Think about it
Cris Ilustre, 74
By Jun Velasco
AN old hand in Pangasinan media, Cris Ilustre, 74, succumbed to a lingering illness last Wednesday.
Although blind for more than 20 years, Cris was able to do what was reserved for a normal person had — manager (an excellent manager at that!) of a broadcast station, Century Broadcasting Corp., in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, regular writer of Bannawag and other media/communications projects. Many are surprised how he has worked so well with his condition.
He was one guy who fought hard against the onslaughts of ill-health, delaying by probably five years his “giving up of the light” because of his faith in God and in himself.
He was moved beyond poetry by the Dylan Thomas line, “rage, rage against the dying of the light…”
In his final moments, Cris clung hard on man’s power to stay on, pleading to the Lord to allow him to rage on, and for a while, he was on his way to miraculous success, as he revealed to this writer a plan to start a small store near his home in Barangay Bonuan Boquig.
A week, or two weeks later, his wife, Clarita, —who was her constant guide, called up to say, “wala na si Cris, Jun” and burst into tears, leaving us speechless.
The Pangasinan Association of Columnists and Editors (PACE) of which he was a respected member is coordinating with the Ilocos media headed by Ben Pacis of PIA and the Ilustre family— in connection with his interment on Saturday, April 5.
He was survived by wife Clarita, children, Armand, Crisostomo II, Clarissa, Edwin, Ericson and several grandkids, brothers and sisters.
So long, Cris—Kumusta larad man ed biec taew.
May you rest in peace!
* * * *
That the Malaysian Air line tragedy that killed 239 innocent passengers could happen just like that validates Albert Camus’ world of the absurd!
The bizarre incident is too much for common sense. The world’s airline industry should now come up with a measure, a sort of safety net, that would prevent a similar occurrence in the future.
We can’t blame the families of the Chinese victims to demand the return
The tragedy was without comparison. Our mind, faced with such a void, can only resort to prayer and ask God for understanding.
* * * *
Flash! Our friend Mason Rey Banez, beloved hubby of Cora Banez, reports that at the Mason’s installation rites Thursday, Colonel Rayland Malinab came to represent PNP Director General Alan La Madrid Purisima who had to stay in Manila for the Bangsamoro signing.
Other guests who made it to the Lingayen lodge were former Rep. Mark Cojuangco and Mayor Josefina V. Castañeda.
* * * *
Our friends from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines like Political Science prof Pepe de Vera of Bani, Pangasinan are up in arms against their president, Dr. Emanuel de Guzman, who allegedly faked his way to the presidency. They are outraged how he was appointed to a high post in the government.
The controversy is now rocking the PUP campus and the whole Philippine academe.
At a recent interview at Net 25 (Diskarte ng Bayan), PUP professors Dr. Orlando Molina and Prof. Ferdinand Bondame claimed the Transcript of Record of PUP president Emanuel de Guzman was full of discrepancies or allegedly doctored and wondered how he qualified for the prestigious position of president of the country’s biggest state university (65,000 student population).
Invoking “our sacred duty to protect the dignity and honor of PUP graduates who have struggled and worked hard to finish their college courses,” Molina and Bondame denounced in no uncertain terms how De Guzman was allowed to graduate with allegedly fake Transcript of Records and enjoyed his designation by no less than President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, as PUP president.
Molina says “under the circumstances, Bondame and I are risking life and limb for taking up the cudgels for the legitimately enrolled and graduated PUP students who are committed to acquiring decent and honest education and exposing the fraud that attended the PUP presidency.
In his March 10 column “Die Hard III” in the Tribune, Herman Tiu Laurel wrote that PUP president Emanuel de Guzman used “the most probably fraudulent Transcript of Records, with 15 subjects dropped, 7 subjects rated 5.0, 12 subjects with no credits and 4 subjects with incomplete grades.”
Columnist Herman Tiu Laurel wrote:
“In the case of the questioned credentials of the PUP president appointed by BS Aquino, all the physical evidence, such as the likely fake transcript of records, seem incontrovertible. Dr. Orly Molina, professor from the PUP doctorate program, has brought the documentary evidence against him to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), which Chairman Patricia Licuanan has just apparently sat on.
The political patron of De Guzman turns out to be Speaker Sonny Belmonte, who seems to ride roughshod over our education authorities.
Members of the PUP faculty have, at least, raised these to the courts, even though that may not be enough. As I have told the PUP professors who appeared on my GNN public affairs program, they may have to stage pickets and rallies to call attention to the shameful fraud in the executive office of that university.”
De Guzman’s spurious records are full of outright fabrications the raise questions how heads of state universities are ever appointed or designated b highly placed government officials.
The Nagkakaisang mga Guro, Empleyado at Estudante Laban sa Korapsyon sa Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) asked the Ombudsman to investigate “the inconsistencies, discrepancies and irregularities in the Transcript of Records for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Sociology at PUP and the Diploma at PUP of current president Emanuel de Guzman.”
Government authorities should act on this, pronto!
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