Today, the remains of Press Secretary Cerge M. Remonde will arrive at the Mactan Cebu International Airport at noon and will be brought directly to Malacañang sa Sugbo where he would lie in state. No doubt all of Cebu is in mourning for her favorite son, who belonged to the media family. If you didn’t know, Cerge did try to run for Congress in the North District once against Rep. Raul del Mar, but lost his bid and never tried again.
Cerge was truly a journalist with a heart. Almost all popular newspaper, radio or TV personalities in Cebu at one time or the other was helped by Cerge when they were just starting their careers. But now he’s gone and he leaves a deep void in Cebu media, who is like a very close knit family even if we all belong to competing news outlets. On Saturday afternoon, his remains will be brought to hometown in Argao, 60 kms south of Cebu City where he will be buried in his family plot on Sunday. We will surely miss our days with Cerge.
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Last week, ANC had that Presidential forum at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Makati, however only former Defense Sec. Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr., Sen. Manny Villar and Sen. Richard “Dick” Gordon joined that policy forum. That forum was very important for us Filipino voters as it specifically deals on Presidential policies that we all want to hear from all the Presidentiables especially on how they would handle issues that affect our country.
Also visibly missing in that forum was front running survey leader, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III who was invited to that forum but had other better things to do than be with the other Presidentiables. Why, really don’t know? Pundits are saying that he is so far in the lead; he doesn’t need to expose himself unnecessarily where he might just end up stumbling or fumbling and making a donkey out of himself.
But while the AIM and the TV audience were intently listening to the three Presidentiables explain what they would do for instance about our relations with China or which country they would visit first if and when they are elected President. These are answers that the electorate would like to hear. However in the end, former President Fidel V. Ramos (FVR) asked the obvious question… “Where are the rest? He was obviously referring to the other Presidentiables who are seeking the votes of the electorate.
For whatever it’s worth, the ANC forum was akin to the electorate’s asking vital questions from job applicants, who are the Presidentiables. The non-appearance of Noynoy, Erap and the other Presidentiables who did not find the time to appear in that very important forum, this will certainly show when the next survey is released. I’m sure that their numbers would dwindle significantly. It was a disaster for them not to be on that forum, so that the people would know if they are up to the job or not!
Last Monday morning, the GMA-7 Network came up with its own version of the ANC forum on Presidentiables hosted by Mike Enriquez, except that this was on nationwide radio. I checked the GMA TV channels and they were all showing cartoon shows on TV. But at least I heard Gibo Teodoro, Sen. Dick Gordon, Sen. Manny Villar and surprise, surprise, Sen. Noynoy Aquino came out in that radio forum. But as it was a morning show, most of the people who were working may not have heard it.
Cebu too wants to get into the act of interviewing job applicants for President. So today the Cebu Business Club (CBC), the Cebu Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Inc. (CICC) and the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Inc. (MCCI) will be holding a Presidential Forum at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) dubbed as “Choices and Voices for 2010: An Encounter with the Presidentiables.”
This forum is sponsored by the Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) and the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) and is expected to draw a crowd of 2,000 participants from the various chambers of commerce in Cebu, including student leaders, the academe, local government units, sectoral organizations and private organizations that were invited to attend today’s forum.
Expected to be at the CICC are Sen. Manny Villar, Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro, Jr. Sen. Richard Gordon, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, former Pres. Joseph “Erap” Estrada and Bro. Eddie Villanueva. I gathered from an emailed communiqué that Noynoy Aquino would be coming to Cebu today for sorties in Cebu Province and he will be at the CICC at 4 p.m. Meanwhile Smartmatic will also do an actual demonstration with the voting machines in order to educate those voters attending the forum. Our Rotary Club (Mother Club) already had this demo and I also featured Smartmatic in my TV talk show to educate our televiewers in Metro Cebu.
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For e-mail responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mo-pzcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.