BEHIND THE SCENES

A weekend in Tabuk City
Alfred P. Dizon

TABUK CITY – It’s been quite sometime since I went to Kalinga and last week was a welcome respite from the daily grind in Baguio. Approaching Tabuk, one could see well-paved roads, an offshoot of an efficient zoning program implemented by local officials. From the roadsides, one could see rice paddies stretching far to lazy, rolling hills.

Tabuk’s roads are a far cry from the main thoroughfares of Baguio which had suddenly turned into an excellent version of the rugged passageway they call a road to the city’s Busol watershed. Any extraterrestrial entity who visited the moon would have felt at home traversing the city’s craters.

You see, a contractor earlier poured low grade asphalt on Baguio’s main roads, particularly along Bonifacio and Magsaysay. He may have wanted to make the people happy with his faster-than-lightning work. But then, alas, as most substandard projects of the Dept. of Public Works and Highways go, the asphalt found their way to the Balili River when Kabunian decided to pour lots of rain on the city.

It is indeed a source of wonder why the DPWH implements infrastructure projects during the rainy season when these could be done during dry months. But more on this in a later column as we are still having Tabuk jetlag.
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We were actually in Tabuk with March Fianza as resource speakers for a journalism seminar organized by the Cordillera Schools Group. Venue was the Tabuk Institute. Headed by Presentacion Bartolo as board chairman, the CSG is a conglomeration of protestant schools in the region.

Manang Precy was wondering why Anglican-run schools like St. James School of Besao town, and St.Mary’s School in Sagada, All Saints School in Bontoc, all in Mountain Province didn’t attend the seminar. Other Anglican high schools in Apayao and Abra also didn’t come. Manang Precy was saying she informed the bishop’s office in Bontoc about the seminar two weeks earlier but there was no response from the schools.

She said it could have been a good occasion for students to learn the rudiments of journalism considering the CSG would shoulder all board and lodging expenses including travel. (By the way, thanks to our hosts for the Kalinga Arabica coffee and rice they gave to us for pasalubong.)

We told manang Precy, it might have had something to do with the rainy weather that was why representatives from the Anglican (Philippine Episcopal Church) were not able to attend. Anyway, it was a high-speed affair with lectures and workshops going far into the night, but the elementary, high school and college students seemed to enjoy it.

I guess, Kalinga needs more media practitioners like journalists so the province would be more in the limelight in terms of “development” coverage and not the usual violence and gore fare. What the SCG is doing by organizing journalism seminars is a step in the right direction. Kalinga nowadays often lands in the pages of newspapers due to violence like killings and this is not doing the province any good. I was talking to Ronald Velasco of adjacent Mahogany Lodge where we stayed and he was saying business was down in terms of tourist arrivals.
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At the lodge, Tabuk City councilor Popot Luyaben, my kayong, was also saying violence and holdups were a fact of life in the province. Popot, who is Ronald’s bayaw said recently, somebody tried to break into Mahogany Lodge at night. The intruder was not able to do his evil deed as Popot chased him away.

Julian Balingsat was also saying there were also a lot of holdups and akyat-bahay in Dagupan, the poblacion of Tabuk. Julian said he was a victim of one such heist wherein his cell phone and some money were stolen while he was asleep.

Julian said the series of akyat-bahay may have been perpetrated by the same group owing to their modus operandi. He suspected the robbers may have been spraying something on the noses of their victims as they were not able to wake up even if the robbers made a lot of noise. Gang members reportedly even ate food of their victims then carted their tables and chairs away if they couldn’t find money.

Other residents were saying Tabuk became peaceful during the watch of Senior Supt. Ramos but he was transferred due to clamor of non-government organizations and religious groups following the killing human rights activist Alyce Claver last year among other perceived leftists in the province.

Tabuk reportedly became peaceful when Ramos was provincial police director as the lawless were afraid to bring out guns due to kapkap operations and checkpoints instituted by the police although human rights groups claimed police and army used extra-judicial means in goinf after perceived “enemies of the State.”
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I guess, the police in the province should be more dedicated and vigilant in lawfully doing their jobs so the province would become peaceful. If Kalinga is perceived by outsiders like tourists as peaceful, they would be encouraged more to visit the province. Kalinga has a lot of tourist sites like the mighty and famed Chico River where whitewater rafting is emerging a lucrative business.

The business climate is encouraging as Tabuk’s first city mayor Camilo Lammawin Jr. told newsmen more irrigation systems, funds for livelihood projects, lighted streets, concrete roads, scholarship grants, Philhealth services for more poor people and more classrooms are in the offing with Tabuk now as city.

Lammawin said priority was to adjust the city government budget and there was need to constitute a body to draft Tabuk’s urban master and medium term plans. The mayor has started convening his technical staff about the new concerns of the city government for the preparation of its development blueprint.
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Tabuk, which became a city after majority of its constituents approved its conversion during a plebiscite last June 23 is the second city in the Cordillera Administrative Region with a total land area of 73,300 hectares. It is the second largest city in the country, next to Davao and has a population of 98,863 based on the 2006 National Statistics Office record.

Tabuk was among 19 municipalities nationwide that sought cityhood from the 13th Congress and has joined the 118 existing cities in the country. Based on documents, Tabuk’s Internal Revenue Allotment share could go up three times higher than its present IRA share since it is now a city.

A report by Larry Lopez of the provincial Philippine Information Agency said increased taxation would not be imposed on the city as the “animated system” shall not create further burdens and be oppressive to the business community.
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More livelihood and business opportunities are expected in Tabuk since it is now a city. A bullish business climate is a strong deterrent to crimes. According to some people we talked to, there are a lot of hold-ups and akyat-bahay in some areas of the province since people are unemployed or don’t have livelihood businesses. While at the town center, we observed there were only a few people when it was a Saturday. The store near the GL bus terminal closed around 4 p.m. with sales ladies muttering people were not buying.
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We dare say, the tribes which use violence to settle scores through tribal wars should be reminded that we are now living in the computer age and “bad” cultural norms and traditions like killing to avenge a wrong should be discouraged and stopped.
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The concreting and widening of the Bontoc-Tinglayan-Tabuk Road should also be hastened so that travel would become faster. If this would be finished soon, going to Tabuk from Bontoc, Mountain Province could take two to three hours. At present, most buses take the longer route by passing through Banaue, Ifugao which is a three to four hour ride from Bontoc.