Pangasinan hardest hit: 44 dead from 'Cosme' in Central, Northern Luzon

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union -- The death toll from tropical storm "Cosme" has reached 44 in Central and Northern Luzon with most fatalities coming from Region 1 particularly in Pangasinan.

Region 1 (Ilocos) was considered the hardest hit area by Cosme, which left the country on May 20.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council said the number of injured has reached 16, five from Region 1, four from Region 3 (Central Luzon), and seven from the Cordillera Administrative Region as of press time.

NDCC said 31 casualties were from Pangasinan, eight from La Union, four from Zambales and one from Benguet. Most of the victims died after being hit by falling debris and flying sheets of galvanized iron roofing blown away by strong winds.
The NDCC said 16 people were injured while one was reported missing as of press time.

More than one million residents of Regions 1, 3, 6 and the Cordillera Administrative Region were affected by floods, landslides and storm surges brought by Cosme, which made landfall in Pangasinan last Saturday and slashed through Northern Luzon.

The damage to agriculture and infrastructure was placed at P149.66 million.
The NDCC said several power transmission lines in La Union, Pangasinan and Zambales were damaged when several towers were toppled by strong winds.
Electricity has yet to be restored in 10 towns and a city in La Union, 21 in Pangasinan and two municipalities in Zambales.

Telecommunications and water supply in Pangasinan have also been cut off since May 17, the NDCC said.

Relief operations were still being conducted in the affected areas at press time.
Elvira Calina, regional disaster coordinating council chief of Pangasinan, said about 80 percent of the province still has no electricity.

She said officials were working on restoring power within two weeks.

Potable water was brought in from nearby provinces or was drawn by residents using manual pumps because the local water distribution company could not operate without power, she said.

Chief weather forecaster Nathaniel Cruz said Cosme, which reached the strength of a typhoon when it hit Pangasinan, generated small tornadoes, which could partly account for the widespread damage.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapuz said 74 school buildings were damaged, including 43 in Pangasinan, less than two weeks before the start of the school year.

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development said the agency has provided close to P1-million worth of food packs to affected families in the provinces of Pangasinan, La Union, Zambales, Benguet and Baguio City.

DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral said the agency has more than P5 million in standby funds and stockpiles in the four affected regions.

Twelve evacuation centers were set up by the DSWD in the CAR and Regions 1, 3, and 6, which served 205 families or 1,170 individuals who sought temporary shelter in these centers, bringing to 43,003 families and 229,225 persons served in various ways relative to the recent onslaught of Cosme.

Aside from scattered rainshowers, no tropical cyclone is likely to affect the country until the weekend, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said yesterday May 21.

Pagasa weather forecaster Rene Paciente said latest satellite data showed that there was a slim chance that the low pressure area spotted off southern Visayas will develop into a tropical depression.

However, Paciente said the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) would bring rains over Luzon and the eastern section of Visayas and Mindanao in the next 24 hours.
Paciente said the country could be visited by at least one more tropical cyclone this month.

As of 2 a.m. on May 21, the LPA was estimated at 910 kilometers east of southern Visayas, which was embedded along the ITCZ.

Twenty tropical cyclones are expected to enter the Philippine area of responsibility this year, Pagasa earlier said.

Last year, a total of 49 people were killed and over 180,000 families were affected by
13 tropical cyclones that hit the country, according to the NDCC.

The weather disturbances also left damage to agriculture and infrastructure reaching over P800 million, the NDCC said.

In his report to President Arroyo, Defense Secretary and NDCC Chairman Gilberto C. Teodoro Jr. said that damage to agriculture and infrastructure has reached P3.327 billion, with Region 1 accounting for P3.284 billion in agriculture and P15.492 million in infrastructure damages. -- By Jerry Padilla, Jennelyn Mondejar and George Trillo

Tribal group opposes mine firm’s exploration

By Dexter A. See

BAKUN, Benguet – A tribal group in this remote town urged the Cordillera office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples to turn down a request for endorsement of a mining exploration project here because the proponent failed to obtain the consent of affected communities.

Consultations were conducted to seek the consent of affected villages for its exploration project, but the Gambang Indigenous Community and Peoples Organization said Royalco Philippines, a mining company, failed to get the full support of the affected people.

One reason for the company’s failure to get the consent of the villagers was its failure to address concerns about environmental protection and livelihood for the people who would be displaced by the project.

The group said the required majority vote of the affected residents was not obtained when it conducted a referendum, a process required by law to get the people’s consent for the project.

The majority vote depends on the population of the affected communities, and it is an important factor in determining if a mining project is going to be endorsed.

The group said a majority vote for the endorsement of the project was not obtained when the referendum was held last December, but despite the failure to get the required vote, a memorandum of agreement was signed between the elders and the company.

Results of the referendum showed that only 745 voters or 25.69 percent of the total number of voters (2,899) participated in the decision-making exercise, the group said.
This indicated that there was no substantial compliance with the consultation process.

But despite the failure, some elders and Royalco executives reportedly signed an agreement on the conduct of the exploration project.

The signing reportedly took place in Barangay Bangao in Buguias town, a place outside the municipality of Bakun.

The group alleged the company had initiated series of meetings with residents of affected areas, claiming that the consultations were authorized by NCIP.

It was also claimed that some of the residents who attended the series of meetings were allegedly given small amounts of money by some company executives in consideration for their support for the exploration, which is in preparation for actual mining operations.

Bakun is considered one of the highly mineralized areas in the province with a substantial amount of ore deposits, which could sustain viable large-scale mining operations.

The affected the people of the indigenous communities are invoking their rights and privileges provided for under the Indigenous peoples Rights Act.

IPRA requires free and prior informed consent for a mining project so that abuses by the mining companies could be prevented and so that the affected communities would benefit from mining operations.

The NCIP is expected to evaluate the positions of the affected communities in connection with the agreement entered into between some elders of the community and the mining executives before it decides on the question of whether or not to
endorse the exploration project.

Miner’s body found in tunnel

TUBA, Benguet – A 48-year-old miner, who was suspected to have been trapped, was found dead by his fellow miners inside a mine tunnel at Camp 6 here.

Chief Supt. Eugene G. Martin, regional police director, identified the victim as Ben Baligno, 48, married, pocket miner, native of Tadian, Mountain Province, resident of Camp 6, Tuba, Benguet.

Police investigation showed the victim went inside the tunnel to continue extracting ores late afternoon on May 17 when typhoon "Cosme" was whipping the Cordillera.

His companions, who refused to join him in the operation, were alarmed when Baligno did not come back to their residence the past two days.

They sought the assistance of the Tuba police station in the search of their missing companion.

Later, rescuers found the body of the victim inside the tunnel which was reportedly filled with water. – Dexter A. See

Former NPA rebels turn lemon grass oil extractors

By Mike Guimbatan Jr.

BANAUE, Ifugao—They lived half their lives with the wild grasses of the Cordillera, but today, some of the former communist rebels in Ifugao ventured into lemon grass production and processing.

Mario Pugong, a former rebel leader who was a pioneer member of the first communist movement in the Cordillera based in Hapao, Hungduan is now engaged in the distillation and fermentation of essential oils and other extracts from lemon grass.

Pugong is the president of the Concerned Citizens for Ifugao Peace and Development, composed mostly of former rebels turned farmers in Banaue and Hungudan areas.

The CCIPD has been planting lemon grass in commercial quantities to show example in their community that there is a better alternative to the illegal marijuana production.
It paid off when government and non-government institutions recognized their effort and convinced them into oil extraction and by-products processing.

The group now produces pure extracts for sale to cosmetics and detergent processors as well as processing by-products into organic fertilizers, organic pesticides, local soap manufacturing and tea drinks.

According to Pugong, many of his former colleagues in the communist movement have now turned entrepreneurs engaged in the planting not just of lemon grass but also of arabica and robusta coffee varieties.

Fernando Bahatan, a retired government executive and project coordinator of the CCIPD sourced out partners such as the Isabela State University , the Geo Farms in Bayambang, Pangasinan, and even the United Nations Development Programme.

Bahatan said they have been in partnership with donor agencies and are currently developing the practical use of lemon grass leaves for community use.

In his report to outgoing peace adviser Jesus Dureza, Bahatan said they have other ventures but the lemon grass production provided greater interest and returns.

Lemon grass in upland communities grow bigger and taller but the only disadvantage is their oil production which is lower than tropical plantation areas. “It could be attributed to the climate”, Bahatan explained but their group said they produce better quality of oil.

For his part, Pugong said the production and processing of essential oils from lemon grass have been made possible in projects for rebel returnees with the assistance of UNDP and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.

“The projects help us rebel returnees in community-based rural development, as well as the opportunity in our dreams for a better livelihood” Pugong told Dureza and international donors during an ocular visit to a lemon grass fermentation and distillation plant in Banaue last week.

Bahatan meanwhile said lemon grass production and processing include “capacity-building seminar-workshops where we could assist the members of the CCIPD and interested community residents on lemon grass leaves, distilled water, and essential oils.”

Lemongrass is used in herbal teas and other nonalcoholic beverages in baked goods, and in confections. Oil from lemongrass is widely used as a fragrance in perfumes and cosmetics, such as soaps and creams.

Citral, extracted from the oil, is used in flavoring soft drinks in scenting soaps and detergents, as a fragrance in perfumes and cosmetics, and as a mask for disagreeable odors in several industrial products.

Citral is also used in the synthesis of ionones used in perfumes and cosmetics.

Councilor killed in Abra; violence rises

BANGUED, Abra – Assassins in the province have become bolder with their latest victim, 65-year-old Tineg town councilor Pedro Inon who was shot dead night of May 19 in his boarding house here at Barangay Calaba.

A septuagenarian lawyer and a security guard were also recently killed inside their own turfs.

Criminal defense lawyer Demetrio Villamor Pre, 75, was gunned down in his house-cum-law office in Barangay Bone 4, Bangued town.

That same day, and just a few steps away from Pre’s house, 32-year-old security guard Efren Bersalona was slain in the Bangued town hall where he was on duty.

The Bangued town hall is a few meters away from the provincial capitol building where President Arroyo met with National Security Council and Cordillera leaders a week before the killings. Both murders remain unsolved.

Inon, the third ranking board member of hinterland Tineg town, was resting in his boarding house when he was killed night of May 19.

Inon was a known political ally of Tineg Mayor Edwin Crisologo, who in turn, was associated with former governor Vicente Valera.

No jueteng in P’panga,cop chiefs declare

By George Trillo

ANGELES CITY – The police directors of Pampanga and this city denied claims jueteng persists in their turfs, but admitted “bookies” have persisted as they capitalize on the legal operations of the small town lottery (STL).

“I am not privy to reports that jueteng persists in Pampanga. I don’t think we have jueteng in the province,” said Senior Supt. Keith Singian, provincial police director.

Senior Supt. Felixberto Castillo, who was installed as Angeles City police chief last month, also issued the same denial.

Castillo took over after Senior Supt. George Gaddi was sacked following a violent raid on the Lake Tahoe STL office here.

Castillo alleged some STL employees were engaged in “bookies,” which he said some people mistook as jueteng.

The Lake Tahoe office was padlocked during the raid, but Castillo said it reopened last Monday after “compromise talks” with city officials.

Earlier, Pampanga first district Rep. Carmelo Lazatin, vice chairman of the House of committee on games and amusement, cited reports that jueteng rakes in P90 million monthly in this city and P900 million in other parts of Pampanga.

He said the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, which runs STL, and the local governments hosting STL operations are losing out to the popular illegal numbers game.

But Singian said the “bookies” of some STL employees, particularly in Mabalacat and Magalang towns, are being mistaken as jueteng operations.

“What these STL bet collectors do is remit only 50 percent of the bets to the STL operator and retain the other 50 percent for bookies,” he said.

Seaman kills ex-soldier in tiff

SOLSONA, Ilocos Norte — A former Army soldier was killed last week during a quarrel with a vacationing seaman in Barangay Catangraran, this town, police said,
Police said doctors at the provincial hospital failed to revive victim Liberto "Atong" Gamboa Jr., 47, married, who was in comatose due to fractured skull.

SPO4 Alejandro Melchor said the victim confronted Aliman Gabriel, a seaman, whom he accused of mauling his son during a basketball game here.

Gabriel said he bashed the victim’s head with a stone when the former Army man tried to shoot him. -- Jun Guiang