WE ARE extending our condolences to the family of the late Lowell “Loloy” Medija, a friend of ours way back. Loloy died recently for a cause we do not know yet. But thanks to another friend Jerry Dureza who confirmed to us that it was indeed Loloy who died and not any other family member.
We are saddened with this development even as we are shocked. We had a chat only a few weeks back. It is really unfortunate.
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On the other hand we believe we need not dwell on something that can bring a lot of people unnecessary depression.
Here is good news that will surely make Davaoenos proud. The other day we received an e-mail from a friend and former colleague at a previous employer of ours. This friend Rossano Luga, the former head of the Reputation Enhancement Department of Davao Light and the current President of the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants – Davao City Chapter, informed us that we have a few practicing CPAs who just recently made it to the elite list of Filipinos who became members of the elite Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Professional Accountants. The prestigious group only has a total of 5,300 CPA members all over the 10-nation countries in the South East Asian region. Of the limited number of accountants from the Philippines chartered as members recently three of them are Davaoenos. They are Accountants Roland Pondoc who is a current member of the Board of Accountancy (BOA); Marko Ronald L. Fuentes who is a member of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), and Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) and Board of Accountancy (BOA) Vice Chairman Thelma S. Ciudadano.
Indeed the feat the three former Presidents of the PICPA-Davao City Chapter could have gone unnoticed had not CPA Ciudadano, through PICPA President Luga, took efforts to inform the Davao public of their achievement. This only shows that not only in politics or sports that Davaoenos made their names. Even in professional organizations all over this specific Asian region, Davaoenos also made good strides.
We extend our heart-felt congratulations to the three CPAs from Davao City. We are looking forward to the time when they will not just be plain members but eventually as officers of the well-heeled organization of CPAs in this part of Asia.
The ASEAN Professional Accountant members come from such ASEAN countries as the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Mayanmar, Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia and one other. So, for anyone to gain membership, it is like making an elephant pass through a needle’s eye. Thus, the feat of the three Davaoeno accountants is worth the notice not just by their fellow accountants but also by our own local government.
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Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is planning to organize a mobile vaccination facility so that those seniors who will be hard up in going to the vaccination sites will be administered their doses right at the confines of their residence.
This is a novel idea although it is a little late an effort to increase the number of vaccinees. We can understand why there are those not just senior citizens who are hesitant to have themselves vaccinated. There are areas or barangays that are quite far from the vaccination centers and hardly any public transportation is available. And there are only a few barangays that have at their disposal vehicles that can ferry the elderlies from their houses to the vaccination sites. And it is not only on that aspect of commuting that the seniors are seemingly unwilling to deal with. There are still others. For example, in certain far flung barangays some of the seniors who desire to have themselves given the jab, need to walk some kilometers up to where they could get a “habal-habal” ride. And to think that in some areas, one has to pay as much as P100 to P150 one way fare for a single motorcycle ride.
Then they have to think of possible expenses for snacks and lunch since the provision for these amenities are not known to the vaccine seekers until the day of the vaccination. So, it is likely they will just gamble their fate with their trust in God’s hands instead of getting some intervention from science.
In fact to some wise cracks they’d rather invoke the often joked saying that “Anyway, Die, today, or Die tomorrow, same die man.”
Bahala na ang Ginoo.
