“Never insult an alligator until after you have crossed the river.” –Cordell Hull I hope the news of Iloilo City Mayor Jose ‘Joe III’ Espinosa III planning to rename the Iloilo Freedom Grandstand, which has recently been moved to Muelle Loney Street and facing the Iloilo River, to the “Dinagyang Grandstand” is not true. …
OPINION
Dinagyang Festival Opening Salvo today
Iloilo City will be a festive destination as it opens the 2019 Iloilo Dinagyang Festival today with an opening salvo featuring different tribes that will be participating in the event highlights two weeks from now. In 2001, I was tapped by then-Iloilo City Councilor Rolando Dabao and Larry Jamora to serve as festival manager and …
Election tip: Flatter voters shamelessly
“One of the reasons people hate politics is that truth is rarely a politician’s objective. Election and power are.” –Cal Thomas This article may be of interest to those aspiring for public office. Before Rome’s greatest orator, Marcus Cicero, became consul, the highest elected political office in the Roman Republic, a then-42-year-old son of …
1.7B loan
Bacolod City Councilors Wilson Gamboa, Jr. and Claudio Jesus ‘Kalaw’ Puentevella called a press conference last week to express their opposition to the manner and process in which a P1.7 billion Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) loan was obtained by the city government. According to the two minority city legislators, the matter has already …
Is the Western Visayas now the country’s biggest cemetery?
“Never use a cannon to kill a fly.” –Confucius With the growing list of people being murdered by riding-in-tandem suspects in the Western Visayas, particularly in Iloilo and Negros Occidental, along with the resulting massacres from “encounters” and police raids, it appears the region is becoming the biggest cemetery in the Philippines. The latest …
From hero to zero: Carlos Ghosn’s remarkable fall
This hero to zero chapter in Carlos Ghosn’s life reminds all of us to reflect and learn from a very important teaching taught by the Bible: “the spiritual descent of Lucifer into Satan is one of the most famous examples of hubris.” REMARKABLE FALL FROM GRACE This is the case of legendary Nissan, Renault …
The Nava murder was an extreme act of irrationality
“It is from the Bible that man has learned cruelty, rapine, and murder; for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel man.” –Thomas Paine, “The Age of Reason” Iloilo Press Club President Rommel Ynion is offering a P100,000 reward for anybody who can assist police in identifying the gunmen and mastermind behind …
Out of this world real estate or real estate in outer space?
Do you want to be an owner of an acre of the moon? Perhaps you want to buy a piece of land on Mars and relocate there? The idea may sound absurd but, believe it or not, there are some companies selling land on the planets around us and the moon. It may be uncommon …
The biggest family business you’ve never heard
“I hope your first deal is a loser, otherwise you’ll think you’re a lot smarter than you are.” That was how Charles Koch described what his dad, Fred Koch, the founder of Koch Industries, told him before handing over the CEO leadership. His advice was genuinely embraced by Charles, and he went on to grow …
Proud to witness ‘press freedom’ soar
“A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad.” –Albert Camus As a journalist, being in the right place at the right time is different from just watching historical events pertaining to press freedom from afar. I consider it …