Concerts for a cause / CPLA, PCSO issues

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
March L. Fianza

As relatives and friends laid to rest the remains of artist-musician Manny Cawed on a scenic mountain niche in Maligcong, Bontoc last Tuesday; more requests for “concerts for a cause” are coming in.

Manny was hit by a fatal heart attack while performing on stage at the Amarillo Bar on June 28, in a “4a coz” concert for fire victims.

The irony, I later found out, was that Manny himself was a fire victim this year, and there he was, losing his life while doing his part in a concert for fire victims like him. Only God knows why things happen the way they happen.

The latest request for a “4a coz” gig came from Manong Tommy Chamos for his grandson Hector, a kagawad of Barangay Ambiong, La Trinidad who was shot while in pursuit of a magnanakaw in their neighborhood.

The bullet got stuck in Hector’s body so that he has to be operated on. He is now confined in a hospital somewhere.

Aside from the concert requested by former councilor Tommy which they are going to support, I was also informed that ABC municipal council representative Robert Namoro and Ambiong Punong Barangay Teddy Quintos have other plans for Hector.

Mayor Greg Abalos and the municipal council of La Trinidad said they are all out for whatever plans are made for Kagawad Hector.
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Reporters of a TV station say more people are condemning the act of Davao Mayor Sara Duterte who punched Sherriff Abe Andres a number of times.

I say, naturally more people would come out to condemn the act because the TV stations continued to show the incident’s footage.

In the actual incident, Sherriff Andres was punched for around four times. That happened in less than a minute. But on television, he was “bugbog sarado” because the TV networks repeatedly showed the footage in their morning, afternoon, and evening news broadcasts.
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The PCSO has allotted around P150M “intelligence” funds for their assets to curb jueteng through the operations of the government sponsored small town lottery. The funds according to Senators Lacson and Enrile were even bigger than the intelligence funds given to the armed forces and the national police who secure the safety of the whole country.

This brings forth doubt if there was any intelligence left in the brains of those who carried out the self-styled intelligence work. Why?

What happened was that instead of curbing or stopping jueteng, the operation of the illegal numbers game even became stronger. For example, in a certain barrio, there were only two or three sari-sari stores used as jueteng collection and betting stations. Now, almost all stores in that barrio collect jueteng bets.

More kubradores who doubled as STL workers were recruited. But the STL bet collectors were not collecting for STL but for jueteng. Now they can move freely because they wear STL IDs that give them a color of legitimacy.

They are everywhere. They collect jueteng bets anywhere in SM, Center Mall, in the market, even in city hall and around the municipal building in La Trinidad.

If PCSO was really out to stop jueteng, they could have easily read newspaper reports and police operation reports. More or less, such reports indicate who and how much money is involved and where is jueteng taking place.

If PCSO was out to stop jueteng, they could have easily hired through handlers many jobless istambays who can definitely pinpoint who the kubradoresare and where the stations are.

This also brings out the suspicion that the PCSO intelligence funds were used for things other than it was intended for. Some senators suspect, it was used during the elections.

Listening to the senate inquiry involving PCSO, the public gets the idea on how much money goes around in its operations all over the country. It is certainly a source of funds that can be shared “justifiably” by all.

However, there were “amazing” allotments that were done. Former PCSO chair Manoling Morato said PCSO ambulances are given to deserving communities. I just cannot understand how equally deserving is a province in the Ilocos Region that got 22 ambulances, compared to Benguet or Kalinga or Mt. Provinces.

The municipalities in these provinces are truly in need of ambulances, but have none, except for one or two vans that are dilapidated but still in running condition.

It is even harder to comprehend why PCSO gives in to the request by a priest for a four by four SUV as his birthday gift.

By the way, I thank Mayor Abalos, Admin. Charles Canuto, and ambulance van attendants Jonathan and Tony Dagupon of the La Trinidad fire station for quickly responding to my request for the use of an ambulance.

The ambulance was alright but I saw that it needed a lot of body repairs. I wish Mayor Greg and Admin Charles stumble on some money for the ambulance’s body repairs so it could last a few more years.
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Many of us thought the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army as an organization died a natural death, except for a few scalawags who claim to be members and who have actively involved themselves in illegal activities as reported in the news.

But just as the quest for regional autonomy was being discussed, two factions of the CPLA again made known their presence. Why they do not seem to meet and settle their differences man-to-man is strange.

Sometimes, I suspect that they do not want to reconcile because they do not want autonomy. With one CPLA group opposing what the other faction is doing, people would conclude that they are only after their interests.

Last week, one CPLA faction signed an agreement with the government in Malacanang to end hostilities and start the disarmament process. The other faction opposed this, saying, if the agreement is signed, this would signal a new armed revolution.

Now, which faction should we believe in? Can the Regional Development Council, the lead agency that is pushing for autonomy come into the picture? -marchfianza777@yahoo.com