The ASEAN Summit wasn't a local gov't affair

Exactly a week ago, despite our heavy schedule, I attended a non-ASEAN Summit event at the Parklane Hotel when the Cebu Catholic Television Network (CCTN) signed a memorandum of agreement with the Mabuhay Satellite Corp. which would allow our Cebuano based and created television programs to be beamed not only nationwide, but to the whole of Asia. CCTN is chaired by our beloved eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and run by its President our good friend, Bro. Nonito "Brod Dodong" and Diane Limchua, Head Servants of the Catholic Renewal group called Oasis of Love.

If you didn't know, CCTN is the only television station solely dedicated to propagating the Catholic faith and Cebuano culture. It has tv shows about Catholic Doctrine where you can find all the answers you need to know about the Catholic Faith. Its Cebuano drama programs have also rekindled interest in Cebuano dramas as portrayed only by Cebuano artists. With CCTN's tie-up with the Mabuhay Satellite Corp. its broadcasting can now reach many parts of Asia so that our Cebuano brethren living in those far-flung communities abroad can still get connected to the Cebuano way of life.

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With the 12th ASEAN Leaders Summit all over and done with, the inertia of our hosting this international affair hasn't worn out. New information for instance like the one that Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña revealed to the press that there was really an attempt by groups identified with the Jemah Islamiyah to terrorize the Summit.

But all this came to naught when Mayor Osmeña sought the support of the local Muslim community, who a couple of years ago bestowed on him the title of Sultan. That meant that those potential terrorists could not get the support of our Muslim brothers now living in Cebu. But as a whole, we should give credit to the whole people of Cebu, who went through all the hassles that the ASEAN Summit brought, like the snarled traffic and the possibility of getting in the crossfire of terrorists and the police. But we didn't hear people complain and that's what makes the Cebuanos different from all the other Filipinos living in this country.

Of course, the military intelligence insists that while there were those alleged threats as warned by the foreign embassies, there were really no specific targets. But in hindsight, I learned that the only real threat to the ASEAN Summit was a potential suicide bomber who would give up his life for his cause. But then, suicide bombers are easy to detect, as they have to wear a jacket or thick clothes to hide the explosives strapped in their body.

Meanwhile, I still can't get over why certain people always make an issue over the fact that they did not see Mayor Tomas Osmeña at the ASEAN Summit, fueling unnecessary speculation that Mayor Osmeña was sore at something or someone. Let me clarify this once and for all. The ASEAN Summit was a meeting of the leaders of the nations within the ASEAN sphere, including ASEAN's dialogue partners like China, India, South Korea, New Zealand and Japan. This was not, I repeat, this was not a meeting of the local government officials.

No doubt, Governor Gwen F. Garcia, Mayor Tomas Osmeña, Mayor Teddy Ouano and the rest of them did a very remarkable job in cleaning up our streets and beautifying them for the ASEAN Summit. Gov. Garcia busied herself in meeting and seeing off the world leaders, while Mayor Osmeña made sure that the leftist protesters would be able to hold their rallies peacefully. To be brutally frank, we in the media had more reason to be at the Summit than our local executives. So let's put to rest this question.

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A lot of people are agog over the Biofuels Law, which was recently signed by Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) as it gives the Philippines a good chance to be the "Biofuels Capital" in Asia. I don't want to douse water into this newly signed and very exciting law but lest we have already forgotten, we Filipinos are considered one of the worlds best in enacting great laws, but we are below zero in implementing those very laws we approved.

We wrote an entire column about what the Biofuel Law should be for the average Filipino. We earnestly hope that this would trigger not only huge savings by the billions in pesos in our fuel cost, but shift this expense to those who would engage in the business of producing Ethanol or Coco diesel fuel, which comes from sugar and coconut respectively. I gathered that Rep. Miguel Zubiri of Bukidnon would be in Cebu tomorrow for a conference at 3PM at the Laguna Garden Café on the Biofuels law that he authored in Congress. For those interested to know more about what the Biofuel law can do for this country, you can ask Rep. Zubiri himself.

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