‘In Between Columns’

since christmas eve, cebu’s vigilantes aree at it again. and they’re starting to hit the more known criminal characters like lao-lao, alemar luna and nanik shewakram. meanwhile, spo1 dumpit is trying his best to earn pogi points by arresting a man with a gun, not shooting him down.

it seems the vigilantes are upping the ante. they also learned to be sensitive to public opinion. or basin nahutdan na sila og mga gagmay nga target. they should have begun with the big names first sa una pa.

but these does not convince me on the merits of vigilantism.

Bert Emphasis is inviting media friends again for some chit-chat over some lechon (i suppose kay anha man sa bernadette’s lechon near sm … the new tambayan of customs media).
I expect himn to talk more about his piece of new re a coup and the fvr-jdv-reyes junta against GMA. So far, Tingting and Cerge said this is not true. I think this is a trial balloon to see if it will fly.
But I don’t think Ramos and de Venecia is popular enough to be an alternative to GMA.
The sooner people accept that we are stuck with GMA untiul 2010, the better for all of us.

Just minutes after the Miss Super B 2005 pageant ended at Sunflower City, I received word that one of the winners had a secret date but they were showing off that night at the dance floor. The guy was a member of the Provincial Board.

Nakakita ang anak ni Gov. Gwen Garcia, honorable.

The formula of having an entertaining program, more than enough food and more than enough booze worked again.

but there was one problem that i did not expect. the top three girls that the judges choose were not able to answer the questions satisfactorily during the question and answer portion.

reklamo tawn sila joseph tubilan and mike obenieta who helped in the screening process. "maayo man to sila nitubag pag-screening sir," they said after the pageant.

unsaon ta man. stage fright kuno.

"duol kaayo mi sa mga tawo, sir. na blangko ko, sir," one of the top three told joseph.

How we carried out the program in the Miss Super B 2005 pageant night needed a lot of improvement but I think it had something to do with the right people and the money to pay their fees.

I will get Rommel Pareja again and that small guy he was with because they were the ones who helped a lot make things work and jell. The others? Wrong question.

it seems the oppositors to the construction of two coal-fired power plants in Naga town are outmanuevered. while they still focus on blocking the approval of the environmental compliance certificate via the consultations, the government and the power plant operators are already preparing for the groundbreaking this december 16, 2005.

in fact, president gloria macapagal-arroyo is arriving on december 16 for this activity. i gathered that a top korean official (either the president or the prime minister) will be present for the groundbreaking.

it seems the oppositors don’t have a pipeline of up-to-date information on what is happening.

today, the family and friends of george benaojan will bring his body to ronda and later to moalboal where he will be buried.

last night, i again visited the wake at the cosmopolitan parlor in lahug and met several reporters there.

even after saul carillo told me that the possible mastermind could be the former owner of george’s stall at the lawaan central market because the two are neighbors and close friends, still some quarters of the media still insist on the customs angle.

however, i have been combing my sources at customs for a lead. the more i ask, the more i am convinced that it is not customs related.

An angry Dr. Pek Eng Lim called me up Tuesday complaining about the quote I used in my Sun.Star column that mentioned his name.

You see, I criticized the manager of Parklane International Hotel Mars Benitez for inventing a complaint against a sidewalk vendor named Narvasa.

In his letter-complaint to Camputhaw Barangay Captain Lorenzo Basamot, Benitez alleged that the diarrhea he had that October 7 afternoon was because of Narva’s paklay.

Quoting his supposed attending physician Dr. Pek Eng Lim, Benitez said he had a viral infection and amoebiasis after he ate paklay he bought from Narvasa.

However, when Dr. Lim learned I wrote about this in my Sun.Star column, he called me up and in a raised voice asked me why I attributed the statement to him because it placed him in an embarassing situation.

It seems Benitez was just making up his allegation against Narvasa and dropped Dr. Lim’s name.

Barangay Captain Basamot unfortunately believed Benitez and had Narvasa’s stall demolished.

The move stirred up a hornet’s nest of criticisms against both Basamot and Benitez that led to a dialog.

Insisting on his demolition, Basamot disregarded Benitez complaint perhaps after realizing that the guy merely made up his story.

In my view, Benitez should have instead approached the vendor situation in a more humane manner and he could have earned goodwill for himself and his new hotel.

last year, it was another friuend Allan Dizon, who was gunned down. good that the killer was arrested but the police simply shied away from going after the mastermind.

last night, another friend was gunned down by an unknown assassin. The assailant pumped at least three bullets into the body of George Benaojan of Bantay Radyo at around 9:30 pm at his shop at the Talisay Central Market. He died hours later at past 12 am.

his close in friends went to the nbi to get the agency’s cooperation in going after the killer and the mastermind.

at first glance, it’s hard to determine who could have ordered snuffing out his life. but then, people i talked with agreed that george was going too fast along a very dangerous road.