We made a position last week that Sec. Carlos Jericho L. Petilla of the Department of Energy has all the reason to stay put in the Cabinet. This week the former Leyte governor sent his letter of resignation to Pres. Pnoy for failing to re-electrify at least three towns in his home province thus, he was short of his promise to restore power in the Visayas on or before the Christmas day. But the three remaining towns had their electricity last Dec. 25 and a day later. Pres. Pnoy rejected Petilla's resignation and we fully agree with the decision. Such act exposed one of the best appointees of the President in his cabinet. Our friend in the city sanggunian called it an “endangered specy”, whatever that means.

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Speaking of resignations, if there is one Cabinet member who should resign as an aftermath of the 7.2 killer quake and the wrath of Yolanda, it should be Sec. Mar Roxas of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). Roxas, in all his efforts to gain political mileage for his 2016 presidential campaign, has bungled everything in the process. Look at what he has done with Mayor Alfred Romualdez of Tacloban City who cried when investigated by a congressional committee two weeks ago when he exposed what Roxas did to him because he was a Romualdez. Added to this was how Roxas's wife, Korina, gained negative reaction for her response to the report by Anderson Cooper of CNN News. But Roxas never offered to resign. He really wanted to take Malacanang by 2016 even if Pres. Pnoy has hinted otherwise.

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According to the Chinese zodiac, 2014 is the year of the horse. It starts from Jan. 31, 2014, the lunar New Year or the Spring Festival of China , and lasts to Feb. 18, 2015. The spirit of the horse is recognized to be the Chinese people's ethos – making unremitting efforts to improve themselves. It is energetic, bright, warm-hearted, intelligent and able. Ancient people liked to designate an able person as “Qianli Ma”, a horse that covers a thousand li a day. One li is equals to 500 meters. People born in the year of the horse have ingenious communicating techniques and in their community they always want to be in the limelight. They are clever, kind to others, and like to join in a venture career. Although they sometimes talk too much, they are cheerful, perceptive, talented, earthy but stubborn. They like entertainment and large crowds. They are popular among friends, active at work and refuse to be reconciled to failure, although their endeavor cannot last indefinitely. 

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We do not have feng shui tips for 2014 but we are definitely sure that this year would be better year than 2013. Personally, it was a challenging year for us with our debacle in the local elections and the killer quake that we had last Oct. 15 then we have to suffer the repercussions brought about by Typhoon Yolanda herein Bohol practically on our electricity. We really look forward for a better year in 2014 as our economy is expected to bounce back due to the calamities that we had last year. In other words, it is our belief that the year 2014 will be a prosperous year for all of us.

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POSTSCRIPT: We had our three-day Christmas break in Cebu City and came back in the driver's seat to count the days for the New Year. But we have to attend to a fiesta invitation yesterday in Candabong, Loboc and the Trinity 9B gathering tomorrow evening led by Bro. Greg Quiachon. Our clan will also have a gathering on Tuesday at the Dao Diamond starting at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. That would be quiet a countdown before the year of the horse starts. There's more when we return this time, for 2014.