SPELUNKERS beware! Yes, you should take some lessons from what happened to a businessman whose café was raided last Saturday morning in Sitio Langub, Baganihan, Marilog district in Davao City.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raiding team ordered the Secret Peak Buda Café closed pending adjudication of a case that the establishment owner would be facing. The Cafe, whose owner was not identified by the lead agent of the NBI South Eastern Mindanao area Vicente Essence Minguez, was allegedly encroaching into a cave’s domain and making it part of its service area.
For this reason, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Region XI applied for a search warrant from the court so the office could look into the possible violations of the Café owner.
Armed with the search warrant, the team of Minguez last Saturday morning proceeded to sitio Langub and did the search and inspection. True to the claim of the Regional Executive Director of the DENR, the Café indeed has utilized the cave space as part of its business premises and in the process, altered the natural set-up if only to make it apt for the business product and services.
In effect, the owner was actually violating Republic Act 90672, the law governing the management of Caves and Cave Resources and Protection.
So spelunkers, don’t get too carried away by how your persons are supposed to be when you are one. That is, spelunkers are those whose hobby is exploiting and studying caves.
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The deadline for the registration of SIM for mobile phone owners was last April 26. But the government has extended it to another ninety (90) days after many cellular phone holders failed to register on time.
One example is SIM card registration. It was clear that since the law made it mandatory for all SIMs to be registered, the length of time given to the SIM holders to comply with the mandate was quite ample. According to our friend, whose name we are not at liberty to disclose because of the absence of permission, “momentum was good at the beginning but slowed down to almost none” towards the wind-up, thinking perhaps the government will readily extend the registration period.
And yes, to give some semblance of extreme concern that a substantial number of people will be deprived of an easy way of communicating, groups, with clear backing from the different telecommunications companies, started increasing the decibel of their demand to have the deadline extended. As predicted, the government gave in.
According to our friend, he was hoping that the government, for a change, would call everyone’s bluff so that the millions of Filipinos finally realize that the government was severe on the matter and that it meant business. But no, it folded its knees, and the indolent SIM card holders are laughing to the hilt.
The act of extending the registration period is clearly unfair to those who really find time to register their SIM despite the hectic schedule they have in making a living.
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Last Monday was the commemoration of Labor Day in honor of the millions of working men worldwide.
In the Philippines, as usual, some labor force sectors are making Labor Day the opportune time for them to air their views and demands to enhance the lot of the workers.
There were protest marches and rallies in almost all major cities in the Philippines. The noisiest, of course, were the rallies and protest marches in the National Capital Region. But some leaders of the workers’ groups were ambivalent in their positions. One was Ka Leody de Guzman, a former Presidential candidate in the 2022 national elections. Like most of his fellow labor leaders, he was demanding that government works towards giving ordinary workers better salaries and working conditions, He demanded that government create more job opportunities.
At the same time, however, he chastised the President for going to the United States and other countries inviting investors to come to the Philippines and put up businesses in the country.
According to Ka Leody, President BBM should stop this because only the investors can get a better bargain while Filipino workers will remain marginalized.
Oh, really? We thought Ka Leody wanted more job opportunities and better pay for the Filipino workingmen. Why, then, is he appearing to be anti-foreign investors – those who have the means to put up industries that can generate more jobs and offer better pay?
