Take things in stride, Benjie Boy!

By Gonzalo Duque

TO BEGIN with, I have been writing about the Bangus Festival for the past months or so. It’s sad that I have not even attended one such activity despite my urge to do so.

Not lack of interest really, but it just happened that each time, I had previous commitments. It’s difficult to budget our time if there are many commitments.

I noticed that some of our friends and colleagues feasted on the sea festival in the last issue of the paper. I am reserving final comment because I need to study more the issues raised by our friends that paint our marine wealth negatively. It’s just too bad that the sad look of our rivers flew all over the face of Mayor Benjie Lim at a time when he needed total and unqualified support.

Well, mayor, it’s part of the territory. May I advise my cumpadre Benjie to just take things in stride, because he is in public service, and he should expect more such stuff anytime. He should not fly off the handle if he means to stay in the public hire for as long as he wants.

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 I am happy to learn from the Sunday Punch family that this informative and hard hitting newspaper you are reading again won the highest award in editorial and opinion writing nationwide.

I am elated because I am a part of this super page. You will notice that we have a balanced journalism in the PUNCH. We have a pro-JDV, a pro-Ping, an anti-Glo, pro Gloria, oh, we have diverse opinions in this page, which makes us exciting and interesting to read. If you read the internet, we get all kinds of brickbats and also praise, but it’s okay, it’s part of the game.

With humility, I was informed by Kuya Gerry that the paper began winning awards when I joined it as a columnist. Maybe it’s a coincidence, no? But someone says winning editorial awards has been in a PUNCH tradition long before I was born. Ay?

Totoo ba ito, Kuya Gerry? Anyway, congratulations!

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Someone asked me why I am on the warpath against the CHED and the PRC. My answer is because I, and our university, have been a victim of injustice. Our educational system has been plagued by incompetence and grandstanding by CHED and PRC officials.

I must say this. No matter how rough and bumpy the road we won’t stop to introduce reforms in the educational system.

I am happy to report that CHED Chair Carlito Puno saw the wisdom of our cause.

Chairman Puno wrote me last week to say that all public hearings on the revision of the curriculum on nursing education  have been held in abeyance especially the  technical   committee’s recommendation that the nursing course be extended to five years.

When I told Chairman Puno that a certain Catherine Castañeda, director for programs and standards, has been making unauthorized statements, she was immediately taken out of her office and reassigned somewhere where she couldn’t do damage to the institution. This is the same girl who made announcements regarding phase-out of some courses without any authority to do so.

We have filed a libel complaint against the lady to protect our interest and teach her some lesson or two in handling very serious responsibility. Why has she been assigned there in the first place? She has caused us and other similarly situated schools grave damage. Bahala na ang korte sa kanya.

With Puno’s laudable action, CHED can still be saved. How about PRC? Let’s see about this.

But your humble representation will cause them sleepless nights if they don’t make up. I told Chairman about this, and he nodded his head in approval. Cheers!

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