KOMENTARYO NI DODONG MONDRAGON "Karma na kaha ni?"

Komentaryo
ni Dodong Mondragon

Karma na kaha ni?

  

           Sa tinuhu-an sa Hindu ug Buddhist duna silay doktrina nga ginatawag ug karma. Kining binuhatan duna gyud kini tugbang. Kon maghimo ka ug dautan maka-agum gyud ka ug silot ug kon maghimo kag mayo duna say bunga nga maayo matagamtam ang bunga sa imong binuhatan karon kabuhi-a, sa sunod nga kinabuhi imo gyud kining madawat.

            Ang nahitabo karon ni kanhi Presidente Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo makapangutana kita, dili ba kini karma? Gihatagan sya ug higayon nga mahimong president sa nasud apan giunsa man niya paggamit ang maong gahum? Kung husto ang akong panumduman sa dihang paglingkod niya pagka president puli ni kanhi Presidente Joseph Estrada, miingon sya, “I don’t aspire for greatness, I just want to be a good president.” Apan unsay nahitabo? Nahimo man hino-on sya nga usa ka dakong ambisyosa. Dili naman gani sya gusto nga mopahawa sa gahum nga naninguha sya usbon ang sistema sa gobyerno ngadto sa parliamentary system aron magpadayon sya sa gahum bilang prime minister. Sa naghinangat ang eleksyon sa 2004 pagka president, misulti sya sa publiko nga dili na sya mokandidato. Apan paghiman-himan, mikandidato sya pagka president ug ang nakaparat pa gyud kay nanikas sya sa eleksyon aron lang modaug. Ug sa nalingkod na sya pagka-presidente, nang hambog ug miingon sya, “God placed me as president.”

            Ana-ay panultihon sa kara-ang manunulat sa Greece, “Insolent words uttered in the arrogant consciousness of power were always heard in heaven and always punished.” Ug mao kini nga karon napamatud-an nga dili ang Ginoo ang nagbutang kanila bilang president kon dili ang mga Ampatuan abusado ug dili mahadlok mobuhat ug mga mangilngig nga mga krimen kay sila diay ang nagbutang ni Gloria Macapagal Arroyo pagka president sa nasud. Nagtuo sila nga panalipdan sila bisag unsay ilang himo-on kay ila man ang president. Apan wala man kapanalipod si GMA kanila mao nga mibalos sila pinaagi sa pagtug-an sa tinuod nga nanikas sa eleksyon mandi ni GMA. Tungod sa mapahitas-an nga paglantaw sa iyang kaugalingon, unsa man karon si GMA?

            Karon usa sya ka masakiton kuno ug nag-atubang sa mga mabug-at nga sumbong batok kaniya. Aron unta makalikay sa mga kaso, misuway sya sa paggawas sa Pilipinas apan gibabagan sya sa mag-security personnel kaniya usa ka dakong tamparos sa iyang pagkatawo nga subo kaayong palandungon. Dili lang unya kini ang iyang lukdo-on kay kon dimalason sya, mabalhog pa gyud sya sa bilanggu-an. Kon makonbikto pa sya sa kaso nga electoral sabotage, mahimo pa unya nga ang kongreso mopagawas ug resolusyon sa paghatag ni FPJ bilang “First Posthumous Award as 14th President of the Philippines” ug si GMA deklarar “As First Fake President of the Republic.” Pagkasubo nga komedya.

            Kon si GMA may palabra de honor lang unta nga gituman ang una niyang pamahayag sa diahang milingkod sya sa pagka president, dili unta sya karon mag-atubang ug maka-uulaw nga sitwasyon. Sa iyang gidangatan karon, ang kasaysayn dili gyud maloloy-on kaniya. Iya ba kaha kining karma?

Tita Len-len's Wais Tips "Good old furniture"

Tita Len-len's Wais Tips
By Len-len Pataytay

Good old furniture

            
           What can make an ancestral house even cozier (or is it creepier?) than any other house? The wooden floor, the large capiz windows, the grandfather’s clock and his rocking chair!

            As comfortable as a rocking chair can be it may damage your precious wooden floor so line its rocker area with adhesive tape or wax. You may wax the arcs of the rocker at the same time you wax the floor.

            The precious old rocking chair and other house furniture may fall victim to chewing gums and candies straight from the mouths of kids and adults with a kid’s head. Allow the gum to harden first. Candies can harden fast if applied with ice. Then scrape it off using the dull side of a knife or the rounded edge of a spoon.

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            Almost everyone has a trusty old wooden chest of drawers for keeping the family treasures and pertinent documents. Just when the going gets tough, drawers can get stuck. Rub candle or wax or a bar of soap on the runner of other side that seems to be sticking to easily slide the drawer again. Rub all parts that are in contact with other surfaces.

            Pieces of furniture become investments especially if they are made of good quality materials and they can last a lifetime when taken care of. It comes with true surprise that doing so only requires minimal if no expense at all.

Source: The A-Z of Household Tips by Cahirup Tembrevilla Armogenia

EDITORIAL "Formula for Progress"

Formula for progress

    So where do we stand vis-a-vis the ethanol plant pollution issue?

            The fact that the plant is providing jobs to some residents of the city and to others from Negros Island cannot be undermined. That they are paying taxes yearly because they are only given less than 10 percent real estate tax as an incentive is another filling in the sandwich.

            But the dust and particulates in air that land on surfaces, stick on hanging clothes on a line, and go directly with the air we breathe every second are particularly obvious. Representatives of San Carlos Bioenergy, Inc. defended that they are constantly checking the air quality using supposedly prescribed devices. The air quality within SCBI based on test results is very satisfactory because no particulate landed on the device.

            But the question is not the air within their premises. We are raising the kitchen trays, glass jalousies, newly washed clothes, and table tops replete with dark particulates that were last seen flying before the San Carlos Milling Co., Inc. went bankrupt. So these particulates could not have come from burnt cane fields because through the years when there was no milling plant and canes were continuously burnt, there was not any ash.

            We understand the plight of SCBI trying to manage the mechanical problem. We also understand why the local government is hard pressed not to take drastic measures against the company, as drastic as calling its shut down through an enforcement from the Environment Department. But the validity of the people’s clamor should no longer be questioned and truly do we need to see efficient actions taken to stop dirty air circulating.

            LGU has to remind itself that the city’s slogan is “Green is go!” and that the Livable Community second price award came mainly because of environmental sustainability. We can do well if we live up to these in parallel with development in order to achieve progress.

            The words of British philosopher Bertrand Russel puts this succinctly:

            “Change is one thing, progress is another. ‘Change’ is scientific, ‘progress’ is ethical; change is indubitable, whereas progress is a matter of controversy.”

            What we already have is a little change brought about by the ethanol industry. But what about progress?

To finally end the never ending spiral of tales on this issue, we simply would like to note that the formula for progress can be spelled in simple terms for a small community like San Carlos: political reform + environmental consciousness + development of industries = progress.

NO BABY TALK "Of Air and Sea Ports"

No Baby Talk
By Georgene Rhena P. Quilaton-Tambiga

Of air and sea ports

Watching the late night news the other week, I chanced upon a report that another famous travel website named the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) the second worst airport in the world.

Frommers.com named NAIA second worst to New York City’s JFK Terminal 3. The embarrassing title was given to airports based on “cleanliness, services, on-time departures, navigation and the ease of getting to and from a city’s center.”

In October last year, The Guide to Sleeping in Airports, another popular website, placed NAIA on top of the list for worst airport for travelers on long transit.

These infamous mentions disarm the Department of Tourism’s claim that “It’s more fun in the Philippines.” Again I go back to the statement of Malaysian Ambassador Dato Seri Dr. Ibrahim Saad that if it’s a hassle to get to a destination no one will travel to a place despite the rigorous promotions.

Sadly for NAIA, the first stop of foreigners visiting our country, it is more of a hassle than a relaxing and fun haven for excited yet jet-lagged travelers.

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Speaking of travelling, I haven’t gone abroad really but I’m quite familiar going around the Visayas since high school. I do believe that our city, being an important travel hub, should be one to provide passengers with hassle-free access both to the Negros and Cebu Islands. In a way, hassle-free translates to hospitality of front-line service employees in terminals and air or sea ports.

It seems, however, that one Coastguard member and the attendants at our very own City Port need to go through training again on one particular subject—hospitality (and all other aspects that sum up to it)!

Travelling with my one year and ten month-old son is not really much of a hassle but it was a true struggle as I had to watch over him and our cargo at the same time. But the struggle is well worth because I believe that the world is the best classroom for kids, however young they are, and that travelling opens and broadens their world view.

Sadly, many do not understand my stance and as we travelled to Toledo City en route to Ormoc City, we encountered the biggest hassle of the day when I asked that my son’s box of milk, water and food no longer go under the detector because it was truly heavy with two full cans of milk in it. The coastguard member, who, as I understand, gets the list of passengers from the RORO vessel, gave me no reaction at all and did not even care to say, “No, everything should be checked.” As I fed our belongings to the mammoth machine of a detector, I asked the ladies for the same favor and maybe they all speak Mars language because neither did they answer my question.

Having fed everything in the detector despite their weight, I asked the Coastguard member again if I could have the pedicab drive around the inspection terminal to the ship’s dock because, obviously, I have a kid in tow. And he shouted at me! He was in complete uniform and shouted that I should hurry or else he’d leave me and my son behind. Admittedly, we came in late because the pedicab we rode on did not drive through the streets from home but practically crawled. Moreover, I clearly understand protocol and was just trying to ask a favor.

In a flare of anger and surprise at his lack of respect and consideration, I retorted that he had not one bit of right to shout at a passenger that is every port’s costumer just because he was in a uniform—camouflage, boots and all. Nor did he have the bit of right to deprive us of consideration just because we were only perched on a crawling pedicab and not on a flashy SUV.

Had we been foreigners would he shout at us like he did in his crisp Tagalog tongue? Certainly, he’d try to escort us mustering what little English he has at the same time. The little or much English he has is beside the point.

The point is to give passengers some respect and consideration be they on a pedicab or wheeled in a car. Both foreign and local passengers deserve equal treatment from front-line employees in ports and terminals, too.

The personnel at our seaport and bus terminal are at the baseline of our tourism industry. If we put men in uniform who only know how to shout and jeer at distressed passengers instead of helping them then our port will never be the ultimate travel hub we dream it to be. Even pretty lasses, who are standing by the detector and know not how to speak and answer passenger’s questions, are not of much help. 

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            That I and my son was really able to embark the ship with all our cargoes intact, we owe it to one porter in yellow shirt. In the haste and blur of the event, I failed to get his name and worse, I was not able to pay him because all I had in my pocket were three 500-peso bills. Honest, considerate and hard-working porters like him are what we need at the port.

            Manong, daghang salamat! Magkita ra ta ug makasukli ko nimo sa imong kaayo.