Several town executives again utilized their discretion to suspend classes due to heavy rains, probably on the advice of local disaster officials who are fixated on web-based weather forecasts that predict rainfall.
Such discretion should be used sparingly, as the need for our children to go to school and learn is much more important than our fear of their getting wet and sick.
Not all heavy rain predictions are correct as we all know weather to be fickle. Last Monday’s rains did not cause flooding and petered out after lunch.
The loss of a day’s worth of lessons would be recovered by DepEd through extra classes on a Saturday, taking away precious family time during weekends when parents are supposed to be home after working from Monday to Friday.
It appears that many of our local chief executives are raising school children to be sissies by suspending classes because of a little rain, when Catandunganons have always been known to be hardy and resilient even in the face of supertyphoons.
As their advice is usually taken seriously by their bosses, officials of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Offices should carefully weigh their recommendations and consider the potential of predicted heavy rain occurrence to cause flooding or landslides.
The Windy.com site offers an hour-by-hour forecast of precipitation. The figures should be able to guide local disaster officials a basis on whether such rain occurrence could cause heavy flooding, enough to prompt the suspension of classes.
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The local media is ganging up on Virac police chief Maj. Bon Billy Timuat for his below-the-belt tirade against TV and broadsheet journalist Jinky Tabor.
The Gigmoto-born classmate of SAF 44 hero Max Jim Tria was earlier criticized by the Catanduanes media for not replying to texted queries regarding significant incidents in the capital town and for not answering calls.
A subsequent meeting of the Catanduanes Police Press Corps held off the approval of a resolution calling for Timuat’s relief, hoping that the police chief would change his attitude towards the media.
Last Saturday, at the height of the apparently overacting hysteria over the mysterious bag suspected bty the police to be an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) left at the side of the road in San Isidro Village, Virac, Maj. Timuat alleged shouted at Tabor, “Bawal ang media dito,” in the presence of other officials from other law enforcement and disaster agencies.
In a text message sent to Tabor and shared by the latter on the CATPPO press corps chat group, Timuat launched a personal attack against the journalist and then made a veiled threat: “I know more about u than what u know about me.”
We do not anticipate what the good police provincial director would do about Timuat and his already acrimonious relationship with the local media.
Already, Tabor has fired a shot across Camp Camacho’s bow, posting a reminder from the PNP Internal Affairs Service (IAS) that “any PNP personnel who publicly consort with women of ill repute and/or scandalously cohabit with or maintain a wife other than his legitimate spouse shall be sanctioned for Grave Misconduct.”
Among the scores of police officers in and out of Camp Camacho, who will fit the bill, so to speak, can probably be answered by local media members.
The CATTPPO will conduct an investigation on the matter to determine the cause and address differences in a proper forum but it could prove to be too late.
By the way, the police probe into the Bagay drive-by shooting has reportedly reached the absurd conclusion that it was self-inflicted.
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A VISIT TO THE DENTIST. The Cohens were shown into the dentist’s office, where Mr. Cohen made it clear he was in a big hurry.
“No fancy stuff, Doctor,” he ordered. “No gas or needles or any of that stuff. Just pull the tooth and get it over with.”
“I wish more of my patients were as stoic as you,” said the dentist admiringly. “Now, which tooth is it?”
Mr. Cohen turned to his wife, Jenny. “Show him your tooth, Honey.”