Everyone’s in an uproar!  The Philippine organizing committee is at the moment announcing the 12th Asean Summit’s postponement to next year because of Typhoon Seniang.  Pahiya si gloria!

            I am actually chatting with my former Ateneo classmate and ABS-CBN Cebu journo Jun Tariman as I’m writing this.  He says the postponement could be a blessing in disguise for the Garcias.  Reportedly, while the CICC is more or less completed already, the site may flood if it rains hard.  Apparently, the drainage is still problematic as the center was built on just a reclaimed area.  This means, a few weeks’ palugit for the local dynasty.

            Jun is also saying that Cebu has changed a lot overnight because of its ex-future hosting of the summit.  Aside from the swank yet hurriedly built CICC, the city is spruced up dramatically.  There are now road islands and street lamps spaced just ten meters apart.  E di hindi na mapanghe ang Magellan’s Cross! Ahahaha!  

            Pero sayang naman lahat ng naghanda, naghahanda at bumiyahe na pa-Cebu—both to attend or to denounce.  Two of my Kodao colleagues are there already.

            But what bothered me most is how Cebu’s poorest is being affected by all of these hullabaloos.  When the Cebu government announced special holidays during the duration of the summit last September, the capitalists made their casual workers work double shifts without overtime pay so they could stock up on merchandise even with the long holiday.  When all quotas have been met, these workers were terminated.  And since they only get paid if they have work, they don’t have jobs when they need it most—immediately before the Yuletide season. 

            In good times, in bad times, the capitalists have it good and the workers suffer.

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12-08-2006