Hidden truths

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
March L. Fianza

Many things related to “truth” as the subject in an opinion column continue to unfold even as I thought I finished writing about it last week. Truth, as the opinion writer’s topic, always has a new face to show.

And so it seems, talking about truth is not over for me and my colleagues as well. First, I would just want to share information gathered during the first-ever presscon with Congressman Ronald M. Cosalan of the Lone District of Benguet.

Truth is, it is not so frequent that congressmen, particularly those representing the other Cordillera provinces hold press conferences. This was seen as “normal” considering the schedule of meetings in congress which is from Monday to Thursday.

Although, returning Baguio Rep. Bernie Vergara and former Baguio Congressman Morris Domogan still managed to conduct media conferences even with that schedule, some of their colleagues did not bother.

In that presscon that looked more like an informal exchange between the gentleman from Benguet and members of the press, he announced that he has been chosen by his colleagues as chairman of the powerful committee on public works, a committee he used to co-chair when he last attended congress in 1998-2001, sans the formalities to take place next week.

That maybe so, he said, but as chairman of the public works committee he also expects his office in congress to be flooded with requests for assistance from other district representatives. This time, Cosalan is confident that he can offer more to his district than by being a regular member of congress.

Cosalan said he will prioritize national roads which will benefit a bigger population then look into farm-to-market roads, where, in line with the list is his old proposal to construct a vehicular overpass at the Pico-Halsema interchange.

Another issue discussed was the ticklish topic of autonomy. The Cordillera bodies such as the Cordillera Executive Board, Cordillera Bodong Administration and the Cordillera Regional Assembly knew that their deactivation was due to the fact that congress gave them a budget of only One Peso in 1999. That practically immobilized them.

Cosalan explained that all the Cordillera congressmen signed the resolution allocating One Peso for the CEB, CBad and CRA, and nobody came forward to oppose their move – none from the public officials, none from the private sector, not even from NGOs who were serious advocates for regional autonomy.

Congress took note of the fact that the Cordillera bodies were squabbling over the millions of pesos being allocated to them, but so far, with the previous millions already wasted, no substantial work was presented by them.

It seemed that the CRA made things difficult for itself. To make matters worse, it dipped its fingers into a sensitive issue that gripped Agno river communities then, when it favorably endorsed a resolution to Malacanang thru the RDC-NEDA, approving the construction of the controversial 345MW San Roque dam.

The fight between the San Roque project proponents and Itogon -Agno River residents was yet to be settled when the CRA endorsed its resolution. In short, the CRA became a “pakialamero.”

Truth is, “autonomy is not a popular clamor in Benguet as you can count the supporters with your fingers,” Cosalan told newsmen, but added that he will support autonomy as long as people in Benguet will also support it. “Nu anya ti kayat ti tao, di isu.”

What is more revealing is the statement by Gov. Eugene Balitang that one reason why the two past organic act plebiscites were turned down was because certain provisions in the law that were supposed to convince the provinces to vote for it were deliberately altered when these were in congress.

The sad truth is there are interest groups in the legislative body that lobbied for amendments to important provisions in the organic law. Congress representatives from other districts outnumber our congressmen in the Cordillera and are apparently against the establishment of an autonomous region. There are the congressmen allied with subdivision owners and mining capitalists, to name a few.
***
In a recent interview with Benguet District Engineer Albert Gahid, I was informed that residential and business establishments constructed along national highways have been giving them the headache.

This is so because road-right-of-way laws clashed with the interest of public officials and private individuals of an LGU. Also, and in fairness to both the DPWH and the LGU, they appear to be more human and as much as possible avoid going to the extent of demolishing the private houses.

Engr. Gahid said, when he asks his men to survey the roads which is their concern, most often than not, his men call back and inform him that they are standing inside the living room or kitchen of a house that encroached the road easement.“Sir, ada kami ditoy uneg ti balay,” Gahid’s men inform him.

According to him, even then DPWH Sec. Ebdane said that the law which provided for a 60-meter road width, including its shoulders and easements, was impractical and hardly implementable because of a fast-growing population along our roads.

Then Sec. Ebdane realized that the law is impractical and not applicable today, hence, there is reason to lean back for political, humanitarian and practical reasons.
Gahid, prior to the interview, said he had to be at Bokod and Dalupirip, Itogon to oversee big landslides that blocked traffic. What pains him is that some LGUs accuse the DPWH of not responding to the natural calamities.

Here, he asks for compassion and understanding as he explained that the Benguet district office has “only one backhoe and only one loader” for the 232-kilometer stretch of road under his watch. “Haan kami met nga Superman,” the district engineer said, even as he knew that the rainy and typhoon season will certainly keep him and his men on their toes.
***
On several occasions the Bawadi has been accused of destroying old and newly paved roads and leaving them un-restored. I know this for a fact as it also happened on the road to our house.

The Fairview road adjacent to Quezon Hill can not be cemented with government money because city hall said the status of the road is “private” and has yet to be donated to the city. So the residents in bayanihan spirit pooled their resources and cemented the road.

Now, when residential houses applied for water connections with Bawadi, the city government that categorized the road as “private” immediately issued a permit “no sweat,” allowing Bawadi to destroy the newly cemented road in order to install water pipes.

Sad but true, the road is private, and so it cannot be allotted with city government funds – but the city can destroy the same road even if it does not own it. – marchfianza777@yahoo.com