This appointment was so low profile that I didn’t know about it until I read a story about two weeks ago about the plan of the Bureau of Customs to procure additional firearms for its police force, and my friend, Horacio “Toto” Suansing, Jr., was already referred to as Deputy Customs Commissioner.

Toto did an outstanding job as Collector of the Port of Manila, and this is a well-deserved promotion for him. And he is yet another pride of the Ilonggo people, as he is a home-grown Ilonggo. He is the older brother of the late Ivan P. Suansing, and the nephew of Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago.

Congratulations, Toto!

Suansing named Customs deputy commissioner

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Popular TV anchorman Mike Enriquez arrived in Iloilo this morning for a low-profile visit. He took the Cebu Pacific flight that landed at around 8:15 a.m. and was fetched at the airport by a vehicle of the city assessor’s office. It is not known how long he will be in Iloilo. Is he here for a story? Imbestigador? Or just a quick visit with friends? It appears even the GMA station in Iloilo was unaware of his visit, as there was no local GMA staff who greeted him at the airport.

In case you haven’t noticed, I have set up a link to the podcast edition of “The Capitol in Action,” the weekly radio program I am hosting over Aksyon Radyo Iloilo <http://www.aksyonradyoiloilo.net/>. This will enable Ilonggos all over the world to keep track of issues and news concerning the Iloilo Provincial Government with the convenience of mp3 downloads. You can find the link under the category “Podcasts” on the sidebar at the right side of this page. Or you can click on the link below to go there directly:

<http://www.gcast.com/u/boymejorada/main/>

You can subscribe to the podcast on your Yahoo toolbar. Just follow the instructions on the podcast home page.

The influential international magazine, “BusinessWeek,” has included Iloilo City in its list of ideal locations for business process outsourcing (BPO) businesses around the world.

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/107048/Where-Your-Job-Could-Be-Outsourced

I had a chat with city councilor Lex Tupas on FaceBook last night and learned about the city legislature’s concern about the capital being left out in the proposed Senate Bill filed by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago to establish a special economic zone and free port in the Province of Iloilo.

According to Lex, the council adopted a resolution in yesterday’s regular session pushing for the inclusion of Iloilo City in the coverage of the SEZA-Free Port. I told him we already made that recommendation in a letter sent by Governor Niel Tupas Sr. to Senator Santiago two weeks ago as our input to the committee hearing conducted by Senator Mar Roxas.

Indeed, a special economic zone and free port cannot leave out Iloilo City. This is the center of trade and commerce. it is where our internatonal port facilities are situated. As proposed, the SEZA will include the city, Leqanes, Zarraga, Dumangas, Pavia and Sta. Barbara.

Senator Miriam’s bill deserves everybody’s support. It should cut through partisan lines. Raul Gonzalez, Art Defensor, Ferj Biron and Judy Syjuco, on the one hand, should work together with the Tupases to make this happen. I would add that all the congressmen in Panay should work as one to push for it.

This might come a little late, but as the saying goes, better late than never.

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago is pushing for the establishment of a special economic zone and free port in the whole Province of Iloilo to attract big investments here and accelerate its economic growth.

This plan is contained in Senate Bill No. 3169 that the Ilongga senator filed before the Upper Chamber of Congress recently and seeks to bring her home province on a level playing field with the likes of Subic, Clark, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao by making it a special economic zone and free port.

Governor Niel Tupas, Sr. expressed full support for the legislative initiative, saying that unless Iloilo can offer the same advantages and benefits that Subic and Clark does, big manufacturers will find little incentive to bring huge capital to the province.

In a letter to Senator Santiago, Tupas said this could push the province to greater heights of glory and reclaim its old title as the “Queen City of the South”. Iloilo was already the second busiest port in the country — next only to Manila — at the turn of the 20th century because of natural advantages that it enjoys.

Iloilo’s well-protected harbor makes an ideal shipping center, and its establishment as a free port will make the idea more plausible. I’ve always advocated developing that stretch of coastline from the present International Port in Loboc to the municipal port in Naluoyan, Dumangas, with the land along the coastal road as container yards and warehouse facilitiies.

With a proposed bridge that would connect Iloilo with Guimaras, the concept becomes more attractive, as we can combine a special economic zone with a tourism zone that can rival Subic.

The Senate committees on economic affairs, ways and means, local government units, and finance temporarily chaired by another Ilonggo senator, Mar Roxas, tackled the senate bill yesterday morning. With his support, the bill is likely to be fast tracked in Congress and approved before 2010.

A group of educators from the West Visayas State University have formed a consortium to provide top-quality professional skills training for Ilonggos of all ages.

The Howell Center for Professional Development was inaugurated on Thursday evening, April 2, just across Gate 1 of the Central Philippine University, with initial course offerings on foreign languages, IELTS, public speaking and the basics of public governance. Professor Sharon Quimpo, who has done a splendid job as director of the WVSULanguage School until her resignation last month, is the executive director.

The center hopes to fill the gap in helping professionals, both in the private and public sectors, to sharpen certain competencies, notably in communications, to enhance their career advancement.

As I remarked during the inaugural program, college graduates can be considered as “rough diamonds” when they complete their university education, and the training center will help them “spot polish” the skills they need to move ahead in the career ladder.

Among the consultants who will handle courses at the center are Dr. Myrna Rico-Lopez and Prof. Majella Palacios.

The center is owned and managed by spouses Muhammed Ismael Howell.

The owners of the Howell Center for Professional Development, Mr. and Mrs. Muhammed Ismael Howell, welcoming guests.

The Board of Directors of the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) is reportedly set to resist the threatened take-over of the water utility firm by the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) under its new chairman, Prospero “Butch” Pichay.

The MIWD has been given 30 days by Pichay to “shape up or ship out” after he discovered evidence of gross mismanagement of the water district, particularly with its failure to stop the huge volume of leakages resulting to losses in revenue and inability to improve the flow of potable water to the city’s households.

Pichay was incensed three weeks ago when he handed a check for P2 million as grant from LWUA to help the water utility built a line connection to a relocation site, only to discover upon examining the MIWD’s books of accounts that it had nearly P200 million as retained earnings in the bank.

“With so much money, why wasn’t the MIWD taking concrete steps to solve the company’s problems and improve services?” asked a fuming Pichay.

Indeed, it’s very hard to explain why a company awash with cash can’t do anything about its myriad of problems. What makes it uglier is that this is the home water district of erstwhile LWUA administrator Larry Jamora. During the seven years that Jamora was LWUA chief, why was he unable to do anything to resolve these problems?

Pride is apparently egging the MIWD board of directors to resist Pichay’s initiatives.

But Pichay doesn’t care about wounded pride. What’s important to him is the improvement of the water supply services to Iloilo city and the municipalities being serviced by MIWD.

“I will not even allow politics to come into the picture,” Pichay told me last Friday when we met at his office in the LWUA headquarters.

With this refusal of MIWD to let LWUA to step into the picture, it would appear that water will become the next battleground in Iloilo City.