By Herbert Vego
THERE is still nobody on Iloilo City’s political horizon who stands ready to challenge re-electionist Mayor Jerry P. Treñas in 2022. Is he so popular that even his detractors now strive to crash into his political camp?
A few days ago, while I was having coffee with friends at Hotel del Rio, one of them waxed uneasy over the rumor that a few former councilors who had run for different positions but lost were among the recent guests of the mayor.
“Ginpatawag kuno sila ni Mayor,” the informant said.
Having already heard the rumor that Mayor Treñas had offered them a reconciliatory hand, I simply promised to verify it from the horse’s mouth.
And so while hosting the program “Tribuna sang Banwa” on Aksyon Radyo last Sunday, Neri Camiña and I asked the mayor whether he had indeed asked certain ex-councilors to pay him a visit.
He said, “No, wala ko sila ginpatawag ah. They came to see me.”
He also denied the rumor that his visitors had asked him to sever political alliance with Rep. Julienne “JamJam” Baronda.
Abaw ah! While no mayor in his right mind would sacrifice a popular ally for them, Treñas opted to withhold details on what they had talked about.
But since everybody in Iloilo City knows that one of them had threatened to beat Treñas with a dos-por-dos, let me pose this question: “If you were in the mayor’s shoes, would you reconcile with former allies who had been maligning you in public?”
Puede man guro ah, no matter how remote, if — and only if — they could prove themselves more winnable than La Baronda.
As our late colleague Danny Fajardo might have quipped, “Lablab ‘dies-dies’ laughing.”
-oOo-
ILOILO CITY LEVELLING UP
IF Mayor Jerry Treñas no longer sounds panicky over COVID-19 cases in Iloilo City, it could be because he sees the economy leaping back to life. The Ilonggos have come out shopping and eating outside – an indication that they would like to contribute to his campaign call to “level up.”
“It has been ten long months since this pandemic started,” the mayor said in a press statement.” The Ilonggos have been extremely patient and compliant with the guidelines set out by the national government.”
So far, only 136 deaths in Iloilo City are COVID-19 related.
To pave the road to economic recovery, the local government of Iloilo City – together with the Iloilo provincial government and the Iloilo Economic Development Foundation, Inc. (ILEDF) – is hosting the two-day Iloilo Investment Forum 2020 starting today by “zoom” on the internet in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Department of Trade and Industry, and Department of Tourism.
To quote Terence S. Uygongco, chairman of ILEDF, “Reimagining Iloilo’s next economy and transforming it into a resilient sector is now an imperative. There is no other time to align the local economy back on its high-growth track than today.”
The business group believes that Iloilo possesses the fundamentals to realize the “new thinking” in agriculture development which pushes a modified focus from advancing specific crops towards the overall wellness of the rural sector in terms of resilience, competitiveness, and sustainability.
The Iloilo Investment Forum 2020 would dramatize Iloilo’s various potentials for agri-business investments.
The business forum today is a kick-off for the three-part event. Part two is set between January to February 2021; part three (an international investment forum), in March 2021.
The participants are expected to offer venues for potential investment opportunities, matching them with priority commodities, and for discussion of project briefs.
To learn more about the Iloilo Investment Forum, please visit http://forum.investiniloilo.ph/.
Batò Iloilo!
-oOo-
PILFERERS HAVE NOWHERE TO HIDE
MORE Electric and Power Corp. President Roel Castro is happy over the cooperation of barangay officials in Iloilo City.
After MORE Power’s successive operations against illegal connections in Brgy. San Pedro, Molo Castro is convinced that the company’s Christmas promo, “Jumper Mo, Noche Buena Ko” could best reap results with their active participation.
The barangay officials of San Pedro have assured Castro of their vow to prevail upon power pilferers and resellers to stop their criminal activity.
Under the Christmas promo, MORE Power would reward tipsters who could name at least five power resellers using jumpers. The cash reward of P3,000 is good for a Noche Buena celebration on December 24.
A confidential tip two weeks ago led to the arrest of a certain Dionisio Oton, who had been selling pilfered electricity to a videoke bar, vehicular repair shop, and an ukay ukay clothes retailer. They were paying P15 per kilowatt-hour to Oton based on submeter readings.
Violation of the anti-power pilferage law (Republic Act No. 7832) is punishable by six or more years of imprisonment or a fine ranging from fifty thousand pesos (P50,000) to one hundred thousand pesos (P100,000) or both.
Even without the tipsters, MORE technicians would eventually discover jumpers on their own while installing new poles and transformers.
There is nowhere to hide.
