Tribute concert held for slain SAF officers / Accident victim needs help

REACHING OUT

BAGUIO  CITY -- Cordillerans - be they  by birth, blood, residence, sentiment or heart- found their way last night  (March 28) to the University of Baguio gym where home-grown folk, pop and country musicians took turns paying tribute to the 44 Special Action Force police officers who were killed last Jan. 25 in what probers called a massacre by Muslim rebels.

The musical, dubbed “Brave 14”, after the number of Cordillera officers slain in the tragic firefight, was initiated by the regional police command and Baguio media to help the region cope with the sense of loss, especially of the families of the young policemen.

“It’s the least we could do to help ease the pain,” noted news anchor Dhobie de Guzman of ABS-CBN  and  president of the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club who teamed up with Cordillera police director,  Chief Supt. IsaganiNerez in mounting the concert.

The concert, originally set at 8 p.m., opened at 7 p.m. given the long list of pro bono or volunteer performers, starting with the  Edralins who  belted out Beatles compositions., and the regional police office band with its repertoire of country ballads.

Other performers were  Thunder, Red Neck Band, Cordillera Jam, the trio of Alma, Liza and Dianne, the Baguio Police Band, Slow Speed Band, lawyer BubutOlarte and the Blue Grass, and soloist Albert Basilan, the president of the Cordillera Entertainers (Baguio-Benguet Based) Association, Inc.

Also coming in is broadway singer Ingrid Payaket who placed first runner-up in the annual “Pilipinas Got Talent” competitions, together with A-line dancer enthusiasts  under the Guisad Caballeros and the Baguio-Benguet Colliders.

Seldom Seen, a group composed of newsmen March Fianza and Alfred Dizon, banjo artist Dick Oakes including guitarist ArsenMarzan set the mood with its rendition of Paul Simon’s “He Was My Brother, about a journalist killed by a mob in Mississippi.

Police Sr. Supt. Jimmy Catanes, head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the region, said the concert was supported by alumni of the Philippine National Police Academy, SAF members based in the Cordillera, and the University of Baguio.

Families  of the 14 slain SAF members of the Cordillera werebenefiaries of proceeds from donations  and admission tickets. –Ramon Dacawi

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A 21-year old third year accounting student  badly needs  moral and financial support to pull through several surgeries to mend bone and body injuries after he slammed into a parked dump truck along Km. 3, La Trinidad, Benguet evening of March 13,2015.

Accident victim ChynerTayaban, in his junior year at the Cordillera Career Development College in La Trinidad, remains confined at the Pines City Doctors Hospital here while his parents and relatives are out there knocking on doors of Samaritans.

His parents,  Braulio and Leona, both farmers in Cayapas, Buguias, Benguet, last week appealed for help from the Cordillera Entertainers Baguio-Benguet –Based Association.

While readily promising  help, CEBBAI president  Albert Basilan explained it would take sometime to fulfill the pledge, which will come in the form of a concert-for-a-cause, with all the proceeds going to the patient.

“Folksingers like us are in no position to directly extend financial help and we can only offer our gift of music to raise funds for the patient, as we have been doing for years pro bono,” Basilan said just after his performance  last Wednesday  at the Dangwa Canteen.

Pending the concert for Chyner, the boy has to undergo surgery as soon as possible, compelling his mother to appeal to the other sectors of the Baguio-Benguet community.

Chyner was driving a motorcycle on his way to Baguio evening of March 13 when he did not notice a parked dump truck at the side of the highway. He slammed into the back of the vehicle.

The diagnosis: ”Subdural hematoma temporal, right associated with massive brain edema with midline shift to the right, s/p emergency craniectomy (decompression) & evacuation of hematoma temporal, midface fracture, orbito maxillary zygomatic comple, naso orbito ethmoidal comle fracture closed, comminuted distal third intra articulari ntercondylar fracture femur, right.”

The patient also lost his cellphone. Donors can extend their support by calling his cousin, MarliceTayaban (09465232998). they may visit him at his bed at the Pines Dotors’ Hospital here. – RamonDacawi