LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

On Mother Earth day where do IGO?
MARCH L. FIANZA

Thanks to the declaration of April 22 as Earth Day celebration. Childhood memories come home to me everytime this day comes around. The river that winds through Pacdal from Mines View down to Teachers Camp, Brookside and Lucban Valley was every neighborhood kid’s swimming pool. It is joined by a tributary from Guisad Valley under the Magsaysay flyover, flows between Sanitary Camp and the back of Happy Homes Lucban, and embraces the waters from Parapad, Lamut and Busol before it drains to the Balili River in La Trinidad down to Naguillan and China Sea . Guisad and Lucban Valleys were endless clean and green playgrounds for Baguio boys and girls. After swimming and fishing, we follow Parapad River and exit towards the Busol Forest . Truth to tell, we used to dive into the water tank at Busol when we were small kids, absolutely innocent that its contents flowed to kitchen faucets in the city.

These water tributaries are in need of sustainable programs. All efforts directed to environmental maintenance are acknowledged but the same could be sustained – and not thought of only as activities for April 22 by pseudo-environmentalists, many of whom are in our midst. Having an environment plan would be “hitting two birds with one stone.” One, a sustainable environmental plan will be good for all. Two, it caters to more ‘papogi’ points for the pseudo-environmentalist politician. Another tributary that is worth looking into is the Asin River . Its waters are the mixture of creeks and canals that drop down from City Camp, Western side of Quezon Hill, San Carlos Heights , Irisan, Rock Quarry, QM Subd, and Dominican Hill. Household waste is what flows down to Asin River , however it is gradually and naturally filtered clean as it enters Mother Earth through the Crystal Caves . Someday we wish to see our politicians getting involved with sustaining Asin River too, just like they do with the Balili River, Buyog and Busol – even if there are no ‘pogi’ points to gain from it.

Mother Earth seems to be losing hair in the highest mountains too. Let us admit that she is growing older but that is not the reason why the trees are falling away faster than expected. Lately, there was news about Mt. Pulag being invaded by commercial farming. That is not surprising because that has been going on since the middle of the 80s. What is surprising is that nothing, practically nothing is being done to slow down the encroachment of vegetable farms into the second highest mountain in the country. The bold farmer-migrants are not from Kabayan or Bokod. They come from a northern municipality in Benguet. Statistics by the DENR reveal that Mother Earth is losing her forest cover due to the government’s tolerance on the conversion of forest stands to alienable-disposable lands, commercial upland farming, infrastructure needs of LGUs, golf fairways, housing subdivisions, including squatter subdivisions – care of corrupt LGU dads and padrinos.

The latest attempt that may be done will be the expośe that the mini forest park by the Baguio Convention Center will be razed to give way to another commercial building. When the proposal is dropped, let us watch who among our councilors will approve of it or not. Time to have candidates for the environment next election. We talked about pretentious environmentalists or pseudo-environmentalists in last week’s column. We have them everywhere even in city and municipal halls and in some environmental groups.

That part of Aurora Hill nearest or adjacent to the Busol forest reserve was segregated for squatters during the late Mayor Lardizabal’s time, similar to the squatter relocation sites in Quezon Hill, QM Subd., Holy Ghost Hill and Quirino Hill. They called it the Lardizabal-Biado line. Many of those who benefited from the segregation and who now occupy the areas are relatives of present-day politicians.

The portions segregated from Busol by the Lardizabal-Biado line, including what is now called Workingmen’s Village, Bayan Park and Brookespoint were forested areas before the great migration of squatters and land speculators after WWII. Adjacent to Bayan Park-Brookespoint is the land of Ibaloi Matriarch Kalomis that was titled by the American government. Today, the land has practically become the buffer zone between the larger part of Busol and the ‘relocatees.’ It is also squatted on, or to use a kinder word, occupied by water supply facilities of the city.

While the beneficiaries of the Workingmen’s Village and Brookespoint enjoy their occupancy undisturbed, the descendants of Kalomis never built a single house nor introduced any development into the land they rightfully owned legally and cultural-wise. “Mabain da nga agsquat iti bagi da nga lugar.” In my mind, not being able to squat in the land you rightfully own if only to maintain its condition is one great contribution to Mother Earth.
***
Members of the working press based in Baguio were all set to cover the last day of the IGO (Igorot Global Organization) in Banawe including me but for personal reasons, I had to skip the trip. I was most interested with the presentations of UP Law Dean Marvic Leonen and Patricia Afable but when I contacted a friend to secure me copies of their pieces, I was told that they did not attend. In my case, something told me there were other more important matters at hand. If Atty. Leonen and Manang Pat felt the same way I did, that is for them to say. Anyway I ask “Is there something missing in the International Igorot Conference (IIC) that it is slowly losing attraction?”

When news about the 7th IIC being held in Banawe came, I asked an expat and some professionals if they were going to attend. I heard no answers but saw shrugging shoulders instead. A hundred good things must have come out of the IIC in the past how many years. Still, the inquisitive asks: Is the Igorot meet becoming commercialized or politicized? Can it still convince people to join or does it prefer to have almost the same attendance of familiar faces – aside from participants whose priorities are to visit tourism sites? – marchfianza777@yahoo.com