2017: An unforgettable year

Come to think of it, today is my last column for the year 2017, which for me is a very unforgettable year. First off, allow me to greet my wife Jessica on her nth birthday today. She has always been my better half, a good wife who earns her own keep, and a great mother and grandmother to our family. She was always with me through thick and thin.

The year 2017 will always be remembered by me as it is the year when I recovered from my kidney transplant, which happened on Nov. 8, 2016. Hence, I spent most of 2017 as a recuperation year. Last April, I also lost a good friend and a great Cebuano in Mr. Roberto “Bobby” Aboitiz who passed away waiting for his kidney transplant, which could not happen until he had his liver transplant. Somehow he suddenly left us on Holy Thursday.

This week I also lost two good friends. First was Mr. Hernan Streegan of Rhine Marketing a strong supporter of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines movement. The following day, Prof. Ricky Rama Poca, the main host of our 888 News Weekly Forum in Marco Polo Plaza passed on to eternal life. He was also waiting for a kidney transplant. But they could not do the procedure on him due to his weak heart. So he had to go on dialysis, until his heart gave up on him.

For the nation, the biggest news story that made the headlines was the attack on Marawi City by Maute terrorists. This happened on May 23 when Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte was in Russia visiting President Vladimir Putin. Because of this unexpected attack (actually, there were already rumors that the Maute group would stage this attack, but no one believed that they would do it) Martial Law was declared in the entire island of Mindanao.

After nearly four months of intense fighting and after the deaths of 160 brave Filipino soldiers and the killing of nearly a thousand Maute terrorists and 30 civilians, Marawi City was liberated and its residents are slowly returning. Slowly because the city was 80 percent devastated and many explosive devices had to be cleared in many areas. Marawi definitely is the biggest story that gripped the headlines for many months.

While the siege in Marawi City was going on, the Philippines woke up to another attack, this time in the heart of Manila as a lone attacker who turned out to be a debt-ridden bureaucrat named Javier Carlos did something that could only happen in other countries, but never in the Philippines. He attacked the Resorts World Hotel and ended up killing 37 people, most of whom died of smoke inhalation as they were trapped in a locked room.

But not all news in 2017 was bad news, the successful hosting of the 31st ASEAN Summit in Manila brought world leaders like US Pres. Donald Trump, Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and all the leaders in ASEAN to Manila, giving Pres. Duterte high marks despite his getting a bad review by the UN Human Rights groups because of his war against drugs.

On the war against drugs front, the big news came on July 30 when the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group raided the house of Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog, killing his wife and a relative together with 15 supporters of the Parojinog family. He is the third mayor to be killed in the war against drugs. If there was no public outcry, it is because people knew about the underworld life of the Parojinogs, who became mainstream politicians thanks to narco politics.

Finally on the political front, who could forget that marital spat between Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista and his estranged wife Patricia who suddenly appeared in the front pages of our national dailies? Despite appearances in many TV interviews by Bautista and his wife in the hope of winning the publicity game, Congress ended up forcing the Comelec chairman to resign or be impeached. So these are the main juicy stories for 2017, which makes it a very unforgettable year. We can only hope that 2018 will be a better one for our nation and our people.

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For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.