Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña in the latest news reports said he would dump the garbage of the city in the SRP (South Road Properties), at the City Hall’s legislative building or at Plaza Independencia if the court would order the closure of the Inayawan Sanitary landfill. Personally, I think the good mayor believes that he can just do that without violating sanitation laws aside from the health-related issues; thus, he cannot be held accountable for this act before the agencies of the government like the Office of the Ombudsman. I think the mayor believes that he is above the law; and thus, he can just do anything without regard to the laws. I believe that it is best for the mayor if the court orders the closure of the Inayawan landfill to look for another place to dump the garbage of the city, or he can heed the suggestion of the court to renegotiate the dumping of the garbage in Consolacion.
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Allow me, like the millions of Filipinos, to congratulate incumbent Senator Manny Pacquiao for his recent victory in boxing against the WBO champion Jesse Vargas. The boxing bout last Sunday showed the resurgence of a young Manny Pacquiao when it comes to his power, speed and strength as he outboxed the younger Jesse Vargas. The way I look at it, Pacquiao is still good for about two to three world title fights. In the fight with Vargas, it was startling to witness the newfound confidence that Manny showed. He was relaxed and calm during the fight and was always smiling. Indeed, Manny Pacquiao made us Filipinos proud again as a people, and I would like to thank him for that.
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The US presidential election would be held tomorrow, though about 40 million Americans have already voted under the early voting scheme. The race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is tight with the CNN poll showing Clinton ahead of Trump by only 3 points. Recently, the FBI director again opened an investigation on the use of email through a private server by Clinton only to close it once again and saying that after a thorough review, the probe does not recommend criminal prosecution. The FBI director is now criticized for opening another probe nine days before the election even without first looking into the facts or circumstances about the subject of the probe. How does the election in the US affect our country? I think it is important for us to look into this especially on the stand of the candidates on other races. Trump is very clear that he is more concerned about the security of the Americans from immigrants.
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In Iraq, the Iraqi forces are now inside the town of Mosul, which has about 1.2 million civilians who are being used as shields by the ISIS. One Iraqi witness stated that a nine-year-old child was forced by the ISIS to fight for them. Unfortunately, like any war, the women and the children are the ones, who are suffering in the war in Iraq. But I think the Iraqi government is really committed to liberating the town of Mosul from the ISIS. Mind you, the battle now inside Mosul is one of the toughest challenges that the Iraqi military faces against the ISIS.