Editorial 6/20/16 (Philippines, Cebu, China, tourism, capital punishment, business, Muslim, Senate)

Philippine Star "Who needs capital punishment?"

There’s no need to restore capital punishment. Since May 10 when the outcome of the presidential race became known, police have gunned down 42 crime suspects all over the country, with eight killed just over the weekend. Not even during martial law has the country ever experienced such a state-sponsored killing spree targeting individuals suspected of criminal activities, mostly peddling illegal drugs. The word “suspect” must be emphasized, as everyone in a free society is supposed to be entitled to due process. Before capital punishment was abolished, it could be imposed for opium trafficking, dealing drugs within 100 meters of any school, or if the drugs caused death. A life term or death was also possible for diplomats who engaged in drug smuggling, illegal drug manufacturers and financiers, those who employed minors and the mentally impaired or sold drugs to them, maintainers of drug dens, and those who unlawfully issued prescriptions for dangerous drugs. [full text]

Sun.Star Cebu "Balancing challenges"

FINDING the middle ground will be a challenge for stakeholders of canyoneering, emerging as a popular but also a controversial ecotourism area in the southwestern towns of Badian and Alegria. The suspension of the Kanlaob River trek adventure package from June 1 to August 1 has demarcated clashing interests, reported Elisha Judy P. Tabaque, a University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu intern in Sun.Star Cebu on June 19.
Unprepared about the canyoneering timeout, about 400 persons are worried about the loss of income. Sun.Star Cebu reported that canyoneering attracts approximately 300 tourists a day, each one paying about P1,200.
Earning from this latest ecotourism attraction are about 30 operators, 300 guides, 50 drivers of “habal-habal (motorcycle outfitted for commuting in the uplands),” and about 20 vendors. [full text]

Mindanao Times "ROUGH CUTS|Why no more Moro in the Senate"

Last Saturday when we were encoding the opening prayer delivered by the late Sen. Mamintal Tamano during the first regular session day of the Senate in 1990, we could not help but ask: “When was the last time we had a Moro member of the Senate?”. Yes, when was the last time we did have a Moro senator; did we have one after Tamano? Yes we did have, and it was Tausog Senator Santanina Rasul. After her, the daughter Amina Rasul Bernardo ran but did not make it. In other words, it was Nina Rasul who was the last of only very few Moro people who made it to the Senate since 1935. Why is this so? Do we not have a sizeable Moro population in the country? If the Moro electorate, as well as Mindanaoans, will rally behind a Moro candidate for senator we are certain a popular Moro candidate for the Senate can make it. [full text]

Manila Times "A reminder to those wishing we were like China"

MANY in our country, and many all over the world fed up with their countries’ economic laggardness, are wishing we were like China. This wish seems to be gaining strength now that hopes for change in our society has grown with the start of the Rody Duterte presidency 11 days from today.
China is ruled and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. But the wish to be like China in most minds does not include the thought of being under Communist rule. The Filipinos just envy China for its being wealthier and more well-organized than the Philippines—and its people being less mired in dirt-poor poverty. These Filipinos don’t have notions of how they might have to surrender many of their basic human rights. They feel that China is no longer the China where everybody had to drill and recite patriotic and moralistic slogans as in the days of Chairman Mao Zedong. They have an exaggerated idea that Chinese people now watch the same American movies and TV shows and indulge in the same pursuit of happiness and fun that Filipinos do. [full text]

Inquirer "When rivals cooperate"

IN THE local corporate scene, few business leaders can match the rivalry—and sometimes, outright antagonism—between tycoons Ramon S. Ang and Manuel V. Pangilinan. In their respective efforts to expand the country’s biggest conglomerate (San Miguel Corp.) and the country’s largest telecommunications empire (the PLDT Group), the two gentlemen have been tenacious competitors over the last decade. This rivalry became even more pronounced in the last six years, when the Aquino administration unveiled the landmark public-private partnership (PPP) program, which was marketed to the private sector as a corporate gold rush: Companies that would sink in billion-peso investments in infrastructure projects would be rewarded with handsome financial returns. And plunge into this PPP scheme the two conglomerates did. But their infrastructure projects have suffered frustrating bureaucratic and policy delays at the hands of the outgoing administration. After six years, they appear to have ended up with a mixed bag of results that left many wondering whether it was worth all the effort to outdo each other. [full page]