It’s Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent
Today is the official start of the Lenten Season as it is Ash Wednesday today, which means fasting and abstinence to those who between 18 and 59 years old. Senior citizens are exempted, but exhorted to do works of mercy or charity. We Cebuanos are a Catholic majority and therefore we give special attention to our spirituality and most importantly to our souls, after all God is in control of our lives.
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The big breaking news at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is the appointment of the new governor in the person of Department of Budget and Management Secretary Benjamin Diokno, who will be moving from his post as secretary of the DBM. The appointment was confirmed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea at Malacañang. Diokno will be serving the remainder of BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla’s six-year-term. This appointment was given barely a week after Espenilla passed away.
We learned that Secretary Diokno bested BSP deputy governors Maria Almasara Cyd Tuaño-Amador, Diwa Guinigundo, and Chuchi Fonacier as well as monetary board member Peter Favila and bankers Nestor Tan of BDO Unibank, Antonio Moncupa of EastWest Bank, and Cezar Consing of the Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands. Honestly, I do not know if this is a plus factor for Diokno as this appointment means that he is no longer a member of the Duterte Cabinet. But the predecessor of Espenilla, former governor Amando Tetangco Jr. served the BSP for more than three decades, while Espenilla served for only 19 months as he battled with cancer for a year.
The BSP community and bankers were surprised by the announcement as they were expecting that another central bank insider would be appointed. Indeed for too long, the BSP has been run by bank insiders. I guess this is the first time in so many years that the BSP has been given to an outsider of the BSP.
Anyway, it just makes me wonder what will happen to that House panel led by appropriations committee chairman Rolando Andaya Jr. of Camarines Sur who is conducting an investigation against Secretary Diokno regarding purported anomalies in the DBM, including alleged corruption and conflict of interest involving Diokno’s in-laws in the Bicol region. Of course, Secretary Diokno has denied any wrongdoing, but he has refused to face the House inquiry again after his initial attendance. His Cabinet colleagues expressed support for his refusal to return to the House, and Andaya did not make good on his threat to have Diokno cited for contempt for repeatedly snubbing the chamber. So we will see what future there is for BSP Governor Diokno!
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It always elates me whenever our editorial takes up the issue about the environment. So allow me to reprint the first portion of that editorial entitled “Government infractions.” Here it is:
“Many have wondered why it took decades for the authorities to act on the many violations committed by a huge piggery in San Fernando town. If not for the complaints lodged by residents nearby, there’s no way government agencies would have discovered the firm’s serious environmental abuses. The Multi-farms Agro-Industrial Development Corp. reportedly agreed to undertake corrective measures, vowing to stop the practice of releasing wastewater into the sea. Santiago Tanchan III, its president, signed a commitment sheet during an Environmental Management Bureau-7 hearing on March 1.
“This comes after the Pollution Adjudication Board of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) slapped the farm with a fine of P14.5 million. This aside from the charges the National Bureau of Investigation filed against its owner and workers for violating the Philippine Clean Water Act and Philippine Fisheries Code.
“Well, the firm should be punished for its environmental infractions. Authorities should see to it that those responsible will be brought to court to answer the charges, especially on the violations of the Philippine Clean Water Act and Philippine Fisheries Code, among others. However, we also have to consider the lapses committed by concerned government agencies. It is highly questionable that the authorities didn’t know about the environmental abuses of a firm has been operating for decades.”
The question begging for an answer is who in the government allowed this piggery to operate sans any sewage system? They should be equally punished as the owners of the piggery!
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