A huge rally for Cebu City’s opposition

There is a planned huge rally by the Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan at the Plaza Independencia this Sunday with the attendance of no less than President Duterte. That would include the province of Cebu so the estimates of 60,000 participants would be acceptable. We learned that the President will endorse all of the party’s senatorial candidates, which include, among others, former special assistant to the President Bong Go and former PNP chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa.

The President’s presence has a huge impact on the local elections in Cebu City and Cebu province and his endorsements carry a lot of weight considering that he is a very popular president. This is the time for Vice Mayor Edgar Labella to show his wares that he has what it takes to become the next mayor of Cebu City. Of course, we expect that our local candidates come up with solutions to our pressing problems that no one seems to know how to solve.

The biggest problem we suffer today is when at the height of bad traffic, a jeepney gets bumped by a motorcycle and CCTO enforcers cannot adjudicate or solve this problem, as they have to wait for traffic police officer who usually arrives late. Ask yourselves: How much would the jeepney and motorcycle accident cost? Probably P10,000, but to the rest of the motorists who have to suffer with a standstill traffic, we are talking in millions of pesos. Hence, a solution is needed very badly and we expect our next political leaders to solve this problem because the present local government leaders led by Mayor Tomas Osmeña only worsened this problem.

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As reported, President Duterte signed into law 20 bills, including measures requiring telecommunication firms to provide mobile number portability to their subscribers and creating a Human Settlements department.

Republic Act 11202 or the Mobile Number Portability Act would allow cellphone users to retain their mobile numbers if they switch to another telecommunication service provider.

According to the law, mobile number portability will promote consumers’ welfare because it provides them the freedom to choose their service provider without having to change their mobile numbers. Call this a huge plus factor for us cellphone consumers who might move to another cellphone provider.

Also signed into law was the bill creating the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development. This is the agency that will serve as the primary national government entity responsible for managing housing, human settlement and urban development. The new law will merge the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) making this body reconstitute the HLURB into an adjudicatory body called Human Settlements Adjudication Commission.

The new department will have administrative supervision over the National Housing Authority (NHA), National Home Mortgage Finance Corp., Home Development Mutual Fund and the Social Housing Finance Corp. It will be composed of the Office of the Secretary, various bureaus, services and other regional offices. There are many other new laws that Pres. Duterte signed, but I’m running out of space so I’m sure that you can read them elsewhere in the news.

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Autocentral, the official dealer for Subaru cars and SUVs, invited me for the VIP launch of the all-new 2019 Subaru Forester this afternoon. I got invited to this event since I bought my Subaru XV a year ago. Actually, more than a decade ago, we went to Japan to visit the Fuji Heavy Industries to look for a Subaru Sambar, which would have competed with the Suzuki Multicab. It was then that I was able to drive a Subaru Legacy on the company’s ground. I cannot forget that event since it was the only time I drove a vehicle in Japan where they drive on the right side of the road. Most countries drive on the left hand side of the road.

Anyway, I’m totally happy with my Subaru XV but had an accident with an armored car. Thanks to my insurance, they changed the doors to repair the huge damage. The Subaru Forester is one of the iconic vehicles by Subaru and it would be interesting what the all-new Subaru Forester 2019 has over the previous model.

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