Happy Chinese New Year!

As the Chinese would greet you today, “Gong Hei Fat Choy!” it is the New Lunar Year of the Pig. 2019 is a Year of the Pig according to the Chinese zodiac, and it’s an Earth Pig year. Years of the Pig include 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019 and 2031. In Chinese astrology, each year belongs to a Chinese zodiac animal according to the 12-year cycle. The Pig occupies the twelfth position in the Chinese zodiac after the Dog, and before the Rat. If you were born in a Pig year, you are known as a Pig (or ‘belonging to the Pig’) in China. Zodiac years are by the Chinese calendar.

I checked myself how I would fare in the Year of the Pig…as I was born in the year of the Rabbit. It seems I will have good fortune this year. That the rehabilitation of Manila Bay has officially started last Jan. 27 and now, many Cebuanos are already talking about cleaning up our esteros and rivers is a good sign that things are going to get better in the year of the Pig. Now I have no idea what the Year of the Pig would mean to the Cebu lechon? What about that other equally famous pork delicacy… called Pork Barrel? Will we see the reuse of pork barrel by our Congressmen and Senators in the Year of the Pig? Abangan!

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I don’t know why Pres. Rodrigo Duterte had to use the social media last Sunday to dispel rumors that he had passed away, after he decided to skip an event in Leyte days ago because he was not feeling well. His partner, Cielito “Honeylet” Avanceña, posted three brief videos on her Facebook account, featuring her and the President in Davao City. The first video showed Honeylet holding up a copy of the day’s newspaper, with Mr. Duterte seated across the table. There is no doubt that a lot of people mostly in the minority would love to see Pres. Duterte dead. But I really can’t fathom why even the mainstream media believes in this fake news?

Apparently, there are two succeeding videos that featured the President speaking briefly, addressing speculation that he passed away over the weekend. Pres. Duterte said, “My reaction to my passing away: I will ask God first if He’s available for interview because I will go there. What are your messages? I will bring them with me. Priests, bishops, everyone.” In the second video, the President told those who believed in his death rumors to pray for his soul. “For those who believe in the news that I passed away, then I request of you, please pray for me, for the eternal repose of my soul. Thank you.” Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said the President was “not Superman. He’s only a human being who is ‘not feeling well’ sometimes.”

Why can’t you people wait for the proper time that God would take them away from us. Mind you the month of January God took out three good friends in Cebu…all of them unexpected. So wait for your turn because it will surely come!

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I already pointed out clearly in this corner that I have not yet began to demand for the cleanup of the esteros and rivers of Metro Cebu until I see that the 13 Mandamus government agencies are truly serious about their rehabilitation of Manila Bay. But apparently the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CCENRO) headed by Ma. Nida Cabrera was looking for volunteers to coordinate with her office. The Office of City Mayor Tomas Osmeña was also enticing people in his Facebook page seeking for volunteers? Accordingly they want the Lahug River, the Guadalupe River and the Bulacao River to undergo a thorough cleanup.

But in yesterday’s editorial in The Freeman entitled, “Saving our Dying Rivers,” it pointed out, “Well, it’s unfortunate that it’s only now the city is embarking on the cleanup drive. For decades, these rivers have been dying because of human abuse and environmental authorities have never lifted a finger to save them. In nearby Mandaue City, the local government is also rushing to save the Butuanon River from the suffocating industrial waste and trash from informal settlers living along its banks.”

What could have motivated Mayor Osmeña to suddenly move for the cleanup of these rivers when for a long time when he was mayor he really didn’t care to clean it up? Could it be that he learned that the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) would issue show cause orders to 107 local government officials, including two mayors in Metro Manila, for their alleged failure to prevent the pollution of Manila Bay, as pointed out by DILG Undersecretary for barangay affairs Martin Diño? Hence, they believe that it is a matter of time for the DILG to also ask the LGUs in Metro Cebu a similar show cause order to explain why they should not be held liable for failure to strictly enforced provisions of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2001? Abangan!

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