Features

"I am a soldier who forgot how to retire."

Retired Major General Ramon E. Montaño of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Wednes-day met some retired members of the AFP, Philippine National Police, senior citizens and other veterans group in a dialogue to discuss the different issues affecting this sector.

Retired Major General Ramon E. Montaño (AFP) during his dialogue with veterans and senior citizens in Negros Occidental.*

"I have been a soldier all my life fighting criminals," he said during the interview with media practitioners and added that he will continue to fight for the rights of people in a different battle field where his voice will be heard and will have the power to implore major decisions that will affect the life of the sector which he belongs to.

By Robert Harland

As a chef, I really shouldn’t be singing the praises of a fast food, but the Sausage McMuffin with Egg is such a tasty bite I feel compelled to single it out as one of the better offerings you’ll find in any fast food joint.

I did ask McDonald’s PR people for some information about this product, but they declined to comment. Can’t think why.

I was first introduced to this delicious nibble in Hong Kong. Very sensibly, McDo in the former British Crown Colony offers it throughout the day whereas here in the Philippines (and in most countries around the world) it is only served at breakfast time.

By George M. De la Cruz

Negrense women, a mother or not, whether lactating or not, working or not working, have been encouraged to practice exclusive breast feeding strictly for six months for the baby to achieve total health or nutritional benefits of breast milk.

Exclusive breast feeding means no other feeding will be given orally to a baby from birth up to six months age of the baby including water, Alicia Matti, Negros Occidental provincial nutritionist said. Milk is 80 percent water, and no worries for the mother not to give water for her baby, she said. "It’s (milk) sufficient with water and is highly nutritional," she said. Aside from the fact that milk is economical, it is readily available and the baby is safe from diarrhea, allergy, and milk intolerance, she said.

By Robert Harland

My first bike ride was 57 years ago along Newtown Road in my home town of Southampton on England’s south coast. I can still recall the excitement I felt when I finally managed to stay upright for at least 100 yards.

Since then I’ve had many bikes and I have ridden thousands of miles. I still ride, though it’s a tad dangerous here with pot holes in the roads and so many drivers who simply don’t seem to notice us.

A lot of cyclists in Negros proudly display stickers in their car windows demanding that motorists ‘Share the road’. Unfortunately, many of the same cyclists are not prepared to play their part.

The sociological urban agglomeration that denigrated Imperial Manila into a monstrous freak must be resisted. The provinces can put up a fight by federalizing themselves, establishing order within its reaches, its local "surrounding" context so-called and defeat said suctioning freak.

A powerhouse of Isyu Subong Negrense young and creative minds (Left to Right) Adrian Bobe, host Gretchen Varela, Kat Valencia, executive producer Ashley Liza, station manager Tina Magbojos.* (Gil Severino photo)

Feeling the pound and pulse of Isyu Subong Negros, in a press conference last Saturday, and its subsequent linked to a P50 million powered transmitter up Kanlandog, hope to make the local context matter is in the offing. Extent of social impact is minimal at the moment, Isyu Subong reporter Adrian Bobe assessed but watching the format starting 5:45 P.M., Isyu Subong grapples with its immediate history and environment; presenting news analyses, problems and resolutions Negrenses can easily identify.

The ceremonial ribbon cutting led by the Team "Monico Kabuhi Ko" (MKK) Monico Puentevella and Key Premier Communities Development Corp., CEO Vladimir Gonzalez – inaugurated the Hi Residences Showroom last Saturday showcasing the former as the first of its kind in luxury and modern living right here in Bacolod City.

The ceremonial ribbon cutting led by the Team "Monico Kabuhi Ko" (MKK) Monico Puentevella and Hi Residences CEO Vladimir Gonzalez – inaugurated its Showroom last Saturday showcasing the former as the first of its kind in luxury and modern living right here in Bacolod City.* (Gil Severino photo)

Mischief filled the air when media immediately asked Gonzalez for some "specifics", the "name names" sort of thing, as mounting curiosity said in whispers now led to loud speculations. The Princess Soraya Jafaar-Golez reportedly had to fly in just to attend an inauguration of Hi-Residences Showroom?

Central Negros Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Ceneco) issued strong warning to all those filthily urinating closely beside their line posts as cover. A live 69 KV wire accidentally slashed by force of nature and swings to the urinating individual – probability of death by electrocution is extremely high.

Live transmission line insulator tools and equipment recently bought by Ceneco can resist more than 69 KV open-live transmission lines using one of its gloves alone. Observe the Ceneco lineman touching a live wire thus repair is done without experiencing brownouts.* (Gil Severino photo)

The basic physiology of a highly liquefied with dissolved ions human body makes it a very good conductor of electricity thus justifies the Ceneco warning. Although the human body is such a bad "split seconder" conductor, it touches the ground therefore electrical circuitry is completed but inside the body are "ventricular fibrillation and paralysis of the brain’s breathing center or of the heart."

So says award-winning British author John Foster in his new book Writing Skills for Public Relations, stressing that short sentences aid readability so use full stops as often as you can.

If you have to write in English in your work, this is an invaluable guide. Don’t be put off by the title- it’s not just for PR people. But if you are in PR - whether as a career or as a PIO in an organization like Rotary - this is definitely a book for you.

Around the world, there are millions of people learning English - it is the global language of business, politics, international relations, culture and entertainment. As a percentage of the world population, 7.2 per cent use English as their mother tongue, second only to Chinese. English is an official language in over 70 countries including the Philippines.

How tempting to quote the Good Old Book’s “A time to laugh and a time to cry” but watching Perf Lab’s Mytor Tipon’s intimate “Café Specials” last Friday was rather an intellectual experience as well. Thinking is naturally dampened when the cerebrum is clouded by certain sadness. Appetite could have been affected, too, since Mytor intended the play to be a dinner theater.

An enjoyable romantic, intimate, almost a community theater “Café Specials” at the Negros Museum’s “Museum Café” to suit dining appetites and soothe some weary hearts.

“Cafe Specials scene 1”, “Ma’am, we cater exclusively to those who will actually place orders...” says the waiter played by Gerhard Pagunsan to rampa queen played by Lisette Baldeviso.* (Gil Severino photo)

To suit and soothe, Director Banjo “Jun Abrera” Hinolan’s cues were a split second slower obviously to allow players’ intimacy and the diner’s pacing to munch the organic cuisine served by the Museum Café. The goal was a “complete dining experience” and the Perf Lab-Tipon-Hinolan collaboration oozed the audience with the predominance of laughter, uncompromised reflection on love, courtship, marriage and re-marriage at the same time giving spaces for audience to participate.

It was in his hometown Reims, France where Doctor of Theology St. Jean Baptiste de la Salle started charitable work by sacrificing wealth and possession. There was little realization that his sacrifices would soon bloomed into a world movement now aptly called "Union Mondial des Anciens Eleves Lasalliens" (UMAEL) or the World Union of la Sallian Former Students which is now headed by a Filipino La Sallian, Henry Atayde.

The Bacolod-based UMAEL who attended the talk of UMAEL President Henry Atayde last Thursday.* (contributed photo)

At that time back in 1679, de la Salle uttered a prayerful message among Brothers organized "by faith to bring salvation to the children of the poor", he said, "God, who guides all things with wisdom and serenity, whose way it is not to force the inclinations of persons, willed to commit me entirely to the development of the schools. He did this in an imperceptible way and over a long period of time so that one commitment led to another in a way that I did not foresee in the beginning of death."