Palace intrigue

With Malacañang under siege because of the Gloriagate tape, once again the palace snakes are slithering out of their nests. Serpents from the group of the "tree" – a GMA media strategy group headed by a former Estrada Cabinet Secretary who defected to GMA’s camp and operating out of the Byron hotel on EDSA – are hissing that someone from the "Firm" is preparing to turn over the Palace keys to VP Noli de Castro. But Pancho Villaraza made it clear that he nor any member of his team have ever spoken to VP Noli for no more than five minutes in the last 25 years of the firm’s existence. He added, the Firm is firmly behind GMA, providing her with the best legal advice, especially during these trying times. The Firm, however, is prepared to give legal advice to anyone – including Noli de Castro – if he asks for it. Who knows, they may even give it to him gratis? As they say, beware of serpents bearing the apple of discord.

Appeal for Meralco to relocate cables

Reader Ernesto Ignacio would like to call the attention of Meralco-Malabon branch to relocate its electric cables from post No. 07-722 along Liwayway street because they cross over the private residential lot of his aunt. The electric cables which are just above the roof of the house of the reader’s aunt reportedly emit electric sparks even with moderately strong winds and even more so during stormy weather. As such, they pose real danger not only to the property but to the lives of the residents as well, especially with the rainy season upon us. According to Ernesto, they have been writing to Meralco about the matter since 2001, but to date nothing has been done about it, not even the simple courtesy of acknowledging in writing the numerous letters that have been sent. Meralco had reportedly benefited a lot by its cables’ crossing over the private lot because they use shorter cables. But what’s worse is that the electric firm even has the temerity to charge the owner of the lot for the relocation cost of the electric cables. The only thing Meralco did, aside from sending representatives to the area about seven times, is to give a verbal proposal to raise the cables over the roof of the house which would certainly save Meralco a lot of expense. However, the residents find the proposal unacceptable because it does not eliminate the danger to lives and property.

Gsk expands value health program

Here’s some welcome news from the health front. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a top pharmaceutical company, showed its commitment to promote corporate social responsibility by expanding its Value Health program. Under the program, the cost of original, research-based medicines for common diseases such as coughs, asthma, tuberculosis and other illnesses are reduced to make them more accessible and affordable to Filipinos. This year, GSK includes brands it acquired from Eli Lilly such as cefaclor (Ceclor), erythromycin (Ilosone) and cefalexin (Keflex) to add to the existing range of branded medicines under the Value Health program such as Salbutamol (Ventolin), ranitidine (Zantac) and allopurinol (Zyloprim), among others. GSK officials disclosed that prices for medicines under the program have been reduced to as much as 30 percent, while others have had no price increase since 2003. This is certainly one program that redeems the pharmaceutical industry from the greed and duplicity attached to it in developing countries.

The listening post: A revolting tantrum on edsa

Over the past couple of days, the Spy-ring did the rounds to gather people’s sentiments and opinion on the latest political tempest to plague us. They learned that for the most part, level-headed Filipinos can never be thankful enough that attempts by some sectors to sow chaos and bring down the duly-constituted government fizzled out. Had it succeeded, some quarters observed that we would have collectively set the ignominious record as the first country to have revolted because a disgruntled government official threw a tantrum. People are beginning to realize that Samuel Ong, the cashiered deputy director of the National Bureau of Investigation, carped on national television because he lost the top NBI post to Reynaldo Wycoco, a retired military general appointed to the position by GMA. Put simply, the general impression now is Ong was sour-graping. Armed with what he alleges to be a copy of a tape from a bugged conversation of the President with a Comelec official, Ong called on Mrs. Arroyo to step down "if you love the Philippines." In hindsight, that struck most as a punch line from a Taiwanese telenovela. Following Ong’s line of logic, certain wags posited: Would Ong force his wife to divorce him or renounce her motherhood just because she committed a mischief? We guess not. Three things the public are now certain of: Ong loves himself; Ong loves power plays; and Ong loves the limelight. More than enough reasons to throw a revolting tantrum in south-bound EDSA.

Spy tidbiz: Ateneo - La Salle rivalry revving up

As the two rivals are girding their loins to square it out like gladiators in the upcoming Dream Games and the UAAP Men’s Basketball tournament next month, there is a text joke doing the rounds saying La Salle has produced four finance secretaries as against Ateneo’s two Jueteng Lords. The Ateneans countered that notwithstanding the Blue Eagles’ Jose Velarde and Jose Pidal, the Green Archers must not forget that another Jose serves as their rival’s saving grace - Jose Rizal, National Hero and Renaissance Man.

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