ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR III
I start talking about corruption – its direct correlation with poverty,” he told the PNP. “When I start doing that, they all start looking at their cell phones.”
Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong was featured on the news last week for the right reasons, but even though it was a just and appropriate story, it put everyone in an awkward position.
You see, Mayor Benjie discussed corruption as well as good government. He said friends have cautioned him that he is going to step on many toes and it’s better to just keep silent. Ina column , written by Philstar Ana Marie Pamintuan , Mayor Magalong said;
“I don’t think that’s the right attitude,” he said. “We have to do what is right even if it’s unpopular… it’s about time that people should now demand good governance from their political leaders. It will be difficult, there will be a lot of challenges along the way. It will become a journey. Sa akin lang, maumpisahan ko. I may not be able to finish it during my term and during my lifetime, but one way or the other we have started it and hopefully the younger generations will be able to continue and sustain it.”
The Chiefs TV Program interviewed and wanted Magalong to expound on a speech he made last July 3 before the Philippine National Police (PNP) at Camp Crame. The speech addressed proposals to make the military and other uniformed personnel contribute to their pensions to prevent what the economic team leader says is a looming “fiscal collapse.”
While Magalong, a retired PNP general and pensioner, says he is open to the proposal, he said government officials including lawmakers should also do their part in promoting fiscal prudence.
Magalong digressed from his prepared speech and recalled that in several of his recent speeches before mayors and vice governors, the audience listened enthusiastically when he discussed how technology could enhance governance.
“And then I start talking about good governance. I start talking about traditional politics. I start talking about corruption – its direct correlation with poverty,” he told the PNP. “When I start doing that, they all start looking at their cell phones.”
The Speech of Mayor Benjie Magalong created a stir and pointed out the naked reality that people refused to call out as downright obscene.
The unpalatable truth that most of our public leaders carry something that is tucked away in their stomachs, knowing that they are corrupt. And who can blame them—not the people who persistently solicit assistance from and receive endorsement from purported public servants, the public who receives substantial bribes during and in every election.
Magalong is a voice in the wilderness, but it is a voice that must be heard. Even if we have a detached attitude toward all of this, we are conscious of how this nonchalance will ultimately harm us. Our apathy and indifference will be the cause of the impending catastrophe.
Mayor Magalong may cut a strange figure since he is swimming against a powerful stream that is rushing in the opposite way, but his bravery and forward motion are exactly what we need in a time when corruption and the evil it has bred are the norm.
ACEN Corp. invests P677-M for I.N. wind project
An energy company subsidiary of the Ayala Group called ACEN Corp. has poured in fund additional fund for the construction of its wind project in Ilocos Norte.
The ACEN fresh investment “will subscribe to 3.61 million redeemable preferred D shares, 2.97 million redeemable preferred E shares of Bayog Wind Power Corp. (BWPC) at P100 per share for a total amount of P677.36 million.” As reported, the subscribed amount would be used by BWPC for its on-going construction of the 160-megawatt (MW) Pagudpud wind project located in its Barangays Balaoi and Cauayan. The Pagudpud wind project had an initial cost of P11.4 million, started in May 2021
ACEN aims to meet the company’s generation portfolio to be 100 percent renewable energy powered by 2025. The Ayala Group subsidiary has earmarked P50 to P70 billion expenditures in 2023 to enhance its planned renewable energy transition. Also, it aims to be the “largest listed renewable platform in Southeast Asia, with a goal of reaching 20 gigawatts o renewables capacity by 2030.”
MY COMMENT:
News about tapping the renewable energy sources of the Philippines, I believe is key to the country’s quest for energy security. ACEN’s efforts to transition to renewable energy sufficiency is worth of emulation. Likewise, are the other domestically- and foreign-funded on-going R E ventures. Indeed, next matter I wished addressed is food security, especially availability of rice in the market produced by Filipino farmers. I despise the ‘knee-jerk’ solution to offset rice supply shortage by resorting to importation.
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