You Have the Right to Criticize BENECO's Management and Board of Directors

When people criticize BENECO, the criticisms are towards the management and the board of directors. Nobody is trying to insult or discredit the linemen who are hard at work rain or shine, wind or no wind. The linemen's dedication to restoring power is highly appreciated. The linemen are not the problem. No one's questioning their hard work. 

Members and consumers have the right to criticize and question BENECO's management and board of directors. Their questions are valid:

1. What is BENECO doing to upgrade its systems and infrastructures?

2. Why is it that it's often the same feeders encountering the same problems over and over again? 

3. What are the long-term solutions being implemented by BENECO to address these recurring problems? 

Power interruptions exceeding 24-hours could mean losing clients or losing jobs for the thousands of members/consumers with work-from-home setups. Their frustrations aren't coming from an empty vacuum. No one's criticizing for the sake of criticizing. 

Better systems, better infrastructure, and preemptive policies mean less problems. And less risks to limbs and lives for the "warriors of light".

On the Use of AI to Anthropomorphize the Sierra Madre, Cordillera Central, and Caraballo Mountains

"𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘈𝘐-𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦."

That's a message from Katy, a meteorologist who is one of the admins of a weather update page here in the country. 

She's right. These types of AI-generated content should not be normalized.

Content about mountain ranges and their interactions with weather disturbances should be science-based. There are tons of photos, maps, and data-based infographics out there on the Sierra Madre, Cordillera Central, and Caraballo Mountains. Why not use these instead? 

There was a study done by two scientists (Gerry Bagtasa and Bernard Alan Racoma) on the Sierra Madre and how it interacts with typhoons. These are the types of content that should be highlighted and amplified because they explain things based on actual research and data.

Photo Exhibit and Signature Campaign Against "Mallification" of the Baguio City Public Market

A photo exhibit was held today at the Malcolm Square in Baguio City. Feauturing "palengke" photographs by Baguio City street photographers, the exhibit is part of the campaign to raise awareness and encourage people to get involved in rejecting the proposed redevelopment of the Baguio City Public Market through a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme with SM. 

Also held at the venue is a signature campaign against the mallification of the public market. The gathering of signatures started several days ago. 

Both photo exhibit and signature campaign will continue tomorrow, Thursday, from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM.

What's the Solution to Flash Flooding Problems in Cebu?

In the aftermath of flash floods in Cebu, dozens of scientists and experts have chimed in or have been interviewed and asked 𝗮𝗻𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗻 𝗴𝗮𝘄𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮 𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶 𝗺𝗮𝘂𝗹𝗶𝘁 𝘆𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘆𝗮𝘆𝗮𝗿𝗶. 

The most common answers from them are:

1. Plant trees. Reforestation should be implemented on barren hills and mountains. 

2. Stop destructive activities like logging, open mining, quarrying, etc.

3. Land-use planning and strict implementation of zoning regulations. 

They rarely mention flood-control projects like dikes as solutions. In fact, Mahar Lagmay, a geologist and a resilience expert from the UP Resilience Institute said that dikes are the last option. 

The Philippine government spends billions of pesos every year on dikes which scientists and experts say are not very effective and not sustainable solutions to flash floods and other disasters.

Etag Polvoron and Etag Biscuits/Cookies

𝙀𝙩𝙖𝙜 polvoron? 𝙀𝙩𝙖𝙜 cookies?  

These home-made snacks are being sold by the Mountain Province booth at the Cordillera Festival of Festivals Exhibit in Malcolm Square, Baguio City. 

Bought a few just to give them a taste. The 𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙜 biscuits taste just like regular biscuits. Or maybe it was just my taste buds.

But for the 𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙜 polvoron, you can actually taste the 𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙜 flavor. It has a unique smoky taste. It tastes good. Give it a try if you happen to pass by their booth in Malcolm Square. The exhibit will run until tomorrow only.

𝙇𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙩 𝙏𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙖𝙜: 𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙔𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙣𝙜 𝙉𝙪𝙚𝙫𝙖 𝙑𝙞𝙯𝙘𝙖𝙮𝙖.

This is the Nueva Vizcaya that most people don't see. I got this book in Kayapa about two years ago. It's a travel guidebook featuring the natural wonders of the province. These are the natural wonders that will be at stake if corporate mining is allowed to take root in the province. 

Mining companies have already entered the municipalities of Kasibu and Quezon. Now they're trying to enter Dupax del Norte. Actually, they have already entered Dupax and have started exploring there. They've already done some physical damage in the area. If you follow the pages and updates of residents there, you will see pictures and videos of the damage to the landscape.

These are just a few of the sites featured in the book. There are dozens more. Name of the book is 𝙇𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙩 𝙏𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙖𝙜: 𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙔𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙣𝙜 𝙉𝙪𝙚𝙫𝙖 𝙑𝙞𝙯𝙘𝙖𝙮𝙖.

"Ayaw niyo ma-improve ang ating merkado publiko?"

"Ayaw niyo ma-improve ang ating merkado publiko?" 

This is a very common question being thrown to those who are against the proposed partnership between SM and the city of Baguio in redeveloping the public market. 

The people who were at the Save the Baguio City Public Market solidarity event last Sunday at the public market made it very clear that they are for redevelopment. Everybody wants a better and improved market. What they are questioning is the method in achieving that goal. They are opposing the modality of the redevelopment. And that would be the proposed public-private partnership (PPP) between SM and the city. 

The public-private partnership (PPP) modality is not inherently bad when it comes to public projects. Local government units don't always have the capacity to pursue expensive projects on their own. So it makes sense that sometimes it's necessary to get help from the private sector. 

However, if you read the terms and details of the proposed partnership between SM and Baguio, there's a lot of red flags. From the time that SM submitted to the city their unsolicited proposal five (5) years ago to the city council deliberation last week, there's a lot of questions in need of honest and transparent answers. 

Everybody should at least watch the city council deliberation last week on the proposed project. The video is still on the city council's Facebook page. Watch it then read articles and reports about the proposal from the last four years. Then come up with your own opinion if the SM and Baguio proposed partnership is a good idea.

Everybody wants a better and improved public market. Nobody is opposing the redevelopment of the market. That's clear. 

If you read the history of the PPP proposal, you will learn that there are other options on how to redevelop the market. There are other modalities that the city can potentially pursue. These are options that don't include leasing out huge sections of the market to a corporation for half a century. However, these didn't seem to have been been explored and studied as deeply as the PPP modality.