LETTERS
FROM THE AGNO
March L. Fianza
BAGUIO CITY --- Ten months into the COVID-19 pandemic, a discipline group in Baguio who essentially contributes to the physical well-being of its members feels left out in the new normal rules being ordered and administered by the powers that be.
Martial arts instructor Ed Kapawen of the Japan Karate Association (JKA-Baguio Chapter) based at the YMCA gym said, while the IATF on the prevention of COVID-19 transmission has already allowed exercise gyms, basketball and venues for similar sports to reopen, the pandemic task force has forgotten them.
Unlike basketball which is a contact sport that was allowed to open amid the pandemic, he explained that karate, once a heavy-contact sport, can be completely contact-less just by removing the kumite or face to face sparring from the exercise program.
This way, the “kiai” yell that forces out aerosols from a player’s mouth is eliminated. In basketball and other sports that were recently allowed by the IATF, aerosols that transmit the virus are ever present.
Sensei Kapawen said, in other JKA chapters in other parts of the world, they have resorted to using imaginary opponents such as PVC pipes, wood or rubber in order to maintain minimum health protocols and help prevent COVID-19 transmission.
In Japan, the USA, Australia and other karate training schools, they have moved out from the gym to the wider open lawns as they have been forced to adjust how they teach martial arts due to the pandemic.
Martial arts teacher Kapawen said karate training schools in Baguio and Benguet can easily adjust to the health protocols set by the Department of Health and the IATF considering that their students in Baguio and Benguet belong to a more disciplined breed.
He is hopeful that Mayor Magalong and DOH officials can schedule a visit anytime and inspect an actual training exercise by students of the JKA Baguio Chapter at the YMCA gym prior to a resumption of martial arts activities.
***
This notice may only be announced this December and maybe next year too. Santa Claus is not coming to town! Christmas parties and crowds are not allowed too. So, although there is no more reindeer Rudolph to watch out for, there is also no reason to cry because cancelling a party is a small price to pay to keep the kids and oldies in the family very safe.
As early as October, Metro Manila mayors were already talking about disallowing house to house caroling and Christmas parties, and agreed to ban Yuletide celebrations to prevent a spike of coronavirus infections.
However, if a gathering, say a Christmas reunion cannot be postponed, then the family should choose to celebrate in a wide outdoor space where physical distancing and wearing of masks can be observed.
Although public gatherings were allowed for 10 people by the IATF, the DOH appealed to the people to drop plans to visit family and friends during the holidays to help lessen the possibility of a spike in new infections.
Health authorities clarified however that the guidelines were not intended to suppress the celebration of Christmas, but a reminder that adjustments and options should be done when celebrating. Go ahead, hang those stars and Christmas bells.
The DOH and IATF advice is to make sacrifices this Christmas and New Year so that loved ones would still be around in a celebration next year. In fact, even after the vaccine shots, the virus is still a threat so that everything we do during the holidays can affect others.
In family occasions, COVID-19 could be more transferable because of the intimacy with family members or relatives who think that they are safe and uninfected just because they are relatives and family members.
But putting aside close family relations, any member of the family or any relative could be like any other person who could be an asymptomatic carrier of the COVID-19. That could translate into hundreds of thousands of infections.
In such a situation, there is no choice but to absorb the pain of seeing people getting infected due to celebrations that went against advice a few months before vaccines started to come in.
It will be more heartbreaking if a family loses a member within months of a vaccination just because they took the risk to gather during Christmas. It is like getting hit on the jaw and losing a boxing match after the referee called off the fight.
***
Residents of barangays Poblacion, Tinongdan and Dalupirip in Itogon, Benguet are again up against Benguet Corporation’s project to raise to two meters the crest of Tailings Storage Facility 2 (TSF2) with an area of about 50,000 square meters.
As of the latest update, I was told that the affected residents in the company of Benguet Board Member Sander Fianza, Councilor Gerry Cornel, barangay chairmen Edwin Atumpag, Albert C. Carantes Jr. and Paul Camantiles have decided to hold vigil pickets at the dam site to prevent construction work while lawyers are preparing petitions to be filed in court and the NCIP.
The project is part of BC’s mining operation under the Acupan Contract Mining Project (ACMP) involving small-scale mining associations that were allowed to mine underground with a 60-40 percent share in favor of the latter.
BC had notified the community and Itogon officials last October, saying all issues and concerns were all clarified, hence there should be no more delays in raising the dam embankment.
Apparently, the reason for the change of heart by the affected barangays is due to several legitimate factors such as the stability of the dam, including its social and environmental impact on their livelihood.
Hence, they asked the DENR-Environmental Management Bureau to recall the environmental compliance certificate it issued and called for a withdrawal of an order by the DENR-Mines and Geosciences Bureau that allowed BC to raise the dam’s crown.
In a statement uploaded on social media, board member Fianza and councilor Cornel felt offended because the mining company sneaked in to proceed with the raising of the crest of its mine tailings dam at a time when people were fighting COVID- 19.
There were other items that BC failed to do since it constructed TSF2. On environment concerns, drain tunnels and penstocks to contain overflow water and debris from Balatoc and Ambalanga rivers were not improved and the spillway was not finished.
Also, there is a backlog in the implementation of the Social Development Management Program for host communities, and legitimate claims attributed to the dam's construction were not fully settled.
For Mayor Victorio Palangdan, a lawyer, he said in an interview that the affected communities should take the legal process since they are “governed by laws and not by men”.
But it is such a pity that every time problems in the operation of BC and other mining companies arise, things come to a standstill because in most cases, the host town or barangays raise unsettled issues of the past.
For example, when the vehicular bridge at Tinongdan was washed out in a typhoon in 1992, a portion of the barangay became inaccessible and residents expected assistance from the companies and the DENR.
Then when the Philex tailings pond gave way in 2012, massive mudflow with an estimated volume of 20.6 metric tons spilled and contaminated the Balog and Agno rivers that disrupted the life of residents downstream who live on fishing and gold panning. No help came.
There were always fish kills even with the spill of the tailings dam at Sangilo Mines and when the tailings dam at Liang, Antamok leaked. The rivers were heavily silted that residents could not extract sand for building houses.
I got information, if this is true, that the NCIP denied the conduct of a Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) because it is an old and existing project that is within a private property.
But the circumstances during the construction of the dam in 2002 are different from the situation today. The threat it posed then is not as dangerous as when the dam’s height will be raised now. A new FPIC process is in order.
March L. Fianza
BAGUIO CITY --- Ten months into the COVID-19 pandemic, a discipline group in Baguio who essentially contributes to the physical well-being of its members feels left out in the new normal rules being ordered and administered by the powers that be.
Martial arts instructor Ed Kapawen of the Japan Karate Association (JKA-Baguio Chapter) based at the YMCA gym said, while the IATF on the prevention of COVID-19 transmission has already allowed exercise gyms, basketball and venues for similar sports to reopen, the pandemic task force has forgotten them.
Unlike basketball which is a contact sport that was allowed to open amid the pandemic, he explained that karate, once a heavy-contact sport, can be completely contact-less just by removing the kumite or face to face sparring from the exercise program.
This way, the “kiai” yell that forces out aerosols from a player’s mouth is eliminated. In basketball and other sports that were recently allowed by the IATF, aerosols that transmit the virus are ever present.
Sensei Kapawen said, in other JKA chapters in other parts of the world, they have resorted to using imaginary opponents such as PVC pipes, wood or rubber in order to maintain minimum health protocols and help prevent COVID-19 transmission.
In Japan, the USA, Australia and other karate training schools, they have moved out from the gym to the wider open lawns as they have been forced to adjust how they teach martial arts due to the pandemic.
Martial arts teacher Kapawen said karate training schools in Baguio and Benguet can easily adjust to the health protocols set by the Department of Health and the IATF considering that their students in Baguio and Benguet belong to a more disciplined breed.
He is hopeful that Mayor Magalong and DOH officials can schedule a visit anytime and inspect an actual training exercise by students of the JKA Baguio Chapter at the YMCA gym prior to a resumption of martial arts activities.
***
This notice may only be announced this December and maybe next year too. Santa Claus is not coming to town! Christmas parties and crowds are not allowed too. So, although there is no more reindeer Rudolph to watch out for, there is also no reason to cry because cancelling a party is a small price to pay to keep the kids and oldies in the family very safe.
As early as October, Metro Manila mayors were already talking about disallowing house to house caroling and Christmas parties, and agreed to ban Yuletide celebrations to prevent a spike of coronavirus infections.
However, if a gathering, say a Christmas reunion cannot be postponed, then the family should choose to celebrate in a wide outdoor space where physical distancing and wearing of masks can be observed.
Although public gatherings were allowed for 10 people by the IATF, the DOH appealed to the people to drop plans to visit family and friends during the holidays to help lessen the possibility of a spike in new infections.
Health authorities clarified however that the guidelines were not intended to suppress the celebration of Christmas, but a reminder that adjustments and options should be done when celebrating. Go ahead, hang those stars and Christmas bells.
The DOH and IATF advice is to make sacrifices this Christmas and New Year so that loved ones would still be around in a celebration next year. In fact, even after the vaccine shots, the virus is still a threat so that everything we do during the holidays can affect others.
In family occasions, COVID-19 could be more transferable because of the intimacy with family members or relatives who think that they are safe and uninfected just because they are relatives and family members.
But putting aside close family relations, any member of the family or any relative could be like any other person who could be an asymptomatic carrier of the COVID-19. That could translate into hundreds of thousands of infections.
In such a situation, there is no choice but to absorb the pain of seeing people getting infected due to celebrations that went against advice a few months before vaccines started to come in.
It will be more heartbreaking if a family loses a member within months of a vaccination just because they took the risk to gather during Christmas. It is like getting hit on the jaw and losing a boxing match after the referee called off the fight.
***
Residents of barangays Poblacion, Tinongdan and Dalupirip in Itogon, Benguet are again up against Benguet Corporation’s project to raise to two meters the crest of Tailings Storage Facility 2 (TSF2) with an area of about 50,000 square meters.
As of the latest update, I was told that the affected residents in the company of Benguet Board Member Sander Fianza, Councilor Gerry Cornel, barangay chairmen Edwin Atumpag, Albert C. Carantes Jr. and Paul Camantiles have decided to hold vigil pickets at the dam site to prevent construction work while lawyers are preparing petitions to be filed in court and the NCIP.
The project is part of BC’s mining operation under the Acupan Contract Mining Project (ACMP) involving small-scale mining associations that were allowed to mine underground with a 60-40 percent share in favor of the latter.
BC had notified the community and Itogon officials last October, saying all issues and concerns were all clarified, hence there should be no more delays in raising the dam embankment.
Apparently, the reason for the change of heart by the affected barangays is due to several legitimate factors such as the stability of the dam, including its social and environmental impact on their livelihood.
Hence, they asked the DENR-Environmental Management Bureau to recall the environmental compliance certificate it issued and called for a withdrawal of an order by the DENR-Mines and Geosciences Bureau that allowed BC to raise the dam’s crown.
In a statement uploaded on social media, board member Fianza and councilor Cornel felt offended because the mining company sneaked in to proceed with the raising of the crest of its mine tailings dam at a time when people were fighting COVID- 19.
There were other items that BC failed to do since it constructed TSF2. On environment concerns, drain tunnels and penstocks to contain overflow water and debris from Balatoc and Ambalanga rivers were not improved and the spillway was not finished.
Also, there is a backlog in the implementation of the Social Development Management Program for host communities, and legitimate claims attributed to the dam's construction were not fully settled.
For Mayor Victorio Palangdan, a lawyer, he said in an interview that the affected communities should take the legal process since they are “governed by laws and not by men”.
But it is such a pity that every time problems in the operation of BC and other mining companies arise, things come to a standstill because in most cases, the host town or barangays raise unsettled issues of the past.
For example, when the vehicular bridge at Tinongdan was washed out in a typhoon in 1992, a portion of the barangay became inaccessible and residents expected assistance from the companies and the DENR.
Then when the Philex tailings pond gave way in 2012, massive mudflow with an estimated volume of 20.6 metric tons spilled and contaminated the Balog and Agno rivers that disrupted the life of residents downstream who live on fishing and gold panning. No help came.
There were always fish kills even with the spill of the tailings dam at Sangilo Mines and when the tailings dam at Liang, Antamok leaked. The rivers were heavily silted that residents could not extract sand for building houses.
I got information, if this is true, that the NCIP denied the conduct of a Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) because it is an old and existing project that is within a private property.
But the circumstances during the construction of the dam in 2002 are different from the situation today. The threat it posed then is not as dangerous as when the dam’s height will be raised now. A new FPIC process is in order.
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