Part XII of an Occasional Series on “Saving Our Sorsogon (SOS) Bay”

Readers may please find a reproduction of an e-mail sent by Lolo Bobby M. Reyes to Ms. Gina Lopez, in answer to an invitation sent by her office to a press conference in the City of Cerritos, Los Angeles County, tomorrow, Monday, Aug. 8, 2011, at 3:30 p.m.

Here is the invitation in form of an ABS-CBN Press Release:

Redwood City, CA (August 3, 2011) – The Philippines’ ABS CBN Foundation Managing Director, Gina Lopez announces a bold program that is set to change the game in Philippine ecotourism, starting with Palawan.

WHAT:       A conversation with Gina Lopez on community-based sustainable 

                    tourism

WHEN:        August 8, 2011

                     3:30PM

WHERE:     Goldilocks Restaurant & Bakeshop

11489 South Street
Cerritos, CA 90703

WHO:           ABS CBN Foundation International

CONTACT: To RSVP, please email Keesa Ocampo (keesa_ocampo@abs-cbn.com) by August 7. Onsite contact will be Letty Quizon (408.455.4137)

                     For more details on the ABS CBN Foundation International, visit www.abscbnfoundation.org

                     Find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/abscbnfoundation

                     Twitter: @abscbnfi

==============================================

H ere is Lolo Bobby’s “love letter” to Ms. Gina Lopez, as e-mailed:

August 7, 2011

Ms. Gina Lopez

Managing Director

ABS CBN Foundation

Manila, Philippines

Sent by E-mail through keesa_ocampo@abs-cbn.com

BCC: Filipino-American Press

Dear Ms. Lopez:

If you might recall, we at the Media Breakfast Club of Los Angeles, California, had the honor in 2003 of having you as our guest speaker in one of our weekly forums then held at the Filipino-American Community of Los Angeles (FACLA).

We salute you and recognize your efforts as “Manila’s most-fiery advocate for environmental and humanitarian causes announces the launch of a sustainability program in Palawan.”

But before you announce your “bold program that is set to change the game in Philippine ecotourism, starting with Palawan,” would you like also to discuss the reported pollution of Sorsogon Bay in Sorsogon Province by the Energy Development Corporation (EDC)? The EDC is a sister company of the ABS-CBN.

Our online publication, the www.mabuhayradio.com, has run a series on “Saving Our Sorsogon (SOS) Bay,” which is now on its 11^th installment. We are reproducing the hyperlinks to the said articles and we are also providing you the text of Part IV, which concerns the ABS-CBN itself.

As stated in Part IX of the series, “last Tuesday night, June 21, 2011, Nando Rivera, the public-relations director of the Energy Development Corporation (EDC), contacted by long-distance phone this writer. The conversation was very cordial.

“This writer asked to be furnished by e-mail the official response of the EDC in regard to the operations of the Bac-Man Geothermal Plant, including a copy of any environmental-impact study (EIS). To date, no e-mail has been received.

“A full report of the telephone conversation will be published, if needed, as soon as the e-mail and its attachments are received by this writer from the EDC.

“We promised that we would publish the EDC letter and materials in their entirety without any censorship or correction, as we are an equal-opportunity publication/”

But to date, August 7, 2011, Mr. Rivera has not sent any e-mail or slow mail about the requested data and documents. We were able to obtain, however a copy of the EIS, which is obsolete, the EDC having doubled the capacity of the Bac-Man Geothermal Plant as of June 2011.

We request most respectfully that you please inquire from the top management executives of the EDC why they have chosen to ignore the complaints of farmers and fishermen of Sorsogon Province. The farmers allege that their rice fields along the shores of Kawayan River are allegedly being polluted by the waste waters being emptied into it by the Bac-Man Geothermal Plant. The fishermen of Sorsogon Bay, into which the said Kawayan River empties, are also complaining of the alleged pollution caused by the EDC-owned and –operated geothermal plant.

I will do my best to attend your press conference slated tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. slated at the Goldilocks Restaurant & Bakeshop,11489 South Street, Cerritos, CA 90703.

Should I be unable to move my previous appointment, I am giving a BCC to my fellow members of the Filipino-American press in Southern California, so that they may be able to ask you about the matter of Sorsogon Bay.

Thank you for the attention and assistance to the marginalized farmers and fishermen of Sorsogon Province,

Mabuhay,

Bobby M. Reyes

Editor

www.mabuhayradio.com

(626) 825-0628

===========================

Ultimatum Given to BacMan Geothermal Plant to Treat Waste Water Before Emptying It into a Sorsogon-Bay Tributary

Sorsoganons in Southern California Threaten to Lead a Boycott of the ABS-CBN Pay-TV Operations in USA and Canada if EDC, its Sister Company, Will Not Stop Polluting Sorsogon Bay

Part IV of an Occasional Series on “Saving Our Sorsogon (SOS) Bay”

I understand and respect Lolo Bobby's viewpoints. He is an institution in the Fil-Am community. – Dr. Jun Rasul posted in an e-forum on Medicare on Feb. 26, 2011

A braham T. Rasul, Jr., M.D., is the president of the Philippine Medical Association, Metropolitan Washington, DC, and the president of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Medicine Mu Sigma Phi Foundation. He is also the USA founder of the “Aid for Mindanao.”

Yes, Dr. Jun Rasul and many leaders in the Filipino-American communities know the track record of Lolo Bobby Reyes and his friends in battling even Filipino diplomats and established public-benefit corporations over some perceived community causes and concerns. Consul General-designate Tomas “Buddy” Gomez, III, and Consul General Edwin D. Bael initially laughed at Lolo Bobby’s activism in 1993 and 2001, respectively. Mr. Gomez’s nomination was withdrawn and Mr. Bael was recalled some three years ahead of his tenure’s end because of public protests initiated by Lolo Bobby.

The ruling cliques of the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations (NaFFAA), the Filipino-American National Historical Society (FANHS) and the “Books for the Barrios” have experienced drastic reductions in membership and supporters and big drops in donations after Lolo Bobby and his friends decided to fight for reforms and the ATIC in the said public-benefit corporations. Lolo Bobby coined the ATIC (accountability, transparency, integrity and credibility) slogan in 2002.

Then Philippine Tourism Secretary Mina Gabor experienced how Lolo Bobby and his friends fought for principles when they demanded the compliance of the ATIC slogan when her office fielded four Filipino floats at the 1997 and 1998 Pasadena Tournament of Roses parade. Lolo Bobby defended himself “In Propria Persona” at the Superior Court of Los Angeles, California, when Mrs. Lourdes Ongkeko, then the regional chair of the NaFFAA and concurrent chair of the US-Philippines Tourism Advisory Council, sued him in 2000 for libel after he called her and the Philippine tourism officials as crooks in his exposés about the parade floats. Lolo Bobby won five out of the seven issues in the libel case tried by a jury in 2002, without him presenting any witness or submitting any piece of evidence for the defense.

The whole Overseas-Filipino world knows that Lolo Bobby and his supporters never give up. They have been fighting the NaFFAA, the FANHS and the Books for the Burgis, oops, Barrios since 2000. And they are still fighting hard without any let up. Lolo Bobby has even reported finally in May 2011 the ruling NaFFAA clique to the federal authorities for tax evasion and other violations of the Income Tax Law and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

A Bigger Advocacy Looms for Sorsogon Bay

Today, June 14, 2011, Lolo Bobby sent a follow-up e-mail at 7:28:00 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, to the Energy Development Corporation. The e-mail is reproduced in its entirety in this article:

QUOTE.

Energy Development Corporation

Bldg. 5, Energy Center, Merritt Road,

Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City 1201 Philippines

Through: The Public Relations Department

Email: pubrels@energy.com.ph

Call (+632) 667.7EDC
(667.7332)

RE: “Saving Our Sorsogon (SOS) Bay” Series of Articles

Dear Sirs and Ladies:

Obviously you chose to ignore our e-mail of request sent to you on June 10, 2011, at 10:00 a.m., Pacific Standard Time. On the other hand the Public Affairs Division of Chevron immediately acknowledged receipt of a similar inquiry in the same morning of June 10th, as described in the article, http://www.mabuhayradio.com/ecology-and-the-environment/back-to-bacman-tracing-to-the-geothermal-plant-an-apparent-cause-of-pollution-in-sorsogon-bay

We reiterate our request for your side of the controversial issue of the pollution of Sorsogon Bay that has been claimed by environmental activists as being caused by your BacMan geothermal plant. If you do not favor us within 24 hours with a reply that will manifest also a desire to engage the peoples of Sorsogon and Albay in a meaningful dialogue to address the issue of cleaning up the waste waters of the said geothermal facility, we will commence an immediate boycott of your sister company, the ABS-CBN, especially its Pay-TV operations in the United States and Canada.

Yes, while your conglomerate thinks that Sorsoganons are powerless to force you to comply with the provisions of the Clean Water Act of the Philippines insofar as Sorsogon Bay is concerned, the boycott that we will lead can cause irreparable financial and public-relations damages to your sister company, the ABS-CBN.

Thank you for the attention and cooperation.

Mabuhay,

Bobby M. Reyes

A legal resident of Sorsogon City, Philippines, and

an Overseas-Filipino worker-journalist cum editor, www.mabuhayradio.com

UNQUOTE.

Here is proof that both the EDC and the ABS-CBN are sister companies:

http://thinkgeoenergy.com/archives/7592

Not the First Time to Threaten a Boycott of the ABS-CBN

On January 7, 2008, Lolo Bobby sent a protest letter to the ABS-CBN’s executives in Redwood City, California, over the protest of Cebuanos and Cebuano-American community leaders over the perceived racial slur in a movie produced by a subsidiary of ABS-CBN.

On Jan. 23, 2008, Rafael Lopez of the ABS-CBN replied to Lolo Bobby, which reply the www.mabuhayradio.com published and which readers can browse in this hyperlink,

ABS-CBN Replies to MabuhayRadio.com’s E-mail About Racial Slur in the Movie, “Sakal, Sakali, Saklolo

URL: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/bai-cebu-magellan-column/abs-cbn-replies-to-mabuhayradio-com-s-e-mail-about-racial-slur-in-the-movie-sakal-sakali-saklolo

Lolo Bobby was asked to head in the United States – as a member of the Cebu Brotherhood, Inc. (CBI) – the boycott against ABS-CBN. But the protest was stopped when Cebuano leaders in the Philippines were appeased by executives of the ABS-CBN. Lolo Bobby has been a CBI member since 1994. He co-chaired its Sinulog Festival-L.A. committee in 2007 and 2008. Mr. Reyes eventually was elected as the first-non native Cebuano to the CBI Board of Directors in February 2008.

The ABS-CBN executives further realized the support that Lolo Bobby gets from the community in May 2010. This was when supporters of then-presidential candidate Sen. Manny Villar designated Lolo Bobby to represent the Villar Camp in a televised “Miting de Avance” that an ABS-CBN program, “Balitang America” aired. Here is a video of Lolo Bobby’s appearance at the ABS-CBN studio:

http://www.balitangamerica.tv/miting-de-avance-manuel-villar-jr/?sms_ss=email

As the ABS-CBN executives and Lolo Bobby realize, “one keeps friends close but enemies (adversaries) closer.”

Why the Boycott Against ABS-CBN Pay-TV Operations Will Hurt

The ABS-CBN’s Pay-TV operations in the United States and Canada consisting of six channels cost Filipino subscribers an average of $35 per month.  Reportedly the ABS-CBN has managed to sign up some 200,000+ subscribers in North America. There are more-than 600,000 Filipino households in the United States alone.

If the Sorsoganons, the Friends of Bobby Reyes (FBR) and North-American Friends of the Philippines will be able to persuade 100,000 Filipino clients in the United States and Canada to drop off the ABS-CBN, it will cost roughly (in gross receipts) US$3.5-million per month. More advertising revenues can be lost if the pro-SOS Bay demonstrators will picket the Philippine and/or North-American offices of the companies buying commercials in the ABS-CBN channels. (A thousand clients pay the ABS-CBN just US$35,000 or Pesos 1.4-million per month, which the Lopez consortium may be able to afford to lose initially. But if the boycott extends to Metro Manila, will the economic results not hurt the Lopez-owned conglomerate?) What business likes to appear as a polluter and an enemy of Mother Earth?

There are after all North-American competitors of the ABS-CBN that can deliver also Filipino programs such as the GMA7 and starting next month, a Pay-TV operation of Channel 5 of Manila.

Perhaps it would make sense for the EDC and ABS-CBN to protect the environment. Perhaps their executives will find it cheaper to spend between US$6-million to $10-million in building a modern sewage-treatment plant that will treat the waste waters being discharged by their BacMan Geothermal Plant. And pipe the treated water not to Sorsogon Bay but to the nearer Pacific Ocean, off the coast of the Bacon District of Sorsogon City.

It is, therefore, a Win-Win situation for the environment and a No-Win situation for the EDC and its sister companies that belong to the Lopez consortium. Now, will the EDC and the ABS-CBN resort to reason or call the bluff (if they think that Sorsoganons are bluffing)? “To be (boycotted) or not to be” is the question. Who will blink first?

(To be continued . . .)

E ditor’s Note: Here are links to the previous articles in this series:

The “Save Our Sorsogon (SOS) Bay” Initiative (Part I)

URL: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/ecology-and-the-environment/the-save-our-sorsogon-sos-bay-initiative

Sorsogon Bay: “So Near, Yet So FBAR.” The “Red Tide” Ban by the BFAR Must Be Lifted  (Part II)

URL: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/ecology-and-the-environment/sorsogon-bay-so-near-yet-so-fbar-the-red-tide-ban-by-the-bfar-must-be-lifted

“Back to BacMan,” Tracing to the Geothermal Plant an Apparent Cause of Pollution in Sorsogon Bay (Part III)

URL: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/ecology-and-the-environment/back-to-bacman-tracing-to-the-geothermal-plant-an-apparent-cause-of-pollution-in-sorsogon-bay

Ultimatum Given to BacMan Geothermal Plant to Treat Waste Water Before Emptying It into a Sorsogon-Bay Tributary (Part IV)

URL: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/ecology-and-the-environment/ultimatum-given-to-bacman-geothermal-plant-to-treat-waste-water-before-emptying-it-into-a-sorsogon-bay-tributary

Sorsoganons Got Guts and Know How to Face Death Honorably (Part V)

URL: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/ecology-and-the-environment/sorsoganons-got-guts-and-know-how-to-face-death-honorably

More On the “Save Our Sorsogon (SOS) Bay” Advocacy: “Arin si Brockovich?” (Part VI)

URL: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/ecology-and-the-environment/more-on-the-save-our-sorsogon-sos-bay-advocacy-arin-si-brockovich

Sorsogon Public Officials Don’t Know How to Google for Geothermal Energy’s Environmental Issues (Part VII)

URL: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/ecology-and-the-environment/sorsogon-public-officials-don-t-know-how-to-google-for-geothermal-energy-s-environmental-issues

Sorsogon Must Go for the Jugular Against the EDC, the Lopez Conglomerate and the PNOC, Et Al, for the Ecological Rape of Sorsogon Bay  (Part VIII)

URL: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/ecology-and-the-environment/sorsogon-must-go-for-the-jugular-against-the-edc-the-lopez-conglomerate-and-the-pnoc-et-al-for-the-ecological-rape-of-sorsogon-bay

“Save Our Sorsogon (SOS) Bay” Campaign Endorsed to Department of Tourism as the EDC Contacts Bobby Reyes  (Part IX)

URL: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/ecology-and-the-environment/save-our-sorsogon-sos-bay-campaign-endorsed-to-department-of-tourism-as-the-edc-contacts-bobby-reyes

Bacon-Manito Geothermal Project EIA 1985  (Part XI)

URL: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/ecology-and-the-environment/bacon-manito-geothermal-project-eia-1985

(To be continued …)