WE extend our heartfelt condolences to the family of the late Gregoria “Goring” Castino of Pioneer St., Buhangin. She died only last Tuesday, October 26, 2021 after a lingering illness. Goring as we fondly called her at Davao Light, was the secretary of lawyer Eliseo “Boy” Braganza who was head of the company’s Legal Department.
We’ve been working on the same power provider in Davao City and in some areas in Davao del Norte for almost twenty years. She retired ahead of us. As a fellow employee many of her colleagues then sought her advice on a lot of things. But we believe she perhaps needed more now in heaven as she passed on ahead of many of her contemporaries.
She is a loyal devotee to Mama Mary of the Divine Mercy. Again, we extend our condolences. We too, will have our time sooner or later.
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Dream big; after all, to dream is free.
Maybe this is the guiding philosophy of now Presidential aspirant Manny Pacquiao when in an earlier interview with a popular news anchor in Manila he issued a definitive statement that in 4 to 5 years if he is elected President, there will be no more squatters in the country. Everyone will have his own house built on a lot belonging to him. He boldly said that he will use the “billions or even trillions” of pesos that go to the pockets of corrupt government officials to fund housing projects for the homeless and other informal settlers without them having to pay even a single centavo.
Wow! What an ambitious plan. Yes, it is a welcome dream from a Presidentiable. The question however, is how could he possibly prevent corruption from happening in any government transaction when our legal system is not wanting to escape hatches making it extremely difficult to prove any allegation of such shenanigans. It is not like a boxing match where any of the adversaries can do anything he wants to take advantage of the opportunity he finds available in the duration of the fight. The good boxer-senator cannot just launch an offensive against any suspected corrupt official without going into the due process provided by law.
Unless of course if Pacquiao, upon assuming office if elected President, will declare himself emperor or king, or another dictator where he can just order the confiscation of assets of any suspect and use it to fund his massive housing program without any cost at all. Maybe this is part of his big dream.
This early, the senator from Sarangani is already over promising in the hope that he can get the support of the dominant masses of the Filipino people come election time. But will he ever be able to match his over-promise in terms of the delivery of its result? Are the Marines ready to listen?
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We believe that it is already long overdue. We mean the need for Davao Light to assess the performance of its contracted service providers. We take as one example the contractor that provides electrical installation services to new household applicants. It is not our experience but that of a nephew of ours. He is building a house in Talandang, Tugbok District. He builds his house on a property that is a share of his mother-in-law from a property she inherited from her parents, both deceased. Our nephew was the one who personally worked it out with Davao Light for the extension of the secondary line leading to the area concerned some 300 meters away from the main road. And this was already done after a long wait. The installation of wires and the so-called “abang” or meter base in the house was already inspected by a Davao Light personnel and approved as to its standard. He also personally worked it out with the Office of the Building Official and the City Electrician’s for the acquisition of the necessary permits. In the process it denied the installing electrician and some of his cohorts the opportunity to ask for a bigger charge supposedly to foot the cost of electrical permit, certificate of occupancy and other contingent expenses where normally the person following this up tells the applicant there is need to pay this and that official for his immediate signature and approval.
Now that it is time for installing the meter and tapping it to the secondary line, the one attending to the applicant at the service provider’s office in Matina talked of the very strict policy of the Davao Light. First she demanded for a photocopy of the land title and the authorization of the other heirs to have the property crossed by the line even if the affected area is the share of the mother-in-law of the applicant. But when the required documents were submitted, the attending clerk again asked for the submission of the death certificates of the decedent land owners. And again, citing policy the attending clerk insists that the original copy of the title be presented. Very exhausting this…
Anyhow, we are certain that when the company installed the extension of the secondary line towards the site, it spent some money. But being a business it is only natural that the company wants an immediate return of its investment (ROI) no matter how small or big it is. But in this particular case the service provider is prolonging the time with which the invested capital can generate its ROI. Are the officials of the company not aware of this? If they are in some kind of a stupor, then we are shaking them up now.
We are not looking forward to the possibility that this is becoming the new normal at the electricity provider in Davao City.
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