CTALK By Cito Beltran (The Philippine Star)
“We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers — and for whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of God” (1Timothy chapter 1: 8-11).
Is the President really obsessed to redefine the legislative concept of savings, legitimize the Disbursement Acceleration Program and even considering Constitutional revision to “weaken” the reach of the Supreme Court as well as the possibility of changing or rewriting term limits, all with the purpose of empowering his presidency?
To be honest, I think all this talk is simply intended to cover up the series of unfortunate circumstances and setbacks the P-Noy administration has been experien-cing. Unfortunately every time, this administration tries to talk itself out of a mess, some other fumble or disaster takes place as if the heavens were intentionally rubbing salt into their latest scrapes. The latest evidence of their bad luck or on-going curse is 3 days of hell at the MRT.
The President is clearly focused on the “now” but forgets what can happen later in the post P-Noy period when he has been replaced by a series of other Presidents and Congress itself is beyond his moral influence. What happens if we end up with yet another corrupt President or corrupt administration that once again manipulates funds into savings but are wiser and simply dissolve, dilute or disperse the money just like other President’s did before P-Noy?
It would be foolish to think that because he will be out of office by 2016, it’s no longer his problem. On the contrary, he might spend the rest of his life being blamed for opening “Pandora’s box” to the Ali Baba’s in politics. As it stands P-Noy and his cohorts are already mocking the memory and legacy of Cory Aquino simply by suggesting such changes in our Constitution and the check and balance in government.
We’ve all seen movies about going into the future only to discover something we don’t like (Back to the Future), or movies about going to the past in order to correct what is now a mistake in the “future” (X-Men: Days of Future Past). But for real life Presidents who only have one fixed term, the idea of going back to correct a mistake made during their term is highly unlikely.
We can’t send P-Noy or Wolverine back in history to correct a legislative mistake or slaughter a few ass kissing Congressmen only too willing to change the Constitution or the definition of savings! Zeal for his Bosses may consume P-Noy, but failing to look into the future could consume taxpayers money and all the achievements of the P-Noy administration.
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From “Power” to “Empower.”
That is part of the journey that the Manila Electric Company is apparently on. By sheer “accident” I chanced upon an advertisement about “Solar PV Boot Camp” being offered by the Meralco Power Academy two weeks ago and now find myself back to “school.”
A lot of people including myself are not aware that there is such a thing as the Power Academy that offers highly specialized courses such as “Power Contracting in a Competitive Market,” Project Finance and economics (in the power industry), Lineman Skills Development Courses, Power Engineering Development Programs, Electrical Safety in the Workplace, Improving Plant Efficiency through Power Quality, Distributed Generation, Demand Forecasting and Demandside Management and PV Solar Boot Camp.
Drawing from a hundred years of experience as well as a compliment of international experts, the academy is clearly the go-to educational institution for companies, investors and personnel who are involved or wish to expand their knowledge and expertise in the power industry. On the very first day, I quickly picked up the value of the academy for smaller power companies and cooperatives beyond Meralco’s franchise area who need to enhance their technical capabilities and improve their management know-how in the power industry.
When I asked about why Meralco Power Academy hosts the Solar PV Boot Camp considering solar power can take away potential business in the future, I learned that it is to Meralco’s interest to educate engineers, contractors, entrepreneurs and hobbyists in order to avoid potential dangers such as fires, injury etc. resulting from lack of knowledge, standards and technical know-how. According to Engr. Eugene Araullo who heads the academy’s program management, this would also help in developing an “industry standard” so that cheap solar units are not dumped in the Philippines like Christmas lights have been in the past.
Even though many of the enrollees were engineers, an equal number of the participants openly admitted not knowing much about the technology, but were very interested in marketing the products or integrating the products into their current business. There were also a couple of school representatives as well as two from the AFP Medical Center who wanted to find out if solar technology could be an alternative to their traditional power source and if this would make a big difference in their operational costs.
Well, after just one day, I have to admit that our Master Trainer Mr. Sean White effectively removed many misconceptions we may have had that “Solar Power Technology” is simple and easy. It’s not! Not knowing what one leaf or a drop of bird poop can do to your system can spell success or misery. “Going by the book” without going to school could lead to serious miscalculations. If you hate Math and trigonometry, you might want to reconsider being an installer. Solar we learned is not just about a cheaper alternative for power but a proven success formula that can generate thousands of jobs, stimulate economic movement for agriculture in far flung barrios, and is already one of the products being manufactured in our export processing zones.
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E-mail: utalk2ctalk@gmail.com.
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