That’s because Chito was born on April 16, 1954 and exactly a year later, Amber Marie Villareal, nee Simon, was born on April 16, 1955 and then exactly a year later, Alisa Perpetua Villareal, nee Westyla, was born on April 16, 1956! That’s three normal births spaced exactly a year apart… which was really a story that Ripley’s found interesting a year after Alisa was born. Since Ripley’s published their story 50 years ago, I don’t know whether their record has already been broken. Remember, their mom, Tita Enriqueta, had a normal birth, not a Caesarian section, which is without any doubt a very remarkable feat! So Happy Birthday to you Chito and your sisters Amber and Alisa who are now living abroad.
Last Friday, I had the golden opportunity to interview on my TV show that famous Englishman with the heart of a Pinoy… Dylan Wilks, who is the international coordinator of Gawad Kalinga. Wilks, who was born from a poor family, became the ninth richest man in England at the age of 25, thanks to his talent in marketing those new video games that became the craze of the youth and in so doing, he even got himself a TV station, a beautiful house and a Ferrari sports car.
However, getting rich at a very young age got this young Catholic into asking God… "Lord, why did you make me rich?" Most Pinoys would probably ask the opposite question to God, "Lord why was I born poor?" The fascinating story of Wilks is clear-cut proof that, indeed, money cannot buy happiness. So Wilks toured the world in search of that elusive dream and ended up learning that if he sold his BMW, it would build 80 homes in a Gawad Kalinga (GK) project in the Philippines.
That caught his fancy and wrote to Tony Meloto that he would donate money to GK. But Melote wrote him back… "I don’t want your money… I want your time and effort to help build new communities in the Philippines." This triggered a thought in Dylan Wilks that the Filipinos really didn’t need that much money… they needed someone to come here and help them out.
The rest is GK history! GK is not just building homes for the homeless, it is changing Filipino attitudes, morals and values. If you ask me, this is the revolution that would finally replace the ill-fated EDSA Revolt, where truly the social landscape of the Philippines would change for the better. Thanks to people like Tony Meloto and Dylan Wilks and the multitude of contributors, the Philippines is finally on the road to a better future!
I’m sure that by now, you’ve all learned about the lamppost scam that ended with the preventive suspension of two Metro Cebu mayors, namely Mandaue City’s Teddy Ouano, who was replaced by his vice mayor, Amadeo Seno, who is also seeking the mayor’s office, and Lapu-Lapu City’s Arturo Radaza, who was replaced by his vice mayor, Norma Patalingjug, who is also running for the mayorship.
People are now saying that the vice mayors seeking the mayoral seat finally got their taste of the mayor’s office ahead of schedule. There is no question that this is clearly advantageous to the new officer-in-charge (OIC) mayors, but then it is not of their own doing, but rather it is the misdoing of the mayors who were suspended.
In Lapu-Lapu City, a lot of businessmen were agog that Mayor Radaza was suspended because too many business projects had been put on hold because of alleged corruption, where the mayor was allegedly asking for large sums of money in return for mayor’s permits. This issue recently blew up when Richard King charged Mayor Radaza before the Office of the Ombudsman with corruption.
With Radaza temporarily out of the picture in Lapu-Lapu City, there is now a beeline of entrepreneurs going back to the Lapu-Lapu City mayor’s office to secure mayor’s permits that Mayor Radaza had declined. No doubt the business atmosphere suddenly improved with the suspension of Mayor Radaza.
Meanwhile, in Mandaue City, the mayoralty aspirants are deep in the campaign throwing the usual brickbats at each other. Now whether the suspension of Mayor Teddy Ouano would affect the candidacy of his son Jonkie Ouano remains to be seen. The other fellow who benefits from the Ouano suspension is mayoralty candidate Jonas Cortes. Pundits are saying that Jonkie represents the new political dynasty, while Jonas belongs to the old dynasty where his father, the late mayor Demetrio Cortes (he was without any doubt the best mayor Mandaue City ever had) had the longest term as city mayor.
So the question begging for an answer is, will Mandauehanons keep the Ouano dynasty or return to the old one? But wait! Now that he is OIC mayor, no one should rule out Amadeo Seno who is not only seeking the mayor’s seat but who is already sitting on it! No doubt, this three-way political battle gets interesting every single day!
Last Saturday morning, I went to the South Reclamation Properties where the Hirobo Cup International Asia, a RC (that’s for radio control) helicopter competition, was underway, organized and sponsored by the world’s leading RC helicopter manufacturer, Hirobo Limited of Japan, and hosted by the Cebu Aeromodeler’s Club.
I can’t yet get the results as the competition ends on Sunday, but this competition also gives us a peek into the future of aviation where our Visayan Sea can be patrolled by unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) at a very much lower cost. Right now they are being built by my good friend, Tony Mendoza of Thorpe COP Industries, for the US market. Yes, Bantay Dagat can certainly learn from flying RCs and patrol our vast seas from illegal fishers using UAVs with video cameras for real-time reporting. While flying RCs is a hobby, it can have real and practical uses.
For e-mail responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.