By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
The opening of a Jollibee store in Tabuk City the other week can be for good or for bad. Thus I added that phrase, “for good or for bad” to the first sentence. It was actually the first phrase. What you hear is what you get. Its effects can be either way depending on your perspective or where you are coming from.
For the owner and for the general populace in Tabuk. It is good. There are employment opportunities and the investment in putting up the store to the tune of tens of millions of pesos will have a big multiplier effect. There will be a marked increase in the aggregate income in the city and also the taxes to be collected.
Other positive effects will be: there will be an effect on local restaurants and Jollibee might be a basis for comparison particularly on courtesy, cleanliness and speed of employees in attending to the needs of customers.
On the other hand, should we not be promoting slow natural food which is a lot healthier rather than unhealthy fast food? For instance, the chicken being served in almost all fast foods are chemical chickens that lived and grew on feeds for only 29 days. They are full of cancer- and other disease-causing chemicals such as antibiotics and growth hormones. The same is true with respect to the other foods and drinks they serve there.
But then again, the doctors will, in the long run, have more patients and more income including the pharmaceutical companies.
Lastly, having a modern establishment in the “center” of Kalinga might help modernize the attitudes of the Kalingas.
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There are articles elsewhere in the pages of this issue about concerns on the heightened recruitment efforts of the Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army or CPLA (read related articles).
I personally heard of an effort of a local oligarch who wants to grab the land of an indigenous family which have become my client. This local oligarch is supposed to have requested for the assistance of a supposed CPLA wing to facilitate the land grabbing effort.
This will not in anyway improve the reputation of the CPLA which needs a lot of improvement in the city. They should trace such efforts of their comrades or past members and stop it. For what kind of revolutionaries are they who, instead of protecting or promoting the interest of indigenous peoples, they are selling their services like prostitutes to moneyed people.
I am sure the CPLA leadership will condemn such. If it is interested to know more about what I am talking about, I am just a phone call away.
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We just went through an 8-hour brownout which was necessary for the maintenance activities of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) which should mean we don’t have to go through such process in the coming summer months which are also the peak season of many businesses. This is one good thing about our national grid being run by a private firm. If it is being run by a government firm, as it was in the past, anticipated maintenance might not be done and just wait for systems to bog down, which can happen when we badly need electricity. Then there will be extensive damage that will take more time to fix. And the fix will be much more expensive which we have to pay through our taxes.
Yes, we should sacrifice for maintenance disturbances as these will, in the end, redound to our benefit.
Another good thing about private firms like the NGCP is that they keep the public informed, way ahead of time, as to the extent of such disturbances.
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