Quo vadis Cebuanos?

For our special presentation on our talkshow in Straight from the Sky we bring you an interview with Mr. Nonito “Tatay Dodong” Limchua, Head Servant of the Oasis of Love one of the most enduring charismatic communities and head of the Cebu Catholic Television Network.

In this interview with Tatay Dodong, we talked about the cable industry here in Cebu how he got into it and got out of it and back into it again. Of course we talked about our favorite subject - our spirituality and our mission to evangelize the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ and yes we even touched on the subject of politics where we both agreed that this nation needs a total transformation of our people and the government we created to serve us.

So for the first time we turn the tables on Tatay Dodong Limchua and bring him to your television screens on SkyCable’s channel 61 at 8:00PM and on Wednesday and Saturday. We also have replays on MyTV Channel 30 at 9:00PM tonight and at 7:00AM and 9:00PM on Wednesday and Friday.

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I was driving my car and switching channels over AM radio and I came upon the voice of Mayor Michael Rama who sounded like the mournful Mark Anthony (in that Shakespearean play) having his eulogy over the death of his Lord and Master Julius Caesar who was stabbed (in the back) in the Senate by his friends and peers. When I opened my Facebook page, I found out that Mike made that speech in front of the Cebu City Hall before hundreds of his supporters. Frankly speaking, I think Mayor Mike came out as one who went overboard to the point of being overacting.

But I don’t fault him for his antics. After all, even the best of actors can make a great performance before a jam-packed crowd of adoring fans. Also Mike is a lawyer and his antics is one of a courtroom lawyer trying to convince the Judge in pleading for his case, especially this one where the Office of the President crucified him for the most flimsy of reasons to suspend a City Mayor. Who ever allowed this to happen must be the fool of fools! Come on! Mike was even faltering in his job as City Mayor, but now these fools in Malacañang have made him a martyr!

This only goes to show that politicians do not learn from their own mistakes. How in hell did the Filipino voter elect into the Senate mutineers like Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan or that infamous Oakwood mutineer Lieutenant Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes IV of the Philippine Navy that took over the Oakwood Hotel at the Ayala Center 12-years ago and turned them into senators? These people should have been incarcerated! Again this is crystal proof of the desperation of the Liberal Party where they think that suspending the Mayor (if you remember they also did that to then Gov. Gwen F. Garcia) would make it easier for their LP party mates to win their elections.

I was with the Cebu City Traffic Operations and Management as Director since 1991 and became chairman for a year when Mayor Alvin Garcia took office, and then I was asked by then Mayor Tomas Osmeña to head this from the year 2000 to 2005 and resigned as director in the year 2010. In CITOM, islands on our roads may come and go depending on the traffic situation. We have moved and removed islands in my nearly 20-years in and out of traffic management. So this case versus Mayor Rama for removing an island that DPWH already sought to move speaks of a grave abuse of presidential power. We ought to have a law banning such indiscriminate suspensions because it is destructive to our democratic way of life.

I have already pointed out in many columns past that this nation needs a national transformation. It is for this reason why I joined the National Transformation Council a multi-sectoral apolitical group that is seeking changes in our political system so that finally we shall free ourselves from the bondage of our present crop of politicians who took liberties with our tax money and stuffed themselves rich beyond anyone’s imagination.

Political survival of our corrupt politicians is very core and reason why the majority of our politicians refused to call for a constitutional convention and make that paradigm shift from our present super corrupt unitary form of government and into a parliamentary and eventually a federal form of government. If we shift to a parliamentary form of government we will forever do away with national elections and get rid of the corrupt Comelec that has cheated for its political masters since the days of Martial Law.

Alas, we Cebuanos are just too meek and weak like all Filipinos today despite the fact that we know that the only way to get rid of imperial Manila is through a federal form of government. Yet, they refuse to give up their power. So I dare ask my fellow Cebuanos the question that our Lord Jesus Christ asked of St. Peter who was fleeing away from the persecution of Rome, quo vadis! Where are we going after this persecution of Cebu?

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.