A coup and impeachment to remove the queen?

Tonight, Straight from the Sky gives you another highly-educational show, something very close to our televiewers’ hearts. It’s a very honest and frank discussion about family corporations, its issues and problems. This issue is close to our hearts because majority of companies in this country, including Cebu are family corporations. There’s a good chance that you’re either related to the company you are working for or you’re an employee of a company that is family owned.

Our special guest is Mr. Philip Tan, President and CEO of Wellmade Motors and Development Corp. who have made it his religion to improve family corporations by taking the bull by its horns. He come from a traditional Chinese family but what he did with their family corporation was the least traditional. I like Philip’s candor. Few heads of corporations, mostly fathers or grandfathers who created their respective companies, do not want to change the nature of their business. They also want their favorite children to succeed in the company, even if they are not capable of running the business.

Our show tonight would be a very interesting and educational one as we throw in questions that you may be afraid to ask your boss or your parents who are still running their respective businesses. For the heads of families these are questions worth pondering on. Watch this on SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00 pm tonight.

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By the time you read this column, I’d already be in Tokyo, Japan. However, I had to leave you with my thoughts on the latest coup that changed the leadership in the Senate, the only coup that Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile (JPE) and his “bata bata” Sen. Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan hatched that succeeded since their success during the ESDA revolt. What worries me is that all of the sudden, Congress is entertaining another impeachment against Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the timing seems uncannily mysterious. A coup with an impeachment?

Manila pundits are saying that these two might be linked. The opposition put Sen. Enrile in the Senate Presidency so he is now considered the second most powerful man in the country. So if Congress proceeds with the impeachment exercise then send this case to the Senate, we just might end up seeing the impeachment of Pres. Arroyo and the installation of either Vice-President Noli de Castro or JPE as interim President?

Hey, I’m not saying that this would eventually happen, but given the faux pas of Sec. Jess Dureza who prayed that GMA’s leadership “would extend beyond her term” I would like to believe that this move is aimed to remove the Queen in this political chess game. This scenario isn’t impossible, it is even plausible and if the political strategist selling this idea lobbies the other Congressmen, who knows this might just come true!

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When I read the news that the “old” Cebu-Mactan Bridge would soon be shut down for repairs as requested by Mactan-Cebu Bridge Management Board (MCBMB), I said to myself it’s about time! Let those who use this bridge howl all they want because of the traffic that might ensue, but it is better to fix the problems on this bridge now than lose the entire bridge due to neglect! After the inauguration of the Fernan Bridge in August 1999, the game plan by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) was to immediately shut down the old bridge. That was nine years ago. We’re lucky that this bridge is still standing today!

But while the DPWH plan is to close the bridge, the problem is they don’t have the money to fix it. Hello! what happened to the Road User’s Tax that we motorists pay to the national government? How come when Sen. Manny Villar was Senate President, he could easily “insert” P200 million for a flyover in C-5 near his housing projects? But the DPWH cannot find the money to fix our bridge?

Why is it taking DPWH nine years to start fixing the old bridge, when they knew very well that this was supposed to be fixed after the new bridge was opened to the public? Telling us Cebuanos that there is no money for the repair of this bridge is an old story to cover the incompetence of DPWH.

I would also like to know whether DPWH has already started planning for the 3rd Cebu-Mactan link? The plan is to connect the SRP to Cordova with a tunnel. But it seems DPWH is not working on this. Are they waiting for traffic to get worse before thy act?