For our special presentation on our talk show “Straight from the Sky” tonight, we will discuss the lessons we can learn from the incident between St. Theresa’s College and the students who were sanctioned by the school for violation of school regulations. Apparently the sanction given was to stop the erring students from joining their graduation ceremonies.
I’m sure that many years ago before the age of the Internet, rebellious STC students must have done the same things or worse, but the school never learned of these. We learned of this mostly from the grapevine. But in the age of social networking, especially with the popularity of Facebook, these students just couldn’t help themselves but off-load their photos there and got themselves into trouble where after they were sanctioned by their school, they transformed this into a legal case and ended with a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court, which favored STC for instilling discipline in their students.
So tonight, we are honored to have with us Atty. Joan Largo (She is currently the Dean of the University of San Carlos Law School) who was the legal counsel for STC so we could discuss this incident that led to a landmark decision by the Supreme Court and learn our lessons from this incident. You can watch it on SkyCable’s channel 61 at 8:00 tonight with replays on Wednesday and Saturday. Replays also on MyTV’s channel 30 at 9:00 tonight and on Wednesday and Fridays at 7:00AM and 9:00PM.
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First of all, kudos to Cebu City Traffic Operations & Management for its efficient handling of traffic at the Cempark during the All Saints Day and All Souls Day celebration. I was taken by surprise that by Saturday evening, traffic was already light in going to Cempark where in the past, the long line of vehicles used to stretch all the way to Cebu Country Club, but this time around the line of cars were only near Ginza Restaurant. It could be that people already visited the cemeteries by Friday so they would have Saturday and Sunday off for their respective vacations.
But for most of last Saturday, it was the best time to go around Cebu City except in the areas near the cemeteries as the traffic was so light, it reminded me of what traffic used to be like in Cebu 25 years ago. Indeed, only old fogies like me remember that the worse traffic in Cebu City then happened only on Wednesdays at the Redemptorist Church when traffic would snarl at the corner of Fooda on Mango Ave. Those were the days when one bought a new car, by afternoon everyone in Cebu already knew who got a new car. Cebu City was indeed a very small town then. How things have changed since those days.
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Going around Cempark over the weekend one can discern the discussions of many people who are obviously appalled at what is going on in the Senate with two vicious yellow dogs, notably Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano using the Senate Blue or should I say Yellow Ribbon Committee to demolish the reputation of Vice Pres. Jejomar Binay whose credibility has sunk faster than when the SS Titanic hit an iceberg.
It is not that the evidence that they are presenting is not credible; it is simply that they have literally gone too far using the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, which is supposed to be done “In-Aid” of legislation. I don’t see any potential legislation in the offing with its way of interrogating those whom it subpoenaed. I have no doubt that these senators are politically motivated for obvious reasons.
If they truly want justice done these senators should have sent this case to the Office of the Ombudsman rather than have it in the Senate where they are simply grandstanding… hoping that their names would have instant recall in the 2016 Presidential elections. This is why the Senate has become the worse institution in the government because it is filled with people who became famous or infamous like Trillanes, who was a nobody until he occupied Peninsula Hotel.
It is for this very reason why the National Transformation Council isn’t looking forward to the next elections, but rather we should first have reforms before we move to the next elections. Elections always remind us of the grave crime that the Commission on Elections committed against the Filipino people… the use or misuse of the Precinct Count Optical Scan which was brought in by the Smartmatic Group. I heard that the Cebuano schoolmate of mine involved in that group have become so filthy rich. I think he should be subjected to some kind of a lifestyle check. More on this in tomorrow’s column.