tennis and basketball at Silliman. Daughters like us, who are wordsmiths, can do this for them as a tribute to their lives and sacrifices. The war shaped them and us.”

Pris wanted to write about her father and her family to put in a book, and I had offered enthusiastic encouragement. I do not know whether she has an unpublished manuscript somewhere. She had so much to share.

Since my retirement here, and during Pris’ and Bart’s balikbayan visits, she would talk about bringing her close friends on a visit to the ancestral Lasmarias farm in Kabanlotan in Bais where she had grown up. But with their limited time here, there were always other commitments, other “promises to keep”. She seemed determined to finally let that happen on their next visit. Sadly, she is gone, and that will not be.

Still, reading Pris’ own words from the same essay about English, Home—The Heart’s Deep Longing (July 26, 2011), I am comforted that she was at peace with whatever was to be.

As an expatriate, she could say: “After many years asking the question “Where is home?”, I am gradually coming to a time when my longing for a permanent address is being replaced by the growing certainty of God’s gracious and transforming presence wherever I am. Somewhere between the two realities of my Philippine heritage and my adopted country, I am called to live—in the now and the not yet—until my journey takes me to the Promised Land, a destination of no more wandering or wondering.”

You are finally Home, Pris. Be seeing and talking to you again someday. (Myrna Peña Reyes)

september 26 - OCTOBER 2, 2021

8

MetroPost

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Ultramarathoner Edmar Balandaca (leftmost), a registered nurse in a BPO, celebrates his 41st birthday by running 100 kilometers from Bayawan to Dumaguete in 16 hours and 58 minutes with fellow ultramarathoners Lucky Espinosa, Timmy Besario, and Kim Estanil. Espinosa finished running 65 kilometers in Zamboanguita. Balandaca’s 100K birthday run coincided with their participation in the Hunat Virtual Marathon for the Dumaguete Watershed organized by Metro Dumaguete Water, through the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. zProceeds of the virtual races will fund tree planting initiatives in the watershed in barangay Lunga in Valencia.

bow....from p. 5

Comelec....from p. 3

However, an authorized representative may file the COC on behalf of the candidate.

When filing, candidates must wear surgical or medical-grade masks and face shield, and will have their body temperature checked, said Macaraya.

He warned the candidates to avoid filing the COCs on the deadline or last hour as it may not be accepted due to insufficient requirements.

Candidates are also asked to produce seven copies of their COCs, five of which will be for Comelec, while the remaining copies will be for the candidates’ file.

As of Sept. 7, a total of 883,157 residents in Negros Oriental have registered to vote.

Of the total number of valid registered voters in the province, 275,515 are from the third congressional district, 343,480 from the second district, and 264,162 in the first district.

Macaraya said that to maintain order in the filing of COCs and avoid mass gathering, law enforcement personnel will be on standby around the Comelec premises.

This is also to restrict the number of people in and out of the Comelec offices, in c lud i ng supp ort ers who will accompany the candidates, and the media covering the events. (JCT/ PIA7 NegOr)

“outfit” he was “wearing” was “vaporware.” Finally, one honest child blurted out that the king was actually naked!

The child was fearless and not trained to subservience.

Last week, we reminisced the declaration of Martial Law in 1972. Those who had sad experiences shared how the administration at that time stifled the right to talk against the abuses of the dictatorship. It appeared that people were forced to think the way the leaders did. It was groupthink to the max, which weakened the fundamentals of democracy and the institutions of governance.

By fear, people were forced to kowtow to the government and those who were able to gather enough courage to speak up were considered as enemies of the state usually

labeled as subversives.

Red tagging was rampant.

Synergy in the bureaucracy died and functionaries were molded under the concept of groupthink.

At present, some individuals allege that they are observing a semblance of the above-stated condition as red tagging resurfaced, and trolls are rampant, attacking like a swarm of bees those who criticize the performance of the present dispensation.

At the local level, we have observed what happened to the City as certain sectors openly opposed to the plan of the leadership to reclaim a portion of the sea. This is a classic example of a vibrant democratic environment being cultivated by the administration.

People are openly using different platforms to express

oppositions, even to the point of maligning persons and diverting their attention from discussing the issues and crossing the line of decency and hitting below the belt.

Different sectors and members of the community (religious, business, lawyers, public officials and freelancers) were given the time to officially present their opinions before the City Council for or against the project.

One lawyer even accepted the Mayor’s challenge for what he termed a “highlevel discussion”, with the participation of the media.

There is no orchestrated move to silence the opposition but maybe only more to preserve the dignity and respect of the office, instead of the persons.

Some individuals are

ALLIANCE....from p. 2 the protection and restoration of the forests within its geothermal project sites.

Partners can also adopt practices from EDC decarbonization mechanisms.

The pioneering members of the Net Zero Carbon Alliance include homegrown enterprises ArthaLand property developer, Lopez Group affiliate First Balfour construction company, Drink sustainability communications agency, Silliman University, as well as the local operations of multinational firms Analog Devices, Coca-Cola, Knowles Electronics, and Unilever.

“We are extremely excited with the enthusiastic participation of our partners and we are looking forward to working with more and more enterprises in the local business sector as we move toward our common goal of mitigating the global challenge of climate change,” Tantoco said.

EDC is the country’s biggest 100-percent renewable energy company that accounts for over 40 percent of the Philippines’ RE output and serves about 10 percent of the country’s overall electricity demand with its installed capacity of almost 1,500 megawatts.

Its 1,181-megawatt geothermal portfolio accounts for 62 percent of the country’s total installed geothermal capacity and has put the Philippines on the map as the world’s third largest geothermal power producer. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA) sad because many friends, classmates, and relatives are on opposing sides of the issue. Heated exchanges on social media are most common among residents and non-Dumaguete residents, including those who only temporarily lived in Dumaguete as students or as visitors.

Members of the community are participating in silent protests, fluvial parades, while the church, led by the Bishop, even had its penitence walk against the proposed project.

On the other hand, the local chief executive has been actively conducting his series of consultations/information drives with different sectors of the community about the merits of the project.

I consider this development as the essence of

democracy, which manifests the kind of administration which cultivates the value of synergy and enlightened citizenry.

The continued debates in different platforms is a manifestation of an empowered citizenry, and a product of liberal education where students are trained to think critically, and encouraged to stand up and speak up what they believe is right, just, and fair.

Whatever happens to the reclamation project and the endangered political careers of the politicians involved in pushing for the reclamation, the City and its constituents will eventually benefit from this experience: synergy, an empowered citizenry, responsible public servants, and a strengthened democracy.

Dumaguete mountain bikers associated with Team D’ Corner, headed by businessman Arnel Maputi, are all-smiles after biking on Sept. 19 a total distance of 226.5 kilometers in about 10 hours 44 minutes from Dumaguete northwards to Guihulngan to complete their virtual participation in the Hunat Virtual Marathon for the Dumaguete Watershed (bike category). Organized by Metro Dumaguete Water, with Coach Niño Piñero as race director, Hunat is a multisport activity (swim-bike-run) advocating for water conservation through the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. Proceeds of the virtual races will fund tree planting initiatives in the watershed in barangay Lunga in Valencia. (Randy Millares photo)

MetroPost

september 26 - OCTOBER 2, 2021

SPORTS and WELLNESS

9

LEVI A. Vicuña

How i keep fit

bvicuna@yahoo.com

B

Provincial Board Member Erwin Macias (left) and Bayawan City Mayor Pryde Henry Teves and Provincial Board Member Erwin Macias announce their plan Thursday to file their certificates of candidacy on October 5 for Governor and Vice Governor, respectively, in the May 9, 2022 elections. (contributed photo)

Peoples corner The Senior High School program came into actuality after the implementation of Republic Act 10533, otherwise known as the Enhanced Basic Education Act 2013, mandating the Department of Education to add two years of secondary education to its curriculum.

The SHS Program was then implemented on the School year 2016-2017 nationwide,

not available such as, but not limited to, competent teachers, equipped classrooms, appropriate textbooks, the right tools and equipment.

Although the Department of Education is clearly doing its best to provide and supply s c h o o l s w i t h t h e c ruc ial resources, it does not have the capacity to provide everything for all schools in the country.

that are still in need of resources as the Division continues to address the concerns and issues for the organization to qualify for additional teachers, more school buildings, and the much-needed technicalvocational livelihood equipment.

It may not be easy to iron out gaps in the implementation of the Senior High School

with Grade 11 and Grade 12 as the last part of the K-12 curriculum.

This program intends to hone senior high school students holistically, equip them with 21st century skills, and prepare each graduate for the future, be it in pursuit of higher education, the acquisition of middlelevel skills, or geared towards employment and entrepreneurship.

The first year of implementation was a real struggle for all schools since crucial resources were still

There are limitations and considerations in providing the needs of every school to properly implement the Senior High School program.

Such considerations include the number of enrolment in every school, the buildable space for the classrooms, official documents to prove ownership of the lot/property, and availability of equipment suppliers and service contractors. These are but only a few of the many concerns that DepEd assumes.

The Tanjay City Division of the Department of Education is among those school divisions

program knowing that there are external factors affecting its operation but its success in the future is unquestionable.

The refinement of the senior high school curriculum, and the provision of crucial resources are in constant progress, thus, it is too early to ask whether its implementation is successful or not. Getting our act together to achieve the goals and objectives of the program shall surely help.

Senior high school: focal reality

IT AIN’T OVER....from p. 12

to Dumaguete]. The people’s major question: Is this still an unsolicited proposal? Or did the Mayor solicit this proposal with EM Cuerpo?

Ces Drilon: In closing na lang, what is your message to Dumaguete, and to the national government? Are our legislators [in Congress or in the Senate] aware of this controversy? Are there other interested parties with whom you can appeal this matter?

Councilor Perdices: I always say, and appeal to the Mayor of Dumaguete: no development project is ever good enough for relatives and friends to be so divided over the issue; or co-workers fighting on social media or on a personal level over reclamation. No development project is worth the division it is now causing on this small community known

Slain....from p. 3

victim of mistaken identity, as what the perpetrator later claimed.

Tejamo said he mistook Fr. Tony for the previous parish priest, Fr. Dexter Pomada, who allegedly refused to hold a Holy Mass for his son who committed suicide five years earlier. Tejamo claimed not knowing about the reshuffling of priests’ assignments.

Magalso, who was 44 at the time, and a priest for about 15 years then, was assigned to the Sta. Cruz Viejo parish sometime in May 2014, his sister, Noval, said.

She said that while the promulgation was held last July 15 via virtual conference of all parties involved, it was just recently that they received the hard copy of the decision due to the limitations brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

Judge Christine M. Tabasuares-Aba, presiding judge of Regional Trial Court Branch 43 where the criminal case for murder was filed against Tejamo, penned the

Once in a while, I reward myself and have a cheat day.

Balance is everything.

My first Spartan Race was in 2018 at Foressa Park in Balamban, Cebu.

My teammates here and I registered under the Sprint category.

The obstacles ranged from the Bucket Carry (lifting a pail filled with rocks weighing around 35 kilos for a distance of 200 meters); the Spear Throw (channeling your inner King Leonidas by hurling a spear to a target 30 feet away, in only one chance, or suffer

complete the remaining 19 kilometers half-blind.

In the Super Race at RD Hill in Danao, Cebu, my teammates and I had to wade in chestdeep mud. Overcoming the obstacles became harder with all the mud. You can imagine a lot of good pairs of shoes and Go-Pros got lost in the muck, to the frustration of many racers.

What stood out the most to me was how camaraderie thrived in those arduous and exhausting situations – propping up a complete stranger so he/she can get over a nine-foot wall, or just

30 burpees); the Monkey Bars (something I’m very familiar with, growing up in SU Elementary School); and the Barbed Wire Crawl (going on all fours through rocks and mud) -- and all completed

cheering on runners who are just about to give up. Only Spartans can understand the feeling of accomplishment after a gruelling race.

I was on the way to obtaining my 2nd Trifecta for 2019 (accomplishing all three race categories in one year), but then Taal Volcano erupted.

Taal was the venue for both races. The race schedule w a s m o v e d t w i c e , a n d eventually got cancelled. The pandemic put an end to it all.

With the MECQ still on, I now focus on working out at home, doing weights, and HIIT (high-intensity interval training) to push myself out of my comfort zone. I continue to run solo on weekdays in the off roads of Valencia, and with my running group #TeamPutoSik before the sun comes up on Sundays.

With this pandemic not showing signs of easing up in the coming months, I try to join virtual races and virtual ultramarathons just to maintain my fitness.

Now that Spartan Races are back, I am excited to pick up where I left off. As the Spartan race Motto goes, “You’ll know at the finish line.” - Aroo!

Perygen R. Mariot SHS coordinator perygen.mariot001@deped. gov.ph

as a City of Gentle People, where everybody are supposedly friends. I grew up in Quezon City, and came back to Dumaguete in 2001 because I realized it’s good to raise a family here -- where everybody is friendly to everyone until now. The proponents are promising you development [“like a mini-BGC” or Dubai or Singapore], jobs, etc. So then you could have “development” and “jobs” but you are already estranged from family and friends. I strongly oppose this reclamation project that will just break apart a good community.

Ces Drilon: We thank you so much, the four of you, for your time, and good luck to the Minority Councilors of Dumaguete. We will keep following on this issue. Maraming salamat!

five-page decision.

Noval said Tejamo has never shown any remorse, not during the time that the family saw him in court during the early days of the trial, and even during the virtual promulgation proceedings.

“He never said sorry to us.

He never even said a word at all and would not look us in the face,” she said, noting that their family never relented to a move to downgrade the charges to homicide as they sought justice.

“Even though we know the court sentence will not bring back our brother to life, justice has been served and we thank God, the main witness, the bishop and clergy, parishioners, relatives, and friends, who supported us and journeyed with us all throughout these years,” Noval said.

Aside from giving the sentence of reclusion perpetua to Tejamo, the court also asked him to pay moral and exemplary damages, and other penalties, but Noval said the

eing an 80s kid, there was no reason not to play outdoors.

M y neighborhood friends and I used to climb those mango trees at the Capitol area, play tag inside the Chinese Cemetery, or at the Old Grandstand of the Silliman Ballfield, or just roam the City, and start to head home when the streetlights came back on. Ever since I was a kid, being active and enjoying the outdoors came natural to me.

I can’t even remember exactly how I got into road running. One day when I thought I was feeling bored, I just decided to go out for a run. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to run twice a week, until it became a habit, which in turn became part of my active lifestyle.

W i t h o u t consciously meaning to, my running distances eventually got longer and farther out, as I moved from covering the rubberized oval at Perdices Stadium to trying the interesting roads of Dumaguete and then Valencia.

Then it came to point when I felt that road running was getting monotonous, so I decided to enroll at Fit & Play gym. And what a great decision that was!

It was at Fit & Play where I met other people who became my running buddies, my Spartan Race teammates, and eventually, my very good friends.

I also learned a lot about the techniques and benefits of physical exercise and working

family is not expecting the accused of being capable of paying these as he appears to have no source of income and his family had already left him.

The family of the slain priest will mark his sixth year death anniversary on Sept. 29 at his burial site in Barangay Bonawon, Sta. Catalina, their hometown.

Noval said their brother, the youngest of 13 siblings, served faithfully in his priestly ministry and his death left a void in their hearts.

Meanwhile, Cortes, in an interview on Monday, said he has asked one of the priests to visit the perpetrator in the detention facility to start “a journey of healing”.

“I am personally relieved that finally, a decision came and now is the time to extend an invitation for healing to that person who is the perpetrator of the crime,” Cortes said.

“We cannot leave him on his own, and now is the time to reach out to him and see how we can help him,” he added. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)

out under Coach Joe Veloso and Coach Archie Nellas.

It was at Fit & Play were I first heard about the Spartan Race. Eventually our gym sessions were focused on preparing us for the Spartan Race.

The Spartan Race is an obstacle course race with three basic categories: the Sprint (a five-kilometer course with 20 obstacles), the Super (a 10-kilometer course with 25 obstacles), and the Beast (a 21-kilometmer/half marathon course with 50 obstacles).

But aside from the hard physical training, I realized that all those exercises won’t matter if I continued with my bad eating habits.

You see, food is 75 percent of the equation of being fit, healthy, and happy.

I have been practicing Intermittent Fasting (from 8pm to 12 noon the next day) for a couple of years now. I stay away from sugar and processed food. Protein-fruit smoothies are for lunch, light snacks in the afternoon, and a regular dinner around 8pm.

The only maintenance that I take are three to five malunggay capsules before any strenous activity.

under the scorching heat of the sun.

I got hooked. I just loved the physical strain and the demanding challenges. In fact, I couldn’t wait to sign up for the next race.

From the unforgiving humidity of Cavite, the hellish terrain of Pampanga, and the never-ending “uphell” Battle of Forezza, I gathered so many fun and unforgettable experiences to look back on.

I remember during the Beast Race in Lipa, Batangas, I got dust in my eye early into the course so I had to remove one of my contact lens, and

Buddy Vicuña is a Business Computer Applications graduate from Silliman. He operates his family’s Forest Camp resort and Limottakna coffee shop in Apolong, Valencia. He also operates the zipline and wall climb at Forest Camp.

MetroPost

september 19 SEPTEMBER 26 - SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2, 2021 25, 2021

10 8 BUREAU OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE http://blgf.gov.ph/ LGU: BAYAWAN CITY (TULONG), NEGROS ORIENTAL Period Covered: Q3, 2021 (As of August 31, 2021) Acct.

Code

Particulars

Income Target (Approved Budget)

STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS SOURCES

Actual Receipts

% of Over/ Excess of (Under) to Actual vs Target Target

Acct.

Code

Particulars

LOCAL SOURCES

Fines and Penalties-Service Income

TAX REVENUES REAL PROPERTY TAX Real Property Tax -Basic

37,726,960.00

37,936,323.23

209,363.23

0.55%

9,006,960.00

8,982,992.65

-23,967.35

-0.27%

Income Target (Approved Budget)

Actual Receipts

% of Over/ Excess of (Under) to Actual vs Target Target

500,000.00

424,389.30

-75,610.70

5,000.00

649,680.00

644,680.00 12893.60%

RECEIPTS FROM ECONOMIC ENTERPRISES (Business Income)

8,861,000.00

6,097,773.53

-2,763,226.47

-31.18%

Receipts from Economic Enterprises (Business Income)

8,861,000.00

6,097,773.53

-2,763,226.47

-31.18%

282,250.00

205,913.15

-76,336.85

-27.05%

Medical, Dental and Laboratory Fees

-15.12%

9,006,960.00

8,982,992.65

-23,967.35

-0.27%

Current Year

0.00

5,986,033.11

5,986,033.11

0%

Cemetery Operations

Fines and Penalties-Current Year

0.00

25,994.01

25,994.01

0%

Market Operations

6,922,000.00

4,843,144.20

-2,078,855.80

-30.03%

Prior Year/s

0.00

2,005,571.50

2,005,571.50

0%

Slaughterhouse Operations

1,656,750.00

873,550.00

-783,200.00

-47.27%

Other Economic Enterprises

0.00

171,101.18

171,101.18

0%

Fines and Penalties-Economic Enterprises

0.00

4,065.00

4,065.00

0%

4,220,900.00

2,089,024.16

-2,131,875.84

-50.51%

4,000,000.00

1,930,248.16

-2,069,751.84

-51.74%

Fines and Penalties-Prior Year/s TAX ON BUSINESS Amusement Tax Business Tax

0.00

965,394.03

965,394.03

0%

25,000,000.00

25,380,401.50

380,401.50

1.52%

300,000.00

33,697.50

-266,302.50

-88.77%

24,000,000.00

24,627,625.65

627,625.65

2.62%

OTHER INCOME/RECEIPTS (Other General Income) Interest Income

Manufacturers, Assemblers, etc.

0.00

520,940.96

520,940.96

0%

220,900.00

158,776.00

-62,124.00

-28.12%

Wholesalers, Distributors, etc.

0.00

3,241,733.15

3,241,733.15

0%

Miscellaneous - Others

220,900.00

158,776.00

-62,124.00

-28.12%

Exporters, Manufacturers, Dealers, etc.

0.00

265,109.54

265,109.54

0%

TOTAL INCOME-LOCAL SOURCES

70,242,630.00

63,112,502.31

-7,130,127.69

-10.15%

Retailers

Other General Income (Miscellaneous)

24,000,000.00

13,529,285.82

-10,470,714.18

-43.63%

Contractors and other Independent contractors

0.00

1,521,031.70

1,521,031.70

0%

SHARE FROM NATIONAL TAX COLLECTION

1,215,986,482.00

911,989,861.47 -303,996,620.53

-25.00%

Printing & Publication Tax

0.00

16,947.54

16,947.54

0%

INTERNAL REVENUE ALLOTMENT

1,215,986,482.00

911,989,861.47 -303,996,620.53

-25.00%

Tax on Amusement Places

0.00

150,480.95

150,480.95

0%

1,215,986,482.00

911,989,861.47 -303,996,620.53

-25.00%

0.00

253,352,656.36 253,352,656.36

0%

0.00

253,352,656.36 253,352,656.36

0%

Other Business Taxes

EXTERNAL SOURCES

Current Year

0.00

5,382,095.99

5,382,095.99

0%

Tax on Delivery Trucks and Vans

200,000.00

136,750.00

-63,250.00

-31.63%

Loans - Domestic

Fines and Penalties-Business Taxes

500,000.00

582,328.35

82,328.35

16.47%

OTHER NON-INCOME RECEIPTS

3,720,000.00

3,572,929.08

-147,070.92

-3.95%

OTHER TAXES Community Tax-Corporation Community Tax-Individual Professional Tax Real Property Transfer Tax NON-TAX REVENUES REGULATORY FEES (Permits and Licenses) Permits and Licenses Fees on Weights and Measures

RECEIPTS FROM LOANS AND BORROWINGS (PAYABLE)

1,120,916.00

31,828,916.76

30,708,000.76 2739.55%

Collection Receivables

0.00

1,542,334.00

1,542,334.00

0%

0.00

127,019.09

127,019.09

0%

Refund of Cash Advances

0.00

4,127,293.07

4,127,293.07

0%

3,000,000.00

2,947,422.23

-52,577.77

-1.75%

Collection from Inter-Agency Receivables

0.00

8,037,255.99

8,037,255.99

0%

200,000.00

190,255.00

-9,745.00

-4.87%

Collection of Trust Liabilities

0.00

17,481,549.45

17,481,549.45

0%

0.00

17,481,549.45

17,481,549.45

0%

1,120,916.00

640,484.25

-480,431.75

-42.86%

520,000.00

308,232.76

-211,767.24

-40.72%

32,515,670.00

25,176,179.08

-7,339,490.92

-22.57%

Due from other NGAs

8,435,000.00

7,760,136.08

-674,863.92

-8.00%

TOTAL INCOME/RECEIPTS FROM EXTERNAL SOURCES

1,217,107,398.00 1,197,171,434.59

-19,935,963.41

-1.64%

5,815,000.00

5,727,754.30

-87,245.70

-1.50%

TOTAL GENERAL FUND

1,287,350,028.00 1,260,283,936.90

-27,066,091.10

-2.10%

Other Receivables

260,000.00

212,520.00

-47,480.00

-18.26%

SPECIAL EDUCATION FUND

Business Permit Fees

1,685,000.00

2,470,942.13

785,942.13

46.64%

SPECIAL EDUCATION TAX

Building Permit Fees

1,900,000.00

1,439,693.67

-460,306.33

-24.23%

10,000,000.00

12,379,569.88

2,379,569.88

23.80%

Zonal/Location Permit Fees

1,400,000.00

1,011,208.00

-388,792.00

-27.77%

Current Year

0.00

8,551,475.87

8,551,475.87

0%

Tricycle Operators Permit Fees

210,000.00

168,490.00

-41,510.00

-19.77%

Fines and Penalties-Current Year

0.00

37,134.37

37,134.37

0%

Other Permits & Licenses

360,000.00

424,900.50

64,900.50

18.03%

Prior Year/s

0.00

2,592,507.82

2,592,507.82

0%

2,100,000.00

1,541,514.00

-558,486.00

-26.59%

Fines and Penalties-Prior Year/s

0.00

1,198,451.82

1,198,451.82

0%

0.00

6,387.71

6,387.71

0%

0.00

6,387.71

6,387.71

0%

10,000,000.00

12,385,957.59

2,385,957.59

23.86%

1,297,350,028.00 1,272,669,894.49

-24,680,133.51

-1.90%

Registration Fees Cattle/Animal Registration Fees

Special Education Fund

300,000.00

215,200.00

-84,800.00

-28.27%

1,800,000.00

1,326,314.00

-473,686.00

-26.32%

Inspection Fees

170,000.00

189,628.51

19,628.51

11.55%

Fines and Penalties-Permits and Licenses

350,000.00

301,239.27

-48,760.73

-13.93%

GRAND TOTAL (GF + SEF)

10,998,770.00

9,229,245.31

-1,769,524.69

-16.09%

ADVANCE PAYMENT FOR RPT

3,531,770.00

1,998,222.30

-1,533,547.70

-43.42%

General Fund

3,879.33

Police Clearance

0.00

386,830.00

386,830.00

0%

Special Education Fund

5,541.90

Secretary’s Fees

3,531,770.00

1,611,392.30

-1,920,377.70

-54.37%

TOTAL

9,421.23

6,962,000.00

6,156,953.71

-805,046.29

-11.56%

700,000.00

1,027,140.00

327,140.00

46.73%

6,262,000.00

5,129,813.71

-1,132,186.29

-18.08%

Civil Registration Fees

SERVICE/USER CHARGES (Service Income) Clearance and Certification Fees

Other Fees Garbage Fees Other Service Income

BUREAU OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE http://blgf.gov.ph/ LGU: BAYAWAN CITY (TULONG), NEGROS ORIENTAL Period Covered: Q3, 2021 (As of August 31, 2021)

Other Receipts Interest Income TOTAL SPECIAL EDUCATION FUND

Certified correct:

STATEMENT OF EXPENDITURES

Budget Appropriation Particulars

NGAS Code

PS

MOOE

FE

GEMMA G. SUMALPONG City Treasurer

Actual Expenditures CO

Total

PS

MOOE

FE

Variance (Balance) CO

Total

PS

MOOE

FE

CO

Total

% of Balances to Budget

GENERAL FUND General Public Services

1000 275,272,241.89 269,645,537.00

0.00

41,223,760.00

586,141,538.89 152,006,370.74 146,102,428.59

0.00

95,893.10 298,204,692.43 123,265,871.15 123,543,108.41

0.00 41,127,866.90 287,936,846.46

49.12%

Office of the Governor/Mayor

1011 123,913,810.89 127,321,474.00

0.00

7,515,300.00

258,750,584.89 69,550,722.27 75,118,243.08

0.00

14,186.97 144,683,152.32 54,363,088.62

52,203,230.92

0.00

44.08%

Civil Security

1013

4,687,878.00

31,096,640.00

0.00

17,235,000.00

53,019,518.00

0.00 17,235,000.00

Office of the Vice Governor/ Vice Mayor

1016

2,629,315.00

1,081,400.00

0.00

0.00

3,710,715.00

Sangguniang Panlalawigan/ Panlungsod/Pambayan

1021 25,795,071.00

9,953,860.00

0.00

2,050,000.00

Support Services (Secretary to the Sanggunian)

1022

6,993,079.00

291,000.00

0.00

0.00

7,284,079.00

Office of the Provincial/City/ Municipal Administrator

1031 11,225,527.00

18,255,340.00

0.00

1,311,460.00

Personnel Officer/Human Resource Management Office

1032

1,673,565.00

1,109,000.00

0.00

Office of the Planning and Development Coordinator

1041 11,498,030.00

4,700,060.00

Office of the Civil Registrar

1051

5,362,160.00

General Services Office

1061 29,217,885.00

Office of the Provincial/City/ Municipal Budget Officer

1071

6,138,782.00

2,756,800.66 16,029,880.83

0.00

0.00

18,786,681.49

1,931,077.34

15,066,759.17

1,190,001.69

85,353.95

0.00

0.00

1,275,355.64

1,439,313.31

996,046.05

0.00

37,798,931.00 13,223,596.14

3,533,203.95

0.00

0.00

16,756,800.09 12,571,474.86

6,420,656.05

4,104,583.56

82,802.73

0.00

0.00

4,187,386.29

2,888,495.44

30,792,327.00

5,741,524.57

6,015,070.07

0.00

40,166.43

11,796,761.07

375,000.00

3,157,565.00

883,038.32

208.35

0.00

0.00

0.00

900,000.00

17,098,090.00

6,364,495.82

1,304,403.30

0.00

491,900.00

0.00

140,000.00

5,994,060.00

2,960,217.01

203,380.02

36,723,980.00

0.00

9,334,000.00

75,275,865.00 17,193,622.73 12,525,814.97

359,753.00

0.00

100,000.00

6,598,535.00

3,756,048.07

31,494.38

7,501,113.03 114,067,432.57 34,232,836.51

64.57%

0.00

2,435,359.36

65.63%

0.00

2,050,000.00

21,042,130.91

55.67%

208,197.27

0.00

0.00

3,096,692.71

42.51%

5,484,002.43

12,240,269.93

0.00

1,271,293.57

18,995,565.93

61.69%

883,246.67

790,526.68

1,108,791.65

0.00

375,000.00

2,274,318.33

72.03%

0.00

7,668,899.12

5,133,534.18

3,395,656.70

0.00

900,000.00

9,429,190.88

55.15%

0.00

0.00

3,163,597.03

2,401,942.99

288,519.98

0.00

140,000.00

2,830,462.97

47.22%

0.00

0.00

29,719,437.70 12,024,262.27

24,198,165.03

0.00

9,334,000.00

45,556,427.30

60.52%

0.00

0.00

328,258.62

0.00

100,000.00

2,810,992.55

42.60%

3,787,542.45

2,382,733.93

TO PAGE 9

MetroPost 2021 September 19 • September 26

MetroPost

SEPTEMBER september 19 -26 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER25, 2, 2021

11 9 STATEMENT OF EXPENDITURES....FROM P. 8 Budget Appropriation Particulars

NGAS Code

PS

MOOE

FE

Actual Expenditures CO

Total

PS

MOOE

Office of the Provincial/City/ Municipal Treasurer

1091 20,733,882.00

5,150,240.00

0.00

413,000.00

26,297,122.00 10,479,694.28

Office of the Provincial/City/ Municipal Assessor

1101

8,383,243.00

3,225,130.00

0.00

370,000.00

11,978,373.00

Office of the Legal Officer

1131

3,704,604.00

610,200.00

0.00

1,400,000.00

5,714,804.00

Aids to Barangay

FE

Variance (Balance) CO

Total

PS

1,564,021.76

0.00

41,539.70

4,744,362.13

867,368.73

0.00

0.00

5,611,730.86

1,914,809.63

47,045.69

0.00

0.00

0.00 28,678,000.00

0.00

114,236,639.50 32,477,335.67 22,076,562.09

12,085,255.74 10,254,187.72

0.00

FE

CO

% of Balances to Budget

Total

3,586,218.24

0.00

371,460.30

14,211,866.26

54.04%

3,638,880.87

2,357,761.27

0.00

370,000.00

6,366,642.14

53.15%

1,961,855.32

1,789,794.37

563,154.31

0.00

1,400,000.00

3,752,948.68

65.67%

0.00

28,678,000.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0%

0.00

54,553,897.76 23,543,516.33

33,824,225.41

0.00

2,315,000.00

59,682,741.74

52.24%

0.00

28,678,000.00

0.00

0.00

56,020,852.00

55,900,787.50

0.00

2,315,000.00

3000

1,115,017.00

154,912.00

0.00

550,000.00

1,819,929.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1,115,017.00

154,912.00

0.00

550,000.00

1,819,929.00 100.00%

3322

1,115,017.00

154,912.00

0.00

550,000.00

1,819,929.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1,115,017.00

154,912.00

0.00

550,000.00

1,819,929.00 100.00%

4000 43,686,330.00

29,558,280.00

0.00

1,155,000.00

74,399,610.00 26,746,359.31 14,016,118.20

0.00

0.00

40,762,477.51 16,939,970.69

15,542,161.80

0.00

1,155,000.00

33,637,132.49

45.21%

4411 43,686,330.00

29,558,280.00

0.00

1,155,000.00

74,399,610.00 26,746,359.31 14,016,118.20

0.00

0.00

40,762,477.51 16,939,970.69

15,542,161.80

0.00

1,155,000.00

33,637,132.49

45.21%

4411-2 43,686,330.00

29,558,280.00

0.00

1,155,000.00

74,399,610.00 26,746,359.31 14,016,118.20

0.00

0.00

40,762,477.51 16,939,970.69

15,542,161.80

0.00

1,155,000.00

33,637,132.49

45.21%

7000 11,219,505.00

26,187,595.50

0.00

610,000.00

38,017,100.50

5,730,976.36

8,060,443.89

0.00

0.00

13,791,420.25

5,488,528.64

18,127,151.61

0.00

610,000.00

24,225,680.25

63.72%

Office of the Social Welfare and Development Officer

7611 11,219,505.00

21,328,700.00

0.00

308,000.00

32,856,205.00

5,730,976.36

4,797,051.04

0.00

0.00

10,528,027.40

5,488,528.64

16,531,648.96

0.00

308,000.00

22,328,177.60

67.96%

Others

7999

4,858,895.50

0.00

302,000.00

5,160,895.50

0.00

3,263,392.85

0.00

0.00

3,263,392.85

0.00

1,595,502.65

0.00

302,000.00

1,897,502.65

36.77%

8000 59,916,110.00 263,578,700.71

0.00

287,659,892.13

Office of the Provincial/City/ Municipal Agriculturist

8711 10,646,184.00

99,598,725.00

0.00

Office of the Veterinarian

8721

5,509,303.00

11,404,585.00

Office of the Environment and Natural Resources Officer

8731

6,445,563.00

Office of the Provincial/City/ Municipal Engineer

SOCIAL SERVICES Education, Culture & Sports/ Manpower Development Secondary School Health, Nutrition & Population Control Office of the Health Officer Rural Health Unit (RHU) Social Services and Social Welfare

Economic Services

0.00

28,678,000.00

MOOE

611,154,702.84 34,648,741.51 80,054,220.70

0.00 6,698,264.36 121,401,226.57 25,267,368.49 183,524,480.01

0.00 280,961,627.77 489,753,476.27

80.14%

2,326,500.00

112,571,409.00

6,508,200.50 22,132,105.93

0.00

1,193.50

28,641,499.93

4,137,983.50

77,466,619.07

0.00

2,325,306.50

83,929,909.07

74.56%

0.00

995,000.00

17,908,888.00

3,329,096.31

3,846,814.15

0.00

0.00

7,175,910.46

2,180,206.69

7,557,770.85

0.00

995,000.00

10,732,977.54

59.93%

31,355,518.60

0.00

6,370,000.00

44,171,081.60

3,276,864.60 14,602,472.43

0.00

0.00

17,879,337.03

3,168,698.40

16,753,046.17

0.00

6,370,000.00

26,291,744.57

59.52%

8751 27,641,523.00

72,121,455.00

0.00

59,105,581.44

50,311,478.15 11,503,699.59

39,024,417.19

0.00 58,028,964.51 108,557,081.29

68.33%

Office of the Cooperatives Officer

8761

4,255,011.00

15,171,330.00

0.00

1,880,100.00

21,306,441.00

2,595,609.94

3,689,797.14

0.00

0.00

6,285,407.08

1,659,401.06

11,481,532.86

0.00

1,880,100.00

15,021,033.92

70.50%

Operation of Economic Enterprise

8888

5,418,526.00

2,908,000.00

0.00

437,000.00

8,763,526.00

2,801,146.75

1,104,064.46

0.00

0.00

3,905,211.21

2,617,379.25

1,803,935.54

0.00

437,000.00

4,858,314.79

55.44%

Operation of Markets (Economic Enterprise)

8811

4,598,855.00

2,498,000.00

0.00

437,000.00

7,533,855.00

2,337,512.73

1,027,444.44

0.00

0.00

3,364,957.17

2,261,342.27

1,470,555.56

0.00

437,000.00

4,168,897.83

55.34%

Operation of Slaughterhouse (Economic Enterprise)

8812

819,671.00

327,000.00

0.00

0.00

1,146,671.00

463,634.02

76,620.02

0.00

0.00

540,254.04

356,036.98

250,379.98

0.00

0.00

606,416.96

52.89%

Operation of Cemeteries (Economic Enterprise)

8841

0.00

83,000.00

0.00

0.00

83,000.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

83,000.00

0.00

0.00

8911

0.00

0.00

0.00

183,197,296.40

183,197,296.40

0.00

0.00

0.00 3,184,695.55

3,184,695.55

0.00

0.00

70% Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund

0.00

13,336,036.69

0.00

31,721,214.29

45,057,250.98

0.00

1,581,928.78

0.00 2,435,758.38

4,017,687.16

0.00

Disaster Prevention and Mitigation

0.00

13,336,036.69

0.00

31,721,214.29

45,057,250.98

0.00

1,581,928.78

0.00 2,435,758.38

4,017,687.16

30% Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund

0.00

17,683,050.42

0.00

1,627,200.00

19,310,250.42

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

20% Local Development Fund

158,868,559.44 16,137,823.41 33,097,037.81

0.00 1,076,616.93

83,000.00 100.00%

0.00 180,012,600.85 180,012,600.85

98.26%

11,754,107.91

0.00 29,285,455.91

41,039,563.82

91.08%

0.00

11,754,107.91

0.00 29,285,455.91

41,039,563.82

91.08%

0.00

0.00

17,683,050.42

0.00

1,627,200.00

19,310,250.42 100.00%

Debt Service

0.00

0.00 60,000,000.00

0.00

60,000,000.00

0.00

0.00 57,422,063.01

0.00

57,422,063.01

0.00

0.00 2,577,936.99

0.00

2,577,936.99

4.30%

Principal

0.00

0.00 47,004,000.00

0.00

47,004,000.00

0.00

0.00 46,903,784.88

0.00

46,903,784.88

0.00

0.00

100,215.12

0.00

100,215.12

0.21%

0.00

0.00 47,004,000.00

0.00

47,004,000.00

0.00

0.00 46,903,784.88

0.00

46,903,784.88

0.00

0.00

100,215.12

0.00

100,215.12

0.21%

0.00

0.00 47,004,000.00

0.00

47,004,000.00

0.00

0.00 46,903,784.88

0.00

46,903,784.88

0.00

0.00

100,215.12

0.00

100,215.12

0.21%

0.00

0.00 12,996,000.00

0.00

12,996,000.00

0.00

0.00 10,518,278.13

0.00

10,518,278.13

0.00

0.00 2,477,721.87

0.00

2,477,721.87

19.07%

0.00

0.00 12,996,000.00

0.00

12,996,000.00

0.00

0.00 10,518,278.13

0.00

10,518,278.13

0.00

0.00 2,477,721.87

0.00

2,477,721.87

19.07%

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00 56,671,056.70

0.00

0.00

56,671,056.70

0.00 -56,671,056.70

0.00

0.00 -56,671,056.70

0%

Purchase of Inventory

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00 17,481,303.57

0.00

0.00

17,481,303.57

0.00 -17,481,303.57

0.00

0.00 -17,481,303.57

0%

Disbursement of Trust Liabilities

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00 13,863,758.63

0.00

0.00

13,863,758.63

0.00 -13,863,758.63

0.00

0.00 -13,863,758.63

0%

Due to other LGUs

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

5,665,219.07

0.00

0.00

5,665,219.07

0.00

-5,665,219.07

0.00

0.00

-5,665,219.07

0%

Due to National Treasury

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

68,150.43

0.00

0.00

68,150.43

0.00

-68,150.43

0.00

0.00

-68,150.43

0%

Due to BIR

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

7,830,441.13

0.00

0.00

7,830,441.13

0.00

-7,830,441.13

0.00

0.00

-7,830,441.13

0%

Due to Officers and Employees

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

299,948.00

0.00

0.00

299,948.00

0.00

-299,948.00

0.00

0.00

-299,948.00

0%

Grant of Cash Advances

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

500,000.00

0.00

0.00

500,000.00

0.00

-500,000.00

0.00

0.00

-500,000.00

0%

Intra-Agency Payables

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00 15,374,201.87

0.00

0.00

15,374,201.87

0.00 -15,374,201.87

0.00

0.00 -15,374,201.87

0%

Due to Other Fund

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00 15,374,201.87

0.00

0.00

15,374,201.87

0.00 -15,374,201.87

0.00

0.00 -15,374,201.87

0%

Other Current Liabilities

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

9,451,792.63

0.00

0.00

9,451,792.63

0.00

-9,451,792.63

0.00

0.00

-9,451,792.63

0%

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

9,451,792.63

0.00

0.00

9,451,792.63

0.00

-9,451,792.63

0.00

0.00

-9,451,792.63

0%

331,198,652.13 1,371,532,881.23 219,132,447.92 304,904,268.08 57,422,063.01 6,794,157.46 588,252,936.47 172,076,755.97 284,220,757.13 2,577,936.99 324,404,494.67 783,279,944.76

57.11%

Local Development Projects Loan Amortization-Domestic (Debt Service-Principal) Interest and Other Charges Interest Payment - Domestic (Debt Service-Interest OTHER NON-OPERATING EXPENDITURES

Other Payables TOTAL GENERAL FUND

391,209,203.89 589,125,025.21 60,000,000.00

SPECIAL EDUCATION FUND Education, Culture & Sports/Manpower 3000-1 Development Education Subsidiary Services TOTAL SEF TOTAL EXPENDITURES

3331-1

0.00

8,000,000.00

0.00

1,043,000.00

9,043,000.00

0.00

602,830.65

0.00

0.00

602,830.65

0.00

7,397,169.35

0.00

1,043,000.00

8,440,169.35

93.33%

0.00

8,000,000.00

0.00

1,043,000.00

9,043,000.00

0.00

602,830.65

0.00

0.00

602,830.65

0.00

7,397,169.35

0.00

1,043,000.00

8,440,169.35

93.33%

332,241,652.13 1,380,575,881.23 219,132,447.92 305,507,098.73 57,422,063.01 6,794,157.46 588,855,767.12 172,076,755.97 291,617,926.48 2,577,936.99 325,447,494.67 791,720,114.11

57.35%

391,209,203.89 597,125,025.21 60,000,000.00

Payment of Account Payables (Prior Year) - GF

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

Payment of Account Payables (Prior Year) - SEF

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1,713,260.77

0.00 1,617,631.88

3,330,892.65

0.00

-1,713,260.77

CONTINUING APPROPRIATION

0.00

0.00

0.00

838,473,228.41

838,473,228.41

0.00

0.00

0.00 99,317,962.91

99,317,962.91

0.00

0.00

3,242,587.53 141,786,503.37

0.00 58,026,106.09 203,055,196.99

-3,242,587.53 -141,786,503.37

0.00 -58,026,106.09 -203,055,196.99

0%

0.00 -1,617,631.88

-3,330,892.65

0%

0.00 739,155,265.50 739,155,265.50

88.15%

Certified correct:

GEMMA G. SUMALPONG City Treasurer Generated by TORALDE, MENCHU VILLAMIL on 14/09/2021 2.30PM

MetroPost 2021 September 19 • September 26

september 26 - OCTOBER 2, 2021

12

IT AIN’T OVER TILL IT’S OVER. If you thought the issue on the reclamation project in Dumaguete is over, broadcast journalist Ces OreñaDrilon of the national radio program Basta Promdi, Lodi! talks to the Minority lawmakers to continue the probe: Councilor Jo Kenneth Arbas, Councilor Bernice Anne Elmaco, Councilor Rosel Margarette Erames, and Councilor Agustin “Tincho” Perdices.

Ces Drilon: Dumaguete Mayor Felipe Remollo recently withdrew the request for authority for him to sign the Memorandum of Understanding between the government of Dumaguete and EM Cuerpo Inc. involving the planned 174-hectare reclamation project in the City. The signing of the contract with EM Cuerpo as “winning bidder” has been postponed to give way to the application for the necessary permits from the Philippine Reclamation Authority and the Department of Environment & Natural Resources; after this are the opposition to the project from the various sectors.

In a letter to the Sangguniang Panglungsud, the PRA confirmed that the government of Dumaguete has no pending application for their ‘smart city’ project. The PRA also said they have not received any request from the Dumaguete government to conduct a Swiss challenge for the unsolicited proposal that would allow other interested parties to bid for the project.

According to Dumaguete Vice Mayor Karissa Faye Tolentino-Maxino, the recent move of Mayor Remollo did not mean that the project is ‘dead’.

This is why we would like to speak now with Atty. Rosel Erames, one of the councilors who is against the ‘smart city’ project. With her via Zoom [platform] are Councilors Agustin Perdices, Joken Arbas, and Bernice Elmaco. Magandang hapon po sa inyong lahat.

Ok, first off, let us make this clear: Is the ‘smart city’ project still brewing or has the idea been killed [with the Mayor’s request to withdraw the signing]?

COUNCILOR ERAMES: Well, itong project na ito ay “buhay na buhay” despite the request of Mayor Remollo to withdraw his authority to sign the MOU. This doesn’t mean that the project is dead. In fact, even after the Sept. 8 regular session when the Mayor asked for the withdrawal request to sign the MOU, he continued to conduct his “information drives” wherein he made clear that such request did not mean he was not pursuing his project.

Ces Drilon: So what’s your next step?

Councilor Perdices: If you read the letter, the PRA said the City of Dumaguete did not go through the right process of applying for a reclamation project.

And so in the Mayor’s letter of request to the Council, he also said he intends to pursue the project [following] the process of first, applying with the PRA. A Resolution of No-Objection is part of the documents he would need to submit to the PRA. Aside from that, he also needs a Letter of Intent. The Majority in the Council simply approved the Mayor’s request inspite of our [efforts to first discuss the matter]. We tried our very best to withdraw that resolution but we never got the numbers to pass it as we are in the Minority.

Ces Drilon: What are the chances that your number will increase [in the Minority]?

Councilor Elmaco: If they change their hearts....

Ces Drilon: Or [it can be done] in the coming elections....

Councilor Perdices: Having four councilors [in the Minority] is actually not too far off from the Majority as there are only 10 regularlyelected councilors and two ex-officio members representing the SK and the Association of Barangay Councils to make a full council of 12 voting members. Since our Vice Mayor [Alan Gel Cordova] died in May, Councilor Karissa Maxino became vice mayor. So right now, there are only 11 voting members in the Council, with four of us in the Minority. With the Minority lately is the president of the SK Federation who has voted against the reclamation project based on his personal belief that any reclamation can cause the environment, and [based] on his [duty] to carry the voice of the youth of Dumaguete who are very much opposed to the proposed project of the Mayor. We just need one more Councilor.

COUNCILOR ELMACO: We are hoping that one or two more of our colleagues in the Council would have a change of heart [in deference to] the City and for the [wishes of

the] people of Dumaguete, and would join us in this cause.

Ces Drilon: To be clear, Mayor just wants to fix the wrong that he had done, wherein the ‘cart came before the horse’,is that correct?

He asked for a Resolution from the Council because he actually does not yet have an application with the PRA, and that it why he asked the Council to withdraw it, is that correct?

Councilor Arbas: Yes, the Mayor gave the Council this letter [of withdrawal] two days after he received the letter from PRA. Apparently, if we read the PRA letter, it actually states that what the Mayor did all these months did not follow the process. In fact, there is a Build-Operate-Transfer law that he needs to comply with, especially that this construction is a Joint-Venture Agreement. The Mayor has to comply with all those laws -- which he did not!

We feel the Mayor attempted to correct his mistakes, although the mistakes were still not corrected because the acts have already been committed. He has already violated the law, he has already violated the PRA law, he has already violated the BOT law, and therefore, it cannot be corrected by simply withdrawing that authority. That is our belief.

Ces Drilon: What’s preventing the four of you, or any other group, from filing a case before the Ombudsman?

Councilor Erames: Actually, nothing is preventing us [from doing that]. In fact, a group of lawyers here in Dumaguete are in the process of preparing the necessary documents for the filing of several cases regarding this project. If the Mayor signed the MOU, that would have been the go-signal for the group of lawyers opposed to this project [to do their move].

Not only that, but the Mayor also asked for a deferment of his signing the Notice of Award to EM Cuerpo. Most of the people here say that it is just one tactical or political move of the Mayor to calm down the opposition.

Ces Drilon: Yes, but you don’t want to be fooled, Sir Arbas, tama po ba?

Councilor Arbas: Yes, I actually want to believe they followed the process. But after receiving the unsolicited proposal, they went straight to the PPP [Public-Private Partnership] Selection Committee which evaluated the proposal, using government funds, using government time. Then they went through the Swiss challenge, again using government time.

You can see how many people have been implicated in this project, not only the Mayor himself. He also implicated all the Department heads [of City Hall] who sit in the PPP Selection Committee. He published the Swiss challenge [in a national broadsheet], they also published under PhilGEPS [Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System]. They went through all that without going through the right process, not following the law. Do you think the Mayor can correct that by simply withdrawing his authority [to sign]?

Ces Drilon: The fact that the Mayor backed out could mean that he got scared [of the consequences] because if he signed the MOU, for sure, you would have filed a case against him, correct?

Councilor Perdices: Actually, our stand goes even beyond the response of PRA [to our inquiry]. Our initial stand is about the 2016 PPP Code of Dumaguete, authored by [then Councilor] current Vice Mayor Karissa Maxino, and co-authored [then Councilor] current City Legal Officer who is strongly defending the position of Ipe Remollo as co-chair of the PPP Selection Committee. That PPP Code of 2016 clearly states that the City cannot accept unsolicited joint venture [agreements]. And yet, they received this unsolicited proposal [from EM Cuerpo] sometime in November 2019, according to the Mayor. However even at that time in 2019, the law applicable in Dumaguete was the 2016 PPP Code so they should have returned that proposal on Day 1 because the Code does not allow us to accept that kind of a proposal.

Ces Drilon: Why is this happening? Do you think -- well, you need evidence, of course, to make such allegations -- money has changed hands “under-the-table”? Why

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do you think is this project going so fast? It seems the proponents want this expedited.

COUNCILOR ARBAS: We don’t want to accuse [anyone of wrongdoing]. You’re right, it would be hard to accuse [anyone] especially when it pertains to corruption issues. But we wonder, why didn’t they say [anything to the public] when they received this proposal [in 2019]? They were quiet... until they submitted the MOU or Joint Venture Agreement to the Council for [the Mayor’s] authority to sign! It was only then when the entire City that there was such a project. The whole period [since they received the proposal] -- almost two years -- they did not disclose anything [to the public].

Ces Drilon: You didn’t know anything about this...you where totally in the dark, you where caught off-guard, you were flabbergasted. When this was first presented to you at the City Council, what were your reactions?

Councilor Perdices: I was personally surprised [by the Mayor’s plan to reclaim 174 hectares]. What was more surprising was the action taken by the Majority: that on that very same day we received the Mayor’s request [to grant him authority to sign with EM Cuerpo], they approved it [without discussion on the merits/disadvantages]. We [in the Minority] were trying to convince our fellow Councilors, teka lang, this is the first time we are hearing about this, [the first time it’s] being formally presented to the Council [shouldn’t we talk about it first]? Normally, Ces, even a simple resolution, or a simple ordinance goes through so many phases [before voting on it].

Ces Drilon: Debating about those things take time....

Councilor Perdices: Yes, [a proposal for] an ordinance or a resolution has to go through committee meetings, they will call for resource persons, then it goes through second reading.

But this authority to sign [was approved] enseguida (right away)! We were all caught in a bind. We didn’t know anything about this, so we requested for time to consult our constituents. The four of us believe we are representatives of the people of Dumaguete who put us in office, so we are duty-bound, in cases like this, to go back to them to ask them their thoughts on this. We were asking for time, and we were never given time.

Councilor Arbas: In addition to that, Ces, the Majority Councilors assured us [during that session that] this project is at “no-cost” on the part of the City. But if you look at the situation now, almost everyday the Mayor is himself conducting “information drives” [about his project] in a hotel. At whose expense?

Ces Drilon: And during a pandemic like this? But we’re in the midst of a pandemic!

Councilor Arbas: Opo, the Mayor is conducting info drives, and using the HR Department of the City to invite different guests. Inviting even all employees of the government during office hours to listen to the Mayor for three hours everyday.

Ces Drilon: So you don’t want to be blindsided again, nor to be misled again because some might believe the Mayor [genuinely] backed out, but no, it could just have been a tactic....

Councilor Erames: Yes, that is very clear.

Councilor Arbas: The Mayor is conducting his info drives everyday, probably spending more time in it than doing genuine government service.

Ces Drilon: What do you think is the Mayor’s next step? Will he present to the Council this time, after asking to withdraw the authority to sign? What do you think he intends to do next?

Councilor Erames: In terms of the initial application process, I think the Mayor’s next move would be to ask for a Resolution of NoObjection, as the Letter of Intent -- which he also needs to apply with PRA -- still exists.

[In the first place] the MOU is not among the requirements of PRA. Ces Drilon: Does the Resolution of NoObjection have to be unanimous?

Councilor Erames: Its approval only needs a simple majority, so we in the Minority lack the numbers. We need two more Councilors.

Councilor Arbas: To get a certificate of no-

Tel. (35) 420-5015, 0918-9400-731

objection from the Council, the City Council must conduct a public hearing. The Council, if it genuinely represents the interests of the people, can only issue a certificate of no-objection after listening to the people and getting their consent [to the project].

Ces Drilon: Right! But the first time this was presented, it was immediately approved there and then [because] you did not have the [numbers]....

Councilor Erames: That is true, too, despite the absence of public consultations or hearings.

Councilor Arbas: And maybe that could be the reason why they did not object when we asked for the revocation of that Resolution of No-Objection. We reiterated that we need to have a public hearing first because we represent the people of Dumaguete. So when we [in the Council] say we don’t object, it is actually the people of Dumaguete who don’t object to the project.

Ces Drilon: I understand that in the public hearings that were held, not enough opposition was heard from, is that correct?

Were they prohibited [from speaking up]?

Councilor Erames: We have not had any public hearing even until now. What the Mayor is doing is [what he calls] an “info drive for social acceptability” which is far from a public hearing as his audience has been pre-selected.

Councilor Arbas: And the Mayor is the one talking all the time, for three hours everyday.

Ces Drilon: [Do the info drives] really take three hours? And I thought [the opposition led by] the group of Atty. Golda Benjamin has been able to participate in “public hearings” in the Council where other environmentalists are also able to attend?

COUNCILOR PERDICES: No, those are not public hearings. [You were referring to instances where] concerned citizens write to the City Council expressing intent to speak to the Councilors as people of Dumaguete belonging to the community. The Council then grants them that privilege to talk to us [during our ‘regular Business’]. That is how Atty. Golda Benjamin, and other Silliman professors and marine scientists have been able to speak before the Council [to share their expertise on the reclamation issue].

Ces Drilon: Okay, so no public hearing has yet been called by the Council. So then what is your next move?

Councilor Arbas: We wait for the next move of the Mayor because the Council can only act on something that the Mayor submits [for consideration].

But I just wanted to mention [what I observed]: when the Council received various comments from the public -- especially from those who have spoken at the City Council, the scientists, teachers, experts, institutions, the church, the academe like Silliman University, reiterating to “please withdraw that authority given to the Mayor” -- the Majority in the Council did not listen to them.

But based only on one letter from the Mayor [asking to withdraw the authority given him], the Majority in the Council approved his letter immediately, and withdrew the authority right away -- with no explanation, no argument, no discussion. So you ask: who do these Majority Councilors truly represent in the Council?

Councilor Perdices: This has also become funny, if it weren’t serious. People are aware this reclamation is an “unsolicited proposal” by a private company that wishes to do this project here in Dumaguete. But what’s happening now, EM Cuerpo might not even come to Dumaguete upon our invitation to talk to us at the Council.

[EM Cuerpo was a no-show in the Sept. 15 City Council session. -- eds] This private company has never shown us their face here in Dumaguete, and yet, the one person hard-selling the project to the residents here is the Mayor himself, who is expected to be neutral on the matter if this was truly an “unsolicited proposal”.

We expected the Mayor to listen to the [presentation of the] unsolicited proposal together with us, to listen what EM Cuerpo wanted to do here in Dumaguete.

But no, it now even seems like the Mayor is the agent for EM Cuerpo [selling the idea

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