Manila Bulletin

February 4, 2023
Onward, Forward

By: Jullie Y. Daza

To cap her graduation from the House of Representatives, Rosemarie (Baby)

Arenas received the ASEAN Interparliamentary Service Award last November in
Cambodia. No similar award in the Philippines, where we have more than 300
members sitting in the Lower House?

Baby’s daughter Rachel has stepped into her mother’s role as representative of
vote-rich Pangasinan’s largest district. Rachel is among the busiest
congresspersons besides her job as head of the foreign affairs committee, a
position that seems to have been prophesied by then President Ramos when he
said to me, “She will make a good diplomat.”

Some of us may want to ask Rep. Rachel to consider legislation to help the
saltmakers of Pangasinan, though the problem goes deeper than the available
technology. Nor is it simply the shrinking size of those areas available to make
salt, for as more families have moved closer and closer to the water, the
wastewater coming from their households has turned soapy, contaminating the
salt beds.

Back at the Arenas farm, the air is sweet as Baby’s workers turn out fragrances.
Scents make sense when they are packaged as men’s cologne (one brand is said
to have been Napoleon’s favorite!), bathroom essentials such as handwashing
liquid, and aromatherapy candles for the home and spas. The line introduces
unusual combinations like berry and orange, basil and neroli, no longer the same
rose and lavender as usual.

Moving onward and forward, congratulations, jyd, you’ve learned a new word!
Surprise of surprises to this illiterate, it’s a high-tech word: techglomerate, for
which I thank Maricar Bautista, AVP and communicator-in-chief of the Aboitiz
Group. Techglomerate, to quote Maricar, “is basically a conglomerate that
behaves with the agility, efficiency and innovation of a life-changing start-up,
driven by technology and a renewed entrepreneurial spirit.”

Maricar is quick to add, Aboitiz Group’s on its way to become the Philippines’ first
techglomerate. Carpe diem!, I reply with an old-fashioned pair of words.

During a cocktail party attended by what looked like 1,123 guests at Manila
Bulletin’s 123rd anniversary last Thursday, friends asked why the day’s issue
carried 100 pages “only.” Well, a signature is four pages, so 123 pages is not
divisible by four. Wait for next year’s 124th.

Read here: https://mb.com.ph/2023/02/04/onward-forward/