IloiloUpClose

The enmity and bitterness that existed between former 1st District Congressman Oscar Garin and provincial administrator Manuel “Boy” Mejorada are now totally gone after smoking the “peace pipe” and making a vow to join forces in ousting a common enemy from political power.
Mejorada initiated this peace pact last Tuesday when he visited Garin’s office at the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) on the Elliptical Circle, Quezon City and extend his hand of friendship, a gesture that was also well-accepted by the political kingpin of the 1st district of Iloilo.
“I am not ready to make a commitment to support you, but this one thing is certain: I will never support Boboy Syjuco,” Garin told the provincial administrator who is now firming up his decision to challenge Syjuco as congressman of the 2nd district in the May 14, 2007 election.
Garin said he will not mince words to tell the people of the 2nd district how badly and poorly they have been represented by Syjuco and his wife, Judy, in the House of Representatives from the time they got the position in 1998.
With this peace pact with Garin, Mejorada hopes to start isolating Syjuco from the political leaders of the province and show to the people this man exists only for his own selfish interests, and not for their general pubic good and welfare.

The Operation Bulig, a combined effort of the Iloilo provincial government, Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo (DYOK) and the Coast Guard Auxillary, has succeeded in harnessing the innate generosity of Ilonggos to help poor fisherfolk families in Guimaras who face the bleak prospect of hunger as a result of the oil spill.

On Saturday, Governor Niel Tupas Sr., DYOK station manager John Paul Tia and his staff, and volunteers will deliver the supply of rice, sardines, noodles and rice straw to the Province of Guimaras to help them ward off this threat of hunger after their sole source of livelihood — fishing — was cut off by the oil spill.

Governor Tupas extends his gratitude to all the Ilonggos who contributed to this food aid drive to show our neighbors in Guimaras that we are always there for them, and they could count on us to help in times of need.

Guimaras was once a sub-province of Iloilo.

Iloilo provincial administrator Manuel “Boy” Mejorada led a survey team aboard two Huey helicopters on Thursday afternoon to personally check on just how far the oil spill has reached in the northern towns of Iloilo.
Mejorada said that from the air, he could see beaches stained by the black bunker oil, with big and small splotches floating in the waters off the municipalities of Barotac Viejo, Ajuy and Concepcion.
“The threat is real, although the magnitude of the problem is not yet comparable to Guimaras,” Mejorada briefed reporters after the inspection trip.
Iloilo Governor Niel Tupas Sr. has mobilized local officials and volunteers to manufacture improvised bamboo and rice straw “oil booms” to serve as physical barriers and prevent the bunker fuel from reaching shore.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has declared a state of national calamity because of the growing threat that the 1.8 million liters of bunker oil still beneath the sea could implode and pollute the country’s richest fishing grounds.
Governor Tupas has also appealed to the people to donate rice and other food items to help feed the tens of thousands of people whose lives have been displced by the oil spill.
Governor Tupas asked the President to compel Petron Corp. to salvage the sunken tanker as fast as possible because its presence in the area posed a much bigger danger than the present oil spill.

The efforts to contain the worst oil spill in the country’s history are simply inadequate considering the magnitude of the accident and the unpredictable patterns of weather.
Coast Guard authorities are telling local officials the disaster could harm other parts of the region as the oil spill continued to spread toward the northern coasts of Iloilo province and parts of Negros Occidental.
“We cannot sleep until the tanker is salvaged and the remaining load of 1.8 million liters of bunker oil is removed from the sea,” Coast Guard Commander Harold Jarder told local officials yesterday.
As it is, an estimated 200,000 liters of bunker oil have spilled into the sea following the sinking of M/T Solar I in the seas off Guimaras last August 11.
The Coast Guard has already deployed almost all its ships to the area, undertaking spraying operations with the use of chemical dispersants and trying to corral the oil spill with rubber inflatable booms.
This isn’t enough to stop the menace from threatening other areas, however.
“The southwest monsoon is blowing strongly, and this is aggravated by the strong water current that is flowing through the channel,” Dr. Rex Balena of UPV said.
Because of this, the use of booms and dispersants hardly have had any effect on the oil spill.
It’s like trying to tame a wild bull, one observer noted.
Local officials have sounded the alarm and mobilized people to work together to make improvised booms with the use of rice straw and fishing nets.
Gov. Niel Tupas Sr. said these improvised booms can form a defensive line across the seas in the towns of Ajuy and Concepcion, considered part of the rich Visayan Sea where the bulk of fish products come from.
Tupas said he has received reports from these two towns, including Banate and Zarraga, about oil spill residue being spotted in the coastal areas.
“While the volume of oil material is not big enough to cause damage, it shows that the current and wind are likely to bring the oil spill to our shores,” Tupas said.

It’s been 10 days since the M/T Solar I sank off the coasts of Guimaras island, and the giant oil spill that it caused continues to wreak havoc on the lives of tens of thousands of people on this province known for its sweet mango, white-sand beaches and rich fishing grounds.
But the horror that struck the hearts of Guimaras residents is now threatening to spread in the northern coastal towns of Iloilo province, which is not really too far away in terms of distance, after Coast Guard aircraft pilots reported seeing splotches of bunker fuel near the beaches of Ajuy and Concepcion over the weekend.
This morning (Aug. 21), Governor Niel Tupas summoned the mayors of the threatened towns and discussed emergency measures to be undertaken to protect Iloilo’s rich fishing grounds and beautiful beaches from the black menace.
Local officials are angry over the dilly-dallying of Petron Corp. in getting foreign salvage companies to send a submersible robot craft and survey the damage to the vessel and find ways to refloat the tanker back to the surface.
Dr. Rex Balena, an oceanographer at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas, is worried that the 11,000 PSI water pressure at 722 meters where the ship is believed to have sunk will cause its cargo holds to implode. If that happens, the entire sea will be covered by bunker fuel and the environmental disaster will not only affect the provinces of Iloilo, Guimaras and Negros Occidental. Even Cebu and Mindanao would be affected under such a scenario.
The question is: Why is Petron taking its sweet time to salvage the vessel? Is it afraid of the costs? What about the compensation for the disturbance on the lives of Guimaras inhabitants? Petron should be held liable for its greed. For greed is what caused this accident.

The dark sticky stain of bunker fuel is spreading over a wide area between Guimaras and Negros Occidental after the tanker M/V Solar I sank in stormy waters last Aug. 12 and started to discharge its load of 2 million liters of the fuel.
In what could be the worst environmental disaster in the country, the oil spill has cast a gloomy outlook for Guimaras, which depends on fishing and tourism as its biggest industries, even as the government admitted it lacks the equipment to contain the spread of the fuel.
Gov. JC Rahman Nava has activated his provincial disaster coordinating council (PDCC) to look after the needs of several thousand constituents who stand to go hungry and without a means of livelihood for several months.
Food supplies are being distributed among the people who face an uncertain future now that fishing has been banned by authorities for apparent health reasons.
According to sources, the spill could have been avoided if the boat captain only heeded warnings that leaks had already sprung in his vessel, and it was taking water at a dangerous rate.
Worse, the captain allowed his vessel, with a capacity of only 1 million liters, to load double that volume and straining the boat’s infrastructure.
Iloilo is fortunate to have been spared from this oil spill, but local officials are closely watching the situation because the tide and wind could easily turn and bring the spill to its shores.

TESDA director general Augusto Boboy Syjuco may have gotten himself a judge’s decision to exclude a potential rival in next year’s congressional elections from the voters’ list, but a flaw in the court’s ruling is not going to make that dream come true.

This developed as Manuel “Boy” Mejorada, Iloilo provincial administrator, filed a notice of appeal on the judgment of Municipal Circuit Trial Court judge Victorino Maniba Jr. with the Regional Trial Court and revealed the defect in the latter’s decision.

Mejorada said the dispositive portion of Judge Maniba’s decision orders the BOARD OF ELECTION INSPECTOR (sic) to cancel his name from the list of voters in Precinct 36A in Barangay Amparo, Pavia, Iloilo, a careless mistake that will deprive Syjuco of his wish.

“The Board of Election Inspector (sic) is not the proper body or official who is supposed to carry out the cancellation of my name from the list of voters,” Mejorada said.

Saying this is reflective of Maniba’s “ignorance of the law,” Mejorada said only the Election Officer of the Commission on Election could be ordered by the court to remove his name, and not the BEI.

The BEI is composed of teachers doing poll duty and convenes only during election day. Its mandate is only to ensure that only the individuals whose names are found in the list of registered voters can vote and then count the votes after these are cast.

Now that the appeal has been filed, Judge Maniba can no longer correct this error, a comical situation that will allow Mejorada’s name to remain in the list of registered voters.

“It seems I have the last laugh,” Mejorada said.

In an effort to remove a big threat against 4th District Congressman Ferj Biron in the May 2007 elections, he and his allies in the House of Representatives, namely: Rep. Rolex Suplico and Rep. Janet Garin are trying to persuade presidential sister-in-law Marilou Arroyo-Lesaca to make a bid for the governorship of Iloilo instead.

According to political observer John Sapio of Aksyon Radyo, the three congressmen offered to put up P200 million as contributon to Ms. Lesaca’s campaign war chest if she shifts her target sights on the Capitol instead of trying to wrest the congressional seat from Biron as she is now seen to be doing.

Sapio said Ms. Lesaca rebuffed the congressmen by telling Biron: “Why don’t you run for governnor and I’ll contribute P200 million to your campaign kitty?”

Ms. Lesaca believes it would be “political suicide” for her to challenge two-term incumbent Gov. Niel D. Tupas, Sr. and decided to stick to her original agenda of running as congresswoman of the 4th district of Iloilo.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer chastised Iloilo congressman Rolex T. Suplico the other day on his public declaration that he suffered grave embarrassment about a week ago in Tokyo when a jewelry store turned down his credit card “for being stolen” as he tried to buy two Rolex watches that were on sale.
While Suplico wanted to gain public sympathy for being suspected of using a stolen credit card, the Philippine Daily Inquirer frowned on the idea that he wanted to buy two expensive watches for his son and daughter, with each one costing about a quarter of a million pesos. This price was “sale” price.
Suplico could now afford two Rolex watches, although on sale. When he is here, Suplico is always hugging the front pages for his advocacy against extravagant spending by government and the waste of precious resources. Then, all of a sudden, he comes out on media to say that he was buying those expensive watches for his children when so many people are poor.
Suplico shouldn’t set double standards with his behavior.

A municipal circuit court judge has granted a petition of TESDA director general Augusto Boboy Syjuco to exclude from the voter’s list of Brgy. Amparo, Pavia, Iloilo his main challenger in the 2007 congressional elections and ensure he can reclaim his old post without a viable foe.

Judge Victorino Maniba Jr. ruled that Iloilo provincial administrator Manuel “Boy” Mejorada should be removed as a registered voter of Pavia despite the overwhelming evidence he submitted showing that he has been a long-time resident of his wife’s home barangay, an act that cleared the way for Syjuco’s running unopposed in May next year.

Mejorada could only express “shock and surprise” at the decision which was broadcast over local radio by Atty. Cornelio Panes, lawyer for Syjuco, early Monday evening (August 7), at the close of the 10-day period given by law for deciding voter registration issues.

“It’s hard to believe how the court could ignore the evidence,” Mejorada said. “Even the petitioner Elsa Jamotillo admitted she filed the case only because Syjuco sought help in getting me ousted as voter of barangay Amparo.”

Mejorada said he has been hearing rumors that Syjuco’s money was going to be a factor in Maniba’s decision. “But not for a single second did I believe that Judge Maniba would succumb to money,” he said.

Mejorada said he is not giving up the fight. In the end, he said, he will win the war against Syjuco with the people of the second district driving him away through the ballot.

“It’s a small victory for money politics,” he said. “But truth and justice will triumph in the end,” he added.