By Gonzalo Duque

 

THEY should put more nuclear power plants not only in Labrador but all over the country, as many as where the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites are located. Kawawang Pilipinas!

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Happy New Year to Mayor Belen Fernandez, VM Bryan Kua and members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod.

I am looking forward to reconnecting directly to our people through the Podcast  that I suspended when my partner, Ermin Garcia Jr., publisher-editor of The Sunday Punch, passed away last July 23, 2025.

A lot of political issues are already affecting the Filipino people. One of the issues being discussed now is our economy. No less than businessman Sergio Luis-Ortiz, president of the Philippine Exporters Corporation (PhilExport) has been harping or showing his disgust over the management of our economy.

He says that foreign investors are shying away from our country because of the massive graft and corruption in our government under the BBM administration.

This is not good for the New Year or Circa 2026.

Then, suddenly, we are confronted with the situation where the detractors of Vice President Sara Duterte have maximized efforts to unseat her by filing all kinds of cases against her.

The charges against Sara are all repetitions of the impeachment case filed against her, which was thrown out by the Supreme Court.

Criminal cases like plunder, bribery, violation of the anti-graft and corrupt practice act, falsification of public documents and all other imagined imputations against the Vice President.

Just to keep the impeachment charges alive and kicking, they want Sara to disclose her bank accounts through the Ombudsman by requiring the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to trace the same.

But amidst all these hoopla and circus, former Senator Antonio Trillanes is putting the argument that if the Yellowtards, the Pinklawans and the Marcos Loyalists will not put up a unified ticket against Sara, we could see the resurgence of a Sara Duterte presidency.

The way things  are going, the advice of the former Senator is not far-fetched.

As of today, Sara is a shoo-in to become the next President of our country.

Happy New Year to all!

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I have been informed that the continuation of the construction of the new city hall is now in full swing. Said edifice is about to be finished in 2026, but it will still need additional budget to finally complete it.

To me, the completion of the new city hall is now long overdue.

We hope that before the 2028 local election, the blessing of the new city hall shall proceed.

There are lots of ghosts (i mean real ghosts) in the old city hall that need to be exorcised. This should be done so that the new city hall shall be free from all ghosts and evil spirits that had been haunting for many decades.

You see, I had a very bad experience in the old city hall when. I last visited it.

Another project that made the administration of Mayor Belen different from other past city administrations is that the garbage problem is now about to be finally resolved.

This particular problem had been going on for a long, long time.

Many mayors had attempted to solve this environmentally sickening problem, but one after the other, experienced a lot of failures.

I can not forget the time when many of the members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod went to the U.S., in the company of then Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr., to purchase an incinerator so that it can burn our garbage.

Millions of pesos in taxpayers’ money were lost when the said incinerator did not operate even for one day.

Then, during the administration of then Mayor Benjie Lim, they had an almost 30-hectare  Awai (San Jacinto) land purchased at P16 million to be converted into a sanitary landfill. But this was also not realized.

The resolution of this particular problem about garbage will now make Mayor  Belen Fernandez an accomplished leader of our city. Sayang, marami na sanang nagawa si Mayor Belen, if not for the sabotage perpetrated by her enemies.