BoholAnalysis

It’s a good thing to listen to Fred Araneta again, sharing the airtime with replacement anchor Chito Visarra in the all-time favourite DYRD radio program “Inyong Alagad”(Your Servant). I was on my way to work one Tuesday morning (19 February) and chanced upon the duo interviewing in their radio show Deputy Mayor Mario Uy and Vice Mayor Toto Veloso, discussing the recent suspension of operations of the “Botika sa Katawhan”(Public Pharmacy), an establishment that provides inexpensive medicines to poor clients in the city of Tagbilaran. All the fuss started when city Councilor Zenaido Rama, interestingly not politically-aligned with City Mayor Dan Lim, questioned the operations of the said establishment managed by Lim’s strong ally, Deputy Mayor Uy, on the basis that its operations is “too politicized” and that “some of its beneficiaries do not qualify as indigents” ( BC, 17 February 2008 ). In retaliation, Mayor Lim ordered the operations of the pharmacy suspended until such time that th

I have difficulty packing things up for a trip, especially when going back is not an immediate option. Last January 2, leaving for Bangkok for the second half of my temporary UN assignment was a difficult thing to do, especially because I have to, again, borrow time from my son and wife with whom I have not spent much time for the last couple of years. I tiredly dragged my luggage towards the airport gate and the more I moved the heavier it became. I thought to myself that this could possibly be the kind of experience public officials have on their last term of office. They are caught in a dilemma of whether to stay on or to move ahead. Staying does not necessarily mean standing up again for another re-election, since this is entirely unallowable under Philippine laws, but fielding in one’s wife, father, sister, brother, mother, cousin, aunt, or what have you, to run for the post one is presently occupying and running for another post, either lower or higher, depending upon one’s capac