The exorbitant prices of fish in a water-bound island like Bohol is an obscene reality. It is a consummation devoutly to be condemned.

But condemnation - without a solution - seemed to be the best the concerned Government agencies tasked to look into the matter ended up last Tuesday. The burden of having to bear the cost of high prices of fish remain foisted on many suffering Boholanos.

Time there was when fish was the poor man's viand, well within the reach of ordinary mortals. No longer, Virginia, and the way things are - with prices scaling up to P200 per kilo, the time is not far when dining with fish would be monetarily equivalent to ordering steak in a restaurant. And pork, no matter how sometimes unhealthy (compared to fish), will be on every man's daily diet. And increase the mortality caused by hypertension and heart attack, of course.

Government officials, who are protected by the cash and perks of public office, do not really care that much. Juan de la Cruz is just a statistic to be courted during election time and given a semblance of public hearing in times of crisis. Calling it a monopoly and not an oligopoly or the layman's equivalent of a cartel makes no difference. Price is manipulated.

In a monopoly, a single (obviously greedy capitalist) controls the fish supply and manipulates the price by controlling the release to the buying public. In super abundant times, he sells all the way to Cebu and then hoards the rest (with a little help from ice storage) and dictate the prices upon the poor consumers. In oligopoly, a few suppliers talk among themselves in a council headed by Beelzebub and declare one price for the consumers - take it or leave it.

Well, if the government cannot do it, let the citizens form an aggressive Consumers Watch Group and monitor closely these manipulated consumer goods prices - expose the men behind the manipulation to ostracize them from society. Invite via forums, other possible suppliers even from other provinces to level the playing field, likewise.

Government cannot prevent the shipping magnates from selling the fish out of the Bohol seawaters from being peddled elsewhere. But certainly the active and activist Consumer Watch Group can certainly start campaigning for a boycott of fish purchase by consumers for one month and place these capitalist Shylocks in their proper place.

That could be a good start. Who will start this Consumer Watch Group? We offer our media facilities to help this group gain ground and create further momentum for the greater interest of Juan de la Cruz.

CRIME CITY LIVES UP TO NEW NAME

Somebody had the nerve to ask who was responsible for calling Tagbilaran a Crime City in last week's editorial. Of course, the Editor in Chief claims full responsibility for that statement.

Having a preponderance of murder, shooting and robberies in almost reckless abandon even before one can rip the page of the January calendar is our basis for the new name of Tagbilaran. It was also enclosed in a question mark - because if it is not yet a Crime City, the records certainly said Tagbilaran City is becoming one.

Consider the records showing that cases of robbery, murder and rape has gone up as compared to last two years.

In the first 22 days of the year, the police recorded a total of 6 murder cases from only 1 and 3 in the same period during the last two months of January in 2006 and 2007 respectively.

A total of 20 robbery cases recorded during the past 22 days means there is thievery almost every day in the city. The figures show an uptrend with only 6 cases in 2006 and 17 in 2007 for comparable period. In the city, the robbers seem to have a special liking for the thickly populated Cogon district. Police has identified some of the so-called police characters. But, surprisingly no "big catch" has yet fallen into the police dragnet.

Worse, the robberies are becoming bolder, from highway holdups in broad daylight and the boldness of rob suspects to enter even rooms of victims. With that kind of crime record, it is clear that we are not living in Bethlehem during the time of Jesus' birth.

We hope this high crime incidence in the city will be consistently checked by PNP authorities. For his part, Mayor Dan Lim expedited the mobilization of "intelligence men" to arrest the suspects. But, it seems his efforts are not enough since there are still cases of robbery happening still. We hereby also call on the barangay captains to spearhead in this context by organizing their tanods as their "intelligence" network in their area.

We know for a fact that PNP Director Edgardo Ingking is a close friend of Mayor Dan Lim and we expect these two officials to blend together into one common direction.

The citizens, in the meantime, must fully defend their residences from intruders from hereon with licensed firearms, rotating household guards and get a dog, for Christ sake. They serve their masters and people far better than most people who claim they do.

Until we solve the crimes reported and stop the unabated incidents of criminality, we stand by our Editorial last week. We may even remove the question mark after "Crime City Tagbilaran?" God forbid.

BOHOLANO NUN HEALED BY FR. SUAREZ?

After our series of articles on the Healing Priest Fr. Fernando Suarez and the Montemaria Shrine in Batangas City, we were informed that one blue-blooded Boholana had claimed healing from the hands of the renowned Batangueño priest.

She is Sister Mary Purita of the Convent of the Divine Mercy in Tagaytay City. She is the only daughter of Juan Pajo of Valencia, former Bohol Governor and Executive Secretary of the late president Carlos P. Garcia - married to Pura Mendoza of Tagbilaran City.

Diagnosed for colon cancer, Sister Mary Purita was operated on a 3-on-1 surgery at the Lourdes Hospital in Mandaluyong, run by the sisters of the Holy Spirit, last April 2007. After the surgery, Fr. Fernando Suarez held a healing mass in the convent in Tagaytay and prayed over the cancer-stricken nun.

A week after, the surprised doctors declared her with a clean bill of health. Another statistic in the growing list of healed believers of Fr. Suarez.
Shalom.

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