LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

BCBC elections /Preserving forests
MARCH L. FIANZA

Finally, the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club, Inc. (BCBC) elected a new set of officers Tuesday. The ‘never-too-late’ election was held at the office cum garden of the Philippine Information Agency, ever accommodating as it has been. Thanks to Director Helen Tibaldo and staff. The election was managed by past presidents and BCBC Comelec commissioners Gerry Evangelista, Domcee Cimatu, Alfred Dizon, Delmar Carino, Romy Gonzalez and Jonathan Llanes.
The press club is Baguio and Benguet-based, composed of media practitioners from print, radio and television outfits who practically cover the Luzon area, even going beyond the reaches of their telephoto lenses. The club figured in a number of storms, some brewing from within, to the disappointment of many.

However weathered, the club went through. The new set of BCBC officers are: Pigeon Lobien, President; Larry Madarang, Vice President for print; Tinong Lardizabal, VP-radio; Marlon Marvil, VP-television; Harley Palangchao, secretary; Rimaliza Opina, treasurer; and Simeon Dilan, auditor. Ramon Dacawi, Zaldy Comanda,Thom Picana and this writer were elected to the board, with immediate past president Liza Galao as ex-officio member.

With this new set, there is fresh hope that the club will get back its usual stance, move on for the good of all members of the media and the communities that it serves. As usual as in most media gatherings and after all the seriousness comes the good humor. Mondacs said, “Finally, March won as board member.” With a quick rejoinder to his joke and to confirm the same I said, “He is right. In fact, this has a wider coverage area and I ran unopposed with no money spent.”

As a backgrounder, I tried throwing my hat in the political arena in Benguet, particularly, ran for board member in 2001 and 2004, but lost. Whether I lost in the Comelec counting or lost because I did not have enough resources, the fact is I did lost. Indeed, elections are interesting, not that Filipinos consider elections as their national past time, but because elections are a way to change things – for better with your good candidates, or for worse if the bad bets won.
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Forest rangers, the persons assigned in the field, act as the eyes and ears of their immediate bosses, including the higher or highest officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The bosses digest information from their field men whom they trust and in turn make further reports based on initial field data.

Thus, if field investigation reports are incomplete, calculated, predetermined, sanitized or in short, not factual, then the bosses get the wrong picture, and can not avoid imagining or interpreting things based on erroneous data. Every person in his right mind understands these facts, knows that the act is already wrong at the outset, and these should be stopped. In such cases, there are three kinds of bosses.

One, he knows if his rangers are doing the wrong things and knows if his men are lying in their reports. However despite knowledge of things, he does not move a finger to correct things. The second kind is innocent, does not know anything about his men and is exactly the opposite of the first kind of boss. The third and last boss is a true leader. In all three, I am confused on what choice the government takes and on who really is deserving of the job to protecting our forests. I am also puzzled about the objectives of the environment office.

The confusion arises due to the fact that there are no quick responses to reports on the existence of illegally cut wood. I am now about ready to conclude that the government does not want to make confiscations of any reported presence of illegal wood stashed in certain places because these will reflect on the true and prevailing condition of the forests that they are supposed to protect. Well, understandably, more reports of illegal cutting and more confiscations mean that undeniably the forests are not being watched over nor protected, and these reflect on the performances of the employees concerned or how they go about doing their jobs.

On the other hand, no confiscation reports only mean that there are no cutting activities and that the DENR personnel are doing their job well. I just hope my suspicions or conclusions about some guys in the DENR are wrong. – marchfianza777@yahoo.com