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Baguio tops CARAA sportsfest
By Bong Cayabyab

LA TRINIDAD – Outdoor playing fields were virtually converted to rice paddies at the height of hostilities in the 2008 Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association meet when team Baguio once again mustered a runaway finish tallying 796-points in the multi-sports discipline meet.

Baguio recorded 322-points in the elementary division and scored 474- points for the secondary level during the weeklong regional sports meet at La Trinidad Sports Complex and Benguet State University, Benguet province, which fired off Feb. 24.

Benguet emerged 2nd with 580 points; Mt. Province 3rd with 293, followed by Kalinga, Ifugao, Abra, and Apayao province, respectively.

The Baguio tankers were most bemedalled. In the primary school division, Mayor Reinaldo Bautista, Jr.’s 12-year old namesake topped the haul with 5-golds via the 200m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 50m butterfly, 50m backstroke, and 100m freestyle.

Bautista and teammates Michael Soria, Jenkins Cabao and Joshua Santos likewise powered up for the golds in the 4X100 medley relay and the 4X100 freestyle.

Elementary girls’ division swimmer Elijah Fernandez and girls’ athletics’ Cristina Drio rounded up identical 5-golds, tying for 2nd in the medal tally race.

Fernandez out-swam pretenders to the 200m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 100m free style, 100m backstroke. She likewise powered her teammates in the 4X100 medley relay and the 4X100 freestyle relay.

Drio on the other hand bagged golds in the 100, 200 and 400m run and aided her team for best time in the 4X100 and 4X400 relays.

In the secondary schools’ division, Baguio’s 13 year old Jasmine Chan bagged seven golds via the 200m backstroke, 400m freestyle, 200m backstroke, 200m individual medley, 200m butterfly, 4X100m free style relay and 4X50m freestyle relay.

Maria Elois Labao on the other hand took seven golds via the 100m backstroke, 200m breast stroke, 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 100 breast stroke, 4X50m free style and 4X50 medley relay.
Meanwhile, Team Baguio coaches appealed for the earlier release of incentives for the city’s medal haulers.

In a letter dated Feb. 20, they said, “Our athletes are not rich to shoulder some school expenses and are relying on the incentives to pay school fees.”

They added they have proudly represented the city in local as well as national competitions and should not be “begging for the incentives” they are entitled to under Ordinance 92, series of 1994.
Vice mayor Daniel Farinas during the “Ugnayan” press conference hosted by DZEQ Radio ng Bayan said “the city is doing its best to fast-track the release of the incentives.The council has already approved the 2008 budget, which included said incentives.”


Teachers’ exodus alarms DepEd
By Dexter See

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The continuous exodus of teachers abroad for greener pasture poses a threat to good learning conditions of most elementary and secondary schools in different parts of the Cordillera and will have a great negative impact to the quality of graduates produced by schools.

Dr Benito Tumamao, regional director of the Department of Education in the Cordillera, bared this saying the significant number of elementary and secondary teachers filing their leave of absence for certain engagements abroad was at an alarming stage.

“We are not prohibiting our teachers to go abroad to seek for greener pasture but the problem is that the leave a vacuum on their teaching loads when they go on leave,” Tumamao said.

He added the learning momentum of students are disrupted especially when their assigned teacher goes on leave in the middle or later part of the school year thereby resulting in another adjustment period for their new teachers, he cited.

According to Tumamao, he signs numerous requests for leave of absence of teachers daily, thus, they have to immediately look for the needed substitute teachers to continue the lesson plan of the mentor who went on leave for the purpose of going abroad in the guise of a visit or exchange program but will never come back since they had already found a descent job in their point of destination.

If the teacher files his or her resignation at once, the Dept Ed official said that they will have no problem in hiring a substitute to proceed with whatever is left behind and such hiring is done with the conformity of the school principal where the vacancy was created.

Aside from the insufficient school facilities, the added burden of having to fill up the vacancies caused by teachers going abroad daily is creating a negative impact of the learning condition of the students, thus, the Dept Ed is constantly providing appropriate guidance to substitute and new teachers so that they could immediately fill up the shoes of those who left their assignments.

He appealed to teachers having plans of going abroad to instead immediately file their resignation and not go on leave for a very long period of time so that the agency could hire their replacements and not create serious problems to their successors in the field.


Benguet execs backtrack on criticism vs nat’l govt

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- The commitment of government officials for the implementation of development projects in the different provinces of the Cordillera has earned the ire of agriculture stakeholders here who said the national government is playing favorite in the allocation of development funds.

At the same time, agriculture groups in the region lashed out at Cordillera governors for allegedly backtracking on their earlier criticism of the national leadership on the inequitable allocation of funds for farm-to-market roads.

This developed after they were reportedly subjected to "tremendous political pressure" by top government officials who asked them to retract their statement in a bid to help save the image of Malacañang.

Leaders of some influential agriculture groups said the Cordillera governors must fight for the rights of their constituents and should not allow other government officials to speak for themselves.
Kalinga Gov. Floydelia Diasen, Ifugao Gov. Teddy Baguilat Jr., Mountain Province Gov. Maximo Dalog, and Benguet Gov. Nestor Fongwan were very vocal against the Department of Agriculture for allegedly appropriating meager budget for the construction of farm-to-market roads in the different provinces of the region.

This should not be the case because bulk of the vegetable supply for the whole country comes from Benguet.

However, DA officials, in a meeting with Fongwan, disputed the claim that the DA is practicing favoritism in the allocation of funds for farm-to-market roads.

Many sectors viewed the change of position by the governors as a mere "face-saving mechanism." The governors were reportedly rapped by some government officials for criticizing the Arroyo administration over the ZTE controversy.

DA officials are now trying their best to appease the governors who had complained of the inequitable distribution of funds for agricultural projects in the countryside.

While thanking President Arroyo for the government’s program to improve the living conditions of farmers, the agriculture stakeholders branded the actuation of their provincial officials as an inication of lack of courage, saying they could not stand up for the best interest of their constituents.

One of the thrusts of the Arroyo administration is the improvement of national roads. This is intended to lessen the time for the transport of crops from the vegetable-producing areas of the province to the market.

However, officers of farmers associations, who requested anonymity, said that the rehabilitation of national roads is laudable, but the government must also focus on development program for provincial roads that link the farming areas to the main road, then to the vegetable trading post.
Benguet is a recipient of substantial funds for farm-to-market roads, tramlines and post-harvest facilities such as cold storage and processing plants.

The other Cordillera provinces were allocated minimal funds despite the fact they are also producers of agricultural goods. – Dexter A. See