Still more delays from the Ombudsman!

By the time you read this column, I’d be riding my big bike with our group, the Easy Riders Club from Subic to Baguio City to attend the 15th National Convention of the Federation of Motorcycles in the Philippines (NCFMP). Call it my annual sabbatical where we drop everything we’re doing to ride to the convention which is rotated every year from the major cities of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. The other year, the convention was held in Tacloban City, but that was the only time I failed to attend the bike convention because I was out of the country. Last year, it was held in Cagayan de Oro City. So now it is the turn of Luzon.

One of the projects for this year’s big bike convention is the “Unity Ride for the Environment (URE) where a huge convoy of riders (some 5,000 are expected to join) from EDSA would ride to Clark in Pampanga on May 8th to promote riding safety and discipline. We know that motorcycle related accidents have increased tremendously, thanks to the so-called “Habal-Habal phenomenon. However, we do not have Habal-habals joining the Big Bike convention as these are not big bikes. But just the same, we do need discipline from other motorcycle riders. It is only through joining motorcycle clubs or organizations that discipline can be taught.

From Clark, the participants would ride the Marcos Highway to join the Convention on Saturday. Now whether Luzon can get that huge number of big bike riders, I really don’t know. I just know that the popularity of motorcycling is on the rise and every year we do see new faces, riding expensive motorcycles; this is why discipline is paramount for riding big bikes. I’m doing advance columns so I can focus on my ride b I do have my laptop with me, so you’ll read about the ride soon.

* * *

It’s been three long years since the 12th ASEAN Leaders Summit has ended and still the Office of the Ombudsman has yet to rule on the results of the investigation of the so-called Lamppost scam. We gathered that the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas was given the task to reinvestigate this alleged anomalies. We got word that Sergio Apostol, Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas, has already completed this reinvestigation and have submitted all their findings to the Ombudsman, Merceditas Gutierrez. So, once more, the ball is in the court of the bigger bosses in Imperial Manila!

Having this case reinvestigated was, in my book, nothing but another delaying tactic. We have grown tired and weary of the Ombudsman’s foot dragging on this case. But the facts are crystal clear; those lampposts were either overpriced or substandard simply because these lighting devices lasted barely less than a year after the Asean Summit was conducted here and 90 percent of these lamps no longer work!

I’ve seen many lampposts in Metro Manila, notably the lampposts that the City of Manila placed along the Roxas Blvd. Four years after they were installed, they still looked spanking new. Gads, even the lighting fixtures that the Municipality of Bantayan Island bought was disgustingly cheap and was made in Italy. Hence, we taxpayers got a bum deal on this purchase. But the bigger bummer stems from the Office of the Ombudsman’s hesitance in sending this case to court!

* * *

While the world continues to wallow in the current global financial crisis, Asian nations, led by Japan, China, South Korea and Indonesia have finalized details for an emergency fund of US$120 billion liquidity fund for the use of 13 Asian nations. This is Asia’s initiative to counter the still ongoing financial crisis, although there are now signs of this tapering off. But this is not to say that we’re already free from possible repercussions of this very financially unstable world. What is clear to my mind is for Asia to take the lead in the Green Revolution, which of course has no reference to the Imelda Marcos Green Revolution in the 1970s. Green is the industry of the future. It is high time that the Philippines give out incentives to local manufacturers of solar panels or windmills for home use. Let’s hope we can use part of this money to capitalize a new Green industry.

* * *

Did you see The Freeman’s front page photo last Monday of the Pacquiao-Hatton fight? There’s an old saying which goes, “A picture speaks a thousand words.” That particular photograph shows Manny Pacquiao waiting for the fallen Ricky Hatton whom he just floored. If you looked at the photo again, you’ll notice that it would seem that Manny is standing over the caricature of the Lion in MGM’s Grand Hotel, while Hatton was out cold lying down on what seemed like a stretcher with a huge star on his right as if he was now seeing a big star, after being knocked out cold by Manny.

* * *

Email: [email protected]