Thanks to Zoom technology, I am able to interview people for my talk show Straight from the Sky who are not here in Cebu. I first started a few weeks ago to interview my good friend, Consul Bobby Joseph, followed by Bohol Governor Arthur Yap, and last week, I was able to interview Siquijor Governor Zaldy Villa to find out why they had no COVID-19 issues.
For tonight’s special presentation, we have the honor to interview Manila Mayor Isko Moreno. Actually in November 2018, I had a dinner with then mayoralty candidate Isko Moreno hosted by columnist Deedee Siytangco who asked me to support Isko, which I did because I found him to be humble, frank, and someone who grew with the poor people of Manila. He told me that he was in fact a pure Bisaya, since his father came from Antique and his mother was from Samar. This is Karay-ah and Waray combined. But like many Bisayas, he was born in Tondo, Manila, and still lives there.
Call me lucky that Isko Moreno won as Manila mayor and in just a year in office, he has cleaned up the ugly and filthy streets of Manila. I was planning to visit Manila this year but COVID-19 prevented me to visit. Anyway, Isko Moreno is now more popular than he ever dreamed of becoming, so I thought he might have no time to Zoom with me. But clearly the humility of Isko Moreno has not changed the man as you can see in this special interview.
So please watch special presentation with Manila Mayor Isko Moreno tonight on SkyCable’s channel 53 at 8 p.m. with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel. We also have replays on MyTV’s channel 30 at 9 p.m. Monday and at 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday.
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Last Saturday afternoon, the song Kinsa Pa Man Diay? was launched. It is a Cebuano song that calls for unity and solidarity among Cebuanos in riding out the health and economic crisis brought about by COVID-19 and for Cebu to rise back to progress. It was composed, written, and co-produced by Jude Gitamondoc and created by the Cebu Citizens Initiative that has been for a month now campaigning for unity and solidarity among Cebuanos to ride out as a community the health and economic crisis brought by the pandemic.
This started from a pooled broadcast last July 4, where they came up with various digital flyers, video materials, and posters in the barangays with organizations involved.
The song was officially launched last Saturday and released with its music video last August 1 through a Zoom conference that I joined. Cebu member stations of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas will start playing the song occasionally over the airwaves and we will be showing it as a special presentation over MyTV channel 30 in Cebu.
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The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) placed Cebu City back under General Community Quarantine last August 1 with Mayor Edgardo Labella’s urging residents to unite and be more vigilant. When Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte made this announcement he took a swipe at us Cebuanos for being stubborn saying, “Kamo mga taga Cebu nasuko pa sa ako, nganong gisaway ta mo… ngano di mo sawayon nako nga during the critical period, kit-an na ko ang Cebu, freewheeling, murag walay COVID. Inom pa, nagsugal.”
When Cebu was placed under GCQ in early June, the number of cases spiked, particularly in Cebu City, which prompted the IATF to put the city back under ECQ status on June 16.
After the situation improved during stricter quarantine, the IATF decided the city could return to GCQ starting August 1, upon the recommendation of Secretary Roy Cimatu, its overseer in Cebu.