YEAR-END REPORT; A Testy 2020

CHALLENGING. Momentous. Action-packed. No doubt the year 2020 is all of these, and more. As we prepare to welcome New Year 2021, let us look back at the events, institutions and people that shaped 2020 and made it historic. Undoubtedly, there are many. The staff of this paper endeavored to pick some of the more significant ones. What are yours? We truly hope and pray that we have learned valuable insights from 2020 and use them as we face yet another challenging year ahead.

COVID-19 PANDEMIC

No doubt this is the newsmaker of the year. It dominated headlines across the globe and spared no nook and cranny, Western Visayas included. It disrupted people’s lives. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. This new virus and disease were unknown before the outbreak began in Wuhan, China in December 2019. In Western Visayas as of Dec. 29, total cases reached 21,498 with 652 deaths. The first case of COVID-19 in the region – detected in March – was a 56-year-old male from Bacolod City who had a history of travel to the United Kingdom. The second case – also recorded in March – was a 65-year-old male from Guimbal, Iloilo who had exposure to relatives with a history of travel to Japan and Canada. From then on, cases kept rising. On March 16, President Rodrigo Duterte declared a nationwide state of calamity. A strict enhanced general community quarantine was then imposed. The wearing of facemask became mandatory. Physical distancing was ordered. As of Dec. 29, 2020 COVID-19 global cases reached 81,348,811 with deaths reaching 1,775,984. In the Philippines, as of Dec. 27, total confirmed cases reached 469,886 with the death toll at 9,109. The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness, and dry cough. Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea. These symptoms are usually mild and begin gradually. Some people become infected but don’t develop any symptoms and don’t feel unwell. Most people (about 80%) recover from the disease without needing special treatment. However, older people, and those with underlying medical problems like high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, are more likely to develop serious illness. The disease can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales.

ILOILO CITY and MAYOR JERRY TREÑAS

While the national government fumbled initially, seemingly clueless on what to do to address the pandemic, Iloilo City steered by Mayor Jerry Treñas became quite a sensation. Iloilo City was tagged “a country within a country”, the “Wakanda of the Philippines” (an allusion to the progressive fictional country featured in the Hollywood blockbuster movie “Black Panther”). Instead of waiting in agony for the COVID-19 testing kits from the government, the city government procured its own and harnessed donations from Ilonggo businessmen and private corporations. It helped put up Region 6’s first COVID laboratory, skipping the process of sending specimens to Manila for analysis. It established community kitchens to make sure no one dies from hunger as the pandemic shut down economic opportunities and displaced workers, especially the most vulnerable sectors such as the urban poor. Kitchen patrols were deployed to feed frontliners like healthcare workers, sanitation teams, emergency responders, policemen and soldiers. A dormitory for frontliners was set up, too. Ilonggo nurses, local fashion designers and some from the academe produced personal protective equipment (PPEs) for frontliners. If they can’t buy them, the hell, make them! Buses were deployed to make sure frontline healthcare workers were able to report to work.

FRONTLINERS

In tough times there are always those who step up, go above and beyond and do something that many would never think about doing. Frontliners, this is what many call them. In this COVID-19 pandemic they risk their lives to provide essential services – they are our doctors, nurses, medical technologists, emergency responders, policemen, soldiers, barangay health workers, tanods and officials, journalists, etc.

MISS UNIVERSE-PHILIPPINES RABIYA MATEO

This 23-year-old Ilongga stunner initially became the first Miss IloiloUniverse in a glitzy Miss Iloilo 2020 beauty pageant (Jan. 23, 2020) at the West Visayas State University Cultural Center in Iloilo City. Nine months after, in October, she was crowned Miss Universe-Philippines and earned the opportunity to represent the country in the Miss Universe competition sometime in 2021 – the first Ilonggo to be making such a feat in 55 years. Pageant-crazy Ilonggos packed the city’s streets during her victory parade on Nov. 13. “This is a promise to you…I will do everything to bring home the fifth Miss Universe crown,” a pumped up Mateo said, drawing cheers from the crowd.

BORACAY ISLAND

Another crisis hit this world-famous island in 2020 even if it has yet to fully recover from a six-month closure for a massive rehabilitation in 2018. The COVID-19 pandemic forced Boracay to shut down once again, in March, economically displacing thousands of workers, shutting down resorts, hotels and restaurants, markets and stores, even motorboat operators and their crewmen. The losses reached several billions of pesos. It was only in October, after seven months of closure, that Boracay gradually welcomed tourists back. But it remains guarded due to the pandemic. And tourist arrivals remain very low. Travelers below 21 and above 60 years old are now allowed to enter the island except for those with underlying medical conditions. A tourist planning to visit must also undergo reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test. Confirmed booking in accredited accommodation establishments, airplane tickets, and the negative test results should be submitted online, through http:// aklan.gov.ph, for the approval of the Aklan provincial government. Each visitor who is cleared to travel to the island will then be issued a unique personal QR (quick response) code for monitoring.

FORMER ANTIQUE GOVERNOR EXEQUIEL JAVIER

The Regional Trial Court (RTC) in San Jose, Antique found former governor Exequiel Javier guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violating the Omnibus Election Code and sentenced him to a maximum of three years of imprisonment. It also disqualified him from holding public office and barred him from exercising his right of suffrage. Judge Ernesto Abijay Jr. of RTC Branch 10 convicted Javier for violation of Section 261 (x) of the Omnibus Election Code. This provision prohibits the suspension of any elective official during the election period without the approval of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) or unless the suspension is related to graft and corruption. On Jan. 23, 2013 Javier suspended Mayor Mary Joyce Roquero of Valderrama, Antique for 30 days in relation to an administrative case filed by then Valderrama vice mayor Christopher Maguad. It was within the election period for the May 2013 elections which started on Jan. 13 and ended on June 12.

MORE POWER TAKES CONTROL

MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) took over the power distribution facilities of Panay Electric Co. (PECO) in February as new power distributor in Iloilo City. Armed with a Writ of Possession from the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 23 and supported by court sheriffs and a battalion of policemen to diffuse resistance, it was able to enter PECO power substations. Judge Emerald Requina-Contreras of RTC, Branch 23, in a ruling dated Feb. 20, 2020 ordered the court sheriff “to place MORE Power in possession” of PECO’s identified power distribution properties for expropriation. The Writ of Possession was served but not without some tension at PECO’s power substation on General Luna Street where its main building was also located. PECO administrative manager Marcelo Cacho refused to receive the writ. Court sheriffs thus just posted it on the building then declared that it was good as served.

WESTERN VISAYANS IN BAR EXAMS TOP 10

Two of the 10 top finishers in the 2019 bar examinations traced their roots to Western Visayas – No. 4 ranked Dawna Fya Bandiola of San Beda College-Alabang and No. 10 Bebelan Madera of the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City. Results were announced in April. For Bandiola, whose family is from Barangay Bagongbayan, Laua-an, Antique, finishing within the Top 10 was about right timing after flunking on her first attempt in 2018. “When I did not pass (in 2018), I told myself baka hindi ko pa time. Hindi pa will ni Lord na ibigay sa akin iyong pinagpi-pray ko,” Bandiola said. Madera, on the other hand, said she was delighted to be part of the Top 10 after having problems during the examination period as she was on medication for pneumonia, a toothache, and ear infection. “It [was] really God’s will that I passed the 2019 bar examination and even made it to 10th place,” said Babelan, who just graduated with her juris doctorate last year and was her class valedictorian.

BAYAN MUNA COORDINATOR SHOT TO DEATH

Activist and Bayan Muna party-list coordinator Jory Porquia was shot to death on April 30 at his coffee shop near the shore of the coastal barangay of Sto. Niño Norte in Arevalo, Iloilo City. The 50-year-old Porquia died of nine gunshot wounds. The killing was carried out around 5 a.m. Two armed men wearing bonnets to conceal their faces sprayed him with bullets. Porquia was busy preparing his coffee shop when attacked, according to Police Staff Sergeant Jessie Genterola Jr., investigator of the Arevalo police station. Policemen recovered from the crime scene spent bullet shells of a .9mm pistol and .22 revolver. In his youth a leader of the militant League of Filipino students, Porquia was a survivor of the martial law of then dictator Ferdinand Marcos. After Marcos was ousted in 1986 via the People Power Revolution, he served as OIC member of the National Youth Commission under President Corazon Aquino. He was one of the founders of Bayan Muna and active in the party-list’s engagement in developing good relations with local political leaders in Panay Island.

ANTIQUE’S 1ST COVID-19 CASE WAS IN SEMIRARA ISLAND

A resident of Parañaque City, Metro Manila became the first confirmed case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the province of Antique. The patient, a 74-year-old male, worked with the Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) in Semirara Island in the island municipality of Caluya, Antique. SMPC operates a coal mine in Semirara Island. The man, diabetic and asthmatic, was taken to a hospital. The patient arrived in Semirara Island by private plane on March 9. After experiencing fever and shortness/difficulty of breathing on March 19, the man had himself checked at the Semirara Mining and Power Corp. Hospital.

TWIN DAYLIGHT MURDERS DOWN CALL CENTER AGENT AND SOLON’S SON

Two men were shot to death just minutes apart in the districts of Jaro and La Paz past noon on Jan. 19. The first shooting took place in Barangay Cuartero, Jaro a little past noon while the one in La Paz happened in Barangay Nabitasan at around 12:30 p.m. The victim in the Jaro shooting was 42-year-old call center agent and drug surrenderer Alain Muller of Barangay Cuartero while the victim in the La Paz shooting was 37-year-old businessman Delfin Britanico, son of former congressman Salvador “Buddy” Britanico. Muller was peppered with bullets outside his house by two masked men who alighted from a silver-painted car at around 12:05 p.m. while a motorcycledriving Britanico was attacked by gunmen at around 12:30 p.m. Ballistics examination on the slugs recovered from the two crime scenes showed that the same pistols – .9mm and .45 – were used on Muller and Britanico. After four months of probe, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) charged two policemen and two other unidentified suspects with murder and theft.

HOME CLASSES FOR 2M WV LEARNERS

Public school classes from kindergarten to senior high school resumed on Oct. 5 but there was no traditional face-to-face learning in schools. Learning is taking place mainly in homes due to the coronavirus disease pandemic. In Western Visayas, 1,910,611 learners enrolled for school year 2020- 20201 and chose either self-learning modules or online classes as modes of learning offered by the Department of Education. Traditional face-to-face learning – where the students and the teacher are both physically present in the classroom, and there are opportunities for active engagement, immediate feedback, and socio-emotional development of learners – will only resume when the pandemic is over. There are 4,572 public schools in the region – 3,402 elementary, 677 junior high and 493 senior high. Meanwhile, there are 1,496 private schools – 974 elementary, 322 junior high and 200 senior high.

BARGE EXPLOSION TRIGGERS OIL SPILL

An explosion at a power barge in the waters off Barangay Bo. Obrero in La Paz, Iloilo City in July resulted to an oil spill. What exploded was a fuel tank energizing the power barge of the National Power Corp. The tank had a capacity of over 300,000 liters bunker fuel. Initial estimate of the volume of bunker fuel that spilled into the water was around 48,000 liters covering an area of some 1,200 square meters. The oil spill followed the explosion. There were initial reports that the explosion happened while a portion of the barge’s hull was being welded. Harsh fumes from the bunker fuel drove 105 families or 378 persons away from their houses, according to the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO). AC Energy vowed to cooperate with the coastguard and other government units and agencies to ensure the oil spill cleanup, and to address the needs of the affected communities.

JEFFREY CELIZ

This spokesperson of then Iloilo City mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog disappeared when the city’s chief executive left the metro in 2017 after being linked to illegal drugs by President Rodrigo Duterte a year earlier. In October this year, Celiz surfaced and confirmed his being part of the national government’s campaign to dismantle the communist insurgency. Celiz, who admitted to having been a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), said he is now a government consultant for peace and security – his way of atoning for the years he spent unground trying to topple the government. “Redemption ko ini sa madamo nga kabataan nga ginguba ko ang future kay gin-recruit namon (to the CPP-NPA),” Celiz said. He also claimed to be a part of a covert government operation to dismantle drug syndicates in Western Visayas. Thus the important question: Did Celiz have something to do with Mabilog’s inclusion in the narco-list of President Duterte?

LIEUTENANT COLONEL JOVIE ESPENIDO

Bacolod City is “shabulized”, according to Lieutenant Colonel Jovie Espenido, then the deputy director for operations of the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO). “Panay ang huli ng pulis…Marami palang drugs,” said Espenido at the beginning of the year. “Mabenta daw dito…very easy magbili ng drugs. Tingnan natin kung hanggang kalian.” He urged leaders and members of various drug groups to stop their illegal activities, present themselves at the BCPO and help the city police make Bacolod drug-free. He mentioned the Tolentino, Ramos, Cuadra, and Camaria groups but these mostly operate in Negros Occidental. Some two weeks after his pronouncement, however, Espenido was sacked. It turned out that he was listed among 357 policemen in President Duterte’s drug watch list. Indignant, he then accused unnamed “influential politicians” of scheming to include his name in the government’s list of policemen with alleged links to illegal drugs. “Why are you resorting to character assassination? Nagpapakita lang ba na kayo ay guilty?” Espenido asked.

DINAGYANG 360 DEGREES

Iloilo City’s world-famous festival broke new grounds in January. From a simple religious event, Dinagyang Festival evolved into a flamboyant, colorful and jovial religious and cultural celebration and this year’s edition was its best to date, according to Mayor Jerry Treñas whose gamble to partner with a new festival organizer paid off big time. The Iloilo Festivals Foundation, Inc. (IFFI) introduced innovations that made Dinagyang 2020 more participative and experiential such as the “Dagyang sa Calle Real” that brought back the festival’s merrymaking vibe popular in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and the “Dinagyang 360°” that made the performances of participating tribes appreciable from all angles. These and more novelties were instituted, because “of our desire to bring Iloilo to the next level,” Treñas told guests that included President Rodrigo Duterte’s long-time partner, Cielito “Honeylet” Avanceña. The 2020 champion is Tribu Paghidaet of La Paz National High School. It bested seven other contingents to take home a cool P1 million cash prize. It also bagged six minor awards – Best in Performance, Best in Choreography, Best in Music, People’s Choice Award (Social Media), Best in Production Design, and Best in Discipline.

EX-ILOILO SOLON AUGUSTO SYJUCO

Former Iloilo 2nd District congressman Augusto “Boboy” Syjuco passed away. He was 77. Also a former director general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority during the administration of then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Syjuco died on Jan. 10, 2020 in Singapore. Syjuco had been seeking treatment for Advanced Myelodysplastic Syndrome, a disease of the blood, in Singapore since 2019. He was cremated after he died. The former congressman served the 2nd District of Iloilo for two consecutive terms (1998 to 2001 and 2001 to 2004) before he was succeeded by his wife, Judy. In March last year, Syjuco, charged by the Office of the Ombudsman with graft before the Sandiganbayan’s 2nd Division, offered to plead guilty for a lesser offense to avoid imprisonment. He cited his “frail health” that could, at any given time, lead to leukemia. The motion stated he was “slowly dying.”

‘SUICIDE DEADIER THAN COVID-19’

Suicide has claimed more lives than the coronavirus disease in the first half of the year in Iloilo province. Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. was alarmed. “Seryoso ini. The community quarantine may be an added circumstance that further weighed down some individuals, particularly our youth,” he said. The Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) recorded 28 suicide cases from Jan. 1 to June 17. At three cases each, Cabatuan and Passi City had the most incidents among the 43 local government units in the province. On the other hand, data from the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 showed Iloilo province with five deaths from 34 COVID-19 cases as of yesterday. “The figures are alarming. Last year by the month of November there were already over 70 suicide cases. We’re only half way through 2020 but we already have 28 cases,” said Defensor. The COVID-19 pandemic and the concomitant quarantine restrictions on the movement of people may have further burdened the suicide victims, the governor theorized.

‘MANYAKS OF UPV’ A Twitter account alleging predatory sexual behavior of some male students and fraternity members at the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) campus in Miag-ao, Iloilo prompted the school to launch an investigation. The Twitter account “Manyaks of UPV” posted what has now become viral screenshots of a group chat whose members appeared to have shared nude photos of young women, allegedly including their exes and friends, and made sexually objectifying comments. These triggered emotional submissions from mostly female UPV students and alumni claiming they were harassed or even raped by school friends or classmates, and they dropped names. “The UP Visayas administration strongly condemns the boorish and discreditable behavior of some of our constituents involved in the latest misconduct in social media. We deplore all acts that demean or put to shame women and members of the LGBTQIA+,” read part of the UPV Office of the Chancellor’s statement. The university is now investigating the matter “and will leave no stone unturned to ensure that appropriate sanctions will be imposed upon those responsible for this offense that has tarnished its reputation and disregarded the code of conduct that it has endeavored to live by,” it added.

TRAGEDY AT SEA

Families of Western Visayan seafarers working in a China-bound cargo ship that sank in the stormy waters of Japan on Sept. 2, 2020 remain hopeful they would be found alive. The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration said 10 of the Panamanian-flagged vessel Gulf Livestock 1’s 39 Filipino crewmembers were from Region 6. The others were New Zealanders (two), Australian (one) and Singaporean (one). Of these 10 Western Visayan seamen, eight were from Iloilo province, one from Iloilo City and one from Bacolod City. Their 11,947-ton freighter – loaded with nearly 6,000 live cattle – left the port of Napier in New Zealand on Aug. 14 for the port of Tangshan in China. The journey was expected to take about 17 days but the ship encountered a typhoon.

PANDEMIC DRIVES SEX WORKERS AWAY Sex sells. But not quite these past few months. With nightclubs closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), there has been a dearth of customers for commercial sex workers, according to the Iloilo City government’s Task Force on Morals and Values Formation. Suffering a heavy economic beating from the pandemic, prostituted women and men – mostly non-residents of Iloilo – have left, said task force chief Nestor Canong. “Nakahingagaw sila puli sa Manila, Mindanao, Roxas City, Bacolod City, and Cebu,” he told Panay News. But it may not be just about the lack of customers paying for sex. Workers in the flesh trade were suddenly faced an awful choice between livelihood and health. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can spread from person to person in close contact through small droplets from the nose or mouth, and it can be fatal to the immunocompromised. The task force has been discreetly monitoring the movements of commercial sex workers – a sector of the workforce that remains all but invisible to society – since the start of the community quarantine in March. The closure of beerhouses, nightclubs and even massage parlors drove some commercial sex workers to ply their trade on the streets at night. “But there are not too many freelance sex workers here, and the curfew is further restricting their kind of job,” said Canong, without giving figures.

(To be continued)