Circulated mostly through cellular phones, the idea that text messages should be free of charge will certainly appeal to all mobile-phone owners, especially those addicted to texting.

To a country which is among the world’s top texters, it is an attractive idea, but I’m afraid that to allow free text messages to proliferate because it’s free will finally overwhelm the system and may not be a good idea after all.

Can you imagine that even when texting is not free, there is constant overloading of the networks, resulting in breakdowns and delays in transmitting your messages, not to mention the countless prankish text messages that are outright irritating? Some crazy texters even send messages during unholy hours of the night, obviously for the sole purpose of annoying you.

Likewise, there are so many false rumors being spread through text, including “advisories” meant to destabilize the country. Some con artists use texting to swindle their targets, like messages saying that you won something substantial when you have not joined any contest at all, only to learn that you are being conned. It is wise to reexamine the free-texts proposal as we also take a good look at curbing the unbridled criminal abuses dominating this industry.

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In a bid to restore the confidence of the people on government board examinations, President Arroyo issued Executive Order 565-A on October 9, 2006, attaching the Professional Regulation Commission to the Department of Labor and Employment, amending EO 565.

This move was prompted by the furor over alleged test leakages during the nursing board examinations. This is in answer to some queries addressed to the undersigned.

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After weeks of negotiation, the Burmese military junta finally agreed to allow the entry of humanitarian aid into the cyclone-hit state. A 30-man Filipino medical team with some 13 tons of relief goods has flown to Burma aboard a C-130 aircraft, under Col. Rey Deveraturda, mission commander. The team is prepared to help thousands of displaced families and survivors of the killer cyclone and will stay in Burma for two weeks.

We salute the members of the mercy team and its commander. Let the Philippine flag fly high and proud.

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Filipino artists are getting much world attention in art circles around the world. Just recently, young Filipino artists outpaced older and more prominent counterparts in auctions held at Christie’s, selling art pieces for millions.

Congratulations! Our young Filipino talents are capturing and leading in various fields of endeavor, turning the whole world into their arena of activity.

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The order of the President for public academic institutions not to raise tuition should be viewed in the light of soaring prices of almost all commodities in the country, except perhaps for water. Not yet, that is.

Certainly, schools deserve to pay their professors well in order to retain their services; as well as improve their facilities to entice students to stay put. However, at a time when a tuition increase competes with other hikes, the prospect of underwriting the college education of children becomes second only to survival.

Public schools, colleges and universities may find other sources of generating revenues, and there are limitless opportunities if one is creative, and least of all is relying on government to subsidize operations all the time. This reflects on the dynamism of school managers. As they say, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. 

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The damage to rice lands and other agricultural plantations wrought by storm Cosme has reached P1.5 billion. And this is far from the devastating strength of the Burma cyclone, yet its destruction has crippled the northern provinces. This will lay back the government’s plans to stabilize its rice buffer stocks, and thanks to the President’s diplomatic offensive with our Asian neighbors in bringing in future imports, we may not at all feel the pinch.

In the same way that we may not be directly affected by the natural calamities striking our Asian neighbors or other provinces far from home, in the final analysis, it will eventually hit us like the plague.

Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, so it’s said.

That maxim applies especially to the poor, who must not only live by their wits but also cope with unaffordable power rates. A better option for them, however, is to discard candles for lighting and firewood for cooking and tap electricity instead. That’s the basic rationale for the government proposal to set aside a P2-billion subsidy for their electricity use.

A lot of us have been faced with a situation where the circumstance calls for an answer on whether or not to be a partner, a creditor or merely an investor of a particular project or business.

The next investment scandal may have just passed us without our noticing it. Like most in Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration, they strike like thieves in the night.

Coast-to-Coast: So, will the electric rates be reduced?

AS promised, the protagonists in the much-anticipated boardroom battle at the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) annual stockholders’ meeting last week did their level best to outmaneuver each other for control of the country’s biggest power-distribution company.

Boiled Green Bananas: Grace from children of God

One of the most memorable films I have seen is Children of a Lesser God, starring William Hurt. It is about a teacher (Hurt) who taught the deaf and dumb to speak even as they lived in a world of silence. In the film, those who are differently abled are described as “Children of of a Lesser God.” Children created from a different mold; children especially loved by God.

The Entrepreneur: Watch us work

THERE is absolutely no basis to criticisms that the Senate has been slow in the passage of important legislative measures. Our record speaks for itself. And I believe that the current session will be among the most productive for the chamber in terms of legislative output.

Reflections from the Mirror: Free text may be harmful

Circulated mostly through cellular phones, the idea that text messages should be free of charge will certainly appeal to all mobile-phone owners, especially those addicted to texting.