WHEN I bought my Honda XRM-125 last year, I was told that it would be a hot item for carjackers on the road. I did not feel fear then. With the ubiquity of motorcycles on the road, I did not think I would get noticed by these bad elements. When the news broke last week, however, I started to fear for my own life.

Photo Courtesy of Rencalago.com

Last week, a habal-habal (motrcycle-for-hire) driver from my hometown was reportedly killed by an unidentified man, who also stole the driver’s vehicle. When I heard about it, it was already the third case of the same crime that took place in a span of just one week. The crime was carried out in the outskirts of my hometown.

JUST BEFORE her term ends, outgoing Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes of South Cotabato finally signed the controversial Environment Code whose provisions include the prohibition of open pit mining in the province.

A bold move, the ordinance passed by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan is the first local government initiative in the country to ban open pit mining, a method of mineral extraction that the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, a national law, allows.

Image from bworld.com

The Environment Code directly affects the operation of the Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI), which is set to extract copper and gold in the municipality of Tampakan, South Cotabato.

CONGRESSMAN EMMANUEL Pacquiao has been sworn into office as Representative of the Lone District of Sarangani to the Congress this morning at the Provincial Capitol Park, Alabel, Sarangani Province during the Inauguration Program officiated by Associate Justice Antonio Carpio.

According to reports Pacquiao personally requested Judge Jaime Y. Infante to be the inducting officer, so the latter assisted Justice Carpio during Pacquiao’s oath taking.

Gov. Miguel Rene Dominguez also took his oath for his last term as the province’s governor.

In his speech, he highlighted how Sarangani has improved from being the fourth poorest province in 2004 to being the 14th after his two terms as governor.

NO LESS than a World Boxing Champion is representing the province of Sarangani in the Lower House when the next session begins.

With a wide margin of over 11, 000 votes and getting the trust of about two-thirds of the voting population, Emmanuel “Manny/Pacman” Pacquiao knocked out the champion of a 17-year dynasty, Roy Chiongbian.

It took the COMELEC three days after the election before finally proclaiming the new set of provincial government officials due to delays in the transmission of election returns.

VICTORIOUS: (From L-R) Gov. Migz Dominguez, Cong. Manny Pacquaio, Election Officer Atty. Michael Abas, and V-Gov. Steve Solon

THE PEOPLE have spoken.

Following are the Final Official Results of the Local Election in Alabel, Sarangani Province:

Mayor

Re-electionist Corazon Grafilo of People’s Champ Movement won by a margin of 831 votes. It had been a close fight with Ronnel Español of Lakas, who the led the poll for a number of times during the canvassing, leaving the watchers gasping for breath.

Vice Mayor

It’s almost a 60-40 share in favor of PCM’s Vic Paul Salarda in the Mayoralty race, beating then Mayor Hernando Sibugan of Lakas..

Councilors

WE ARE inching closer to the big day. We will again exercise our right of suffrage and perform our duty as citizens of this country.

Now here are some final notes that I’d like to remind myself about before I cast my vote on Monday:

1. Finalize my picks for the different positions from national to local level. I will write it in a clean sheet of paper I can easily put inside my pocket.
2. Keep posted on the recent election updates via RP2010, the election blogwatch.

I SAW this tarpaulin signage erected along the highway. I could not help but notice it, not because of its size (it’s only about 4ft tall and 6ft wide) but because of what it says. Something is wrong with it.

I have a friend who lives in Dapitan and he gives me updates about the political situation of the city. He told me that the people there have been so used to receiving money from a powerful political clan for their votes. I had to ask, “Do they have to buy votes? Aren’t they powerful enough to gain position without resorting to vote-buying?” He told me that it is already part of the system and that nothing could be done about it.