JUSTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the government was not entertaining new players for the country’s water distribution business. The Department of Justice confirmed it found 12 onerous provisions in the concession agreements and advised President Rodrigo Duterte to scrap the old contracts and rescind the agreement extending their validity.
Although he clarified that the concession agreements still stand — unless no agreement is reached with the two water concessionaires. I think this is the correct move. That’s the way it should be. His footsteps are always in accordance with the law and not a bit on emotions.
China procured its first aircraft carrier from Ukraine and refurbished it as it was bought secondhand. It is now commissioning the second one, officially named Shandong. President Xi Jinping is making sure that the carrier is stuffed with noodles and dimsum to make its crew happy. Sorry, no McDonald’s burger and Starbucks coffee because of the trade war.
No one can blame Sen. Richard J. Gordon frowning on the Sandiganbayan’s dismissal of the Presidential Commission on Good Government’s P200-billion forfeiture case against the Marcoses. I think he is worried, not about the name but by the way graft cases are being handled by our courts. He is also worried about the prosecution’s competence in pursuing their cases, which can make other crooks avoid jail easily. The Palace is saying that it will continue to be hands off on Sandiganbayan’s decision. Huh? Can they at least investigate the prosecution team to find out how it failed?
Globe Telecom Inc. has signed a P5-billion loan agreement with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to partly fund its spending budget. The Ayala-led telecommunications giant said the loan “would be used to finance the company’s capital expenditures and general corporate requirements,” and refinance its “maturing obligations.” In text messages, this development usually ends with “ha-ha-ha!” My question to DBP Chairman Alberto G. Romulo and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Herbosa: Did you not read the memo?
Former undersecretary Abigail “Abi” Valte confirmed that the former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd has been discharged from the Makati Medical Center since being confined December 9. She said it was just a routine check-up. It must be a very comprehensive check-up considering the confinement period lasted nine days. I think I should quit smoking fast.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd said yesterday that the possible resumption of peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines is a result of back-channeling negotiations. Bello said that upon the instructions of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (PRRD), he has been negotiating after the peace talks bogged down. Similar to this, I heard from the grapevine that some senators and congressmen are “back-channeling” as well for ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal. Too many channels if you ask me. Not enough time to watch.
Madame Tussauds-Hong Kong has announced the addition of the Filipino wax figure of boxing champ and senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao. I think Senator Manny will be quite comfortable in the company of Pia Wurtzbach. I assume Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan will be jealous of the new tandem.
I am confident that the triumvirate of Mayor Benjamin Magalong, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’s Roy Cimatu and the Department of Tourism’s Bernadette Romulo Puyat will be a formidable team to rehabilitate and regain the stature of our country’s summer capital. Key factor to success is the partnership of both locals and tourists.
Whenever I paint, I intend to please myself and not anybody. I paint to express myself, my dreams and how I view a particular subject, be it a portrait or a landscape. I guide my brush not to be factual but to depict my wish to romance anything I see with my heart and soul. Much like photography and music. Maybe selfish to some but my happiness comes first above everything. Creativity is not reportorial or about being truthful but a state of mind that always scouts for any fantasyland that can give me the freedom to sing and dance like crazy. With no one watching. An eternal sovereignty on a concept that is both sensual and erotic.
I keep asking myself these questions:
Why do I have to pay parking fees for patronizing a mall or a supermarket?
Why do I have to shell out money to use a clean toilet in malls? If I don’t pay, will they just leave them dirty?
Why do grocery cashiers and sales attendants never stop chatting as if they haven’t seen each other for years?
Why are the items that I usually like out of stock, and the saleslady seems to take pride in telling me, savoring my moment of disappointment?
Why am I paying road user’s tax when I can barely move going anywhere?
Why do restaurants have items in their menu that are not available?
Why are waiters and waitresses always engaged in deep conversation that they can’t see me jumping up and down to ask for my bill?
Why do some waiters stand close to me and stare while I eat as if waiting for me to burp or choke?
I am not trying to be funny. Maybe I am just an old fool or just plain crazy.
We discovered National Book Store now owns 9.28 percent in Philodrill. This shift to oil exploration is one for the books.
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Good work, good deeds and good faith to all.
https://www.manilatimes.net/2019/12/19/opinion/columnists/is-christmas-both-gladiatorial-and-pastoral/665616/
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