Kalinga governor’s office denies weekly’s articles

Removal of DOTC director, ‘political misunderstandings’  

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The Office of the Governor denied articles in a weekly newspaper the alleged role of Gov. Jocel. Baacin  “political misunderstandings” in Kalinga, removal of Celina Claver, former Transportation and Communications regional director and purported rift between him and Sangguniang Panlalawigan secretary.

“I would like to submit my comments as a defense to the integrity of honorable Governor Jocel C. Baac regarding the articles published by Atty. Antonio Pekas on his column in Zigzag Weekly for two consecutive weeks,” said Henry B. Gupaal, executive secretary to the governor. “Both were unfair and slanted tending to cause divisiveness and misunderstanding among people of Kalinga to say the least.”

Pekas, in his first column, reportedly said reason why Claver was relieved from her office was becauseFarnawClaverwas running against Baac, a liberal stalwart in Cordillera. (Farnaw is the brother in law of Celina and son of former Kalinga congressman William “Billy” Claver).

“This is a preposterous and false statement. Governor Baac has nothing to do with the appointment and removal of regional directors which is the responsibility of their departments, and in the case of Claver it is the DOTC (Dept. of Transportation and Communications) and the Office of the President. Governor Baac is only limited to the Provincial Local Government Unit of Kalinga. Therefore, the relief of Claver is only the sole act of the Office of the President who appointed her. She has every right to question her relief in proper venues or courts which has jurisdiction or authority to hear her case. For the information of Atty. Pekas Gov. Baac did not have any running mate as LP when he ran for re-election in 2013,” Gupaal said.

“Why does Atty. Pekas keep on repeating the incident that took place between Gov. Baac and SP Secretary Mathew Matbagan? This incident arose by reason of their office – their respective duties and responsibilities are defined by law. It did not happen just because Gov. Baac is a Kalinga and Mr. Matbagan is an Igorot. It happened because Mr. Matbagan was remiss of his duties as secretary to the SP in the formulation of SP Resolution No. 2015-058 which pertains to the Kalinga Mija Kim Medical Center in Agbannawag, Tabuk City, being operated by the province.

“That Mr. Matbagan as an Igorot is incidental and the same is true with Gov. Baac. Atty. Pekas must not create a situation or condition in such a way that this will create animosities between the Igorots in Kalinga and the Kalingas. To be sure the Igorots in Kalinga are married to our own sons and daughters and vice versa; and they are doing good businesses in Kalinga and we Kalingas do not envy them. They are in fact a big contributor to the development of our province which they call their own,” Gupaal said.

“We are indeed proud of them. So why does Atty. Pekas create this unnecessary misunderstanding and try to incite hatred between the Kalingas and the Igorots when in reality it does not exist. To be fair, the two daughters of Governor Baac are married to sons of Igorots. And Gov. Baac has appointed and promoted Igorots to different positions in the provincial government. The presupposed “hate campaign” against the Igorots is not true. “This is time to win the governor’s seat” is just a conjecture of Atty. Pekas, and this will depend on the electorates of Kalinga.

“We do not promote hatred and biases. To use Atty. Peaks’ word, it is not a “crime” to be an Igorot or a Kalinga. It is a fact and is the reality that all the different ethnic tribes here in Kalinga are living in peace and harmony. We do have problems sometimes but we can settle them ourselves. We do not promote ethnic-unitary society but a pluralistic society wherein everyone regardless of ethnic origin can live and prosper in Kalinga.

Gupaal added, “It was most unfair and an argumentum ad hominem to describe Governor Baac as involving or posturing “hooliganism”. Atty. Pekas’ insinuation that the good governor is still at odds with Jerome Tabanganay is not true because both have made up and reconciled and they are even running under the same party,  Tabanganay as board member and Gov. Baac for re-election.

“The truth of the matter is that the Province of Kalinga graduated from the club of the 20 poorest provinces in the Philippines; and we are now number 44 as per data of the National Statistical Board in 2012. And during the term of Governor Baac he was awarded the Seal of Good Housekeeping and Good Governance by the DILG for three consecutive years (2012, 2013, 2014); and the DA also awarded the Province twice for being one of the top ten rice producing provinces in the country. Now, is this the reason why Atty. Pekas is campaigning against Governor Baac and the other Liberal Party candidates in the forthcoming 2016 elections?

“So, why are you keeping on destroying the image and credibility of Gov. Baac and other Kalinga candidates? Perhaps the best thing one can do is to concentrate campaigning for his favored candidates and not to destroy and denigrate other people just to promote the interests of protégées and subalterns.

“Remember that Governor Baac is not just a governor for the Kalingas but all citizens of the province of Kalinga – Governor Baacis a governor of the people of Kalinga. We would like that good journalism would be promoted by those who practice it for the benefit of the common good.”