Advance happy Valentine's Day to all!

Tomorrow is a Red Letter Day for all lovers as it is St. Valentines Day, but since we do not have a Saturday column, allow me to greet our readers happy Valentines Day! Incidentally, The Philippine Star yesterday featured a report from the Social Weather Station (SWS) survey where they found out that 55% of Filipino adults believe that very famous phrase which turned into a hit song by the Walker Brothers, “First Love Never Dies.” Are you one of those?

I too believe in this simply because the first time you fall (not necessarily in love) head over heels over girl or boy, it is a feeling like no other! It’s often a haunting experience. You can’t sleep or do anything but think of the person; it drives you crazy, even if it’s just a puppy type of love! Of course people fall in love again and again but that first fall will be unforgettable, especially for girls when they had their first sexual experience; they won’t forget that first time!

SWS also found out that 7 out of 10 Filipinos agree with the statement “If you love someone then set him free, if he/she comes back again, it was meant to be.” I believe this phrase was taken from the Barry Manilow hit song, “Some Good Things Never Last!” But there’s a song by the Chairman of the Board, Good ol’ blue eyes Frank Sinatra entitled, “Love is Lovelier, the Second Time Around” that basically embraces the same thoughts in the Manilow song, that if he/she comes back again, it was meant to be.

So wherever you are, whatever you do or will be doing this Valentine’s Day, please don’t forget that there are many lonely people out there who also need your love - old folks at home, friends who have no love in their lives, even your neighborhood priest who cares for your soul. They too need your love. As the lyrics of the hit song by Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong goes, “The colors of a rainbow, so pretty in the sky. Are also on the faces of people going by, I see friends shaking hands, saying how do you do. They’re really saying, I love you!” Happy Valentines to all of you lovers out there!

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Cebu City Councilor Edgardo Labella, Chairman of the Committee on Laws have asked, through a resolution, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) to explain to the people where the funds it has collected from the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) meant for social projects have gone? These charges fall under the term “Universal” which in my book is just another way for the government to extract money from the people without saying that it is a tax!

Like taxes, I don’t mind paying my share for as long as we can see it spent for its intended purpose. In this case, I have yet to see any watershed rehabilitation projects, unless it is done by MCWD at the Buhisan Dam. But whose funds are they using? According to a PSALM official, this issue should be addressed to the National Power Corp. (NPC) as they are supposed to be the agency that will spend that money. Why can’t PSALM just tell us where the money went?

While Councilor Labella is at it, perhaps another resolution is in order asking the Land Transportation Office (LTO) how much money is supposedly the share of Cebu City in that so-called “Road User’s Tax? I’m asking this because our road maintenance projects cannot cope up with the deterioration of our roads, more so that we’re getting more than the usual rainfall each year. What we do get are the usual excuses that we don’t have funds to fix this or that road.

In this time of crisis, we’ve already written what history has told us that in Germany when Adolf Hitler took over power from the weak Weimar Republic that came from the defeat of World War I, he solved the job crisis by building roads (later on, he turned to building pocket battleships, submarines and Stukas) like the world’s 1st Freeway called the Autobahn. He asked is friend Ferdinand Porsche to build the Volkswagen, the people’s car so they can drive along the freeway.

Here in Cebu, we still need infrastructure development, like that flyover along M.J. Cuenco corner Mango Ave. or the widening of H. Cortes or the stall widening of Escario St. We also need that parallel road to already congested Escario St., which would bring motorist from Guadalupe directly to Gorordo Ave. in Lahug without passing the Capitol. Constructing these infrastructures would go a long way in bringing jobs to people who are out of work. If we really had the money, we can begin planning for the tunnel that should link Cordova to the SRP… or we can aim for the stars and construct that bridge from Cebu to Bohol. All we need is money and the jobs will come!