Unity for peace

LETTER

The recently concluded National and Local Elections (NLE) 2022 last May 9 have resulted in the elected leaders for each place and the country as a whole based on the majority of votes from the Filipino citizens. With due respect to how democracy works, it is with high hopes that we all come to respect the result of the election and start our effort as citizens. Now that majority of the Filipino people have already decided who they want to lead them for the next six years, I hope that the rest will also support the next administration because after all, we are all Filipinos who want the Philippines to become a better country.
    Plans and platforms are starting to be laid down as the government changes its leaders and had the transformation for the coming months. With this, it is but right that the incoming administration shall continue those programs and legislations that have been started and were proven to be helpful and effective for the people. There are so many programs that should or must be continued as it was seen that they became effective measures in resolving problems or in promoting unity in diversity in the grassroots areas.
    Now more than ever, we must all need to set aside our political differences and do something that will be of help to our fellow countrymen and in the recovery of our country.  Given that we have been and are still in a health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our country needs a lot of help from every one of us. Let us unite and help in any ways that we know and not be part of the problems. It is with a positive belief that we support the new elected leaders especially the incoming new leader of our country- President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. Let’s give him a chance to prove to the Filipinos that their votes for him are worth it and will make the Philippines rise again. Let’s be part of their plans and support their new and continuing programs or activities for working together is best towards sustainable development and faster recovery of our economy in this country as a whole.          
    

    Enrico S Dulay
    Norzagaray, Bulacan
 
 
 

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Our state of health

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Rayne Suyam

There are many issues both in the Philippine health situation and Covid response that impact on Baguio’s health situation and Covid response.  So that, no matter how resourceful and adaptive the city government and community may have been trying, we can only do so much.  More than this, because this is a world health crisis, the international response also matters. 
    Covid-19 is not only a local concern but a national and an international issue.  No one, no city, no country can heal alone. Truly, we can only heal as one.  And towards this goal, we in Baguio must deepen our analyses of these issues and to do our part to make healing happen.
    The weak pre-pandemic Philippine healthcare system due to historically low budgetary allotments that are frequently subject to cuts, is a big factor in itself.  Slowly being relinquished to privatization; and more crisis-oriented, curative, western medicine-based, urban center-based and hospital-centric in orientation, healthcare is greatly inaccessible to the growing number of poor Filipinos with a corruption-laden PhilHealth public insurance system meager assistance. This pathetic situation is magnified many times over with the higher requisites for pandemic response.  Immediate impact is weighing down on attention for other illnesses with COVID-19 taking center stage. And health workers have become more overworked and underpaid with little benefits, further stressed, overexposed to contracting the virus, and eventually dying from it themselves.
The country’s late, ineffective, incompetent, uncomprehensive, chaotic, corruption-laden and militaristic
    Covid-19 response relegated much of the hard work to the unprepared local government units and to the people, with very late and very little financial assistance. It relied mostly on lockdowns without significantly strengthening health capacity and that resulted in loss of jobs and livelihood as well as hunger. 
    It resorted to people blaming, punitive measures against lockdown violations instead of giving sufficient aid to have people stay at home and survive, and threat to criminalize refusal for vaccination.
    With President Rodrigo Duterte giving up on the crisis every so often, he would give irresponsible advices and conflicting directives, depended on China’s vaccines further surrendering our sovereign right over the West Philippine Sea and lowered vaccination targets to manage its incapability.
    And, with world vaccine supply cornered by a few rich countries, it is a big question why the Philippine government is not joining popular international demand for trade-related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver on Covid-19 technologies to allow for local and cheaper Covid technology use and vaccine production to catch up on herd immunity with the rise of more infectious and fatal Covid variants.
    Some implications on Baguio’s present health situation and Covid response are the following: greater health care inaccessibility due to needed swabs for patient and caregiver for hospitalization and expensive private swabs for various purposes especially for the poor, periodic spikes in cases with hospitals and isolation facilities pushed to their limits, non-testing of close contacts due to limited testing kits with more infections due to untested positive cases, push for tourism to help boost the economy but at risk of causing rise in cases, confusion from changing IATF directives on travels, push for local herd immunity without success guarantee given adjacent LGUs lower vaccination performance, long vaccination queuing vis-à-vis the limited supply.
    Yes, we can still ask for services and aid that the city can and may be able to provide, over what is allotted from the national government.  We can still ask greater systematization and order in their delivery. 
    But also, we as an LGU and as a community, must join the national call for a free, comprehensive and progressive health care system and an enabling Covid response founded on equity, social justice and people’s rights. (Rayne Suyam is a member of the Health for People Brigade)
 
 
 

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Sentiment of Beneco power consumer re managerial tiff

 OPEN LETTER

 Board of Administrators National
Electrification Administration
 
Dear Chairman Cusi and Members of the Board,
 
I am Maria Agnes C. Garcia, a Baguio City resident. I am only one among many of the delighted consumers of electricity and other services offered by Benguet Electric Cooperative to our fair city. In the last couple of years the services of Beneco have been very dependable and even during storms and some power outages, my family and I can depend on the courteous and efficient services of the Beneco personnel.
    Many of the employees credit this improvement of their services to their GM Engr. Melchor Licoben who always reminds them to do their job well and provide excellent services to all Beneco consumers.
    Even during the pandemic when things were very difficult, Beneco continued to provide electrification services to our city and made sure that calls to their offices, messages on their social media pages were answered promptly and efficiently. Truly Beneco, under the leadership of their current GM, Engr. Melchor Licoben, has been serving Baguio and our neighboring areas excellently.
    Thus I find it alarming to hear that you are considering the application of an unqualified Ms. Marie Banaan for the position of GM, considering that even as a PCOO ASEC, she has not really been doing very well from my observation of how she performs when doing interviews or public appearances for PCOO.
    Under your own NEA Circulars dealing with the qualification for a GM for an electric cooperative, I fail to see where she hits any of the qualifications. Please be fair and follow your own rules.
    The leadership of Beneco as we are going through this ongoing pandemic should remain under capable hands. We already have too many incompetent people serving the general public, please do not add any more to them. GM Engr. Melchor Licoben is doing a great job.
    Let him continue to do so and allow Beneco to thrive under his insightful and able leadership.
 
Sincerely yours,

Maria Agnes C. Garcia
Baguio resident

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An open letter to Tabuk execs on ‘red-tagging’ CPA

BEHIND THE SCENES
Alfred P. Dizon
 
(Hereunder is an open letter dated Feb. 24, 2021 to Henry Tubban, Tabuk City chairperson of committee on peace and order, safety and security and Vice Mayor Bernard Glen Dao-as through mayor Darwin C. Estrañero, Tabuk city mayor from Dr. Chandu Claver and Farnaw Claver) 
    Last Feb. 22, 2021, Tabuk City police chief Lt. Col. Radino Belly submitted a proposed resolution to the City Council of Tabuk asking for the Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance (CPA) to be declared “persona non grata” in the city.
    This he stated, was decided in a meeting of the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in Camp Crame. 
    We view this with profoundly serious concern. Dr. Chandu Claver, one of the signatories, has been a member of CPA since 1985. He served as chairperson of the Kalinga chapter of CPA from 2002 to 2006. Presently, he is serving as the international spokesperson of CPA for Canada. Farnaw Claver, the other signatory, was a Provincial Board Member for the Province of Kalinga from 1998 to 2004. 
    We both know CPA Kalinga as a people’s organization dedicated towards the preservation of Cordillera ancestral lands and culture and the pursuit of genuine autonomy for its people. It organizes ordinary people to be able to assert their rights both as indigenous peoples and as Filipinos. It works within the framework of the law to educate and mobilize people to be able to genuinely participate in the democratic processes of the republic. 
    Its rights as a people’s organization are guaranteed by Section 15, Article XIII of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which states that: “The State shall respect the role of independent people's organizations to enable the people to pursue and protect, within the democratic framework, their legitimate and collective interests, and aspirations through peaceful and lawful means.
    People's organizations are bona fide associations of citizens with demonstrated capacity to promote the public interest and with identifiable leadership, membership, and structure”. 
    In all our years of dealing with this organization, we have understood that CPA has always been a militant organization pushing its agenda “through peaceful and lawful means”.
    We fail to understand therefore, why CPA is being classed together with the New People’s Army (NPA) which is an organization that pushes its agenda through armed means. For police chief Belly to justify his proposal, he too will need to prove beyond doubt that members of CPA, like Dr. Chandu Claver, participate in armed operations of the NPA. 
    And as has already been proven in other areas, this action is wholesale red-tagging and could subject member organizations (which are numerous) and their constituent members to needless harassment, incarceration, and even death.
These dire possibilities are made more real by the present plan of Cordillera regional police chief Brig. Gen. RWin Pagkalinawan to operationalize a “tokhang style” campaign against so-called “left-leaning” individuals in the region.
    As we see it, the proposed resolution is an attempt of the police and the military to curtail and suppress people’s organizations that are critical of government actions that are inimical to the welfare of the people and true national progress. 
    As the Local Government Code gives the responsibility for implementing the constitutional provision on people’s organizations to the local government units, it is also clear to us that this proposed resolution is a brazen attempt by the police and the military to usurp the function of the civilian local government. 
    And lastly, it was the late Atty. William F. Claver, former Governor of Kalinga, and former Representative of Kalinga to Congress who founded the Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance. It would be a slur to his memory to imply that this Kalinga stalwart founded an organization that would now be declared unwelcome in the city and province that he served well. 
     On the above bases, we strongly urge the honorable members of the City Council to deny police and military usurpation of the Council’s function and reject the proposed resolution. 
    On a personal note, we have always planned to come back home to Tabuk. In fact, it was the Covid-19 pandemic that delayed our plans. It greatly bothers us now that the same State institutions that forced Dr. Chandu Claver to leave in the first place, are now setting up obstacles for his intention to return.  Dr. Chandu Claver and Farnaw Claver 

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Joint statement of Innabuyog, CHRA on Duterte’s rape jokes

“Inayan nan mangiyaamis si babai tay sya nan nalpuwam! Anaw nan annak mo ay babbabai ay maiyaamis to. (Never exploit a woman because through her, you came to life. Whatever wrong you do to a woman shall be done to your daughters.)” This declaration depicts how we, Igorots regard women with the highest respect. Women hold a vital role in the continuity of the race. In the Igorot culture, we say inayan, a word deeply rooted in the Kankanaey culture which serves as the guiding principle of a righteous person.

It is used as the voice of conscience. Thus, every father, mother, elder and especially someone holding the highest positions always emphasize the importance and significance of inayan to everyone and at the same time put it to practice. While the Cordillera is already well-integrated into the dominant Philippine society, we still retain our indigenous values and traditions that defines our being Igorot. Rape is considered the highest crime a man can commit against a woman.

Thus, it is lawa or taboo to mock, more so to incite the commission of rape through jokes. Those who commit such transgressions are dishonored, ostracized and shall surely reap the brunt of divine wrath. INNABUYOG Alliance of Indigenous Women’s Organizations in the Cordillera and the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance strongly condemn President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s latest rape jokes which distressingly elicited laughter from his audience, including mothers and daughters, during the graduation rites of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) last May 26. His statement comes at a time when cases of violence against women and children (VAWC), including rape, is rampant in the Cordillera.

The Women and Children Protection Desk of the Police Regional Office-Cordillera recorded 76 cases of VAWC in just the first 2 months of 2019. Majority of the cases were committed in Baguio City. Attempted rape and acts of lasciviousness lead the recorded cases under the Anti-VAWC Law. Rape is the leading violation committed against children.

Thus, the president’s proclamation to pardon and condone PMA cadets who will commit rape, especially those who will commit “multiple rape of the women of Baguio” is a grave insult to the women of Baguio and the whole nation. It is the height of injustice when the commander-inchief of the armed forces shamelessly incites uniformed personnel who are sworn to protect the people to commit human rights violations.

His jokes make a mockery out of State obligations to protect and promote human rights, and how this government pushes the laws and ordinances passed to protect women from different forms of abuse and violence to ineptness. Baguio City’s Anti-profanity ordinance prohibits cursing, cussing and expressing insults or the use of foul language to express anger or any other extreme emotion. It is also ironic that at the time that the Bawal Bastos Bill which penalizes the harassment of women and members of the LGBT community through catcalling, wolf whistling or with sexist slurs has become law, the president was committing violations on this act. Is he going to be absolved of these crimes just because he is President?

It enrages us even more that every time the President does or utters something unbecoming of a Head of State, his cohorts are always quick to defend him. These statements being said by the highest leader of this land embolden state agents, including PMA Cadets, who will soon be occupying leadership positions in the military and police force to commit human rights violations such as rape and other forms of VAWC and human rights violations. According to a report of the PNP internal affairs there were 43 cases of policemen charged with rape since 2015. There is no room to be complicit with a macho-fascist tyrant in these times.

The President must be held accountable for the perpetuation of impunity, the increase in the cases of VAWC as well as the State’s abandonment of its human rights obligations in the country. With due respect to those who entered military and police service and their families because of their sincere intent to serve and protect the people, please remember that the State owes you more respect than to transform you into human rights violators and war machines. Your education has been paid for by the people and though you had equally noble dreams to realize, please remember that the protection of people’s rights and welfare must be at the core of your service.

It is your duty to disobey any order that willfully intends to infringe on human dignity. We call on and challenge all women graduates of PMA not just the 2019 Mabalasik class, to rethink who they are going to serve with “Courage, Integrity and Loyalty”. Would it be the marginalized and under-privileged majority or the whims of their commander-in-chief? We call on, not only the mothers, sisters and daughters in the Cordillera to condemn this deplorable act by the president.

We must resist the macho-fascist attacks of this regime against women. Let us continue to assert our rights and defend our honor and dignity.

 Innabuyog CH Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA)

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NEDA-CAR clarifies Baguio urban carrying capacity study

LETTER

This is to clarify a news article published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Feb. 18, 2019, entitled “Baguio City groans from too many visitors”. In the said article, Baguio’s water supply, roads, and urban facilities were described as “woefully inadequate for its daytime population, especially when hordes of tourists come to visit.”

The statement was based on initial analyses made and presented by the consultants during a workshop on Feb. 15 here in Baguio City on the NEDA-commissioned study “Estimating the urban carrying capacity of Baguio City.” 

               While it appreciates the intent of the article to inform the general public about the results of the study, NEDA-CAR would like to clarify that the data presented during the said consultation are still preliminary and are subject to further validation.

The workshop was called to elicit expert opinion and insights of various stakeholders on the initial findings of the study as contained in the Draft Final Report. In fact, one of the realizations during the said activity was the appropriateness (or inappropriateness) of some of the urban carrying capacity indicators adopted in the study.  The need to revisit some national planning standards on their applicability to current developments and the city’s situation was also brought to the fore.

Once the inputs in the workshop shall have been consolidated and incorporated in the study’s Final Report, a Results Dissemination Forum shall be conducted in which the general stakeholders and the media may be invited.

As a backgrounder, NEDA commissioned the study “Estimating the Urban Carrying Capacity of Baguio City” under its R&D fund to recommend long-term strategic policy directions.  

The study simply compares the current status of the city’s urban ecology and environment, urban infrastructure facilities and services, and public perception against standard urban carrying capacity indicators.   Urban carrying capacity refers to the maximum level of human activities, population growth, land use and physical development that can be sustained by an urban environment without causing serious degradation and irreversible damage.

Knowing the city's urban carrying capacity will help planners and decision-makers formulate more responsive plans, policies and priority programs and projects. For instance, the recommendations of the study can be the basis for new city ordinances.  

On the other hand, the NEDA will use the results as reference for planning standards and in evaluating development proposals that will be located within or adjacent to the City of Baguio.   

Results of the study will also become critical inputs to another study commissioned by NEDA, “Masterplanning the Sustainable Urban Infrastructure for the BLISTT”.

NEDA-CAR

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CEGP staffers ‘barred’ from UPCB grad rites

LETTER

The College Editors Guild of the Philippines Baguio-Benguet chapter (CEGP-BB) strongly condemns the outright violation of campus press freedom and the students' democratic rights to mobilize and protest during the graduation ceremony of the University of the Philippines Baguio at the CAP building, Camp John Hay.

According to the reports from the members of UPB Outcrop, the official student publication of the University of the Philippines – Baguio, three members were barred from entering the hall where the ceremony is taking place. While asserting their right to enter the hall, a UPB administrator confronted them and asked for a stub to enter; disregarding the media IDs the members showed to him.

The members asked the said administrator why they need a permission to cover an official university event when it is their mandate to do so. The admin staff, however, insisted that the Outcrop members need a stub to enter the venue, and briskly walked away.

There were also reports that the security tightened only when the marshals sensed a protest action about to happen at the end of the ceremony. One UPB student council member, Khim Abalos, reported that he was asked to go out of the venue where he was peacefully taking photos of his friends.

“Wag kayong manggugulo rito. Sinasabi ko sa inyo. Labas ka! Exit, exit!” the administrator said, as narrated by Khim.

We call on the UP Baguio administration, which have always been our ally to the fight for press freedom and democratic rights, to immediately act on the matter and not let this incident happen again. 

This incident is like cancer; if left untreated, it will spread to other parts of the body and will eventually kill the person carrying the disease. This incident is indeed not an isolated case, even worse experiences happen other universities and colleges.

The Guild encourages all student publications in Metro Baguio to immediately report similar cases and other attacks on campus press freedom; and if possible, document said cases. We shall not let this act of repression stop us from narrating our stories, and ultimately, put us in silence. 

Especially that under President Duterte’s regime where we have seen a systematic attack on press freedom, we shall not be gagged.

For reports and cases, you can contact us through 0917-158-6448, directly message us here on facebook or at cegphils.cordi@gmail.com.

 Quimberlyn Ranchez

Vice Chairperson,

CEGP Baguio-Benguet

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CPP on unilateral ceasefire declarations for peace talks

LETTER

The unilateral declaration of ceasefire by GRP President Duterte last July 25 was welcomed by the CPP as a measure to promote the scheduled NDFP-GRP peace negotiations. It is too bad that he has withdrawn such an order. We trust, however, that this will not affect preparations for formal resumption of peace negotiations scheduled for August 20-27 in Oslo, Norway, nor will it preclude the GRP President from reissuing such a declaration simultaneously with a similar unilateral declaration by the CPP and NPA on August 20.\

We continue to look forward to work with the GRP President in peace negotiations. With his declared intent of resolving the issues at the root of the armed conflict, GRP President Duterte will not want the fascist zealots of the US counter-insurgency doctrine to succeed in derailing peace negotiations and seeing him fail to forge a lasting peace agreement with the NDFP.

When GRP President Duterte declared a unilateral ceasefire, the CPP andNPA immediately reciprocated with an order for all units of the NPA to go on active defense mode, a state just one notch below a ceasefire, as it awaited the CPP Central Committee to evaluate the situation and issue appropriate orders. By going on active defense, the NPA sought to help promote an atmosphere favorable to peace talks without sacrificing the safety of the NPA and the peasant masses.

Since July 25, the CPP Central Committee had been refining its draft interim ceasefire declaration as a way of further promoting the NDFP-GRP peace negotiations and reciprocating the July 25 ceasefire declaration by GRP President Duterte.

Through the Information Bureau, an announcement was made at past 4 p.m. yesterday that a reciprocal ceasefire declaration was set be issued by the CPP at around 8 p.m. last night. That Malacañang's announcement withdrawing the ceasefire declaration was made at around 7:30 p.m. lacks circumspect to say the least.
On Thursday, speaking before soldiers at Lucena, Quezon, the GRP President would threaten to withdraw his ceasefire declaration if he did not receive an explanation of the ambush by that afternoon.

He would not take back his ultimatum even after an accounting was made by the responsible NPA command on Friday afternoon where it was exposed how the AFP ground troops were carrying out offensive maneuvers in non-compliance with the GRP's unilateral ceasefire.

On Saturday, he will turn to demand the CPP to issue a reciprocal unilateral ceasefire declaration by the end of the day under threat of withdrawing his own order.

It was quite capricious for the GRP President to have imposed such ultimatums of a few hours or several days for the CPP to act in accordance with his whims.  It was quite disconcerting that the GRP President would impose such an inflexible ultimatum on the CPP. Despite his anti-crime bravado, it would seem he has shown the drug lords and protectors of criminal syndicates more flexibility and accommodation.

It is advisable for the GRP President to exercise a little more prudence and display more measured temperament as a way of appreciating the situation from a broader historical perspective in order to avoid such impulsive acts as imposing ultimatums by the hour on a conflict that has spanned nearly fifty years.

Over the course of five days that the Duterte ceasefire declaration was in effect, there was zero compliance on the part of the AFP. Its public expression of support for the ceasefire declaration was not reflected on the ground.

Not a single AFP command ordered its troops withdrawn back to their barracks.

Palparan-trained AFP Chief Gen. Ricardo Visaya has zero sincerity in his avowed support for peace talks and for the ceasefire declaration. In fact, in his "suspension of offensive military operations", he ordered AFP combat troops to continue with so-called "civil-military" operations under OplanBayanihan, a euphemism for combat, psywar, surveillance and intelligence operations targeting civilian communities.

Not one AFP encampment in civilian communities was taken down. Armed combat troops of the AFP stationed in and around the scores of Lumadsitios did not move an inch. Thousands of Lumad people remain in evacuation centers unable to safely return home.

Combat units of the AFP have remained active in civilian communities throughout the country, from Isabela to Sorsogon, Northern Samar to Surigao del Norte, to Compostela and even in Duterte's home province of Davao del Norte where AFP combat troops continue to wage armed offensives. The NPA will soon issue a report on the matter.

On Wednesday morning, a unit of the NPA launched an ambush against operating troops and auxilliary forces of the 72nd Infantry Battalion in Kapalong, Davao del Norte. GRP President Duterte raised protests over the ambush and demanded an explanation for what he claimed to be a violation of, in fact, a non-existent truce (a mutually signed ceasefire agreement as opposed to a unilateral ceasefire declaration).

In its report, the NPA unit pointed to how they were provoked to carry out the ambush as part of its active defense in the face of an imminent armed encounter with the operating armed troops and auxilliary forces of the 72nd IB of the AFP.

The ambush was carried out as a last resort to preserve the forces of the NPA in the face of an impending armed encounter with the forces of the 72nd IB. The NPA unit carried out counter-maneuvers after armed operating troops of the AFP and its p aramilitary forces launched themselves that morning and was about to make armed contact with the NPA unit.

The local NPA unit clearly saw that the AFP troops were engaged in a combat operation. NPA Red fighters immediately disengaged after disabling the enemy unit from carrying out further offensive action.
This shows that the concerned NPA unit was in full regard of GRP President Duterte's ceasefire declaration and was fully aware and complied with orders of the NPA national command to stay on active defense.

The CPP leadership has since June, prepared a draft for a unilateral ceasefire in anticipation of peace talks with the Duterte regime. It has long expressed willingness to engage in a ceasefire for as long as there are peace negotiations.

It was a different situation, however, when GRP President Duterte unilaterally declared a ceasefire even before it could fulfill its promises to release NDFP consultants and political prisoners. The CPP took the more prudent path of moving slowly in a deliberate effort to observe the situation at the ground even as it ordered the NPA to stay on active defense.

The CPP, however, will not allow itself to be browbeaten to order the NPA to go on a ceasefire while operating troops of the AFP showed no plans on letting up in their search-and-destroy operations and frenzied offensives that terrorize civilian communities.

To say the least, continuing offensives of the AFP prevented the CPP from declaring an interim ceasefire sooner.

6. At this point, the CPP reiterates its full support for the resumption of NDFP-GRP peace negotiations as a means of discussing the roots of the armed conflict. It expects the Duterte government to make good its promise to release all peace consultants of NDFP as well as all political prisoners arrested and detained under the Arroyo and Aquino regimes.

To further support peace negotiations, the CPP is willing to issue a unilateral ceasefire declaration separately but simultaneously with the Duterte government on August 20. The time-frame can be determined through negotiations.
As earlier planned, the negotiating panels of the NDFP and GRP can thereafter exchange these declarations in order to discuss points for cooperation and coordination and determine ways of preventing armed skirmishes, misunderstandings and miscommunications during the course of the peace talks.

Central Committee

Communist Party of the Philippines

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We care for KJ Mayaen

LETTER

Election into office begets money and power. But in every luring glow of money and power are commensurate negative returns because you cannot expect to appease everybody in your administrative functions, decisions and in the disbursement of public funds. People tend to label public officials as corrupt once they saw them purchase properties even if it came from their separate funds and worse, a single mistake will arouse ridicule that can affect not only their public image but even that of their private life and family.

Despite the risks, many people still venture to be elected into public office because of obsession to power. This however, has exceptions because there are few elected good men who consider public office as a public trust and for public service.

More often, many disguised themselves as public servants but their personal interest always lords over public service. After them, their children, wives and extended families will succeed because they are now moneyed and can buy their way to power. Too bad, many poor constituents are more qualified in terms of honesty and integrity, service orientation and intelligence but they could not propel their way to power for lack of funds and machinery. 

In Mountain Province, greed for money and power emboldens some people who tried to install Kathy Jyll Mayaen-Luis into power even at the expense of our legal processes. By hook or by crook, they tried to cross against the path of the law in order to get some time into power and participate in the disposition of almost half a billion pesos still intact in its coffer.

This fund accordingly is intended for infrastructure projects. Greed might also be the reason why they succeeded in convincing some professionals who worked during the elections to sacrifice their career, license and employment by raising the hands of a disqualified candidate.

But stop, look and listen. First, you convinced the Provincial Board of Canvassers to proclaim Kathy Jyll Mayaen in the evening of May 10, 2016, using the certificate of canvass and proclamation of his father. That was illegal because her certificate of candidacy was denied on May 7, 2016 and the PBOC received a formal copy of the denial in the morning of the proclamation day.

The PBOC cannot justify the votes of the late governor in favor of his daughter because the latter’s candidacy was earlier denied. How did you bear inciting these professionals to go against the will of the Comelec? Will you be there to support them and their families during a lasting fight for their innocence?

Second, your ultimate purpose is to install Kathy Jyll Mayaen as elected governor of Mountain Province come June 30, 2016 using the certificate of proclamation of the late governor. Looking from afar, the late Governor prepared his family for a simple and peaceful life.

He never trained his family members for politics and it was his best intention to end politics in himself. If it was not his intention, he should have asked nomination from a registered political party so that a member of his family could legally substitute him in any eventuality. Again, just like the members of the PBOC who were now charged with criminal and administrative cases, you want to sacrifice the career, license and even the liberty of Kathy Jyll Mayaen.

There are still three weeks before June 30, 2016, more enough time for you to meditate. Try consulting neutral and seasoned lawyers and politicians to avoid collateral damage. Kathy Jyll Mayaen has no document to intrude into office. She was fooled and made to believe that she was proclaimed as Governor of Mountain Province through the mere raising of her arms,

In truth and in fact, she is just standing on a blank document. What document has she got? Only the certificate of canvass and proclamation of her father and there was not even an annotation below or insertion above that her name is being proclaimed as substitute candidate. She cannot legally absorb the votes of her father because her certificate of candidacy was denied on May 7, 2016.

She was not given time to file a motion for reconsideration because she was ill advised to file her certificate of candidacy only on May 5, 2016 to give the Comelec no time to deny it. However, the Comelec anticipated the moves because of earlier publications. In the end, It was she herself who was not given time to file a motion for reconsideration and thereafter certiorari, which, would have been still pending on the day of the election.

The allegation of the PBOC that the Comelec cannot cancel her certificate of candidacy without due process has no anchor. First, her certificate of candidacy was filed out of time because she is an independent candidate. The filing of certificate of candidacy for independent candidates has lapsed in October 2015 and only registered political parties are allowed to do substitution after that period. Second, the determination by the Comelec of her certificate of candidacy is a mere administrative function that does not need adversarial proceedings. KJ Mayaen in effect is like an ordinary applicant for license, passport or tax declaration that can be turned down outright by the concerned agency, for lack of qualifications.

With the foregoing circumstances, KJ Mayaen would be at a loss if she will continue to hear wrong advises. She should not take her oath and insist on assuming office on June 30, 2016 without proper documentations. Certificate of proclamation is a requirement in the taking of oath and no officer would dare to administer her oath out of her father’s certificate of proclamation.

Thereafter, she cannot legally assume office because she does not possess the needed oath of office and certificate of proclamation, which, are needed by the DILG for her confirmation. Persistence on both aspects will result in the violation of the sanctity of an oath and/or perjury as the case may be, and every act constituting performance of the functions of a governor constitutes usurpation of authority.

Especially if she dares to disburse public funds, it would now be a case of malversation and worse, plunder depending on the amount. When the smoke is finally cleared, she can never assert good faith or innocence because she is a lawyer presumed to know and to have known the law.

We care for KJ Mayaen and we treasure the good legacy of her father. We hate to see her sacrifice her career, license and even liberty just to entertain a few. She is a doting mother to her young children and a loving wife to her husband. For God’s sake, Let us not disturb her happy, simple and peaceful family life.

We all know that public office is not a private property that can be inherited among family members. Let us wait for the special or regular election for us to lay our cards. There is no shortcut to the law because the law will always cut short those who try to cross against its path.

Let us adhere to the rule of law and fate will clear our way to power if we deserve it. By then, we can proudly shout to the world that we ascended into the throne through legal ways and through the voice of the majority. Thank you.

Name withheld on request   

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Non-candidate proclaimed Mt. Province. governor

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

BY Monico Changlasen

 “How can a non-candidate be proclaimed winner in a political contest?”

This is the question circulating in Mountain Province after news broke out that Kathy Jyll Mayaen Luis was proclaimed winner of the Mountain Province gubernatorial race by the Provincial Board of Canvassers late Tuesday night.

The late governor Leonard Mayaen filed his certificate of candidacy for governor of the province without any party affiliation. Being unopposed, he was just waiting for his proclamation to serve the province for the next three years. It was unfortunate though that he died last March 31.

Mayaen’s untimely death opened discussions among politically inclined individuals on how the vacancy would be filled up. Will it be through substitution, succession, or special elections?   Debates persisted until Commission on Elecions chairman Andres Bautista, in his visit to Baguio City, pronounced that substitution is not possible because the deceased candidate is an independent candidate. Bautista’s pronouncement went against Provincial Election Supervisor Elenita Tabangin Capuyan’s earlier opinion that substitution is possible.

Last May 5, Mayaen’s daughter, Kathy Jyll, filed her certificate of candidacy for governor, along with a petition for substitution, at the Provincial Comelec Office.  Scanned copies of her COC and the petition for substitution were received by the Comelec law department on the same day. Just like her late father, Kathy Jyll indicated in her COC that she is an independent candidate.

By filing the petition for substitution, Kathy Jyll prayed that the Comelec allow her to substitute for her late father, by inference admitting that her COC needed the approval of the Comelec, and that only with that approval shall she be considered a candidate. It also implied that she will abide by whatever decision the Comelec will have on her petition.

The following day, May 6, Comelec acting law department director Maria Norina Casingal came out with a memorandum with the recommendation for the Comelec that the petition for substitution should be denied.

In her memorandum, she cited Section 77 of the Omnibus Election Code which in part says “….  Only a person belonging to, and certified by, the same political party may file e certificate of candidacy to replace the candidate who died …”

Casingal also cited Section 19 of Comelec Resolution No. 9984 which provides, “No substitution shall be allowed for any independent candidate.”

“Plainly, for the substitution of a deceased candidate to be given due course, the substituted candidate must have been a bonafide member of and nominated by a registered political party or coalition of political parties in the first place. Thus, an independent candidate, as in this case, can in no way be validly substituted,” her memorandum emphasized.

In a special en banc meeting of the Comelec  held on May 7, the Commission resolved to approve the recommendation of Director Casingal that the substitution of Kathy Jyll be denied.

A Comelec en banc resolution, lifted from the minutes of the meeting, was received by Comelec-CAR on May 8, 2016 and by the Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBOC) on May 10, 2016. With the Comelec minute resolution, the petition for substitution of Kathy Jyll was denied. Since she could not substitute for her late father, her COC would also not be accepted.

On May 10, nonetheless, Kathy Jyll made a petition by way of motion through counsel, that the PBOC proclaim her the winner of the gubernatorial election. The PBOC went into recess after the motion, with the implied promise that the issue shall be settled when canvassing resumes at 9:00 PM the same day.

When canvassing resumed on the night of May 10, the PBOC proclaimed Kathy Jyll as the Governor-elect, in defiance of the Comelec resolution.

These developments have elevated the discussions about the elections in Mountain Province. Legal minds and ordinary people have their ideas on the matter. On the one hand, the minute resolution of the Comelec en banc could not be misunderstood: Kathy Jyll’s petition for substitution was denied and thereby her COC was not accepted. On the other hand, the PBOC still proclaimed her as the governor-elect.

Will the PBOC decision supersede the Comelec en banc resolution, or will the Comelec en banc enforce the resolution?

Meanwhile, the people of Mountain Province are held victim to legal machinations over the issue. 

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‘Army’ spies harass CPA vice chairperson

LETTER

 The Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance (CPA) is extremely concerned over the brazen harassment of its vice chairperson for Internal Affairs, Xavier Akien, in the morning of April 6, 2016. Akien and his wife noticed that the car Akien was driving was being followed by at least two vans and two motorcycles while they were on their way home from a supermart in Baguio City.

Having observed the suspicious tailing of the said vans and motorcycles, Akien proceeded to the La Trinidad Municipal Police Station to report the incident. Following this, on April 13, 2016, Akien was again tailed by some men riding a van who observably took photos of him in Abatan, Buguias, Benguet while buying bread on his way to a funeral wake.

According to Akien, “On April 6, 2015 before noon, my wife and I went to a grocery mart in Baguio City to buy needs for our household. After purchasing the goods, we proceeded to our car which was parked at the basement of the grocery mart. Before pulling out from the parking space, I observed that a van was parked near us but I assumed that it was just waiting for us to leave and it can use the vacated space. But as we were exiting the establishment, the same van started to tail us.” 

 “When we were on the road going to Harrison, I observed again the same van tailing us. I decided to pull over along the road. The van passed us. But to my surprise, when we passed before the University of the Cordilleras, I saw the same van parked on the side of the road and then it followed us. Later on along the road, I observed two more motorcycles and another van following us on our way to La Trinidad,” said Akien.

 “Sensing danger, we decided to proceed directly to the La Trinidad Municipal Police to report and seek assistance. To our surprise, the two vans and two motorcycles followed us to the police station. The two motorcycle drivers and their back riders were apprehended by the police. Based from the initial investigation by the police, the apprehended motorcycle drivers have no identifications at all. They even gave an unbelievable reason for following me by saying that they were looking for a job. It is clearly a handiwork of the military,” added Akien.

Because of the incidents, Akien said that, “Madanaganak unay iti seguridad ko. Dagiti harassment ken dadduma pay a porma ti panaglabsingiti karbengan tao kontra kadagiti miembro ken lideres ti peoples organizations ket maisardeng kuman. Saan kami a kriminal, dakami ket aktibista laeng.Basol aya ti ag-organisa ken agmobilisa kadagi ti tattao ken komunidad tapno isuda mismo ti mangkita ken mangtulong iti kasasaadda? (I am very concerned over my security. Harassments and other forms of human rights violations against members and leaders of peoples’ organizations must be stopped. We are no criminals, we are just activists. Is it a crime to organize and mobilize people and communities for them to participate in solving their own problems and improving their situation?”)

 Akien added, “Pinagiinitan nila ang CPA because of its campaigns and activities for environmental protection especially against mining and energy, for indigenous people’s rights, on disaster response and for sustainable development. This kind of human rights violation is not new to CPA and its leaders. In some cases, such acts of surveillances and harassment led to extrajudicial killings as in the case of Markus Bangit in 2006, William Bugatti in 2014 and other martyrs of the Cordillera peoples’ movement. And this is not the first time that I myself experienced being subjected to surveillance and harassment over the past years. Only the State military agents can do this to us, purposely to suppress the growing people’s resistance against the entry of big and destructive projects in our communities.”

“But we will not be cowed by these attempts of the State to stop what we are doing. It is but right to serve the people and there is nothing wrong with it. CPA since its establishment in 1984 has been in the forefront of the peoples struggle for the defense of land, life, and resources. We will always be inspired by our people, heroes and martyrs to continue this noble task,” ended by Akien.

The CPA strongly believes that the incident is not an isolated case but a part of the Oplan Bayanihan of the Aquino regime in his final attempt to silence people’s dissent before the end of his term. We condemn this act of harassment, and call for an immediate investigation of the incident. 

Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance

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Reminders (for Noynoy):

OPINION

Reynaldo Arcilla

1) Filing of charges against officials of the National Food Authority (NFA) during Arroyo’s illegitimate regime. Noynoy himself said on several occasions that there is documentary evidence to prove the venalities in the past in that agency. That was more than five and a half years ago!

2) Order GSIS chief Robert “Pretty Boy” Vergara to report to him on COA’s findings that:

(a) Vergara received the obscenely excessive compensation of P16.36 million in 2012 making him the highest paid government servant then. He was also the highest paid in 2013 with P12.09 million and again in 2014 with about the same amount.

(b) That about three years ago, at least P4.13 billion in contributions and loan payments made by 12 government offices, maybe more by now, to the GSIS had not been credited to the offices as of Dec. 31, 2011.

COA also said that the amount of unrecorded remittances could go much higher because only 36 agencies have at that time responded out of the 186 that were sent confirmation requests by government auditors. Of the 36, 27 confirmed “discrepancies” in their premium and loan payments ledgers when compared with those of the GSIS.

There are three questions being raised when remittances, or parts thereof, of government agencies are not recorded by the GSIS on time: a) Where are these huge sums “parked” in the meantime?; b) Do they earn interest?; and c) To where (whom?) does the interest, if any, go?

Pray tell, Mr. Vergara, what is the present status of these funds, including those that may have been remitted since and not yet recorded by the GSIS? How long do you think you can “dedma” these questions?

I believe it is time for COA to follow up on what Vergara has done on the above findings so that affected GSIS members would know the status of their contributions!

Maybe the GSIS Board chairman, Renato de Guzman, could also look into this?

In this connection, I would like to address this question to COA Chief Michael Aguinaldo: “Is Vergara one of the sacred cows in Noynoy’s coterie whom you wouldn’t dare investigate?”

***

Readers have asked me why the above Reminder (for Noynoy) portion is still part of this column.

The question, I think, is symptomatic of the Filipino psyche. He has a short memory and is wont to give up rather easily on a good cause. The present administration may not be paying attention to these items now because of its DaangBaluktot mantra. But, who knows, the next administration maybe more attentive. This is precisely meant as reminders to it too.

***

Today is the 277th day of the ninth year of Jonas Burgos’ disappearance.

I dread to think of how many more years it will take before Jonas’ disappearance is finally resolved. It is beginning to look more and more like the next administration will have to be reminded of it too. In the meantime, it would be interesting to know what our Commission on Human Rights and the Department of Justice are doing about it.

***

From an internet friend:

A lady is trotting down the road in her horse and buggy when she is pulled over by the sheriff.

“Ma’am, I have to warn you, you have a broken stake on your wheel,” says the sheriff.

“Oh dear. I’ll let my husband, Jacob know as soon as I get home,” she replies.

“That’s fine,” he said. “Another thing, ma’am. I don’t like the way that one rein loops across the horse’s back and around one of his testicles. I consider that terrible cruelty to the animal. Have your husband take care of that right away!”

Later that day, the lady is home telling her husband about her encounter with the sheriff. ” Well, dear, what exactly did he say?” asked the husband.

“He said a stake is broken,” replied the wife.

“I can fix that in a heartbeat. What else?” asked the husband.

The wife replied: “I’m not sure, Jacob – something to do with the emergency brake.”

***

Email: roacrosshairs@outlook.com FB: https://www.facebook.com/reynaldo.arcilla.9847

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Anomalies in the DENR

LETTER

TERESA MONTILLA, in her letter to the Inquirer (“How many more before we say ‘enough’?” Opinion, 8/20/15), complained about the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for allowing the cutting and earth-balling of 44 trees in the former Army-Navy Club grounds, and of “thousands of age-old heritage trees” in other areas through the years.

Montilla’s letter angered me, pushing me to look further into another anomaly in the DENR, involving not the cutting but the planting of trees under the National Greening Program (NGP). My mother is from Bulacan and my father is from Rizal, where there are many NGP areas. I had heard unpleasant things from friends in religious organizations monitoring this and related government programs—even before I read Montilla’s letter—about DENR personnel working in the NGP, particularly in Doña Remedios Trinidad, Antipolo and Tanay.

I felt some relief to learn that Environment Secretary Ramon Paje had ordered an investigation into these anomalies. Thus, I expected that the erring personnel would soon be reprimanded, charged or fired. Before the end of 2015, however, I found out that the recommendations of the investigating teams for the erring personnel to be charged had long been pending on the desk of the DENR ombudsman, an assistant secretary who is supposed to endorse the recommendations to Secretary Paje.

One major anomalous issue raised by legitimate people’s organizations that are establishing plantations is the sale of seedlings by growers favored by DENR-NGP personnel. This connivance has reportedly resulted in big financial bonanzas for them, maybe in the millions of pesos. The NGP supposedly encourages people’s organizations and other groups to raise nurseries themselves for their benefit, not for the DENR-NGP insiders.

Another anomaly is the hurried setting up also by DENR-NGP personnel of “people’s organizations” to be given plantation projects, for the former to share in the proceeds from the sale of seedlings.

The DENR-NGP personnel involved in these anomalies, who have been recommended to be charged, seem to be incorrigible, as they persist in their crooked ways, despite this administration’s pitch for “daangmatuwid” because they are reportedly being coddled by their immediate bosses, the provincial officials of DENR Bulacan and Rizal.

Secretary Paje, I am looking forward to the recommendations finally reaching your desk, as well as to your ordering the erring officials to go—the first among them, the DENR ombudsman who has been taking his sweet (or sweetened?) time reporting to you.

Mr. Secretary, reprimand, charge or fire the crooks in your department. There should be no letup in your guard. Take it from Ombudsman ConchitaCarpio Morales whose list of culprits has increased, even as the Aquino administration is about to end. You can still save what may yet be the best program of this administration, in response to the biggest threat the world is facing now, which was taken up in the Paris conference—global warming and climate change.

—Remedios A. Paez paezrem@gmail.com

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CPA: Probe Cordillera human rights cases too

LETTER

The Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), along with human rights victims in the region, is dismayed over the cancellation of the scheduled on-site investigation of the Human Rights Committee of the House of Representatives (HRCC) from January 28-29, 2016 here in Baguio City.

The on-site hearing was supposed to hear Northern Luzon human rights cases under BS Aquino regime in aid of legislation. Still, we ask the HRCC to push thru its onsite hearing in the immediate days as the human rights situation in the region need urgent attention, and the victims and witnesses are prepared to appear and testify before the committee to present their cases.

 Congress should also look beyond the Mamasapano incident and conduct investigation on human rights related issues. Since BS Aquino assumed office in 2010, human rights organizations in Northern Luzon documented at least 21 different types of human rights violations with at least 1,350 victims. Of this number, there are at least 21 cases of extrajudicial killings (EJK) where 10 of the victims come from the Cordillera region. Other documented cases include six cases of frustrated extrajudicial killing and six cases of torture, cases of International Humanitarian Law violations, indiscriminate firing, bombing, and encampment in community, use of human shield, threat, harassment, intimidations and more.

Should the scheduled on-site hearing pushed thru in Baguio City, CPA along with human rights victims and organizations in Northern Luzon would like congress to question Oplan Bayanihan as a National Internal Security Policy of the BS Aquino regime and its impact on indigenous communities. We would like congress to summon the battalion and division commanders of the armed forces to answer all human rights violations in their areas of responsibilities. We would like congress to invite the Commission on Human Rights in the region and in Northern Luzon to give reports on their supposed mandate to help victims.

Again, we reiterate our call for the HRCC to push thru its supposed schedule of an on-site congressional inquiry in Baguio City. Despite the limitations of an on-site hearing to address human rights violations, the HRCC will be a venue for human rights victims and witnesses to share their stories and testimonies in aid of legislation.

Lastly, we call on all peace and human rights advocates to support the victims and their families in their continuing search for justice amidst impunity and state fascism.

Abigail Anongos

Secretary General

Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance 

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