Blackouts stay for 2-3 hrs

daily in city of Zamboanga

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Blackout schedules are still from two to three hours per day in this city, according to the Vice President Bong Atilano of the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative-Board of Directors.

In an interview, Atilano said that Zamcelco is still short of nine (9) megawatts per day where in the total requirement per day is 78 megawatts.

PSALMS and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) are providing the city with only 51 instead of 63 megawatts earlier contracted with the cooperatives.

The 18 megawatts provided by Therma Marine Incorporated (TMI)   brings the supply to a total of about   69 megawatts.

Atilano said that while it is true that cities like Davao City and Cagayan de Oro have no blackout because they have their own standby power.

but in other areas in Mindanao still experience similar blackout like General Santos City.

Atilano said that the two to three hours blackout schedules that reduced from the eight to ten hours

usually occur during the peak hours of the day particularly on the peak load hours from 5 :00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Atilano added that it is twice a day depending  which means if blackout  for two to three hours scheduled in the morning  there is no more blackout in the afternoon and evening.

However,  it still depends since blackout schedules are between 10:00 am. To 11:00 p.m. daily, Atilano ended

Lobregat claims Climaco is strongest

bet for Zambo City Mayor in 2013 polls,
Fabian out of “ Man Junto Junto Kita” ?

Mayor Celso L. Lobregat   said on May 7 that Congresswoman Maria Isabelle C. Climaco is the strongest candidate for Mayor in 2013 poll election in this city, in effect leaving out Congressman Erico Basilio Fabian, who since last year has already announced that he is running for mayor.

All three elective officials are of the Laban ng Demokratikong Filipino (LDP) although they sort of parted ways in the May 10, 2010  Election where Climaco joined the Liberal Party in Support of now elected President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

In that election, Fabian joined the Nationalista Party and rallied under presidential candidate Manny Villar.

Lobregat did not join any other party in 2010 and did not openly support any presidential candidate. He instead clung on to the LDP plus an added political group called Adelante Zamboanga that is chaired by his brother Joemar.

After that May 10 election, they sort of, allied themselves with the LDP whose battle cry in Zamboanga is “Man junto junto kita” (Let us stay together).

The mayor is serving his last and third term as city’s chief executive and has plans to run for Congress in the May 2013 elections.

He will run for Congress in the district now occupied by Climaco who is serving her second term and open to running for a third term.

In a radio interview,  Lobregat said that  his statement  is not a manifestation of preference and   the result of the consultation conducted last Thursday  between the three of them  Congresswoman Climaco of District I and Congressman Erico Basilio Fabian  of District II .

If Climaco will choose to run for a third term in District I, she will have to confront Lobregat who wants to occupy her position in congress.

With Climaco running for mayor, Lobregat is confident that he will win as representative for District I.

Lobregat said that Climaco has to make an ultimate -final decision to run for mayor of Zamboanga City considering that she is not only representative of district I but also occupies a higher position in government but people are asking her to run.

“The people are asking her to run, “Lobregat said.

On the other hand, another party mate, Congressman Erico Basilio Fabian is on his third term and his only option is to run for mayor in the 2014 local elections.

Unless Fabian decides otherwise (like retiring which he hinted several times), he will be confronting Climaco for the position of Mayor of Zamboanga.

There is also the  possibility of Zamboanga del Norte former Congressman Romeo Jalosjos running also for Mayor of Zamboanga. The Jalosjos family is from Zamboanga City.

Lobregat’s brother, Joemar has already, sort of, announced his candidacy to run for Congressman of District II, since Fabian can.t run for the position anymore.

Last month, Joemar filed for a change of residence, with the Comelec Office,  from district I in the City Proper to Pasobolong in District II where the family manages a mango farm.

While the position of Mayor for Zamboanga in 2013 will be hotly contested, as some political pundits say;  the incumbent mayor  stands to benefit most if the uncumbent congresswoman for District I (Climaco) at his urging decides to run for another position.

And if Joemar wins in District II and Celso wins in District I, the Lobregat family will have effective control of Zamboanga’s link to the Manila government in the next several years.

Food agency urges farmers
to increase rice production


The National Food Authority (NFA) in this city is encouraging local rice farmers to increase their production.

NFA’s records said that last year the city’s farmers produced only 18% percent of the rice that is consumed by the now some 800,000 people in this city.

The remaining 82 perrcent of the city’s rice supply came from neighboring provinces like Zamboanga Del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, and as far as General Santos City, Ilo-Ilo, Cotabato and Manila.

NFA provincial Manager Gaudencio Nuega Jr. said, of the city’s 98 barangays, only five of these are into rice production.

Rice-producing barangays include Manicahan, Talisayan, Curuan, San Ramon and Talisayan.
Nuega said, Zamboanga is not a rice-producing city and can be categorized as “critical” area in terms of rice production.

The rice-eating populace of the city consumes some 6,196 bags/sacks of rice per day, and only 15% NFA rice is being supplied by the food authority to the market while 85% are commercial rice, Nuega said.

Rice farmers, farmers ‘cooperatives, bring/sell their milled rice to NFA, and NFA supplies the market.

The city has about 3,000 hectares of flatland suitable for rice production, but only about one fourth of the area is being cultivated for lack of irrigation facilities.

The area called Balinsungay is just about 18 kilometers east of the city proper.

Most of the city’s ricefields in the city have been converted into residential areas.

Some 60 hectares of Riceland at barangay Tulungatung, about 20 kilometers weste of the city proper has been identified for a resettlement site for the homeless in the city.

Despite protestations from the Department of Agrarian Reform, the city government spent over 100 million pesos to fill up about ten hectares of this rice field for a housing project.

A ricefield located at the east end of the Zamboanga International Airport (ZIA) runway is now occupied by a religious group where only grasses grow these days.

Studies have shown that if the entire area can be irrigated, farmers there could have three cropping and harvests in a year, more than enough to supply the needs of the people in this city and with some extra for sale in neighboring islands and provinces.


Money is readily available in Zamboanga for water projects. 


The city has three water fountains costing no less than a total of more than P30 million.


These projects, beautiful to the eyes, throws water to the air, but none of these drops fall on parched ricelands in Zamboanga.

A people betrayed

A move at the city council to urge the city’s two representatives in congress to facilitate the enactment of a law to create a third congressional district for the city failed to master a majority vote.

Political pundits claim that what was interesting here is the rumor that the one who raised the negative vote and thus prevented the people of Zamboanga from having a third voice in congress is not even an elected member of that august body by the boulevard.

How can a single vote stop seven proponents of the proposal? The answer was quite simple and the strategy beautiful or shall we say- deceitful.

Seven other councilors decided to abstain and refrain from voting for or in behalf of the people. By this simple act of omission they allowed one single vote to prevail over seven of their honorable members - voted into office by the people - who wanted their constituents to have their fair share of representation in national government.

The people of Zamboanga are entitled by law to have a third representative in Congress. The law requires a population of 250,000 to comprise a congressional district.

The population of Zamboanga at the latest count is more than 770,000 inhabitants. By the simple expediency of dividing 770,000 by 250,000 we get the number 3 or three districts. The remaining population of 70,000 can go join the BJE if they so desire.

The salary that will be used to pay a third representative in congress will not come from the executive budget for Zamboanga. The pork barrel to support the expenditures or the kitty of a congressional district will not come from the pockets of the seven abstaining councilors.

What prompted some of the councilors to betray the interests of the people of Zamboanga to have an additional lobbyist for the city in Manila?

People have long insisted that the city council is a separate entity from city hall. People have also been saying - with no proofs - that some in the city council are mere puppets of unseen hands that try to dictate the future and fortunes of the people of Zamboanga.

People say that the unseen hands that manipulate some of our lawmakers are afraid of losing political clout on the legislative body. A third congressional district will mean another set of councilors for the city council. This will mean additional expenses to keep them in line.

As for some lawmakers, it is easier to please those unseen hands than the people who place them where they do not belong.

Rumpus over Chacacano “Anthem”

The officials in formal dress, polo barong, Barong Tagalog and Filipina costume stood up at the big makeshift stage in front of City Hall one Saturday afternoon.

A group of costumed men and women filed in front of the stage and they sang: “Tierra adorada Hija de sol Oriente,Su fuego ardiente En ti latiendo esta. Patria de amores! Del heroismo cuna, Los invadores No te hallaran jamas. En tu azul cielo, en tus auras, En tus montes y en tu mar Esplende y late el poema De tu amada libertad. (And so on)

None in the audience could follow the singing, because to most of them, the song was strange.
The singing of the song or an altered / plagiarized version of the original Tierra Adorada was held in the afternoon of Oct 11, the eve of the Town Fiesta Pilar in Zamboanga City that falls on Oct. 12.

Vice Mayor Manuel Dalipe has described the singing of the song in lieu of the National Anthem during the Zamboanga Hermosa Festival culminating program in front of city hall last Saturday, as “a violation of the Philippine Constitution”

The honoree and Guest Speaker during the program, Gen. Yano, who was on stage at that time, did not salute the flag while the chorale was singing the song. Other police and military officers on stage merely stood at attention, while the song was sang.

The Philippine Constriction provides for only one version of the Philippine Anthem to be sung in Filipino. Sec. 36 of Republic Act 8491 read “The National Anthem shall always be sung in the national language within or without the country.”

The Spanish version of the anthem was sung during the Revolution against Spain and the 1990’s war against the United States of America. When the Americans took over and colonized the Philippines, they forbade the singing of the anthem, but later on allowed the singing of the English Version during the Commonwealth period along with the Star Spangled Banner.

After the grant of Independence, Tagalog advocates for a national language eventually managed to enshrine the singing of “Bayang Magiliw” by law as mandated by the Constitution.

It is ironic that while the city opposed the inclusion of Zamboanga from the Bangsa Moro Juridical Entity and stay as part of the Philippine Republic, its leaders would advocate the singing of an unauthorized version of the Anthem in a public and official gathering of local and national officials.

Some people are leading our leaders astray.

Pawns in the game for Sabah

So called militant groups are now belatedly attending to the plight of Filipinos who are banished from what is supposed to be part of their homeland.

At the same time, the Manila government is getting embroiled in the condition of Filipinos being forcibly deported by the Malaysian government and returned to the country, particularly Zamboanga.

This policy of the Malaysian government of deporting Filipinos who have been working there or contributing to the economy and development of that country is unexplainable except for the fact that the Malaysians have also been suspicious of Filipinos, particularly those coming from the Sulu Archipelago or what used to be the Sultanate of Sulu.

The near phobic fear of the Malaysians of the Filipino presence in Sabah can be traced to what happened way back in the 18th century

In that century, the Sultan of Sulu came to the aid of his cousin, the Sultan of Brunie to put down a revolt in what was then called Borneo or Sabah.

In return for his help, the Sultan of Brunie handed over Sabah to the Sultan of Sulu.

In January 22, 1878, the Sultan of Sulu entered into a lease agreement with two adventurers the Austrian Gustavus Baron Overbeck and Englishman Alfred Dent for their use of Sabah. This lease agreement for 100 years was supposed to expire in January 22, 1978.

In the interregnum of 100 years, the British Government took over the management of Sabah from Overbeck and Dent and despite protestation from the Sultanate of Sulu, included Sabah as part of the newly Federated states of Malaysia that was granted its independence on August 31, 1957.

By the time the 100 year lease Agreement was supposed to expire in 1978, the newly federates government of Malaysia was effectively in control of Sabah.

Incidentally, to this day the Malaysian government continues to pay “rental” for Sabah to the Sultanate of Sulu.

The Malaysian has this morbid fear that sooner or later, the Sultanate will try to retake Sabah and thus fear that the presence of Filipinos in that State could be part of that plan to repossess that territory.

Is it any wonder then that Filipinos who helped developed Sabah, constructed its highways and building, are being maltreated to this day.

We refuse to look at things this way and this is the reason why we despair.

Fact Finding Team finds nothing amiss

A group of senator and congressmen were in this city last Thursday. These officials were part of the Legislative Oversight Committee on the Visiting Forces Agreement (LOVFA) to check complaints that some American soldiers assigned or deployed in Mindanao were engaged in actual combat operations against lawless elements in the area.

There were also complaints that the Americans were putting up military bases in the area.

The officials who came here last Thursday wasted their time, because they took action on complaints that could have been argued in Congress, during press conferences or simply ignored at all.

They could have thought of something better if they only took the trouble to realize that the complaints -filed by militants groups, anti-democratic minded solons , those who are using the country’s democratic climate to destroy our democratic institutions, fronts of rebels and secessionist groups – were all self-serving.

Take the case about the socalled involvement of American soldiers in Combat operations in Mindanao.

Any answer to this charge could be justified by anybody else depending on whose interest they side with or who butters their side of the bread they eat these days.
It is stupid to expect that the Americans with all their economic and military powers at their beck and call - would build nipa and bamboo houses to house their soldiers here.

Anyway, the Filipinos will be quick to take over American facilities left here. Remember Subic and Clark?

It is natural to expect that those who seek the destruction , the domination, or the partition of this republic –will harass anybody else or any group who/that will stand to oppose their goals.

Why are they criticizing the legitimate action of a government and forget the foreign help, foreign money, foreign sanctuaries, foreign trainors offered or provided insurgents and secessionists by agents and fronts of other countries, in our homeland?

Nobody has stood up to criticize the involvement of other countries in propagating the establishment of a different ideology or form of government in this country or in Mindanao.

The problem that we have in the country and in Mindanao is an internal affair because these were all started by citizens of this country. We cannot therefore understand why some sectors, including those in government, are seeking the intervention of foreigners to resolve an internal affair.