North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is dead

In a lightning quick response to the devastation of Northern Mindanao last Saturday, The FREEMAN and Banat Chairman Jose “Dodong” Gullas has started a fundraising campaign to help the victims of Typhoon Sendong. All donations will be properly receipted and donations will be received at the Freeman/Banat advertising offices through Ms. Jane Rosales. Inquiries may call at tel. Nos. 255-0926 or 416-8588 or 254-9212. Please give generously.

From the photographs and television footages of the devastation in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City, you can see the extent of the devastation that struck the northern cities of Mindanao, as well as in Negros Oriental. A look at the telephone poles where debris got stuck gives you an idea of how high the flood waters rose. Now the blame game has started … that the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomic Services (Pagasa) did not give the entire details of Typhoon Sendong.

I even heard a report that the Japanese meteorological survey gave information as to the huge amount of rainfall that Typhoon Sendang was bringing along. Now whether that information was correct or not, we shall never know. What is clear to us is, no matter how much we prepared ourselves for the inevitable, we should always be prepared for a worst case scenario. But alas, despite all the preparations, no one expected the flood waters to rise to this unprecedented height.

If there is anyone who should be blamed at all, it is the fact and the reality that despite a total Presidential log ban, people in Northern Mindanao continue to cut trees. I passed by the Agusan River last April and I saw logs floating by the national road. I’m sure that trees are being cut upriver in Cagayan de Oro and in Iligan City. Of course, it’s also time to stop people from living in those so-called island areas inside the river. Most of those who died in Cagayan de Oro were the folks living in those areas, which were all inundated by the flash flood.

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It’s just 11-days more and the Year 2011 will be history and as usual, all the world’s media networks or publishing outlets have come up with the top rating stories for the Year 2011 and there is no doubt that this year, the biggest story is the killing of the World’s number one Terrorist, Osama Bin Laden. I would dare say that report was equaled by the killing of Libyan despot, Muamar Khadaffy, a victim of the Arab Spring.

With 11-days left in the Year 2011, one more despot made a last minute appearance to capture the world’s attention … that’s the unexpected death of North Korea’s dear leader Kim Jong Il, whose death report I first read in my New York Times app in my iPhone. Kim Jong Il apparently died of stroke early morning last Saturday Dec.17th on board his official train, as reported by the official KCNA. Like all despots who die unexpectedly, he will be succeeded by his son Kim Jong-Un.

When the original North Korean Communist Party Leader Kim Il-Sung died, his military comrades obeyed the wishes of Der Leader and obeyed his wishes to follow his son, Kim Jong-Il. Now whether the military officials would also tow the line and follow Kim Jong-Un could be in question because clearly, North Korea is now having a Kim Jon dynasty. How Kim Jong-Il’s death would affect North and South Korean relations, we will find out in the next few weeks. Here’s a food-for-thought. In North Korea, which is a communist state, only one family rules the land. Hmmm… in the Philippines, a democratic state, only a few political families rule the land.

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Last October, Cebu woke up to a gruesome murder of the family of Belinda Ponce, who was shot dead by her mentally deranged husband Emmanuel along with their three children and their house help, sparing only one daughter. Mrs. Ponce worked with Banco de Oro and their senseless death got people to asking … why? Of course we could never answer the whys, after all, her husband also shot himself in the head. At this point, you can say that we’ve already become jaded when it comes to shocking murders.

But over the weekend, another killing shocked Cebuanos because this time the victim, Mrs. Joy Bernaldez, was a couturier, a fashion designer and one of Cebu’s fashionistas. She was popularly known by her business J Berns Exclusive. As the report goes, Joy was shot in the head by her Australian boyfriend, Joseph Cardona in her house in barangay Cabancalan, Mandaue City. The Australian used the same .22 cal. Pistol to shoot himself in the mouth. While you may dismiss it as just another senseless death, but it should open our eyes to the problems of domestic violence.

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