For tonight’s Special Presentation on Straight from the Sky, we bring you a rare glimpse of courage and survival. Listen to the story of Honorable Cebu City Councilor Edgardo Labella who, with his wife Joy, survived one of the most dramatic sea disasters ten years ago, the sinking of the Sulpicio Lines flagship the “M/V Princess of the Orient.” It sank off the waters near Batangas on Sept.18,1998. It was a tough decision that Councilor Labella made when he decided to appear for this interview. But for public service, he will tell his story so that others would learn from it. So please watch this very dramatic show tonight on SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00pm. Hopefully we will learn from this harrowing experience.
* * *
The Social Weather Station (SWS) latest poll shows that the popularity of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) has hit rock bottom. She has become the most unpopular President in this country compared to the other Presidents since Marcos. I will not question these latest findings; after all, elections are fast approaching and everyone is gearing up for the coming polls.
While she still is a bit popular here in Cebu, her ratings in Metro Manila has gone so bad she can only blame herself and her Cabinet officials. As case in point is the nonchalant attitude of Malacañang to deal with highly-questionable issues like the National Power Corporation’s (Napocor) allowing the Transpacific Consolidated Resources, Inc. (TCRI), a company with a paid-up capital of only P62,500 to win a whooping P956-million contract for the supply of coal. This nice sounding company was registered only with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last Oct. 2007.
How in heaven’s name could this company supply 195,000 metric tons of coal? Aside from its miniscule paid-up capital (which can only buy you a Honda XRM) this company has no (as in zero) track record or history of supplying Napocor its coal requirements. Napocor’s bidding committee apparently “tested the waters” by allowing this firm to win a P319 million supply for 65,000 metric tons of coal. Then sensing that it didn’t hear any complaints, two weeks later, Napocor gave it the P956 million contract.
So now you know why Pres. Arroyo has become so unpopular these days. The only way she can recover from this is for her to crack the whip, regardless of who gets hurt or sent to court. But then she doesn’t have the political will to stop corruption even when she sees it!
* * *
Last Friday afternoon, I learned through text messages from our friends that our dear friend, Dr. Catalino “Dodong” Chan has left us to join the Rotary Club in Heaven, where all our other Rotarian friends have gone ahead. While we all express our heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family, his wife Maria and son Dr. George Christopher and his siblings, his brother Dr. Cesar and Mila Chan, we are comforted by the thought that Dodong is now with our Lord Jesus Christ. As our other members of the Bukas Loob sa Diyos (BLD) would say, “We have another intercessor or angel in heaven to help pray for us and the community.”
Tonight, the Rotary Club of Cebu (Mother) will sponsor a Holy Mass for him at the Cosmopolitan Funeral home in Nivel Hills. Dodong was a 35-year Rotarian whom I knew during many Rotary functions that my parents would attend when they would bring us kids along. When my father Lindong Avila died in November 1979, during his wake, his fellow Rotarians, then President Frank Benedicto, Dr. Baba Panopio and his Rotary buddy Dodong Chan asked and convinced me to join my father’s club; after all I was going to continue the legacy of being in a Rotarian family.
It was Dodong Chan who “charged” me into the Rotary Club of Cebu in early 1980s. I had to leave Rotary a decade later and only returned last year. Once more (this time he was already Past Assistant District Governor) PADG Dodong Chan “charged” me into Rotary with the solemnity of a priest celebrating a church wedding. Charging a Rotarian is a very solemn occasion and in all his 35 years with a perfect attendance record, I’m sure Dodong must have charged all the Rotarians into the Mother Club.
We learned that Dodong was stricken with cancer a year ago. The Praise Ministry of the BLD bombarded heaven with our prayers to heal our brother Dodong, for him to continue living with us. But God had other plans for him, and God’s will always prevails. May we request the pious reader to please pray for the repose of his soul.