GO NEGOSYO SA ILOILO AWARDEES

BIZ WHIZ

The Go Negosyo caravan in Iloilo awarded Friday the inspiring Ilonggo entrepreneurs in the city and province. (Standing from left) Las Piñas Rep. Cynthia Vilar, Antonio Steven Chan of Central Azucarera de San Antonio, Angel de Leon of Taytay sa Kauswagan, Inc., Salvador Sarabia of Sarabia Manor Hotel and Convention Center, Kenneth Uy of La Filipina Uygongco Corp. (in behalf of Alfonso Uy), Atty. Joseph Vincent Go of Light of Glory Taxi Services, Tomas Hautea Sr. of Retcem Bangus Hatchery and Farm, Jose Gerardo Guadarrama of Original Biscocho House, Arsenio Rafael of AM Builders Depot, Johnny Que of Waffle Time, Edgar Sia of Mang Inasal and Gaita Fores of Cibo Restaurant. (Front row from left) Terence Uygongco of Philippine Foremost Milling Co., Iloilo Business Club chair Antonio Jon, Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship founding trustee and Presidential consultant on entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion and Presidential Assistant Raul Banias. (Photo by Tara Yap)

Iloilo business week

AFTER a week of crime busting, business stories take center stage in the city and province of Iloilo.

First off is the one-week Information Technology Week mounted by the city and provincial governments, Department of Trade and Industry and the Iloilo Foundation for Information Technology.

The activity kicked off with an IT Investment Forum Tuesday at Amigo Terrace Hotel. The forum was attended by Commission on Information and Communications Technology commissioner Monchito Ibrahim, Jonathan Defensor de Luzuriaga of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines, topnotch business executive Rex Drilon and Antonio Jon of the Iloilo Business Club and Iloilo Economic Development Foundation and Governor Niel Tupas Sr.

Also in tow were A. Arman Lapus and Engr. Andy Moncada of Global Business Power Corp. (GBPC), Engr. Randy Pastolero of Panay Electric Co., and other IT industry stakeholders.

The IT week basked on the recent citation received by Iloilo City as one of the next wave cities by major players in the business processes outsourcing sectors.

With numerous BPO firms setting their eyes on Iloilo and other areas of the region, IFIT deemed it wise to push the city as the future of the IT industry of the country. With the rich Ilonggo manpower enough to supply the needs of the BPO sector and the relatively affordable standard of living, Iloilo indeed is a bright spot in the IT industry.

On September 12, Go Negosyo of Joey Concepcion goes to Iloilo for the Go Negosyo Iloilo forum. The forum will also honor the inspiring Ilonggo entrepreneurs such as Arsenio Rafael of AM Trading, Stephen Chan of Central Azucarera de San Antonio, Edgar Sia of Mang Inasal and Deco’s Batchoy and Alfonso Uy of La Filipina Uygongco Corp.

But the biggest business story in Iloilo is the issuance of the environmental compliance certificate of the coal-fired power plant proposed by GBPC.

After more than eight months and heavy debates between pro and anti-coal forces, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources gave the green light to the project which is seen as a vital component in marketing the city and province to local and international investors.

Rex Drilon, ILED president, said the construction of the coal-fired power plant will serve as the impetus for selling Iloilo to big business, particularly the BPO sector.

“This is a fantastic time to invest in Iloilo thanks to the determination of resilient Ilonggos to attract investments in the IT sector,” Drilon said.

Jonathan Defensor De Luzuriaga, executive director of Business Processes Association of the Philippines, echoed the same positive outlook on Iloilo in the IT sector.

According to De Luzuriaga, Iloilo, aside from providing the highest number of manpower to BPO investors, it has yet to be saturated, thus, a big potential for growth. The main chink in Iloilo’s armor is its infrastructure since we don’t have enough office space for locators. Power and water problems must also be addressed if we intend to attract IT ventures.

The infrastructure problem can be solved when Megaworld Corp. starts developing the old Iloilo airport site in Mandurriao, Iloilo City. With the coal plant project about to start, Megaworld is expected to begin development works soon.

While Bacolod City may be ahead of Iloilo when it comes to the number of locators and services, our neighbor across the strait is slowly creeping towards saturation.

Ilonggos must also be prepared to provide the ancillary services needed by BPO investors such as restaurants, convenience stores, transportation and even spas, De Luzuriaga added.

Monchito Ibrahim of the Commission on Information and Communication Technology sees Iloilo as a bright spot in the IT sector. He also projects Iloilo’s manpower share to increase from 7,000 to 10,000 workers in the coming years.

“I can see all the ingredients in Iloilo that is why we consider the place a next wave city of the BPO industry,” Ibrahim enthused.

To all Ilonggos out there, I guess we all have good reason to believe and invest in our province and city. There are endless opportunities coming our way.

Crime stories

Crime reporting is said to be the training ground for greenhorn journalists. Firstly, sources for police news abound compared to political beats such as the capitol or city hall. Go to the police station and take a peek at the blotters. There’s a plethora of stories worth reporting.

For those who have limited resources and cannot go around the stations, listening to the radio for leads and following up with your own sources via phone would help.

My training ground was Camp Delgado, the headquarters of the Police Regional Office 6. Various offices of the Armed Forces of the Philippines also hold office at the camp named after Ilonggo revolucionario, Gen. Martin Delgado of Sta. Barbara town.

As fate would have it, yours truly was able to establish rapport with prominent police officials, some of them now occupying ranking posts at the PNP national headquarters in Camp Crame. Police Director Geary Barias, who is rumored to be gunning for the top PNP post, is one of them. From the military, I was acquainted with General Jogy Leo Fojas who is now the provost marshal.

Since crime stories are always interesting to report, especially if a journalists digs into the hows and whys of the story, it somehow developed the proverbial “nose for news” value that reporters ought to possess.

But crime reporting is also a sensitive spot since most of the time a journalist will have to deal with accusations against another person. Thus, balanced and truthful reporting is still the best panacea against legal implications that stories might cause.

Before, rape cases were staples in newspapers, radio and TV. But i have made it a personal policy to be careful with such items lest i get sued for violating laws on rape and violence against women and children.

Friends from the police and legal circuits have cautioned me against being reckless in reporting rapes and family cases. I already got sued for indirect contempt (which was dismissed afterwards) when a party to a murder case accused me of leaking details of the judicial affidavits of minors in a news report. Of course, I did not get any affidavit since the documents were already sealed and kept by the court. Getting a copy would be like penetrating the impregnable Fort Knox.

I guess the case was just a money making venture of the plaintiff’s lawyer (he was a big shot lawyer from Manila and getting sued by this chap somehow has a delicious ring to it) and an attempt to sway the public from the high profile murder issue. Nonetheless, it made me more careful in verifying my information and know the limits set by the law.

Last week was one productive period for the media what with the successive developments in major crime stories that gripped the city and province of Iloilo.

Topping the list is the death of Edgar Cordero and the subsequent arrest of Dennis Cartagena, two of the main suspects in the killing of Ajuy vice mayor Ramon Rojas. In a Mafia-like manner, Cordero was shot to death while hiding in Butuan City. Cartagena survived after slipping quickly away from the scene.

Cartagena accused a certain Jose Bahadi and Lindsey Buenavista (who was included in the Rojas murder case but was later exonerated by the prosecutor) as the shooters. The Butuan City incident is another sidebar to the Rojas murder case which is worth pursuing if not for the distance involved.

Similar to action movies and novels, Cartagena was brought back to Iloilo last September 5 by a retinue of heavily armed police. He was like a celebrity police character what with the heavy media coverage and the suspense for the beans that he was supposed to spill relative to the Rojas murder case.

Then Cartagena sang like a canary, albeit only in his sworn affidavit. He tagged a certain Vicente Espinosa as the one who ordered and financed the assassination plot. Mr. Espinosa’s lawyers, however, made a wise move of not issuing any comment until they have read Cartagena’s testimony. Just like in the game of poker, you don’t just lay all your cards on the table and lose the whole deal.

During the press conference at the capitol, everybody was antsy to hear Cartagena drop the bombs. But it all ended in a dud when a ranking police official dissuaded Cartagena from making any statement to the media lest he will incriminate himself. Darn, what more can Cartagena do when he himself was thankful to be alive and vowed to tell everything he knows?

Such a spoiler from someone I thought was respectable is worse than a postponed orgasm. Still, the police released copies of Cartagena’s affidavit which he signed and swore before the prosecutor, lawyers and the media.

The second development would be the uncovering of the suspects in the robbery, rape and killing of Claire Nueros who was found dead inside her home in the posh Savannah subdivision. The gated community is owned by no less than Senate president Manny Villar and is reputed to be flood free and ultra secured. Well, not anymore since one of the subdivision guards was tagged in the case.

The police have recovered the crime weapons and the stolen items, putting their case against the suspects in a monolithic situation. All that remains is the arrest of the suspects who entered Nueros’ house.

The Nueros case only proves that there is no such thing as a perfect crime as long as authorities worm their way into the case. Even if you bury all the evidence, somewhere, somehow they will be uncovered.

The third development and my favorite is the case of Chief Insp. Musa Amiyong, the intelligence section chief of the Iloilo City Police Office, and his sidekick, media barker-turned-police asset Niel “Lito” Jimena.

Amiyong and Jimena hogged the headlines when they shot Federico Dolar and Roy Balsote whom they tried to bust for illegal drugs.

Then the tables were turned on Amiyong and Jimena. Dolar and Balsote said Amiyong and Jimena tried to kill them because of a grenade throwing incident in Jaro. It turned out, according to Dolar, that Jimena and Amiyong ordered him to bomb the floodway project to please an unidentified contractor who lost in the bidding.

Now, if Dolar’s accusations are true, what will this make of Amiyong? He is supposed to be the intelligence chief, the one who must keep tabs on crime and criminals. These accusations would put Amiyong on the hot spot because it would appear that he is also inducing others to violate the law. Hopefully this is not true although we have been hearing a lot about Amiyong’s activities lately. Is it because he has under his spell a ranking government official who can always make life difficult for us?

Amiyong has declined to comment on this issue and tried to smile his woes away. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Nevertheless, Amiyong will have to face the music or he might fade in ignominy.

Indeed, crime does not pay. But reporting crime stories always do.

Reminiscing the Eraserheads

MY heart broke when I learned that the venerable Eraserheads band broke up in 2002. The same heartbreak I felt when former lead vocalist Ely Buendia quit midway of their reunion concert Saturday night because of exhaustion and possibly a weakening heart.

The E-heads dominated my teenage years, especially my high school years. While we belonged to the DOST’s special science and math class (which is expected to be filled with nerds), our batch went gaga over the popular 90s band.

The Eraserheads was formed by Ely Buendia, Raimund Marasigan, Buddy Zabala and Marcus Adoro. The band is one of the most successful, critically-acclaimed, and significant bands in the history of Original Pinoy Music, earning them the accolade, “The Beatles of the Philippines.”

The Eraserheads are also credited for spearheading a second wave of Manila band invasions, paving the way for a host of Philippine alternative rock bands such as Rivermaya, The Youth, Teeth, Parokya ni Edgar and Yano. But it is most likely that the other bands would say that they rose at the same time as the E-heads.

The band released several singles, albums, and EPs that reached number one. This commercial success was most evident in the release of their third album Cutterpillow, which achieved platinum status several times. The Eraserheads are one the best-selling musical acts of all time in the Philippines, paving way for an international career that earned them the “Moon Man” in the MTV Video Music Awards.

Their diverse music worked both in the underground and mainstream scenes of the Philippine music industry. By fusing different musical styles such as alternative, pop, rock, reggae, and synthpop the Eraserheads helped change the sound of Pinoy rock.

Much of the E-heads song spoke on teenage life, relationship, poverty and even homosexuality.

In July 1992, the Eraserheads started recording their debut album called Ultraelectromagneticpop!. The album featured “Pare Ko”, “Toyang” and “Tindahan Ni Aling Nena”, all of which were also present in Pop-U!. The album also featured a sanitized version of “Pare Ko” called “Walang Hiyang Pare Ko”. Later in the same year, BMG initially released 5,000 copies of the album. The album became a smash, with the songs “Ligaya”, “Pare Ko” and “Toyang” topping the charts, that, by the end of the year, BMG sold 300,000 copies, and Ultraelectromagneticpop! turned sextuple platinum.

The album met some opposition as the Philippine Association of the Record Industry (PARI) attempted to censor “Pare Ko” but without success. The public was said to have found its OPM Fab Four in the Eraserheads, opening the second wave of band invasion. The Eraserheadsmania was born.

In October 1994, the Eraserheads came up with a follow-up album entitled Circus. The band said that the album aptly described their life since their smashing debut. The album was unpredictable and unconventional compared to the OPM ballads at that time, and established the band members as good songwriters and musicians. The songs varied in style and mood, ranging from euphoric and hilarious to tender and somber.

Five of the songs became successive hits: “Kailan”, “Magasin”, “Alapaap”, “With A Smile” and “Sembreak”. Circus turned gold in just 30 days with 20,000 copies sold. Eventually, it turned quintuple platinum with 200,000 copies sold. But like Ultraelectromagneticpop!, it too had its share of controversy. In August 1995, Senator Tito Sotto, who was involved in an anti-drug campaign at that time, called for a ban on the airplay and sales of “Alapaap” over an alleged promotion of drug abuse in the lyrics of the song. In response, the Eraserheads denied the allegation, saying that the it was just a misinterpretation, and that the song was the band’s “ode to freedom”, not an “ode to drug abuse”.

Yes, the E-heads and their songs symbolized the youth’s freedom express their thoughts and feelings on various issues besetting their lives. The young relished this freedom etched in every lyric of the E-heads songs to the point that they were misunderstood as living in another world induced by drugs, booze and even sex.

I don’t care how the older generations interpreted the E-heads because we felt that they were indeed the Beatles of the Philippines, particularly in the 90s era. Heck, our elders also experienced the same fanaticism.

When the British rock and roll band took the world by storm, every Beatle fan sported the “mop head” look.

We also did the same by imitating the way the E-heads crooned and dressed. My hair is wavy, similar to Buendia’s crinkled locks. Even if it was unwieldy to maintain the Ely “do”, we sported the cut because we felt united with the group.

There were five of us in our high school section who were actually addicted to the E-heads that we would bring guitars and makeshift drum seats then play to our hearts desire.

Just like other fanatics, we collected “song hits” (actually, these are thin song mags one can buy in newsstands), posters and albums.

I even have autograph cassette tape of their Natin 99 album and poster. I had to line up at SM City just to rub elbows with them and get their signatures. Hopefully, the stuff are still there to serve as lasting memento of my younger years.

But just like other bands, the E-heads ran into a shoal of controversies and adversities.

After weeks of speculation, it was confirmed that the main songwriter and lead singer, Ely Buendia, had left the band in mid-March 2002 for “reasons unknown”. However, in subsequent interviews, Buendia pointed to business matters as the cause of the band’s break-up.

In a PULP Magazine interview, Buendia’s wife and manager, Diane Ventura, claimed that the breakup started with a miscommunication between Buendia and the band’s roadie, the result being that Buendia and Ventura turned up late at a mall gig. This upset the roadie who snidely referred to the couple as “unprofessional”. Buendia’s band colleagues and crew at the gig gave Buendia “a cold shoulder”, related Ventura, being under the impression that Buendia had come late deliberately.

The next day, Buendia brought the incident to the attention of the band’s management boss, Butch Dans, to which he allegedly reverted the blame to the roadie’s “unprofessionalism”. Dans, however, allegedly chose to consider the roadie’s account over Buendia’s without much deliberation. Dans allegedly quipped that Buendia and Ventura were “probably too high on drugs” to remember the gig’s schedule.

Ventura stepped in to dispute the allegation and vehemently denied that she and Buendia were even told of the schedule. Unfortunately, the other three Eraserheads also believed the roadie’s story, which disturbed Buendia because he felt betrayed of their longstanding friendship. Buendia later announced to his mates through SMS that he was quitting the group.

In another interview, Marasigan said he was eating in SM Megamall, a local shopping mall, when he heard of the news (how he heard of it, was not clear). He said he was “semi-surprised” and wondered if Zabala already knew about it. Adoro told of the story now famous among Eraserheads fans about Buendia’s cryptic text message. He said Buendia stated in the text message that he had already “graduated.” Adoro quipped in the same interview that it was natural for Buendia to graduate first, since he was in batch ’87 of their college (UP Diliman), while the rest were in batch ’88.

Zabala confessed in an interview that disbanding had not been that far away from the members’ minds. He said that there were many occasions wherein they could have disbanded but did not.

Adoro expressed the belief of some people that the band was getting too old, and that it was “selfish” for the band to continue, likely referring to comments about how it’s time for other bands, besides the Eraserheads, to shine. The band made it clear, though, that Buendia’s departure from the band wasn’t in any way violent and that there was no shouting (sigawan) or any confrontation involved.

Without relenting, the three remaining Eraserheads decided to continue. Within a few weeks, the “new” Eheads debuted at Hard Rock Cafe in Makati City on April 19, featuring a female singer-guitarist, Kris Gorra-Dancel, from the band, Fatal Posporos. However, after a few months, Adoro had quit the band as well. The remaining members of the Eheads added Diego Mapa and Ebe Dancel to their lineup and renamed their band, “Cambio.”

Their reunion concert ended in a hangup for most fans because of the stress Buendia suffered when his mother died recently. Or maybe because he also felt the pains of the band’s breakup.

Whatever the is the real story behind the E-heads’ breakup, our generation is thankful for Ely Buendia, Raimund Marasigan, Buddy Zabala and Marcus Adoro for being an influential part of our young lives. (With information from Wikipedia)