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Isabela board okays 10% wage increase
ILAGAN, Isabela – Besides the usual yearend bonuses, provincial government workers are assured of early Yuletide perks after the provincial board passed a resolution for a 10-percent salary increase in their monthly take home pay.

Vice Gov. Ramon Reyes, who also presides over the board that approved the increase earlier this week, said the increase, which will be retroactive to July this year, was in line with President Arroyo’s executive order for salary increases of government workers.

Earlier, Ms Arroyo authorized all national government agencies and local government units to have a 10-percent increase in the salaries of their employees amid the then steady increase in oil prices.

“Had we not been able to pass the resolution, we wouldn’t have been able to make it retroactive to July. If we pass it next year, it would only be retroactive to January 2009,” Reyes said.

Last year, the provincial government’s more than 1,200 regular workers received P15,000 each as part of their yearend benefits on top of other government-mandated bonuses, while provincial executives, including the governor, vice governor and heads of offices got P20,000 each. – CL

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Ethanol plant to rise in Isabela

ILAGAN, Isabela – All is set for the establishment of a P3.5-billion biofuel farm and ethanol plant capable of producing 125,000 liters of ethanol per day in a former logging town in this province.

San Mariano Mayor Edgar Go said the Japanese investors have visited the 300-hectare site and have given the go-signal for the project.

“It’s all systems go for the project. The contractor and Japanese investors have seen and inspected the site. Besides, nobody has raised any protest against the project since our constituents know this would be an additional livelihood for them,” Go said.

A former logging area and hotbed of communist insurgency, San Mariano, one of Cagayan Valley’s biggest municipalities in terms of area, lies on the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountain range.

Aside from the ethanol processing plant, the project will consist of a 90-hectare nursery, part of a 300-hectare farm to be planted with sugarcane, the project’s main raw material for ethanol production.

“The construction of the plant will be in several phases. When it is completed, the processing plant will be able to produce some 125,000 liters of ethanol per day from sugarcane,” he said.

Besides sugarcane, ethanol can also be made from the extracts of common crops like corn and jathropa, which is being pushed by the Department of Energy as a biofuel source.

The government has been exploring alternative and environment-friendly energy sources like biofuels to lessen the country’s dependence on petroleum products. -- CL

Isabela, Mt Prov cops dispute over missing illegal logs heats up

ILAGAN, Isabela – A rift is brewing between police officers of Mountain Province and this province over the reported disappearance of two trucks loaded with hot lumber here while on their way to Bontoc, Mountain Province ’s capital town.

The vehicles were among the three Isuzu Forward trucks confiscated last week by the Mt. Province’s (Paracelis) anti-illegal logging task force for transporting illegally-cut lumber along the Palitud road in Barangay Annonat, Paracelis town in said Cordillera province.

The trucks, carrying more than 5,000 board feet of illegally-cut lumber, were being taken to the task force’s safe-house here when police operatives, led by one SPO3 Pailas of the 205th Provincial Mobile Group, reportedly intercepted them at a checkpoint in Roxas (Isabela) just several meters from the task force’s safe house.

Due to difficulty of terrain from Paracelis to Bontoc, one has to pass through Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya and Ifugao provinces before reaching Mt.Province ’s capital.

Usually, confiscated logs, the task force said, have to pass through its Roxas safehouse for accounting and documentation before they will be brought to Bontoc where the Mt. Province provincial environment and natural resources office is based for proper disposition.

Task force members, who accompanied the trucks, led by Senior Insp. Pablo Undalos then introduced themselves and explained the nature of their operation.

They said they later agreed to turn over the two trucks to the PMG operatives who reportedly brought them at the Roxas police station for further investigation, but when the task force later went to the said police station to affirm the legality of their operation, they claimed that the said trucks, including the contraband, were nowhere to be found. -- CL

Santiago fest gets slate in Hall of Fame

SANTIAGO CITY — Arriving in this city from Iloilo City where she and her group attended the ninth national convention of the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP), Santiago City Mayor Amelita Sison-Navarro announced Wednesday this city’s Pattaradday Festival bagged for the third consecutive time ATOP’s Best Tourism Event of the Year (component city category).

As a result of winning the award for three consecutive times in 2006, 2007, and 2008, the Pattaradday Festival is now installed in ATOP’s Hall of Fame. This was announced last week during the awards night that capped the annual ATOP convention at Kalantiao Hall of the Sarabia Manor Hotel in Iloilo City.

Assisted by newly elected ATOP president Roselyn Merlin, Tourism Secretary Ace Durano presented the Grand Slam award to mayor Navarro who was accompanied by her executive assistant on tourism affairs, Yuan Mor’O Ocampo. Pattaradday is the Gaddang (native dialect) term for unity.

It was during the administration of Navarro that the festival was institutionalized. It has become the city’s official entry in ATOP’s best tourism practices competition since 2006. "With bigger and more popular festivals such as the Dinagyang of Iloilo, the Sinulog of Cebu participating as guest performers in the summer street spectacle here, Pattaradday has lived up to its name for literally uniting the country’s rich cultural traditions," Ocampo said. Navarro said even if Pattaradday has achieved a Hall of Fame status, Santiago City will not seat on its laurel and will continue to aim for the best.

"Winning a grand slam should inspire us to make the best of the best in all areas of concerns in general. We should not stop seeking for the better," she said.

Every year, ATOP gives due recognition to the best tourism practices in various categories.
Durano cited the ATOP convention as the country’s biggest gathering of stakeholders in the tourism industry. "There is no other gathering in the country that brings together all tourism stakeholders in the country on all levels – from local to national and even the private sectors. By far this is the biggest and the most prestigious gathering of tourism stake holders in the country," Durano said. -- CP

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Atienza orders auction of logs seized in Isabela

ILIGAN CITY, ISABELA -- Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza ordered Thursday the auction of illegally cut logs seized recently by a composite team of Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Isabela provincial government personnel and police and military units.

"The contraband logs will be sold to the highest bidder on ‘as is, where is’ basis," Atienza said.

"We do not relish this task. But rather than leaving the seized logs exposed to the elements and eventually rendered useless, steps must be taken to make the contraband timber serve a productive purpose."

The illegally cut logs, worth nearly P3 million, were cut by poachers at the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park. Confiscated were 2,059 pieces of assorted hardwood (narra, red lauan, tanguile), measuring 158,618 board feet.

Atienza also commended Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca for her vigilance and determination to protect the natural wealth of Isabela.

Padaca has been waging an uphill battle against decades-old illegal logging activities in Isabela, particularly in a logging town where many residents earn their livelihood as atcheros (chain saw operators) and bogaderos (log transporters).

"Governor Padaca’s effort not only addresses the very critical issues on why Isabela’s natural wealth should be protected for the benefit of the majority but seeks to put the socio-political and economic dynamics of the province in their proper perspective. Indeed her stateswomanship makes her larger than life for us all in government service to emulate," Atienza said.

The DENR chief also asked top officials of the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police to extend all possible assistance to Padaca’s campaign to enforce environmental laws.

The lady governor was deputized recently by Atienza as environment and natural officer, a position which gives her the authority to arrest and file charges against violators of environmental laws.

Part of the proceeds of the sale of confiscated logs will fund the efforts of Governor Padaca in her campaign against timber poaching in Isabela’s forested towns located within the 359,846-hectare natural park. Padaca firmly adheres to the protection and preservation of Isabela’s natural park because water from its forests irrigates the province’s ricefields which now produce more rice than Nueva Ecija, previously considered as the country’s rice granary.

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Isabela Lakas-Kampi merger in the works

ILAGAN, Isabela -- Politics is heating in this country’s third largest province with less than two years to go before election time with merging of two of the pro-administration political parties n the works for election war against the still politically potent Dy forces here of the Nationalist People’s Coalition and the group of incumbent Gov. Grace Padaca of the Liberal Party.

Rep. Edwin Uy, Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) chairman here, said their joining forces here with the Kabalikat ng Mamamayang Pilipino (Kampi) was in line with moves of national party leaders supportive of President Arroyo to form a potent and dominant party in time for the 2010 elections.

“This is what the national leadership wants -- for us to merge as one party,” said Uy of the province’s second congressional district. “But this will take place only when there is no conflict in the local level.”

“We wanted to have a potent force (by joining our forces). It’s good for us to win the majority in the province,” said Santiago City Mayor Amelita Navarro of the Lakas-CMD.

Since the 2004 elections, the Lakas-CMD here had formed a tactical alliance with Padaca’s LP, which was broadened and strengthened during the 2007 elections when the Albanos, who belong to Kampi, also shifted their support to Padaca over the Dys, ending an almost four-decade political partnership.

But this time around, Padaca may not be able to rely on the support of Lakas-CMD or Kampi here as the two parties move to merge and form a “super-party” in the province.

“As much as possible, we will try to maintain the equity of the incumbent and if there is any conflict it would be treated as a special case,” said Uy, one of those who bankrolled Padaca’s two successful gubernatorial bids.

But sources from both parties said that with the merger of Lakas and Kampi, whatever agreements may have been made between Padaca and Uy would become “null and void.”

“Once the merging is formalized, either Uy or Reyes for the Lakas side would have to slug it out with either Congressman (Rodolfo) Albano III or Tonypet Albano, sons of former Energy Regulatory Commission chairman Rodolfo Albano Jr., from the Kampi side, for the governorship post,” the source said.

The Lakas-Kampi bet for the governorship would then have to slug it out with Padaca for a possible third gubernatorial term, and a candidate from the NPC, either third-term Rep. Faustino Dy III or his brother Alicia town Mayor Napoleon Dy, both sons of the late Faustino Dy Sr., this province’s longest-serving governor.

“The Dys are still a potent political force in the province and anyone of them (Rep. Dy or Mayor Dy) who runs for the governorship under the NPC has a very good chance of regaining the said post,” said fourth district Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao, an NPC stalwart. – CL


New Isabela bishop appointed
By Joan Capuna

ILAGAN, Isabela – The Catholic Church here welcomed the appointment of a new bishop of the Ilagan diocese whose ecclesiastical jurisdiction covers Isabela, the country’s third largest province.

Fr. Riczeus Angoring, diocesan secretary, said the Vatican appointed Bishop Joseph Amangi Nacua, to take over as bishop of the Ilagan diocese effective Sept. 9.

Angoring said the Vatican announcement was officially communicated to the diocese by the Most Reverend Edward Joseph Adams, D.D., Apostolic Nuncio in the Philippines.

“He (Nacua) accepted the new appointment and looks forward to coming here,” Angoring said.

A Franciscan, Nacua, now assigned at San Isidro Labrador parish in Zamboanga Sibugay province, is the fourth bishop of Ilagan since it was created as separate diocese from the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao.

Nacua’s appointment came more than a year after his predecessor Bishop Sergio Utleg was transferred to the diocese of Laoag in Ilocos Norte.

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Illegal loggers hatched plan to eliminate me -- Padaca
By Joan Capuna

ILAGAN, Isabela – Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca said illegal loggers have hatched a liquidation plot on her after their illegal activities were hard hit by her fight against the destruction of remaining forests of Isabela, including the Sierra Madre.

Padaca did not identity the illegal loggers plotting to eliminate her, but said that "Isabelinos knew who they are (illegal loggers) as they are the ones who denuded our forest for the last 50 years."

Padaca said unlike the persons behind the operations of jueteng, most of the illegal logging operators are local people."The threats we are receiving are from people we know and who know us. They know by now that we are serious in eradicating illegal logging."

The report on the assassination plot was confirmed by Catholic priest Fr. John Couvreur, head of the ecology desk of the social action apostolate of the Diocese of Ilagan.
The priest said he was also one of the targets of the supposed slay plot.

Recently, Couvreur and his group led a one-day hunger strike in the compound of the parish church in San Mariano town to dramatize their protest against the continued destruction of Isabela’s forest areas.

Couvreur said "a plan has been hatched to liquidate me and Governor Grace Padaca by hired killers because we put in danger the lucrative business of prominent people who are behind the illegal logging activities in the province."

ENVIRONMENT WATCH

Hot logs unearthed on Mt. Sierra Madre

ILAGAN, Isabela – Over a million board feet of illegally-cut trees have been discovered in the heart of the Sierra Madre Mountain here, bolstering reports of rampant illegal logging taking place in one of the country’s remaining but heavily-threatened forest covers.

Gov. Grace Padaca said last week the number of illegally-felled trees in the mountain areas could be 10 times or maybe even a hundred times bigger and were ready to be hauled and transported out from the area by big-time financiers of illegal logging in the province, exploiting the natives there as bugadores or lumber haulers.

“That’s a conservative estimate. It could be 10 times bigger. It’s what I can manage to think. This is way beyond my powers as governor even if I am deputized as environment officer by Environment Secretary Joselito Atienza to arrest and file cases against illegal loggers,” Padaca said.

Padaca, who recently reactivated the provincial government’s anti-illegal logging task force, led a team over the week for an aerial assessment on the extent of damages of the province’s forestlands, especially over San Mariano town, one of the reported illegal logging hot spots here, which also include Jones and San Agustin towns.

The aerial survey was conducted following reports of rampant illegal cutting of trees in the area, part of the vast Sierra Madre biodiversity corridor or the Sierra Madre National Park, a government-protected area, it also being home to some of the world’s most endangered flora and fauna. 

The provincial government task force, also composed of police and Army, in partnership with the Catholic Church’s Ecology Desk, which is being run by the Diocese of Ilagan’s social action apostolate, had already confiscated at least 95,000 board feet of various species of illegally-sourced out forest trees.     

This province still accounts for at least 600,000 of Cagayan Valley’s more than 900,000 hectares of forest lands, which is one of the country’s biggest remaining forest reserves, which also includes the heavily threatened Northern Sierra Madre biodiversity corridor.

With the seized lumber just littered in the provincial capitol and gymnasium, Padaca hopes that Atienza would grant their request for them to auction the said forest products, and that the amount generated from it would be used to provide alternative income sources for poor families, whom illegal loggers have been employing as tree cutters and lumber haulers.

“I know that he (Atienza) will act soon as he has always done on my previous requests. What I asked him to do is (to) order the immediate auction of the 95,000 board feet that the task force has confiscated so we can have something to immediately give as alternative livelihood to displaced barangay folks who are now agitated because they claim they have no more food to eat,” she said.

Earlier, Padaca and Fr. John Couvreur, head of the Church’s ecology desk here, said that “a plan has been hatched to liquidate me (Couvreur) and Gov. Grace Padaca by hired killers because we put in danger the lucrative business of prominent people who are behind the illegal logging activities within the province.”

Couvreur and his group led a one-day hunger strike at the Church compound in San Mariano over the weekend “to show our moral support to the governor and to call national attention of the seriousness of the problem and invite national agencies to assist us in the struggle for the protection of the environment.” -- CL 

Another Isabela village chief shot dead at farm

ILAGAN, Isabela – Another village official was shot dead by still unknown suspects on Aug. 8, barely two weeks after a barangay chairman was slain in one of the interior towns here. Police formally filed last week murder charges against a town councilor and two others for the Aug. 2 killing of a policeman here.

Police said they are still establishing the motives and the identities of the suspects in the killing of councilman Nestor Duque of Barangay Flores, Naguilian town around 10 a.m. Friday August 8.

Supt. Antonio Marallag, police intelligence officer, said the victim and a nephew were walking to their farm when two unidentified men approached them and asked for some assistance, including food.

The victim’s nephew, while on his way to get food and water for the strangers, heard successive shots nearby.

He then rushed back to where he left his uncle only to find him already dead on the ground with traces of gunshot wounds on the head, neck and stomach.

Murder and frustrated murder charges were formally filed before a regional trial court here over the week against Alicia town councilor Erick Bumatay, councilman George Paringit and one Romeo Mariano, suspects in the killing of PO3 Jonathan Abuan and wounding of SPO2 Ludovico Delmindo, both of the Alicia police.

The cops, along with another colleague were reportedly driving back to Alicia proper when their vehicle was suddenly cut by the suspects’ Toyota Innova van. – CL

Sec Atienza sacks DENR chief over illegal logging
ILAGAN, Isabela – Despite opposition, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Joselito Atienza relieved forester Felix Taguba as the provincial environment and natural resources officer.

A 2007 Forester of the Year awardee, Taguba, who described his relief as “without due process,” formally relinquished his post Tuesday, barely two weeks after Atienza ordered his transfer to the DENR regional office in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.

“Although I felt that my sudden transfer was unceremonious and tainted with politics, as a good soldier and a public servant, I have to adhere to the order of higher authorities,” said Taguba, who was replaced by one of his subordinates, community environment and natural resources officer Alfredo Almueda, as officer-in-charge.

Atienza’s order came in the wake of reported “policy differences” and lack of coordination on anti-illegal logging activities between Taguba’s office and the provincial government, which reactivated last month its multi-sectoral anti-logging task force amid the reported unabated illegal logging in the province.

Taguba’s sentiments were reportedly also aggravated by Atienza’s issuing last month a deputization order to Gov. Grace Padaca, authorizing her to apprehend and file cases against illegal loggers and confiscate and dispose of illegally cut forest products.

Sources said Taguba felt bypassed by the deputization order despite his “outstanding accomplishments” as the DENR head in this third largest province.

Taguba’s successor even wrote a personal letter to Atienza, declining his appointment, saying, “He could not just take the post of a man who has done so much in the interest of the environment and his staff.” Since 2004, calls for Taguba’s relief led by the Catholic Church here, had mounted due to what was perceived as his inability to contain illegal logging.

Even Padaca herself earlier expressed her disappointment on the performance of the local DENR office, citing reports on rampant illegal cutting of trees in the province.

Taguba, a native of Cagayan Valley, belied these accusations, saying, “Our performance will speak for itself that we were never remiss on our duties in safeguarding the environment even if it cost our jobs and our lives.”

“But I respect the opinion of the Church and the good governor… What’s important here is I have a clear conscience… that we did our job well despite outside pressures,” he said. -- CL

3 suspects in Isabela 'shooting' arrested

ILAGAN, Isabela – Three suspects in a shooting incident which resulted in the killing of a policeman and the wounding of another on Aug. 1 have been arrested and are now in police custody, reports said.

But Senior Supt. Dominador Aquino, provincial police director, neither confirmed nor denied allegations that the suspects, including one or more who remain at large, and whose identities were withheld pending further investigation, were aides of a local official here.

“What I can only say is that the suspects and the victims apparently knew each other,” he said, adding they were still investigating the motives behind what the authorities described as a “shooting incident” without the police firing a single shot.

According to reports, the policemen were driving back to Alicia town proper when their vehicle was suddenly cut by the suspects’ black Toyota Innova van.
The suspects then disembarked and sprayed the vehicle with bullets from an M16 Armalite rifle and then later fled.

The fatality, one PO3 Jonathan Abuan, was shot in the head by bullets coming from an M16 Armalite rifle while his colleague, SPO2 Ludivico Delmendo sustained serious gunshot wounds on the left arm and buttocks. A third companion, SPO3 Nacasio Bautisa, was unhurt. The cops were reportedly returning from a cockpit when they were waylaid by the suspects that evening. -- CL

FRONT PAGE

Isabela village chief, 9 others face raps for ‘illegal logging’
By Joan Capuna

SAN MARIANO, Isabela – Illegal logging charges are being readied against a barangay chairman of this remote town and nine others for the shipment of high-grade wood products earlier this month. Gov. Grace Padaca yesterday July 26 said that the province’s anti-illegal logging task force is set to file charges against barangay chairman Floriano Dichoso of Macayocayo, San Mariano and nine others for violation of the anti-illegal logging law.

“We have prepared cases against them,” Padaca said. “The law is the law. If you violated it, then you have to be arrested.”

Dichoso was reportedly included in the case after he reportedly owned responsibility over the more than 4,000 illegally-cut forest products worth more than P500,000.

The task force, also composed of Army and police, discovered the narra lumber while they were being shipped across the Pinacanauan River in remote Benito Soliven town with the use of floaters.

The charges against the illegal logging suspects came in the wake of Padaca’s two-week ultimatum to all illegal loggers and timber poachers to voluntarily surrender the equipment they were using in their illegal activities or face appropriate charges.

“Bring down your chainsaws now and we won’t arrest you,” said Padaca, whom Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Joselito Atienza have given a special deputization order to go after illegal loggers and timber poachers here.

The ultimatum, which took effect July 21 until Aug. 4, was issued during a meeting of the provincial government-led anti-illegal logging task force whose recent revival came amid reports of rampant illegal logging in the province’s protected forest zones.
Padaca said no apprehension, arrest or charges will be made on persons who would voluntarily turn over their chainsaws and other equipment being utilized in the illegal cutting of trees.

In related developments, mayors from the province’s forest zones led by Mayor Jose Mari Diaz of Ilagan said some constituents had to resort to cutting of trees to sustain their basic needs.

Any alternative livelihood for them, they said, would lead to curbing the age-old problem of illegal cutting of trees here.

“We understand their (mayors) concerns for some of their constituents engaged in illegal timber poaching out of poverty,” said provincial environment and natural resources officer forester Felix Taguba.

“We have been implementing alternative ways for their constituents to legally make use of their forest resources.”

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Gunmen shoot dead another village chief

ILAGAN, Isabela – Police are still clueless as to the suspects in the killing of a barangay chairman of an interior town last week, the sixth village chief killed here in less than two years.

Artemio Garcia Sr., first-term barangay chairman of Capuseran, Benito Soliven town, was shot dead by still unidentified men at around 5:30 a.m. while returning from a barangay night patrol.

Police said Garcia, a barangay secretary before winning the village chairmanship in last year’s barangay elections, was hit three times.

Senior Insp. Ronald Laggui of the Benito Soliven police, meanwhile, said police investigations appear to point to a 2007 land dispute and politics as possible motives for the killing.

Garcia had reportedly been receiving death threats before his killing.

Further, a 42-year-old carpenter was stabbed dead after a scuffle in San Felipe, Echague town, around 11 a.m. also on Wednesday.

Police said that Santiago Guirang, 18, allegedly stabbed dead Federico Barbosa as a result of an altercation between him and Guirang’s elder brother, Jose, with whom the victim reportedly had a grudge during an earlier gambling session at a wake here. -- CL

ENVIRONMENT WATCH

Women encourage use of bayong

SAN MATEO, Isabela – A women-based group here is leading an effort for the return to biodegradable alternatives, among them the ever-reliable bayong as a market or shopping bag in place of the ubiquitous plastic bags. Dubbed Walang Plastikan, this southwestern town’s chapter of the Isabela Green Ladies Organization is now spearheading a “No to Plastic” campaign in a determined effort to get rid of plastic bags and other related environmentally-destructive items.

According to Dr. Crispina Agcaoili, IGLO president, the move for this rice and corn-producing municipality to return to the use of bayong and other bags made of indigenous materials instead of depending on plastic sand bags is part of a concerted effort to lessen, if not to eradicate the use of non-biodegradable items here.

“Our campaign is to discourage the indiscriminate use of plastic bags, not only in malls but also in ordinary public markets and sari-sari stores,” said Agcaoili, wife of Mayor Roberto Agcaoili.

This recently-launched campaign has now been complemented with a town ordinance seeking to discourage the use of plastic bags in public markets as well as other establishments.

The return to the use of the bayong or woven rattan or bamboo baskets or bags, which rural folk had been commonly using before, would greatly complement the town’s environmental protection efforts by lessening the amount of garbage being disposed.

“By promoting the use of bayong, we will not only help lessen the expense on plastic bags which cost from P1 to P10, this will also result in less eyesores in the town,” said Agcaoili.

Coupled with a strict garbage disposal system, he said, the ban on the use of plastics would also reduce the town’s waste disposal problem.

Besides plastic bags, Mrs. Agcaoili said the campaign also aims to discourage the use of cellophane bags, styropores and plastic straws, which are hazardous to one’s health since a chemical reaction may happen when they are mixed with foodstuffs items and soft drink products. -- CL


Baguio garbage problem in a fix

BAGUIO CITY -- The call is back to the basic Rs –reduce, reuse, recycle – as the city government last week took emergency measures – including having trucks haul tons of trash to a dumpsite in Capas, Tarlac – to ease the garbage crisis and move on to a more permanent solution to the problem.

The city’s barangay chiefs Tuesday morning told city administrator Peter Fianza they have rallied anew households to segregate their waste, hold on to non-biodegradable such as plastics and establish and share temporary backyard compost pits for those that decay. Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. earlier reiterated his appeal for residents to do their share by employing waste reduction techniques in their homes.

Fianza, who was designated by the mayor to oversee management the solid waste problem, explained the moves within the barangay level will give the city time to normalize collection and proper disposal, including locating a landfill site.
Collection in the barangays fully resumed late Thursday afternoon with the arrival of more trucks from Metro Waste, a firm accredited to haul garbage, to beef up the city’s own.

Earlier that day, Fianza convinced a picket of residents affected by the closed dumpsite at Irisan to allow trucks to enter and haul garbage earlier dumped there as a temporary staging area, to add to their loads collected from the barangays and for transport to Capas. The protesters initially stood their ground but eventually relented when Fianza explained that no additional garbage shall be added to the heap and that sorting by scavengers will not be allowed.

Pending the pin-pointing of an alternative staging area, however, Fianza said he will ask the affected residents to allow secondary sorting of waste in the dumpsite as the one in Capas would not accept glass and other sharp materials.

Fianza has also asked the city environment and parks management office to see whether a city-owned lot can be used as a staging or composting area. He was initially considering another area along Marcos Highway which the city earlier planned for a bus terminal, only to find out it has been converted for housing purposes, with some of the lots already titled.

The situation, however, brightened up same day as the Philippine Military Academy offered its dumpsite for compost garbage, mostly vegetable trimmings from the market and animal manure from the city slaughterhouse, the major contributors of this type of waste.

Fianza has also appealed to vegetable farmers and traders to do their trimmings at the farms or at the trading centers to help reduce waste coming into the city. Crucial to the steps being taken will be the city council’s meeting tomorrow afternoon to discuss more permanent measures and funding, including the purchase of a lot among several being offered as dumpsite.

Mayor Bautista has also asked the council to pass a P42-million outlay for the set up of 15 material recovery facilities in the barangay clusters and P35 million for 10 dump trucks. The city’s 128 barangays were divided into clusters last year when the waste segregation campaign was stepped up.

At the weekly “Ulat sa Bayan” media forum last Thursday, vice-mayor Daniel Farinas said the mayor personally went to Capas, Tarlac last Thursday to inspect the landfill facility the city will temporarily use.

Farinas has filed a resolution to declare the city under a state of calamity to enable the local government and the barangays to utilize calamity funds in tackling the garbage issue.

He has also proposed an outlay for the purchase of 16 pulverizing machines to support the waste reduction campaign within the 16 barangay clusters. – Ramon Dacawi and Aileen Refuerzo.

AGGIE UPDATE

San Mateo’s peach- orange salted eggs

SAN MATEO, Isabela -- This town is fast gaining a niche in the salted-egg industry with residents now enjoying results of a duck-dispersal program launched by the municipal government a few years back.

San Mateo had also been noted for its environmentally-friendly practices and Galing Pook award-winning mungbean program for which Mayor Roberto Agcaoili was cited as Isabela’s most outstanding mayor last year.

Now, there is an abundance of duck eggs produced every day by recipient families in the town’s 33 barangays.

This prompted a local women’s group to engage in salted egg production.

Led by Dr. Crispina Agcaoili, who is the mayor’s wife, the Isabela Green Ladies Organization created a livelihood arm called "Pag-asa Bayanihan Association."

"While we maintain our established role in keeping sustainable environmental and health-protection campaign in town, we were prompted to come up with a livelihood group in order to keep many bodies and souls together, figuratively speaking," Agcaoili said.

The group has opted to focus on egg processing not only to provide jobs for many housewives but also to add value and keep a sustainable market for the town’s daily egg production.

"Because salted-egg processing is done in many places in the country, we have developed our own version to have a distinct taste quality and uniquely different color," the mayor’s wife said.

The San Mateo salted egg is organically colored with the locally grown "atsuete." "We do not use the conventional red or fuchsia pink chemical dyes to color our salted eggs because it was discovered by food experts that when it penetrates the egg interior and eaten, it could be hazardous to one’s health," Doctor Agcaoili said.

Unlike the common red salted eggs in the market, the San Mateo salted egg tastes not too salty and has an immaculate-white, oily-yellow yolk with uniquely peach-orange coat which attracts many consumers.

"Sobrang sarap (It’s so delicious) that I even ask a friend to regularly send trays of salted eggs to me in Manila. It’s mouth-watering, and one can’t resist it," said budding photojournalist and 2006 Miss Isabela beauty titlist Mary Ann Laggui who goes to school in the big city.

University of La Salette coed Leanne Lopez of Alicia town said she would secretly hire a tricycle to go to the adjacent town of San Mateo just to buy a tray of salted eggs.

"Once you have tasted it, you would crave for more," the student said.

Because of the popularity that the San Mateo salted egg has gained, the San Mateo municipal government has registered it as its "One Town, One Product" (OTOP) with the Department of Trade and Industry.

The San Mateo salted egg has stood out in many national trade fairs, selling an average of 5,000 pieces a day.

Mayor Agcaoili said he will push for the upgrading of the duck breeds to increase production and meet the high demand for San Mateo’s processed eggs. -- CP


Strong palay harvests despite typhoons -- DA Agriculture officials remain hopeful they can still achieve this year’s palay production target of 17.32 million, or 6.67 percent higher than last year’s record yield of 16.24 million MT, as summer harvests have already exceeded the original projection by 200,000 MT or four million bags of unmilled rice.

Secretary Arthur Yap of the Department of Agriculture said DA officials believe they can also hit their original target of 10 million-plus tons for the wet or main cropping season despite the onslaught of typhoon “Frank,” on condition that they can implement fully and quickly enough their proposed farm rehabilitation program to offset production losses in Western Visayas and 11 more regions buffeted by the cyclone.

“Given the better-than-expected summer harvests as a result of the Arroyo administration’s continued higher spending on intervention measures meant to boost palay productivity, we remain hopeful about similarly hitting our original production target for the wet crop once we get the go-signal from Malacañang to implement our farm rehabilitation program for the palay-growing provinces hardest-hit by typhoon ‘Frank,’” Yap said.

Yap gave this forecast as the latest report by DA’s Rice Action Center (DARAC), which is headed by Undersecretary Jesus Emmanuel Paras, showed that farmers have already reaped 7.3 million MT, or 200,000 tons more than the 7.1-million-ton target for the dry or summer crop, from 1.79 million hectares planted to the grain.

Total harvest volume, which is already 8.96% more than the 6.7 million MT produced in last year’s dry crop, will even go higher because the latest DARAC covers only 92% of the 1.94 million hectares devoted to palay this season.

DARAC reported that Central Luzon and Cagayan Valley— where 92.86% and 95.77% of their respected palay fields have already been harvested—produced the highest yields at 1.4 M MT and 1.13 M MT, respectively, as of end-June. Farmers in all regions have harvested their crops in more than 90% of all palay fields, save for those in the Cordillera Administrative Region and Bicol, where the respective harvest areas covered 87.30% and 74.18% of total acreage, DARAC bared.

To hit or surpass its production target in the wet crop, Yap had directed the DA’s Regional Executive Directors (REDs) to start working out with governors and mayors the intervention programs such as fertilizer subsidies that local government units can help bankroll with Internal Revenue Allotment differentials that LGUs are about to receive following President Arroyo’s recent issuance of an Executive Order monetizing such IRA funds.

President Arroyo issued EO 723 two months ago on the understanding that local executives will use part of the money to fund food production programs in their respective localities. Totalling P12.5 billion, the would-be monetized IRA funds represent the difference between the amount that LGUs were supposed to get and what they did receive when the national budgets were just re-enacted in fiscal years 2001 and 2004.

Yap said LGUs could use their IRA share to, among others, provide counterpart funds for a new DA program to provide fertilizer subsidies to palay farmers equivalent to P250 per bag. The DA started distributing such discount coupons last month in major palay-growing regions like Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan as well as in typhoon-ravaged provinces like Iloilo and Romblon, in time for the wet crop.

With fertilizer prices doubling in the domestic market to a range of P1,500 to P1,900 per bag from their year-ago levels in the face of the sharply rising petroleum prices, Yap said this joint subsidy program of the DA and LGUs will certainly help cushion the impact of this price spiral on local farmers and encourage them to use more of this vital input to further increase their per-hectare yields.

A formal partnership with LGU executives, highlighted by the detail of devolved local-government agricultural technicians to the Department’s regional offices, had been forged by the DA with the League of Provinces of the Philippines .

Also, a separate “collaborative extension service” arrangement between the DA and state universities and colleges was worked out during a recent consultative meeting with the heads of 40 SUCs.

Moreover, Yap and Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr. signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) last month committing participating members of the House of Representatives to each allot P5 million of their Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF allocations for credit support to farmers in their respective congressional districts.

The DA presented to Malacañang during the last Cabinet meeting a rehabilitation program for the typhoon-hit provinces that includes subsidies for certified and good seeds, inorganic fertilizer and Bio-N or microbial inoculants, and transport and hauling support for farmers with damaged palay and corn lands.

For typhoon-affected fisheries stakeholders the DA’s relief plan includes a fry/fingerling dispersal program; handout of fishing gear like payaos, bancas, fish traps, fish corrals and gillnets; replacement of buoys and markers in fish sanctuaries; and the repair of damaged facilities of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

For the HVCC subsector, the plan provides for subsidies for seeds, tissue cultured plantlets or other planting materials for vegetable, banana and mango growers in completely damaged areas, plus the intensified implementation of technology transfer programs to encourage the off-season production of these high-value crops.

Subsidies for feed assistance to backyard swine raisers, a native chicken dispersal project, animal health programs and laboratory services are also be included in the rehabilitation plan for the benefit of affected stakeholders in the livestock and poultry sub-sector. – DA press release

ENVIRONMENT WATCH

‘Walang plastikan’ for Isabela ladies group
SAN MATEO, Isabela — To minimize, if not eradicate, the widespread use of plastic bags in town, the San Mateo chapter of the Isabela Green Ladies Organization launched Tuesday a campaign it called "Walang Plastikan."

This was intended to discourage indiscriminate use of the non-biodegradable containers commonly used in modern shopping places, public markets and high-end malls.

"The message which figuratively means be true to one’s self literally means no to plastics," said Dr. Crispina Agcaoili, IGLO president and wife of San Mateo Mayor Roberto Agcaoili. A municipal ordinance discourages the use of plastic bags as containers especially in the San Mateo public market.

"While we have a strict garbage disposal system being implemented in our public market and in all the 33 barangays, discouraging the use of plastics will substantially reduce the mounting problem of waste management, not only in our municipality but in the entire country as well," Mayor Agcaoili said.

Because non-biodegrable, plastic bags and similar containers cause problems at garbage dump sites. "Because plastic does not decompose, you can just imagine millions of tons of it covering the earth every minute, every second. What will happen to us?" Doctor Agcaoili said.

The mayor’s wife said that food stalls, variety stores and mobile juice carts using cellophane pouches and sachets in the sale of bottled soft drinks and juices or even hot food and soup were advised to stop the practice.

"Cellophane pouches may look clean, but these could be dangerous to our health because there are unknown chemical elements in them that may react with cold soda drinks or to extremely high temperature of food," Doctor Agcaoili said.

The use of the traditional "bayong" (nipa basket) or rattan baskets, commonly used by rural folk decades ago, is being revived to save the ailing environment. "In our modern times, bayong or basket may initially look awkward, but as the renewed practice goes in full swing, we will get use to it as our official shopping kit.

Besides, we can save money because we will no longer buy every now and then plastic bags which cost from R2 to R5 depending on the size. And as a result, we can clean our dump sites and get rid of eyesores," Mayor Agcaoili said.

Led by the municipal government, civic groups and schools, "Walang Plastikan" is now a byword in the town in both its literal and figurative meaning. – CP


Expansion of Quirino fish sanctuary sought
CABARROGUIS, Quirino -- The municipal government here is poised to push for an expansion of its five-hectare fish sanctuary, following the re-emergence of an endangered soft-shelled turtle there, the Philippine Environmental Governance, a USAID-funded project, said.

EcoGov’s Bing Jaleco said the freshwater turtle, which was last seen in the area seven years ago, was discovered to have resurfaced two weeks ago, boosting biodiversity conservation efforts in Cabarroguis town.

“More than anything else, it shows how sound environmental management and good governance can impact positively on biodiversity, in this case on habitat,” Jaleco said.

He cited the improved governance of Quirino’s forest and forestland resources through the town’s Forest Land Use Plan, which was prepared with technical assistance from EcoGov.

Leo Valdez, municipal environment officer of Cabarroguis, said the freshwater juvenile Cantor’s Giant Soft-Shelled Turtle (Pelochelys cantorii), locally known as cagot, was discovered after it got trapped in the fishnet of a fisherman along Addalam River in Barangay Eden two weeks ago.

The turtle was immediately brought to the municipal agriculturist’s office for proper documentation. Valdez said the Addalam River watershed irrigates rice lands in Cabarroguis, Aglipay and Saguday in Quirino, and nearby towns in Isabela.

He said the site where the cagot was found is part of the fish sanctuary established in the mid-1990s. Intensive quarrying and illegal fishing along the river prompted local leaders to protect the area to enable it to renew and increase fish stocks, Valdez said.

Sectors join to preserveLagawe’s watershed
LAGAWE, Ifugao – The ongoing deforestation of Mount Binahagan, Lagawe’s highest mountain and the source of drinking water for the five barangays surrounding it, has prompted some concerned sectors to join in a tree planting activity and community consultation here initiated by the municipal local government unit last July 12.

Some 1,000 mahogany seedlings and 400 arabica coffee seedlings were planted at the peak of the said mountain by at least 60 participants mostly young people from Don Bosco High School, the Ifugao State College of Agriculture and Forestry, Kiphodan, and Kataguwan. Employees from the provincial government and LGU-Lagawe participated also in the event.

Sharon Sarol of the Lagawe municipal government said the tree planting activity was an advocacy in itself since it heightened awareness on the importance of biodiversity conservation among the youth and the community in line with the concerns on global warming. Sarol said involvement of the young people in the said activity was in commemoration of World Population Day.

“The youth comprises the majority of the world population and involving them in this activity could help change the notion that they could hardly make a difference nowadays,” she said.

“I was worried of any unwanted incident to the participants as we climbed the peak of the mountain but we made it,” she added.

Sarol told the young people that by planting a tree, the person develops his or her nurturing capacity or the ability to care and grow emotionally. She stressed to them that activities such as this help them stay away from destructive activities.

As a response, a Don Bosco student testified that with the activity, she developed a sense of responsibility. She said she was able to prove to herself that she could do something worthwhile.

“Being a student of Don Bosco who stays at Poblacion, I was unaware of the actual situation of the far-flung barangays of Lagawe so I find this activity truly educational,” she said. “At the peak of Mt. Binahagan, I saw how human activities cause the deterioration of the rich natural resources of Lagawe.”

The activity resulted to consultation among elders and residents initiated by Dionisio Umlano Jr., barangay captain of Pullaan, who promised to monitor the planted trees. Encouraged by the positive feedbacks from the participants and the community, Lagawe Mayor Caesario Cabbigat said Mt. Binahagan could be developed as eco-tourism site.

Ifugao Gov. Teddy Baguilat Jr. also said he hoped the activity would be replicated in other municipalities. -- Jeremy M. Gawongna

FRONT PAGE

Isabela officials, lawmen ‘protecting’ illegal loggers
By Joan Capuna

ILAGAN, Isabela – Illegal logging has gone from bad to worse in the province as local officials and lawmen are reportedly protecting those involved in the illegal trade prompting the provincial government to reactivate a task force to go after the perpetrators.

This promted the provincial government to reactivate its multi-sectoral anti-illegal logging task force last week to save the “last frontier forest in northern Sierra Madre.”

Gov. Grace Padaca said for three months, the province prepared groundwork and conducted meetings for “all-out campaign to re-activate the anti-logging task force that we formed on my second year as governor.”

Meanwhile, at least 9,000 board feet of both narra and soft wood species with a combined worth of at least P700,000 were confiscated in the last three days here in the wake of the provincial government’s efforts to re-strengthen its anti-illegal task force, which had been sidelined for almost two years.

“I have been telling this to our Apo Isabeliños, especially those who are involved (in illegal logging), either as financiers, or even local politicians and policemen who are in cahoots (with illegal loggers), so that they can’t say they have not been warned,” she said.

Padaca’s latest tirade against illegal logging activities here came after more or less 4,000 board feet of illegal sawn narra flitches were confiscated in Benito Soliven town while being transported across the river using floaters.

Ten persons, including a barangay chairman are now facing illegal logging charges in connection with the illegal shipment of the forest products.

Likewise, some 5,000 board feet worth at least P200,000 of what is believed to be illegally-sawn softwood were found abandoned here yesterday by the provincial government-led task force and the community environment and natural resources office, adding to the growing reported and unreported cases of similar incidents of illegally-cut logs or lumber being transported illegally, allegedly in cahoots with some local officials and law enforcers.

With the provincial government as the leading organizer, the composition of the task force, Padaca said, includes the Army’s 5th Infantry Division based here headed by Major Gen. Melchor Dilodilo and the provincial police led by its director here, Senior Superintendent Dominador Aquino.

Padaca said she is just waiting for her deputization papers from Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Joselito Atienza for the provincial government and the task force to go on all-out war against illegal loggers. -- With reports from CL

P700,000 lumber confiscated in latest case:Isabela officials, lawmen 'protecting' illegal loggers

By Joan Capuna

ILAGAN, Isabela – Illegal logging has gone from bad to worse in the province as local officials and lawmen are reportedly protecting those involved in the illegal trade prompting the provincial government to reactivate a task force to go after the perpetrators.

This promted the provincial government to reactivate its multi-sectoral anti-illegal logging task force last week to save the “last frontier forest in northern Sierra Madre.”

Gov. Grace Padaca said for three months, the province prepared groundwork and conducted meetings for “all-out campaign to re-activate the anti-logging task force that we formed on my second year as governor.”

Meanwhile, at least 9,000 board feet of both narra and soft wood species with a combined worth of at least P700,000 were confiscated in the last three days here in the wake of the provincial government’s efforts to re-strengthen its anti-illegal task force, which had been sidelined for almost two years.

“I have been telling this to our Apo Isabeliños, especially those who are involved (in illegal logging), either as financiers, or even local politicians and policemen who are in cahoots (with illegal loggers), so that they can’t say they have not been warned,” she said.

Padaca’s latest tirade against illegal logging activities here came after more or less 4,000 board feet of illegal sawn narra flitches were confiscated in Benito Soliven town while being transported across the river using floaters. Ten persons, including a barangay chairman are now facing illegal logging charges in connection with the illegal shipment of the forest products.

Likewise, some 5,000 board feet worth at least P200,000 of what is believed to be illegally-sawn softwood were found abandoned here yesterday by the provincial government-led task force and the community environment and natural resources office, adding to the growing reported and unreported cases of similar incidents of illegally-cut logs or lumber being transported illegally, allegedly in cahoots with some local officials and law enforcers.

With the provincial government as the leading organizer, the composition of the task force, Padaca said, includes the Army’s 5th Infantry Division based here headed by Major Gen. Melchor Dilodilo and the provincial police led by its director here, Senior Superintendent Dominador Aquino.

Padaca said she is just waiting for her deputization papers from Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Joselito Atienza for the provincial government and the task force to go on all-out war against illegal loggers. -- With reports from CL

Isabela mulls power plantrevival

ILAGAN, Isabela – The provincial government is considering reviving the plan of the Philippine National Oil Co. to put up a multimillion-peso coal-fired power plant in the province, amid increase in oil prices.

“The project was not actually stopped but only temporarily suspended. My stand is that we now need alternative sources of energy like this coal power plant,” said Vice Gov. Ramon Reyes, who presides over the provincial board.

Reyes said majority of provincial board members now favor resumption of exploration activities in Cauayan City and Naguilian and Benito Soliven towns for the coal-fired power plant.

The PNOC project was put on hold in 2006 after its major proponents backed out when they failed to obtain an environmental compliance certificate due to the residents’ opposition to it.

PNOC has resumed its information and education drive on the project in Cauayan, Naguilian and Benito Soliven.

Environmentalists, however, claimed coal-fired power plants contribute to global warming.

PNOC’s withdrawal in 2006 came in the wake of a series of Church and non-government organizations-led protest actions by thousands of residents in the affected areas.

The residents issued a petition opposing the PNOC plan, saying the proposed power plant would pollute the environment and pose hazards to their health and crops.

During the time, Gov. Grace Padaca lauded the PNOC’s decision to shelve the controversial project, saying, “Maybe this is not yet the right time for it.”

She said the project started “on the wrong footing” during the term of her predecessor, former governor Faustino Dy Jr., with Isabelinos feeling it was “being rammed down their throats without proper and sufficient consultation.”

When she became governor though, Padaca requested the PNOC “to go back to the people and perhaps start all over again explaining the issues to them.” -- CL

Captured CPP leader tagged in Cagayan Rep. Aguinaldo's slay

GAMU, Isabela – The military has tagged a ranking leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines’ Northeast Luzon Regional Party Committee who was captured in Cainta, Rizal last week, in the killing of Cagayan congressman Rodolfo Aguinaldo seven years ago.

Besides the Aguinaldo killing, the Army said CPP leader Randy Malayao, 38, is also being investigated for the ambush of soldiers in San Mariano town; the killing of barangay chairman Nicholas Collado, also in San Mariano; the liquidation of Army personnel in Ilagan town; and the slay of businessman Benjamin Olalia Jr., also in Ilagan.

The Army’s 5th Infantry Division based at Camp Melchor de la Cruz here, which was responsible for Malayao’s arrest, formally turned him over to the custody of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group after presenting him to the media Tuesday.

In a statement, the National Democratic Front-Cagayan Valley accused the military of “abducting” Malayao, who it said was “unarmed” and had a safe conduct pass as the movement’s political consultant.

Maj. Gen. Melchor Dilodilo, 5th ID chief, said Malayao was nabbed by virtue of arrest warrants for two counts of murder and frustrated murder issued by the Tuguegarao City (Cagayan) regional trial court.

Malayao also has a pending criminal case before the Ilagan (Isabela) RTC.
According to the Army, Malayao, an active student leader at the University of the Philippines, used the nom de guerre Salvador del Pueblo as the NDF’s Cagayan Valley spokesman.