EMERGENCY POWER

Last week PNoy requested Congress for emergency power to resolve problems related to shortage of electric power in the country. Congress leadership then promised to provide such power, however executive department shall specify what emergency power they require. So, the two branches of government are not aligned on certain subject. It looks to me that one is having a problem on its own and just kept it for himself and because the resolution is inevitably impossible, then it’s time to share the burden to others. Am I right, sirs?

Have you heard of Philippine Energy Plan for Y2009 up to Y2030? Maybe not, I’m afraid so. I’ll surely understand since such plan will never be posted in social media (FB, IG, Twitter, etc.). The energy plan is initiated of course by the Department of Energy (DOE) and can be viewed in its website: https://www.doe.gov.ph/doe_files/pdf/01_Energy_Situationer/2009-2030-PEP.pdf. With the PEP being studied and devised, what is then the purpose of the emergency power requested by PNoy?  In practical terms, you only asked for immediate help is there’s a situation that requires urgent solution, in the absence of a certain plan. In this case, the energy plan is up to Y2030 and we are still on the last quarter of Y2014.

Oh sorry, PEP is not only for power requirement but also for other related energy that requires planning and management including its utilization and conservation such as oil & gas. Nevertheless, we’ll focus the discussion on electric power otherwise our discussion will be longer and you’ll end up snoring while reading my blog.

As a professional who’s into construction management business, I understand that long term plans such as PEP require annual evaluation for future fine-tuning and action. The same applies in electrical power requirement based on several factors such as population growth, business expansion, calamity, demographics, etc.., then required power generation can be forecasted. Compliance of forecast dates shall be followed seriously and mandatory execution of planned activities is a must. Should such will fail due to irresponsible managers, then problem arises.

As I opined, the reason for emergency power requirement by executive department on power generation projects is to: 1) Bypass bidding normal process. 2) Bypass regular procurement procedures. Both bidding and procurement, in normal terms, require sufficient period for evaluation both of technical and commercial proposal by contractors and vendors, respectively. Bear in the mind that non-compliance to normal procedures specially bids and material supply is prone to corruption due to absence of verification from various agencies assigned in accordance to law. Having said that, anything shortcut is not advisable and the best option is efficiency of assigned task which I guess not easy to find in government personnel specially those in appointed position hired because of political connection, not on broad experience and technical ability.

For PNoy to follow his straight path (daang matuwid), emergency power is not necessary, rather strengthen the potential of assigned personnel paid expensively to carry-out the work. Failure is unfortunately not an option and the same shall be infused to each member of the president’s cabinet.

 

My two cents....

 

BAKHALA ON AIR

Bakhala is a word we used to call in Saudi Arabia for a convenient store. It’s much bigger than 7-Eleven stores but with similar things to sell from kitchenware, toilet wares, foodstuffs, bottled water, chocolate, and any other products that you can buy from a grocery store. I used to think the same as “sari-sari store but completely opposite because customers can enter inside the store and select what you want.  Any idea why I made an overview of what a Bakhala is? Please bear with me; we’ll cross that bridge soon.

In my long years in Saudi Arabia, I had travelled various airlines, of course, mostly Middle East bound (where my work is based), both in economy & business class. Nowadays, in the company that I’m connected 5 years ago, I punished them by travelling business class as one of my entitled benefits. In business section, upon occupying my assigned seat, a stewardess normally approached and introduces herself as my caretaker during the flight duration. My usual request before departure is normally Champagne, just don’t ask me the brand coz I’m not familiar and they taste same be it in Etihad Airways, Gulf Air, Emirates Airline, Cathay Pacific, etc. or in hotels like Radisson Blue or Marco Polo.

In Cebu Pacific (CebuPac) flight to Singapore last 27 August, I noticed that even in a 4-hour flight, meals are not served by default, however, can be requested for a fee. Very funny, but probably I’m just not familiar of same set-up, however, might be normal for regular travelers in CebuPac. By God’s grace and thanks to the travel agency, our ticket specifies “chicken adobo” as our meal. Know what, it’s not easy to commence eating and others are not or can’t. Much more so, both my wife and daughter escaped dinner, thus me & RR had no choice but to consume two “chicken adobo” meal packs on our way to Singapore. Jokingly, I called Cebu Pac as “Bakhala on Air”. Stewards and/or Stewardess push the roller and sell everything from water, pack meals, snacks, wines, perfumes. Personally, it’s an attention-grabbing strategy but I still find it “cheap” marketing.

On the positive note, airline fares become cheap due to absence of food served during flights. The strategy might be practical specially timing of the flight. For a 7:30 PM flight schedule, normally passengers had already taken dinner either in their houses if near the airport or at the airport itself, like what we did. Still, what if you’re a resident outside Mactan Island, say from Talisay or Naga Cities in the south? The usual appearance is at least 3 hours before scheduled flight for international departures. So, for those residing outside Mactan, traveling to MCIAA starts either with 3PM maximum at the most considering traffic on the way. Meal inside MCIAA is not that cheap. I find the prices funny but I’m used to it being a frequent flyer. With such facts, I still believe that in a 4-hour flight, food shall be embedded in the airline fare typical to other airlines.

All the same, my opinion is not at all typical to others who might think on the opposite. We are a free country anyway with different opinion and should you feel that such marketing is acceptable, then by no means enjoy the ride and take a deep sleep while others are enjoying their meal. This piece is for people’s awareness and shall not expect more than what I wrote above.

SINGAPORE TRIP

Escaping stress from work and family craving were the reason of buying a package tour to Singapore. I don’t exactly remember why Singapore was the selected destination, thus I won’t dwell more on that subject and just leave to my dear wife in replying such queries, assuming somebody will be interested. Having two members (RR & myself) of the family working outside the country makes planning more complicated. It has to be sequenced and timed properly. In the end, my wife booked for August 27-30, 2014 package duration.

I arrived in Cebu on the 26^th August @ 7:20PM then the following night (27 August), we fly out from MCIAA at 7:30PM to Singapore. In MCIAA, we were not exempted from surprises since both of us are unaware that paying mandatory travel tax is a pre-requisite for checking-in. Anyhow, I lost 6,600 pesos for the travel tax, intended suppose to be for shopping (lol). I regularly heard delays in Cebu Pacific Flights; however, our own seems an exception since departure is on-time maybe because CebuPac is aware that same flight is Nina’s (my daughter) first, outside the country, who managed to escape watching intramural activities in CDU.

Oh, I almost missed narrating the details about our 4-hour flight. Nevertheless, I intend to blog such experience separately and promise, I will really write it for others awareness.

We arrive in Terminal 3, Changi Airport, 10 minutes past midnight and upon completing necessary immigration requirements, we pick-up our bags, and immediately went to the arrival area with my wife spotting immediately the driver assigned to fetch us. Prior to leaving the airport premises, I changed my $US 500 to Singapore Dollar (SD) denomination. Not much a big difference with the conversion ratio of 1:1.20, thus my $US 500 is worth only 600 Singaporean Dollars. So I honestly asked the teller if I could buy a lot on my 600 SD and he said “yes”, hence I just believe him though with reservation. As expected, Singapore is a city state with clean surroundings and nice trees. Cars past midnight are not much roaming around. Roads are marked appropriately and well lighted. Basically, it’s opposite to Lapu-lapu City where I reside and any other cities in Cebu where Electrical Engineers don’t design lighting system in accordance to its utilization. Though taught in colleges or universities, seems they are unaware of illumination levels but I don’t blame them in general terms. They’re just pawn in the chess board, if you guys know what I mean. The result, roads are very dark at night that causes accident and high probability to commit a crime as well.

Upon arrival in the hotel, we were assigned in 2 double bed rooms. The hotel is not really a hotel per se. It’s just a pension house with smaller rooms and regular wall/floor finishing. Don’t expect a suite room like Imperial Hotel & Resort or a Marriot. A McDonald breakfast was delivered to our room at 6:00AM with pick-up time at 8:45AM for one-day tour at Universal Studio and SENTOSA. We arrived earlier than the opening time, so as usual “picture-picture” is the word of the day. Then we bought shirts with Universal Studio markings at prices ranging from 24 to 26 SD. Luckily, there’s a bargain as well; 3 shirts for 30 SD. I guess we bought 9 shirts using my AMEX, not my 600 SD cash. I always tried to recall my mathematics for immediate calculation to peso equivalent. The good thing is, the package tour include tickets to enter Universal Studio for all kinds of rides, though what I like most is the Transformer Ride. For other rides, both I and my wife just leave the thrill to RR & Nina. I don’t fancy going to the hospital during the tour so I just make myself contented in looking for something to eat. Before I could find a restaurant, rain comes, so we went inside a store and inquired for a plastic raincoat which in my observation was commonly utilized by other tourists and know how much it cost?, 4 SD per piece. We also ride Madagascar boat. It’s basically formed as the speed boat though controlled mechanically by a rail under water. As the boat moves on, man-made animals placed nearby talked, shouted, whizzed us. I was actually expecting a bumpy ride same as Transformer, however, I was wrong. The funny thing is, as we approached the exit, falling water is visually ahead of us and you could see the facial expression of other passengers knowing that they would become wet as we passed-by. As we approach 5 meters from the falling water, suddenly the water stops falling, just part of the thrill, I guess.

The last location we moved into is the Hollywood Area where buildings & streets looks the same in the US. First photo on same area was taken with Nina hugging the “minion”. I’m too old know that such cartoons are popular and anyway, we took also pictures with my family and of course bought 2 “minions” that has one eye for Nina & RR (for his special girl, I guess). The rest of the day until 4PM, we spend our time drinking coffee and various “selfie” at Starbucks.

At 4:30 PM, our tour guide appears and immediately brought us to SENTOSA through a Fast Rail. First stop is the Museum where a short presentation about Singapore beginning is shown and how it was inhabited by 3 major races (Malay, Indian, & Chinese). We took pizza bite after the museum tour before proceeding to Cable Car ride which cost 26 SD per person. Up there, you can see Singapore as an island for about 30 minutes, though little bit scary due to its height. Oh, by the way our tour guide is much older than me but walks very fast as my wife would always say coz he lacks my belly. There are actually rides that were part of the package, however, not to my fancy. Since we intend to watch a beach presentation entitled “Wings of Time” and time still early for 7:40 PM show, we just wasted our time climbing up (of course through the elevator) the Mother Lion and riding the train along the beach at SENTOSA. At 7:00 PM, we proceed to the beach area where the show was to be done.  As time approaches, the concrete benches suddenly full of tourists of different nationalities but mostly Asians. The show is hard to describe due to unique application of physical attributes. Other than several sheets formed in different forms, the screen is mostly water, pumped from the sea. The water timing up and down is technically sequenced for the show’s story involving lights of several colors. I had not seen or heard like that in our country and for me, it’s the best that I could think compared to the rides.

Finally, we went back to the hotel with hungry stomachs, and decided to take-out some food from restaurants near the hotel. We ended the first day looking at our pictures and having them uploaded in FB (as usual) both by Nina & my wife. For me, since all are busy with the net, I did the usual thing when I’m in Saudi Arabia, reading local & national Philippines news at the net aside from checking e-mails and my own FB account.

I wish I could squeeze my time writing the second day tour, however, my credit card will surely be crying as I wrote this piece since it’s the City Tour, which means shopping!!!

Travel to Riyadh

Personally, last Wednesday trip to Riyadh was my first in my 20+ years in Saudi Arabia. The reason behind is because I have to renew my passport about to expire by 11^th August 2014 (promise I’ll write that passport renewal experience on next piece). However, in technical terms, I had been in Riyadh twice, first for taking an oath last November 2000 for passing my PEE licensure examination and the second time was in 2005 for a plant visit of Saudi Lighting Company arranged by IEE-ERCSA. Both travels were arranged by our chapter organization thus no sweat for my part.

Prior to my travel, I had made my homework by inquiring the process to few of my co-workers within JGC Gulf International Company Ltd. on their previous travel of same purpose. Finally after contemplating my options, I decided to travel Riyadh by bus straight from Al-Khafji. Other option is from Al-Khafji to Dammam then to Riyadh.

I brought my personal car, a 2007 Camry, from our villa to the bus station. The purpose is that Khafji has no taxi plying the town and I have to call fellow workers to pick me up at the bus station but nobody would surely be happy to wake-up at 1:00 AM in the midst of winter season in the Kingdom. So, I parked my car in a safe place making sure that I had something to drive on when I arrive by Friday dawn.

We departed at exactly 4:00 PM with SAPTCO (short of Saudi Public Transport Bus Company). I was amazed that the bus will travel for 8 hours with only 6 passengers on-board. I thought it as not good for business; nevertheless I was wrong because SAPTCO drives through many bus stations at every small community on our way to Riyadh. At every stop new passengers are accepted and I noticed that there’s always a Checker of the passengers. When families came aboard, the front seats are always allocated to them for sex segregation reasons that are normal in the Kingdom. That note can actually be read in the computerized ticket, however, some passengers who either didn’t follow the instructions, mafi malum English (don’t understand English), or just hardheaded, prefer to sit at front. So the Checker instructed them to move back at rear side. We stopped 4 times coupled with passengers to say their prayer and a dinner too. Every stop, I tried to move out from the bus and do stressing around the bus until the driver beeps the car as sign of moving.

Inside the bus, different languages can be heard and most of them are all noisy and being the only Filipino on-board, I just try to sleep. You can also smell various types of odors inside the bus mostly from unhygienic behavior from citizens in South Asia and other Arab speaking countries. In my years in the Kingdom, I had been on that situation many times thus it’s not a big issue at my personal level.

It’s almost 12:30 AM when we arrived Riyadh. On the way, I noticed several shops with foreign brands. I opined that should I had been based in Riyadh, my wife would surely enjoy shopping in this vast city. As usual, cities in Saudi Arabia are colorful and lively at night with lights working properly typical for rich countries of which unfortunately in contrast with my country. With all new skyways constructed, Saudi’s capital city is overwhelming. Upon exiting the bus station arrival area, several taxi drivers with Arab descent are calling for passengers. As I’m in a hurry to reach my hotel, I agreed for a 50 riyal fee to reach Golden Tulip Hotel. The trip is just less than 20 minutes and I seem to believe that it’s not worth 50 riyal. Anyhow, I reach safe and that’s important at current situation. I called my dear wife to inform her that I’m already settled and ready to sleep after a tiring trip.

I completed the passport renewal for less than 2 hours and immediately traveled back to my hotel with an unmarked taxi driven by one of our kababayan who made a business in the embassy offering trips back and forth. It’s actually same as the airport either in Cebu or Manila. These are extra activities for people who want to earn extra income other than their regular work paid as an OFW. I was dropped at the back of the hotel and the funny thing I can’t seem to find the hotel entrance. I was walking back and forth on same street having leather jacket on. Finally, I found the entrance with a smile of my stupidness. I check-out at 2:00 PM and arrived at the bus station after 45 minutes for a 25 riyal fee to the Bangladeshi taxi driver. See, even in taxi, nationalities differ in charging passengers. It maybe because of social differences, foremost of all is the standard of living. Saudis of course had more expenses than an expat driver from South Asia. In fairness to the Saudi driver last night, he offered for a receipt but I declined since there is no meaning. Being on a personal trip, nobody will give me refund anyway.

As I went inside the bus station, I noticed that it’s huge. Last night, I don’t have the opportunity to have looked in it. Each person are busy either lining up for ticket purchase or at the departure entrance area. Honestly, I’m not sure what to do on how to board my bus since there is no direction on how to do it especially new passengers like me. I bought a round trip ticket that cost me 162 riyals but not sure who to approach. Unfortunately, personnel at bus stations differ from airports where most working personnel speak English. In bus stations, most speak Arabic which is unfortunate for me. In my years in KSA, my Arabic can’t finish a single sentence. Maybe my sister-in law, Eve, speak better Arabic than me. But I’m sure she already forgot the language being now an American citizen.

I decided to approach the ticket issuance window and showed my bus ticket however advised to approach the Information window. Thus without talking I gave my ticket to the personnel inside the information booth and he wrote an Arabic numbering stating my trip number. I’m not really sure what is the meaning of what he wrote although he told me that my departure is 5:30 PM of which I always know since I’m the one who selected the time. Then I continued my investigation on how to reach my destination and I observed a luggage section. So I went to the area and asked the Indian personnel about my luggage. Without further inquiry he gave the ticket to the person inside the booth but rejected because I’m too early for my trip. Still not contented of the situation, I continued to investigate the process. I even call my colleague in Khafji on how he did the travel before. In my stupidness, I missed to view the travel monitor as in the airports. The bus to Al-Khafji is at Gate 11; however, you are only allowed to enter at your gate at least 30 minutes prior to your scheduled departure. The travel back to my working place is as usual although the bus is only half full. The same stop-over were made including the little restaurant were we have dinner on my way to Riyadh. I arrived at Al-Khafji at 2:00 AM with 11 degree temperature. I went straight to where I parked my personal car and drive straight back to the accommodation. It’s a tiring trip but full of adventure, however, I feel dirty with all those unsanitary toilets that I used because I have no choice, do I? I thrown all my clothes to the waste basket and changed with fresh ones before I slept.

On passport issuance normally after a month after processing, I plan to make same travel however depending on the timing of the issuance date. Adventurer? I am not thus hope to claim my new passport either in Alkhobar or Dammam.

PS:  Oh, before I close, I met a newcomer from Philippines. He’s a nurse in a private house but got a wrong destination to Riyadh. He’s employer’s house is based in Dammam. I’m not sure who made the error but I feel pity with the young man knowing that he’s new so I let him use my business phone to call the person assigned to fetch him in Dammam. The other end of the phone is ringing however don’t bother to answer until his time of departure came. I only advised him to approach any kababayan in the bus because I saw several of them. During my trip, I noticed a miss call in my phone. It came from a number he called and I just informed him of the arrival time of Eric. He actually tells his name before entering the departure area probably as his way of saying thank you to me. Actually, I remember my son’s trip to KSA last July of his situation thus the urge to assist. 

SYNONYMOUS

PNOY and PGMA administration definitely have a lot of differences and absurdness. In terms of corruption, the previous government was absolutely at par from the current one. Do I need to present proofs? Nah, no need guys, just access http://raissarobles.com/ details are available. And until the root of corruption will be uprooted, then sufferings of the people will persist. On the other hand, we had to accept the fact that total erosion of corruption is impossible, at least in engineering parlance, negligible.

Absurdness, with the fact that currently, the Philippine economy had been recognized by no less than IMF, as robustly improving. Considering that PGMA is a PhD in Economics, her previous administration in terms of economics had been handled badly being considered at the bottom step of the ladder compared to the rest of Asian contemporary countries. Of course, one big factor is corruption allegedly by members of her family including close buddies.

Above-mentioned disparities are just facets of PNOY & PGMA administrations. One sure thing common on both is traditional politics. My definition of the same pertains to political contrive that put your opponent in an unbalanced circumstances. My observation through the years on Philippine political system, more often than not, is that party in power would do everything just to put other camp in jeopardy. Why can’t be fair to the playing field in conducting elections? Clear example is the case of suspending Governor Gwen Garcia imposed by DILG. The case referred as the cause of suspension had been there for long. Why timed the suspension approximately five (5) months before the election? I’m not saying that Gov Gwen is clean on the case, however, until proven guilty, each of us shall be presumed innocent. PNOY byline as “Tuwid Na Daan” is basically circuitous on this particular case. If his hands are not behind this dirty scheme, he is still guilty of command responsibility. No matter what the reasons are, fairness in executing a political action should always be considered, unless we still carry out the politics in primitive sense.

Bigotry on OFWs

This piece will be my first since I came from vacation last 2nd of June 2007. Due to several factors, I haven’t been able to write since May this year. Nevertheless, I’m back in a writing mood with unexplained anguish. Yesterday, I received an e-mail from a buddy, Jake, urging me to write on my blog in the form of a vengeance to a certain pig. Honestly, I was surprised what he means and with curiosity I downloaded and opened the attachment. Upon reading the article, I immediately understood what he meant. The pig he’d mentioned is the author in a column of a magazine, People Asia. Although physically the author is no doubt an overweight woman but I guess, the adjective referred by my chum to her is the unpleasant piece she wrote on OFWs whom she met in Dubai and in the airplane.

Malu Fernandez in her column “Fierce and Fabulous” narrated her trips from Boracay to Greece. I never knew that being a columnist, you are as highly paid that you can travel to any place that you’d fancy anywhere in the world. How I wish I pursued my high school guidance counselor’s advise to get a journalism degree rather than fulfilling my 6th grade teacher’s wish to become an engineer. In Boracay, she wrote that spraying Baygon everywhere nearly killed herself. I thought our featured “elite author” was staying in an air-conditioned villa rented by their group. Or maybe in Boracay, no matter how expensive your room is, mosquitoes are everywhere. Oh! Bad publicity for the premier tourist place in Central Philippines. Paging DOTC Secretary Ace Durano, can you please counter Ms. Fernandez pronouncement about Boracay? Believe me; she doesn’t like the beach in general not because she hates sand, bugs, etc. With her vital stats, who likes to wear a two-piece bikini? You know, it’s not a scene where you’re looking on Katrina Halili or Kristine Reyes at the beach.

Not contented in destroying Boracay’s tourism, she made a false narration about OFWs in Dubai. Inside airport premises, you can’t sell cell phones and perfumes if you’re a passenger! If she means those who are employed as saleslady in Duty-Free Shops, believe me, Ms. Fernandez envied them since they’re as good-looking as commercial models back in Philippines. But she’s referring to the passengers for sure coz she wanted to slash her wrist when trapped with them. And what’s wrong if you’re a DH as she mentioned? It’s an honorable job coz at the end of the day, they contributed a lot in improving financial difficulties of our country and mind you, they might have thrown in more tax to the government than Ms. Fernandez had. If the content of her column is written by a foreigner who had just encountered OFWs, maybe we’ll understand. But Ms. Fernandez is a Filipino citizen or maybe having dual citizenship earning a living back home. To write a side comment on OFWs in general is a bad investigative journalism unless People Asia is basically a tabloid. Ms. Fernandez had met only OFWs with a DH classification that’s why she feels superior to them. She never met for sure OFWs who drive fancy cars like Nissan Armada, Mercedes Benz models, Toyota Camry, Lumina, Caprice, and many more, in Middle East countries. Her knowledge on OFWs is limited only on Domestic Helpers, maybe because, minus her make-up and not so attractive cleavage, she looks like them. I never knew that AXE is a perfume; I thought it’s only for under-arm protection. But Ms. Fernandez is fond of watching Philippine TV commercials, I guess. Unless, she stays long in the Middle East, then she will definitely found out that buying top of the line perfumes is just a normal occurrence to OFWs.

Still as a writer, Ms. Fernandez should be sensitive in all her ideas. We live in a democracy and part of it is to write freely as we think but it doesn’t give you the authority to throw mud to human beings especially if it’s untrue and worse to your fellow kababayan. Her friends may find it funny but it is not to the majority of the OFWs. We opined that Ms. Fernandez column is not based on truthfulness but on the idea of just belittling the OFW community.

A fellow Cebuano, Roland G, intimated me this morning that the main reason for her indifferent column is an OFW might had mistaken her to be a DH in the plane, on her way home.

A Visit To My Hometown

As mentioned in my last blog, I write this piece at my permanent residence in Gun-ob, Lapu-lapu City. My flight back home is quite tiring, travelling by bus through the causeway between Alkhobar and Bahrain. On weekdays, I observed that the border in-between two kingdoms is almost zero with cross-country travellers. The Cathay Pacific Flight landed Mactan Cebu International Airport last May 1 at 11:30AM and I was met in the airport by my wife, Fe; kids, RR, Macky, & Nina; and surprisingly grand-daughter Jazzy who's also my god-daughter. Typical to OFW's on vacation, we do shopping at Duty Free Shop before I visit my parents in Pinamungajan, Cebu.

Prior to my vacation, I had already inquired my sister, Coring, the status of the road towards my hometown. It was still under construction on my last visit and had been very bad during my last four visits. I normally visit my parents annually and during those times, I'm afraid that one of the nuts tied to my car would fall-off due to shocks created on excessive road potholes. Luckily, this visit is very relaxing in terms of road condition. Concreting is completed, asphalting is commendable with rip-raps installed at cave-in areas. For a person like me who earn a living abroad thru managing various construction projects, I guess the job is acceptable. However, the work doesn't stop there because maintaining the road is more challenging. I wish the government agency assigned will not sleep in their offices but monitor the road condition and made immediate repairs in case of worn-out areas.

I arrived at Pinamungajan before lunch on the 3rd of May together with my wife; daughter, Nina; & nieces Eji & Giselle. It's always emotional to see the people who brought you to this world specially at their age who are both 75 years old. Fortunately, they are both healthy and as usual happy to see their son and family. We shared pork "humba" during lunch, prepared by my mother, Francing which is in fact a favorite dish of my extended family in Lapu-Lapu City. At night, I attended the Ginoo & Binibining Pinamungajan beauty pageant. I'm not sure if this is the exact pageant title because I observed that both contestants are all not sons & daughters of Pinamungajan. Nevertheless, the pageant looks fine with their amazing electronic tally sheets. The program started very late in reference to the time mentioned in the program that is 8:30PM. I arrived past 9:00PM and surprisingly the reserved tables almost empty. I wondered if the locals officials understand punctuality. With people like me who happen to work in a foreign land and had been very particular on scheduled time, the situation is a shame and I wonder if this will change coz it seems people had already accepted the fact. The pageant started at 10:30 PM and finished unbelieveably at 2:00AM.

The following day, Friday, I was busy attending my visitors from Lapu-Lapu City. As expected, my hometown is full of strangers who had been invited I guess by my kababayan. The streets are full of revelers with food and drinks all over. I wander if how much amount of money spent during this festivity and how many people are in debt as a result of excessive spending. At night, we are about to watch the PDA Scholars including JR Siaboc and Yeng Constantino. I thought that because the evening's affair is different from the previous night, I told my dear wife that we'll come an hour late from the scheduled time expecting the venue to be full. But lo & behold, the reserved tables are the same from the previous night. The general admission benches are almost full but the reserved seats are completely opposite. The so-called VIPs are behaving the imperialistic way, thinking that the program won't start without them. This is totally unacceptable and ill-mannered. As usual, the program started at 10:30PM and anyway my daughter although sleepy enjoyed a lot with the music rendered by the winners of PDA Scholars. The concert ended at 2:00AM and followed by disco dancing. I tried to stay for a dance or two but weariness prevail.

The good thing I observed in my hometown, is the number of native born individuals turn priests. Thanks I guess to those who help financially and spiritually on these kids who opted to select a holy vocation in life.