Kalinga politics getting hot /Cosalan augments Pulag fund

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

David March

Politics is hotter in Kalinga. Gov.Jocel Baac was recently charged with administrative and criminal cases by provincial officials and vice gob Sonny Mangaoang, his known political adversary, for allegedly inflicting injury against the provincial board secretary.

In reaction to the charges, he said the ultimate prayer of the vice governor and senior board members was for him to be “preventively suspended” for their own  advantage which shows that they desperately want his position and to derail him this coming election. 

Looking at it as an observer from a distance, Kalinga politics has always been linked to violence. The charges against Baac have yet to be proven in court. His reply to the charges is more believable, considering that he knows from head to foot the people behind the charges that were filed.

Integrity and credibility do not side with persons who directly take advantage of the courts to weaken their political opponents. The provincial officials and Mangaoang, who is known to be related by affinity to a big politician in the province, should have honestly inhibited themselves simply because they have something to gain from the cases filed.

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Beyond his chairmanship of the committee on public works in congress, Benguet Congressman Ronald M. Cosalan last week shifted his focus on the environment, this time augmenting funds he has appropriated for the delineation of the Mt. Pulag National Park (MPNP). 

Last week at the Cielito Inn and Restaurant, he said, P5 million more will be allocated to determine the metes and bounds of the MPNP and stop the expansion and intrusion of vegetable gardens into the forest. It is also intended to preserve the lush vegetation and wildlife from development threats such as vegetable farming, increased tourism, hunting and timber poaching.

This is in addition to the P4 million Congress allotted for the same purpose in 2011 in an effort to keep intact the natural environment in Mt. Pulag, sometimes called by the Ibaloi tribe as the “Playground of the Gods”, hence, considered as sacred ground.

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Fourth of July notes. Last June, I wrote: “On July 4, 1946 under the Treaty of Manila that was signed after World War II, the US granted the Philippines its independence and relinquished American sovereignty over the Islands.” 

So that the day was then the Independence Day for Filipinos although on August 4, 1964, then President Diosdado Macapagal signed Republic Act No. 4166 that returned the date of Philippine Independence to June 12, the date the Philippines declared independence from Spain in 1898. From that time on July 4 in the Philippines was called “Philippine-American Friendship Day”.

Even American history has its own flaws. It is on record that historians time and again doubted that Congress actually signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4. In fact, many of them believe that discussions about the document was finished and signed a month later on August 2, 1776, and not on July 4, 1776.

Not only that, some historians have also noted that the original 13 states were separated from Great Britain on July 2, 1776, when Congress signed a resolution of independence that was proposed a month earlier, thus declaring the United States independent from Great Britain.

Other historical dates significant to the Fourth of July are: It is the death anniversary of at least three American Presidents namely; Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Monroe. It produces around $220 million worth of liquor and hot-dog sales; causes more than 1,500 fireworks injuries and considered by truck drivers and other motorists as “more dangerous than New Year’s Eve”.

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What exactly is a Police Press Corps? Or should the question be: Does a legitimate news reporter from a legitimate newspaper have to be a member of the Police Press Corps in order to be allowed to extract news from police officials? 

Sometime in the recent past, I texted the Camp Dangwapress information officer for an update about the CAFGU member who killed his Philippine Army commander in Sadanga, Mountain Province. But I was denied outright of any information because she said, I was not accredited as a news reporter who can get news from Camp Dangwa or the police. 

I told her that I already had the details of the Sadanga shooting incident and that I was only asking for an update. I further informed her if she looks at the police-newsman relationship that way then Camp Dangwa or police officials cannot in any way give their side if ever some bad news happens to the police organization. She said, “hindi naman ganoon” then said she will inform me of any update. She never did. 

As far as experience dictates, whether the Police Press Corp is there or not, and whether newsmen are accredited with the PIO or not, news is for everybody. By the way, I seldom read or hear police news that is circulated by the PIO. In most cases, the news comes out first as gathered by independent outfits. Police reaction comes later. 

What is more bad is that they sanitize news if not hide it from newsmen… but call the newsmen for news coverage for their benefit when they have announcements to make. And how come the PIO or police officials do not give newsmen information about jueteng and illegal gambling. Unfair. Aside from being dubbed as “jueteng press corps” sometimes, what can the PNP Press Corps do to improve news gathering?