Joey, Martin & Zsa Zsa

"Fear no more. Petron is here." This could very well be part of a limerick to express Petron Corporation's assurance that motorists need not spend more to cope with the forthcoming phaseout of leaded gas, in favor of unleaded gas. For right now, many motorists, especially the owners of old cars, are dreading the day -- April 1, 2000 -- when all gasoline stations in Metro Manila will no longer sell leaded gas. Many think that they would have to install costly converters, as part of the readjustment.

Today, the eve of Valentine's Day, Petron Corporation is holding a big bash at the famed Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, to introduce its new unleaded fuel called XCS Plus Valvemaster. Petron bigwigs led by Jose A. Syjuco Jr., chairman and CEO, will be there at the coliseum to tell one and all that Petron will always be around to lend a helping hand to Filipino motorists.

To ensure that Petron's message echoes far and wide, Joey Syjuco and his corporate personnel have left no stone unturned to bring the crowd to the huge domed coliseum in Cubao. And they have invited Martin "Concert King" Nievera and Zsa Zsa "Concert Diva" Padilla to be the stars in a Valentine concert dubbed as "Divine Madness 2000." Yes, Joey, Martin and Zsa Zsa are going to proclaim to the world that XCS Plus Valvemaster is a revolutionary fuel that works better than leaded gasoline.

Over dinner at Manila Pen's Old Manila, Joey Syjuco told me that Petron's new product will not require the installation of any converter. And he also said with pride that XCS Plus Valvemaster will protect cars from valve seat recessions and will result in cleaner exhaust emissions.

It is noteworthy that Petron, under Joey Syjuco's leadership, is taking the initiative in communicating with the general public. Which is most welcome, because of the wrong impressions being generated by the ongoing debates on oil prices and other aspects of the oil industry. Apparently, the tack being adopted by Petron in its public information campaign is well-advised. Why? Because promotional projects like the Valentine Eve concert at Araneta Coliseum are going to give Petron the big push it needs in reaching out to one and all.

Here is an update on the Good Samaritan Foundation:

* Cristy Velez Lobregat of Cagayan de Oro City donated a pacemaker which her father, Francisco X. Velez, used when he was yet alive. The pacemaker, a Pacesetter Regency SCX, was installed on Mr. Velez at St. Luke's Medical Center in September of 1998, but he passed away some seven months later. I will try to find a worthy beneficiary of this pacemaker which cost P80,000. Thanks a million to Ms. Lobregat!

The Good Samaritan Foundation is going to help complete the physical therapy of Dolores Santiago, the girl who several years ago was injured in a grenade blast near a bus terminal in Sta. Cruz, Manila. The GSF had previously appropriated the needed amounts for several PT sessions of wheelchair-bound Ms. Santiago, whom I met in a healing session of Fr. Corsie S. Legaspi in Quezon City several months ago.

Domingo "Mingoy" L. Mapa, professor of the Ateneo de Manila University Graduate School of Business, sent to me a clipping of a magazine article dealing with "tumors and miracles." The article, written by P. Ionata and N. O'Donnell, in the 8 August 1999 issue of New City Magazine cited a recent study made by the Annals of Oncology on patients who have completely recovered from malignant tumors, without taking any medicine. In other words, their cancer underwent a spontaneous remission.

According to researchers, the phenomenon of spontaneous remission is linked to an integrated and concerted action of several nervous system. "The powerful influence exercised by psycho-spiritual factors seems to excite these systems in such a way as to provoke a phenomenon called apoptosis, which is the programmed suicide of all tumorous cells," the magazine article said.

"As a consequence, some scientists are now open to admitting that patients with strong religious beliefs may undergo a kind of powerful psychic stress in particular spiritual places or circumstances (a visit to shrines like Lourdes, talks with people gifted with healing powers and so on). They unconsciously order their brain to release a kind of hormonal substance called neuropeptides which, spreading on the body cell receptors, may determine the production of natural substances called cytokinins in such big quantities as to be able to kill tumorous cells," the article said.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Alfredo Lim's spray-painting campaign against drug pushers has gotten the support of Cagayan de Oro Mayor Vicente "Dongkoy" Emano, who wants to adopt the same scheme, with some innovations, in his city. Emano said that the criticisms being hurled against Lim are "largely self-aggrandizing and the usual crab-mentality reactions of pseudo-moralists and political derelicts against somebody who is visibly successful in solving a long-standing social crisis like drug addiction."

Emano, who is reputed for his nationalist stance on many issues, noted that the benefits from Fred Lim's campaign far outweigh the supposed violations of certain human rights. The number of human lives saved from physical and moral degradation, and the number of families saved from social shame, the Cagayan de Oro mayor said, are sufficient to justify Lim's campaign.

"It is an unimpeachable fact that drug-pushers are committing a most heinous crime, mainly to enrich themselves at the expense of our national welfare. For this alone, they have forfeited all claims for respect as human beings in the same manner that they have also lost their claims against human rights violations. In this respect, the self-aggrandizing critics of Secretary Lim should likewise be publicly chastised and condemned as abettors and accessories to the commission of heinous crimes," Emano stated.

Emano considers Lim's spray-painting campaign as "very lenient and too civilized" in view of the gravity of the drug-pushers' crime. "These criminals deserve to be shackled by the neck with heavy iron chains to make them feel and experience the ostracizing shame and the dehumanizing ruination they have imposed on their victims, plus the worries and economic burdens suffered by their parents and families," he added.

A final note from Dongkoy Emano is that he supports the deployment of Marines in Metro Manila, and he also joins Senator Robert Barbers in urging that PNP Chief Panfilo Lacson be given the rank of PNP Director General. "General Lacson's promotion would give him the moral ascendancy to pursue his fight against scalawags in the police service and gain the momentum in his campaign for the eradication of all forms of criminality," Emano said.

Art A. Borjal's e-mail address: <[email protected]>