Pride of Ilonggos
New World Boxing Council (WBC) international minimum weight champion Denver Cuello of Brgy. Tuy-an, Cabatuan, Iloilo reportedly arrived to his hometown yesterday. He was welcomed by no less than Mayor Ramon Yee of Cabatuan and provincial officials led by Gov. Niel Tupas Sr. Indeed, Denver is a pride of the Ilonggos. From being a mere “konduktor” of jeepneys plying the Cabatuan-Iloilo City route Denver has created a name in the world of boxing after he successfully defeated his Japanese oponent last Sunday in Manila. As a sidelight, a local television station reportedly tried to interview Denver after his arrival but the boxer's family allegedly declined. The reason? the same station interviewed Denver several months ago but the interview was never aired. The family eventually opted to have the interview with the competing station.
Ghost barangays
Iloilo City has 180 barangays but mind you several barangays, especially in the city proper, have no more than ten residents. However, despite that situation said barangays still have sitting barangay officials receiving their honoraria from the government. We are, thus, wondering why the City Council dare not touch on this issue. This is unfair. We hope the Department of Interior and Local Government could do something about this.
Limited streetlights
In a bid to cut on electric bills, the city government has shortened the number of hours in which the streetlights are on. It was observed the past few weeks that streetlights, including those in downtown Iloilo City, begin to be lighted around 7 p.m. and shut down by 4 a.m. the following day. Aside from creating bad image for the city, such move could also affect those people who rise up as early as 4 a.m. to go to the markets. Bad elements of society could take advantage of the darkness to prey on these people. We hope the city government should reconsider this move. There are other ways in which the city could cut its electric consumption like putting a stop to the rampant tapping of electricity on city's electrical connections by no less than barangay officials.