Power outages getting serious

Power outages, we call brownouts, are getting more serious and worse everyday. Having two to three brownouts every day is bad to our house appliances.

All our officials, from Gov, Isidro Zayco down to the city and municipal mayors and Congressmen, board members and councilors must act.

In Iloilo, Mayor Jerry Treñas is complaining against Napocor. If other officials do not move, Mayor Bing Leonardia must act for Bacolod. This is beyond Ceneco. Even Bobby Montelibano is helpless.

But no official has ever asked Napocor to explain why and what are they doing.

* * *

The Negros Occidental High School alumni hold their reunion today.

In the forefront are Class ‘48 celebrating its 60th and Class ‘58 celebrating its 50th. We had lunch the other day with a cousin, Mrs. Rhodora Geroy Escaño, nursing dean emeritus of Philippine Women’s University and of Class ‘58 in the house of aunt Mrs. Gloria Dojillo Versoza, Class ‘48.

We will join our Sunshine Boys tonight, many of whom belong to Class ’48. Class ’48 Alumni President is Pope Jalando-on. We are their guest.

Alumni homecoming is the best time to renew friendship and be young once again, even if only in the feeling. Most of these Class ‘48 people are now 80 to 81. But these friends still look younger than their age.

* * *

I want to dedicate to these alumni a beautiful song which Pompey Querubin of ‘48 beautifully emotes, titled “Memories.”

“Memories, light the corners of my mind,/ Misty waters color memories of the way we were;/ Scattered pictures of the smiles we left behind;/ Smiles that we gave to one another,/ Of the way we were.

“Can it be that it was so simple then,/ Or has time rewritten every line,/ If we had the chance to do it all over again,/ Tell me, could we, would we?

“Memories may be beautiful and yet,/ What’s too painful to remember,/ We simply choose to forget,/ So it’s the laughter we will remember,/ Whenever we remember the way we were.”

Forget the food shortage and price of rice. It’s time for memories, for remembering, for enjoying.

* * *

Today, too, our stockholders at Star Printing Corporation, the sister publication of our DAILY STAR, will meet at Sugarland Hotel at noon.

We have beautiful memories too but many of them painful, especially to Twinkling when cash was too tight and could not meet the payroll. Star Printing is o.k. now

Twinkling is better, she has one way of solving problems when problems were seemingly insurmountable. She stormed Heaven through Saint Jude and our Filipino saint, San Lorenzo.

Her other advantage, she has a very good confidant, sister Perla and both run Star Printing.

And many others too whose names we cannot all mention.

Star Printing will mark its 25th Anniversary on June 8.

* * *

A news item said a committee in Congress approved the extension of CARP for five years. Do our leaders not realize that one main cause of our food shortage is the wrong implementation of CARP?

I don’t know the strategy because it was unanimous. Some 30 years ago we were sufficient in rice, even exporting some of it and the biggest exporter of sugar to the U.S. market.

Now, we import sugar from Thailand and we are known as the world’s biggest rice importer.

Why? Our agricultural lands were broken up and given to people who cannot produce enough. CARP’s aim was to alleviate poverty and improve productivity. The result was opposite.

No bank wants to lend to an agricultural endeavor using that land as collateral because of the CARP law. This was what stunted production growth.

And officials cannot move much because CARP is enshrined in the Constitution. The solution is to amend the Constitution and 12 of our Senators had already moved to amend it.

And government is budgeting some P100 billion for five years for CARP. These funds, we are afraid, will mostly go to the fat cats of DAR and not to the farmers.

* * *

My friend Jack Abalajon sent me a copy of a letter to both President Arroyo and Gov. Zayco of Mario Villanueva Jr. as president of the Coalition of Landowners of the Philippines.

I am afraid these letters will be just ignored. The President is afraid of street marchers and demonstrators, which could be mostly financed by CARP funds.

The solution is through our Congressmen but, sadly, they have no voice when in front of the President. Better is through the Senators who are not afraid to stand up.

Meanwhile, our population will double from 90 to 180 million in 2040.*

back to top