We are begging for the indulgence of our readers. We missed this page yesterday due to some problems in our electrical connection leading to where our computer is located. We could have easily transferred our computer but we do not have the time and the skills to fix the connection of our internet that is needed for us to be able to electronically mail our column.
It took some hours to solve the electrical problem and by the time fixing was over it was long past the deadline for articles submission.. So, we are sorry again for missing this page.
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In an interview posted on the on-line edition of the national daily Manila Bulletin, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista clarified that the Mindanao Railway project under the so-called Build, build, build infrastructure program of former President Rodrigo Duterte is not mothballed.
Bautista said that it will be implemented after re-doing the project’s budget because of the increase in the cost of materials and even labor. The Mindanao Railway project is one of three big ticket projects that have appeared to be in limbo after the Philippines “dropped” China as the funding source.
Now wait, was it really the Philippines who dropped China as the funding source for the project implementation? Or was it China who dropped the Mindanao Railway Project as one of the Philippine projects that it intends to support?
Honestly, that was what we read and heard and seen on television and broadcast news after the start of the souring of the Philippines-China relations because of the territorial problem over the West Philippine Sea.
Yes, the Mindanao Railway project has long been awaited by Mindanaoans with their wait expected to be over at the time of the term of former President Duterte, a Mindanaoan. But again, another waiting for several more years, and perhaps for eternity, is now in the Mindanaoans’ midst.
As in the case of the Davao-Samal Connector project which is also funded with a loan from China, as early as 1975 when we set our feet in Davao shortly after graduation, it was only last year that there were positive movements indicating that the bridge was about to be started. But legal problems are again standing on the way. So, the construction is put on hold. Up tp when, no one can be certain as the timetable to resolve the case brought against the bridge’s construction is up to the Supreme Court to determine. Well, that is what freedom guaranteed by the Constitution is all about.
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Skip classes, will drown.
Or so it seems what happened to the three students who were reported to have made a “fatal decision” to skip their classes and instead enjoyed their short-lived escapade to take a swim in the waters.
Frankly, only the Almighty knows when our time in life is up to as well as in what manner will it come.
Imagine the three students who were reported in the other day’s news to supposedly be in classes but skipping it instead in favor of their desire to enjoy swimming! They never knew it was their last adventure together.
We have no idea whom should we put the blame on the feat of the three students Should the blame be on their parents; on their teachers; the school policies; or on their adventurous and youthful exuberance?
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The usual yearly rallies held all over the country every celebration of the Bonifacio or National Heroes’ Day were reported peaceful, especially the Davao City run.
The rallyists were demanding for higher wages and the end of the so called labor contracting scheme of companies. The cry is more popularly known as EnDo.
But considering the number of years that companies are able to skirt legal mandates to end labor contracting it appears that the devious labor scheme is still very much around. Most companies, including government agencies do it through the so-called “Project-based” employment.
So what can we expect from our labor force? It definitely will be, “No Endo, no enra.” That is, there will be no end to rallies on Bonifacio day if there is no end to labor contracting.”
