Now we know why they paid for those dinners!

For our special presentation on tonight’s show on Straight from the Sky, we bring you the annual Pinoy-Dutch Explore Season 4. This is the Student Exchange Program that the City of Haarlemmermeer in Amsterdam that has a sister city ties with Cebu City have been on-going in the past four years and has continued to grow with the support of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation (RAFI) and we’ve featured them year after year on this show since it started.

With us tonight is our dear friend, Sir Roberto “Bobby” Aboitiz, President of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation (RAFI), Mr. Nagiel Bañacia Protocol Officer of Cebu City, Ms. Evelyn Nacario-Castro Exec. Director of the Eduardo Aboitiz Development Studies Center in RAFI, Mr. Leonik Kol and Mr. Philip Frankenmolen Delegates of the Pinoy-Dutch Explore, Ms. Delight Baratbate YMX 2 Delegate, Mr. Wim Piels and Ruby Langeveld-Cumba MY Cebu Adult Leaders. They will give us a report on the recent activities of the Pinoy-Dutch Explore year 5. So please watch this interesting show on SkyCable’s channel 15th at 8:00 pm tonight.

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It seems certain sectors including the media continue on featuring that lavish dinner that the President and her entourage had at the fabulous Le Cirque Restaurant in New York and the Bobby Vans Restaurant in Washington D. C. But I don’t blame them… there are just too many issues that have been left unanswered by those who openly declared to have paid for those dinners. But it shows that these people paid for those lavish dinners because they both had an ulterior motive. This was the subject of an editorial by The Philippine Star last Saturday.

First to make an open declaration was Rep. Martin Romualdez who has never issued any further statements after he made his mea culpa. It turns out that Rep. Romualdez is facing legal problems before the Sandiganbayan for the withdrawal of P138 million from PCIBank in Oct. 2005 when he was the chairman of that bank. The Sandiganbayan has now held that money in escrow pending a ruling on the assets of Imelda’s family for ill-gotten wealth. Rep. Martin’s father is Benjamin Romualdez, brother of Imelda Marcos.

Rep. Danilo Suarez was more open to the media, declaring that he paid the US$ 15,000 tab of the Arroyo entourage in Babby Vans Restaurant in Washington D. C. Well it turned out that Rep. Suarez’s family is applying for a P1 billion loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP). There is no doubt that Rep. Suarez had more than enough motives to spend or should we say “bribe” the President so that loan could be okayed by DBP?

At least, I can take comfort from the fact that the DBP under its President and CEO Reynaldo G. David has achieved a very high degree of professionalism unheard of in government agencies. My sources from within the DBP told me that the Suarez loan isn’t on the radar screen yet… and even if it will be discussed, that loan can only be okayed if they can assure the DBP that the loan can be paid back. Chances are good that the present DBP board won’t approve this loan. A few months ago, I attended a Good Governance for Corporate Directors Forum hosted by the DBP, which is why I strongly believe DBP in the professionalism of their top officials.

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Last Friday was a proud day for my grandson, 8-year old Miguel Enrico “Mico” Avila-Tequillo, eldest child of Atty. Jennoh and Dra. Fara Avila-Tequillo who was awarded a Gold Medal by Kumon Philippines for the 2009 Advanced Student Honor Roll (ASHR) awarding ceremonies for the Visayas-Mindanao Region held at the Waterfront Hotel. Mico’s Math level is two years or higher than his present grade 2 school level at the Centre for International Education (CIE) in Cebu.

Mico also got a separate award as among the Top Ten ASHR Math Division for the entire Philippines and Kumon-Philippines President Norihiro Nakamura gave this special award to him. Mico’s just simply amazing that he could do math calculations where most of us have to open our calculators! As we Cebuanos would ask, “Asa siya naliwat?” I won’t make claims as far as math is concerned, as I’m not great with numbers.

But he may have gotten it from his two great-great grandpas; both named Valeriano… on the Tequillo side, Lolo Valeriano Hortelano the First Doctor from Tabogon and from my mother’s side, from Capt. Valeriano Segura, who topped the exams for West Point in the US, but couldn’t enter (That’s why the honor of the First Filipino West Pointer went to Capt. Vicente Lim) it because he was an inch too short of the regulation height. So he was sent off to Purdue University and graduated Civil Engineering with honors and returned to the Philippines to join the Philippine Scouts. Keep it up Mico and thank God for the blessing of good parents and grandparents who love you!

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