maintenance shutdown of Malampaya facility completed

15-day

The Department of Energy (DOE) on Monday announced the completion of the first maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya Deepwater Gas-to-Power under an all-Filipino owned consortium.

In a statement, the DOE said the 15-day maintenance works from February 4 to 18, 2023 were completed with no incidents recorded, covering the platform, pipe- lines, and the entire system.

Prime Energy was said to have resumed the delivery of Malampaya power plants at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, February 19, as scheduled.

“Prior to the commencement of the work scope, the DOE together with Prime Energy, conducted numerous engagements with the stakeholder communities, local government units, and other government agencies particularly in the vicinity of the Onshore Gas Plant in Batangas,” it said.

“This was done to ensure awareness during the course of the works, particularly during flaring activities,” it added.

The Malampaya gasto-power facility fuels three gas-fired power plants with a total generating capacity of 2,700 megawatts (MW)—providing up to 30% of the power generation needs of Luzon.

Connected to onshore gas plants in Batangas, the Malampaya offshore facility in Northern Palawan was inaugurated in 2001.

The DOE last October gave the go signal for Razon-led Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc. to acquire the 45% interest of Shell Philippines Exploration BV (SPEX) in the Malam-

On the Davao Region to be positioned as logistics hub of Southern Philippines:

“This is a special chapter that we have formulated for Davao Region and this is focused on achieving Davao Region’s vision as the logistics hub of the Southeastern Philippines, resilient, with a rich biodiversity and a haven for human growth and development. This chapter is focused on harnessing the

LOURDES LIM Rgional Director, National Economic and Development Authori-

(NEDA 11)

GARAY DELIGERO Editorial Consultant

BILLACURA Sports Editor

PADILLO Senior Reporter

Music serves as a vehicle for social change with its power to emotionally, morally, and culturally affect society.

Political expressions always had their place in music as artists often use their creative talents to send message on social issues.

Originally held in September, the University of the Philippines Fair (UP Fair) at the Sunken Garden in the Diliman campus started in the early 1980s as an avenue or dissent against the Martial Law era of then dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Sr.

The event was more of a series of cultural performances with political undertones organized by the University Student Council (USC) after it was re-established in 1981.

Lean Alejandro became the USC chairman in 1983 and later a key figure in the national anti-dictatorship movement who is known for his statement “The struggle for freedom is the next best thing to actually being free.”

It was in 1984, or almost forty years ago, when the UP fair was institutionalized as a fundraising activity by student organizations led for the USC and considered the

ATTY. DENNIS R. GORECHO KUWENTONG PEYUPS

Up Fair As A Music Festival On Social Issues

biggest student-initiated activity in UP Diliman.

What started as a simple “perya-like” event, the UP Fair was moved to February and has evolved into a fullblown celebration of Philippine art, music, and culture.

The UP Fair is more than just a showcase of talent. It became a platform for change – a venue to campaign for issues that UP students have been fighting for over the years.

Musically-talented students see the campus as a large performing hall full of opportunities and like-minded individuals.

UP Fair has promoted several bands and talents, homegrown and non-UP alike , which include The Jerks, The Dawn, Buklod, Yano, Sinaglahi, Patatag, and Eraserheads being the most famous among them.

The Eraserheads made their first performance at the UP Fair on February 1991 which came two years after Ely Buendia, Buddy Zabala, Marcus Adoro, and Raimund Marasigan formed the band in 1989.

They performed again at the UP Fair 1992 with their set included cover versions of

The Knack’s “My Sharona” and John Lennon’s “Cold Turkey”.

Buddy and Raymund were my roommates for two years (1989 to 1991) at the Molave dorm during my last college years.

Because the band members often used our room to play their instruments and practice, I often ended up going out to study somewhere else, as I could not take the “noise”.

As a supportive roommate, I watched them perform during the annual UP Fair at the Sunken Garden at a time when they were just starting to make waves inside the campus.

It was beyond my comprehension that the “noise” that I tried to avoid made them known as one of the most successful and critically acclaimed bands in OPM history, earning them the accolade “The Beatles of the Philippines.” It was in 2019 that they last performed during the UP Fair.

Another fixture was UP’s resident punk Romeo Lee who is best known for his “Wild Thing” persona. A highlight of each concert was Lee freaking out onstage while singing “Wild Thing” or “I Feel Good” with the featured musicians.

ANTONIO V. FIGUEROA

The name Nicolas V. Pacifico is familiar to historians and active journalists in the Com-monwealth era. A migrant from Bantayan, Cebu, he was a reporter for the Manila-based Tribune and authored the book ‘Builders of Davao.’ As a correspondent, he was the first to re-port the sighting of an unknown naval flotilla, suspected to be Japanese, off the waters of Malita, Davao Occidental, in 1938 in the gulf of Davao.

Pacifico’s letter dated September 21, 1933, at a time when Captain Elias Dioquino was head of the Philippine Constabulary (PC) in the district, exposed the demoralization in the Davao police force “due to incompetence and lack of moral sense of duty,” specifically citing the corruption that was gnawing at the remaining credibility of the police vice squad.

His communication, blunt and straightforward, was also addressed to Davao governor Juan A. Sarenas and municipal president (mayor) Bruno Gempesaw, with a complimentary ending of hope that the town (just four years away from becoming a city), would heal by overhauling the entire police force. In full, the letter reads:

“Brushing aside all tendencies of vindictiveness and all traces of grudge, ill-feeling, or call it what you may, but placing above all the welfare of this fast-growing community, I am ad-dressing to you this letter with all sincerity, open frankness and blunt candidness.

“The demoralization of the Davao police force is undermining the moral fabric of

In the late 1980s and early 1990s. the themes evolved around the US bases and the Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP).

The theme for 2023 is “Kaisa Ka Sa Musika” that aims to give awareness on specific social issues each day: human rights protection (Tuesday: Rev); urban poor (Wednesday: Kalye Tunes); sustainable and pro-people transportation (Thursday: Dimensions); education, students’ rights, and welfare (Friday: Polaris); and gender emancipation (Saturday: Cosmos).

Performers include Moonstar88, Ben&Ben, Sandwich Mayonnaise, Itchy Worms, Ebe Dacel, Abra, Orange and Lemons. The vocalist of Sandwich is Raymund Marasigan of Eraserheads.

Hey Moonshine also performed whose bass guitarist, Atty. Carlo Ybanez, is the current president of the Maritime Law Association of the Philippines (MARLAWPh) . Their lyrics often deal with socially relevant issues like armed conflict and environmental degradation.

Students have always been a potent force in social organization and social change in

A NEWSMAN’S LETTER, 1933

Davao. I hold communion with the denizens of the underworld and I found that there are policemen who ought to be eliminated from the police rooster due to incompetence and lack of moral sense of duty.

“I know you are democratic and plastic, responsive to suggestion and amenable to rea-son. As a humble citizen, therefore, of this land of my adoption, I suggest the overhauling of the vice squad of the Davao police force. There is no need of producing tangible proofs to warrant the overhauling.

“Just stay at street corners and listed to the malediction tarnished on the brow of the vice squad and you will be morally convinced that there is a vital need of changing the old order of things.

“I know that the Davao force can never reach the parvenu of maximum efficiency. That is verily a Utopian dream. But what I desire is to overhaul it to such an extent as to reduce the inefficiency to a minimum.

“The time calls for prompt action, conscientious getting down to brass tacks, not vacilla-tion, not in decision.

“The vice squad of the Davao police force must be overhauled.”

Pacifico’s observation still rings to this day. Aside from a number of cops wallowing in corruption despite the delivery of better takehome pay, the social malady of extortion cas-cades to the deputized traffic enforcers who always find creative interpretations as bases for issuing a violation ticket

Philippine society.

The UP student politics has taught us the vision of service to the people.

The campus molded us to fight for the causes we believe in; trained us for the skills we need to communicate ideas and rally others to effect changes in society.

The music festival during UP Fair makes one cherish the concept of academic freedom .

The performances are manifestations of the culture of resistance and persistence of UP as a safe haven for civilized and intelligent discourse of all beliefs and forms of democratic expression.

The UP Fair will continue to be a witness to UP’s existence as an institution with a critical eye on social and historical issues.

As Bob Marley said: “Don’t give up the fight, Stand up for your rights.” to perplexed and, at times, grumbling drivers.

(Peyups is the moniker of University of the Philippines. Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, e-mail info@sapalovelez. com, or call 09175025808 or 09088665786.)

Corruption in the streets come in various forms, from violating the strict rule of requiring the law enforcer to approach the driver from the vehicle’s window to inspecting a driver’s license for bills tucked inside for the traffic guy to pull out as a ‘negotiation fee.’

There is a ray of hope, though, the corrupt system can finally be checked. In Metro Ma-nila, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) had begun issuing automated tickets to traffic wrongdoers as part of its drive towards digitalization and the campaign to check bribery on the roads.

But how about the fixers who swarm the LTO premises, inside and out?