FRED C. LUMBA SPECKS OF LIFE A MATTER OF LEADERSHIP

In South America, Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua are three of the poverty-stricken countries that are muddled in their mishandling of government affairs and are rocked by corruption and lawlessness.

Evidently leaders in these countries wanted only to preserve their political interests and stay in power at the expense of their people.

Worse, in Mexico, authorities are in dire straits battling drug cartels in violent confrontations. Drug lords maintain private armies armed to the teeth and are able to seize areas that serve as their territory and bailiwicks.

Close by, Malaysia was submerged by a scandal and incredible controversy leading to the conviction and imprisonment of its former PM and his wife who stole millions of dollars in government funds stashed in a socalled wealth fund.

In South Korea, we were treated to a display of genuine people power when the government, responding to huge street protests, sent to jail two former presidents for corruption and sever- al others in business and industry who were found involved in graft in the conduct of their affairs with government.

Lincoln must be a visionary. His foreword quoted above mirrors today the state of government leadership all over the globe.

Does it not apply to Vladimir Putin - Russia’s president-forever (?) - who seems to be drunk with power as his invasion of Ukraine has dragged on for more than a year without any indication that ti will come to a peaceful end?

What about North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un? And China’s Xi Jin Ping?

How about Iran whiose repressive rule by the Khomeneis have resulted into nation-wide street protests by their own people who previously supported their Islamic fundamentalist government?

All of these four cited countries and their respective leaders have downright ordered news blackout on negative developments within their domestic realms.

Lord Acton, a British historian whose full name was

ANTONIO V. FIGUEROA

1993, though slowly obscured with time, will always be remembered by witnesses for the three events, two of them tragic and gained global coverage.

On October 23, 1993, the two-story New Diamond Lodge at the corner of Pichon Sr. and Feliciano Iñigo streets was hit by a fire that cost nine lives and injuries to thirty others. The victims were mostly students of the Mindanao State University (MSU) on a field trip in the city.

The United Press International (UPI), a global wire agency that source its account (‘Seven killed, 30 injured in fire in southern Philippines’) from news heard over radio station DZXL in Manila, initially reported that seven people killed and several survivors were “treated for fractures suffered when they jumped to safety.”

For its part, the Singapore-based The Strait Times, a day later, carried an updated version (‘9 killed in Philippine lodge fire’) of tragedy: “Davao fire swept through a lodge where stu-dents on a field trip were staying, killing nine people and injuring scores… Some survivors of the early morning fire said they had to jump from the windows of the two-story New Dia-mond Lodge.”

Police probers discovered that the lodge did not have a fire escape and the stairway and aisles dividing the rooms on both floors were too narrow for the occupants to escape in a hurry.

Exactly two months later, San Pedro Cathedral, while a Mass was held inside it, was hit by three bombs. Manila Standard Today reported that the first bomb hit the center aisle, then followed by anoth-

John Emerald Edward Dahlberg Acton, said: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Mind you, this has biblical basis.

Recall that David who was israel’s king, co-habitated with a married womanBathsheba - in a aduslterous relationship. He sent the latter home after impregnating her and gave birth to Solomon.

In our contemporary times, notice that all governments on this planet are collectively buffeted by the winds of change.

The storms in our lives are a result of our own mis-doings and uncanny inclination to achieve things in a jiffy.

People today seem to like - and be entertained by - ambitious (pseudo) poiliticians who make enormous promises - including “turning earth into a heavenly paradise”.

At the same time, after getting hoodwinked, they turn their ire and exasperation on government’s inability to provide them the basic necessities - jobs, income, food and shelter.

In our country, legislators

Three Davao Events In 1993

er near the altar, and the final was at the main entrance of the church, adding “the blast killed seven people and injured 151 others, 32 of them seriously.”

This was the second time in 18 years that the cathedral was bombed. In April 1981, dur-ing an Easter celebration, grenades were exploded inside and outside the church, resulting in nearly two dozen deaths and close to 200 churchgoers injured.

Citing police and military sources, the perpetrators in the second bombing incident be-longed to a “Muslim terrorist group.”

The New York Times, in its December 27, 1993 issue, also carried an account of the story (‘6 Killed and 130 Are Wounded In Blasts at Philippine Cathedral’) and its aftermath:

“Attackers tossed grenades into a packed Roman Catho- lic cathedral in the southern Phil-ippines Sunday evening, killing at least 6 people and wounding more than 130.

“President Fidel Ramos said today that he had ordered a hunt for those who carried out the attack.

“Eight hours after the attack, suspected Christian militants retaliated by firing two gre-nades at a Muslim mosque. One exploded, but there were no casualties, the police said.

“Red Cross officials put the death toll from the attack on San Pedro Cathedral at 7, but the police in Davao said they had confirmed 6 dead.”

Earlier that month, however, Davao’s first real mall, Victoria Plaza, was fully opened to the public. Owned by Robert Allan Limso, the two-story enterprise, which had its soft open-ing a year earlier, became tend to enact laws that create processes and procedures in a knee-jerk reaction to solve the socio-economic dilemma.

As you have seen, plugging loopholes oftentimes results in half-hearted and halfcooked resolution.

The latest oil spill in Oriental Mindoro is a case in point.

The whole country is sent on a tailspin because there is not a working template for this particular situation as if it happened only the first time.

The brouhaha on the price of onions that skyrocketed beyond every household’s imagination was another prime example of how unprepared the government is.

They said the existence of cartels who hoards and manipulate prices of staple items is the culprit. The Senate and the HoR conducted probes but… the hangout of mall rats. It later became a cultural hub and indoor family plaza.

No one member of the aforesaid cartel has been clearly identified, charged, tried and jailed.

What gives? (Email feedback to fredlumba@yahoo. com.) GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!

Situated two kilometers north of the city’s central business district, the mall became the catalyst that would ignite development in adjacent areas, especially Obrero district, a residen-tial area and host to two academic campuses. Outside the mall, is a sprawling area that once hosted music lounges, pubs, Chinese and Filipino restaurants, and has been the superstore’s parking lot.

In 2019, the entire complex was taken over by the New City Commercial Corporation (NCCC), a homegrown mall owner, from the banking institution that foreclosed it. It is being developed into a mixed-use complex that will be home to skyscrapers and condominiums.