Tourist guides call for probe of cave mischief

By Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province -- Bruises suffered by tourists here at the famed Sumaguing Cave due to broken glasses scattered all over the place prompted tourist guides to press investigation of the incident.

Tourist guide Ferdie Castaneda from Bontoc , Mountain Province who accompanied Dominican sisters of St Catherine of Siena last Nov. 7 to the cave, along with three Sagada guides, asked for an investigation of the malicious act.

Castaneda said nuns Sister Rosanna Diaz of Bulacan and Sister Arlyn Asor of Cotabato City got cuts on their hands due to broken glasses which they thought were crystals.

Two other nuns- Sister Victoria Salcedo of Taytay, Rizal and Sister Cynthia Tarala of Bicol had the soles of their feet injured with glass splinters. The 16 nun- visitors came from all over the country, the oldest at 68.

Tourist guide Reynaldo Kinad Waytan also from Bontoc said a couple visitor from Australia and Korean wife, too had scratches on their hands from glass splinters while they were groping their way inside the cave last Nov. 10.

Kinad said Paul, the Australian tourist bared the scattering of broken glasses inside the cave is killing the tourism industry of Sagada.

Similarly, Jed Angway of the Sagada Environmental Guides Association calls for an investigation of the malicious act and the necessary punishment be imposed on the offender.

Local guides here in this tourist town led by SEGA cleaned the cave of the scattered glasses three times, Angway said.

Local police said an investigation of the scattering of broken glasses is ongoing. Meantime, municipal policies were imposed on guiding tourists.

A memorandum of mayor Edward Latawan ordered guides should get certification from the tourist information center before doing the job.

A member of the police force is now stationed at the cave to verify accredited papers of guides before allowing them to enter the cave.

In an earlier meeting between the 1994 established SEGA and the two year old Sagada Genuine Guides Association (SAGGAS), it was agreed that guides shall merge
and undergo accreditation process before becoming a full fledged guide .

One requirement before becoming an accredited guide was to undergo training. This follows that non-accredited guides , though they had been guiding earlier are not allowed to guide if they have not passed accreditation process.

Jeric Capuyan, SAGGAS member said their organizational trainings should be honored by the accreditation board.

He said rules on merging should be followed and not the policies of one organization only such as a registration fee.

“The accreditation process is led by an accreditation board as provided for in the Tourism Code composed of the business sector, SEGA, SAGGAS, and a representative from the municipal government,” said Sneaky Umaming, LGU representative.

Some also said, a tourist may also favor a certain guide whether he or she comes from SEGA or SAGGAS.

A recent meeting among members of SEGA, SAGGAS, and officers of Barangay Ambasing (where the cave is located) resolved that both SEGA and SAGGAS agree on guiding rules and guiding routine line up while plans to merge as one organization is being worked out.

MORE NEWS, MOUNTAIN PROVINCE

Machine to lessen Bontoc garbage

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- Mayor Franklin C. Odsey here made good with his promise to modernize waste management and improve peace and order program of this town with the recent delivery of a garbage compactor for the municipal garbage crew and one motorcycle for the police.

“ Like what we have been advocating and in compliance with the modernization policy of this administration particularly on waste management and the maintenance of peace and order, the LGU was able to secure one unit garbage truck compactor and one unit motor cycle”, he said.

Local folk who noticed the delivery of the two vehicles said people should now cooperate and start to segregate their respective wastes before being taken in to the machine.

Engineer John Fang-asan, municipal garbage crew foreman upon learning of the new garbage truck equipped with compactor said the machine will be of great help in their day-to-day garbage collection operation especially that the lone municipal garbage truck was dilapidated.

Police Chief Julio Lizardo thanked Bontokc officials for the patrol motorcycle. “With this including the communication systems previously provided by the same LGU, it will greatly contribute in the traffic patrol and other related police operations.”

The town’s waste problem had become an important concern of the local government due to increasing population explosion brought about by the student enrollees. -- Rommel L. Lengwa

MP gov pushes probe on hot logs ‘lost’ in Isabela police station

By Angel Baybay

BONTOC, Mountain Province – Gov. Maximo Dalog is set to start an investigation on the disappearance of two trucks loaded with illegally cut narra lumber which disappeared in a police station in Roxas, Isabela while en route their way to Bontoc.

Mountain Province police officers belonging to Task Force Paracelis had laid the blame on elements of the Isabela Provincial Police Mobile Group.

Dalog wrote Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca on the matter requesting her support so that those responsible will answer for the consequences of their act. “Knowing your opposition to illegal logging, the identities of those involved will be known which I believe will have an impact on the rampant destruction of our forests,” said his letter.

Paracelis Task Force chief PSI Pablo Undalos reported that three trucks and its drivers were apprehended last October along the Paracelis-Roxas road after an informant texted them of three vehicles loaded with narra and were on its way towards Roxas, Isabela.

The three trucks, reportedly owned by Paracelis Vice Mayor Jun Agagon, Julio Nasilib and Glenn Rimas, were intercepted within the vicinity of Anonat, Paracelis and were ordered to proceed to a safe house in Roxas for proper documentation and disposition.

Upon reaching Roxas however, law enforcers from the Isabela PPMG led by a certain SPO3 Silvino Pailas allegedly blocked their path and ordered that the third truck be brought to the police station despite the efforts made by Undalos to explain the legitimacy of the operation.

After an exchange of heated words, they gave way and went direct to their safehouse to change their clothes only to find that only one truck was there.

They immediately scoured the area to no avail. The driver of the second vehicle took advantage of the long negotiation between the police officers and sped to safety.

With some of their companions guarding the only impounded vehicle, Undalos and his team went to the police office as earlier agreed but was taken aback by the report of the policeman on duty that no vehicle was ever surrendered to the station. The more they were surprised when they went to the PPMG office and found out that no vehicle was taken into their custody.

Without any recourse, they asked the help of the PPMG group director, a certain Supt. Balderas but all efforts to locate the two missing trucks proved futile.

It was later found out that the PPMG elements left the truck and its occupants when Undalos and his men went to their safehouse.

Meanwhile, the only vehicle impounded by Task Force Paracelis was turned over to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Roxas for inventory and later endorsed to the Roxas police office for safekeeping. Investigation reports are being collated for possible court action.

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New Zealand, Unicef reps pledge children’s fund for Mt Province
By Angel Baybay

BONTOC, Mountain Province --- The continued funding of children’s programs in the province will continue in the coming years with the assurance of the New Zealand government to give financial assistance through the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).

The pledge was made by New Zealand ambassador to the Philippines Andrew Matheson during his recent visit to the province.

The diplomat was accompanied by his wife Susan, and UNICEF representative to the Philippines Vanessa Tobin, Dr. Martha Cayad-an of UNICEF and Tobias Haque, Patricia Tan, and Imelda Benitez of the New Zealand embassy.

Satisfied with how programs were implemented Matheson said he will see to it that the partnership between his country and the “indigenous” children in the province will continue.

New Zealand has been giving funds since 2003. “I am satisfied with what I saw. From the eyes of the children, I could feel the need for them to be given more support,” Matheson said.

For her part, UNICEF representative to the country Vanessa Tobin described as satisfactory and encouraging the outcome of the funded interventions implemented in the province.

With the sixth phase of the program about to end, she said the province has chances of being included in the next phase. “I am pleased to see for myself the changes resulting from the programs of UNICEF in the province. With this, I assure the people that the program will continue to consider the unmet concerns of the children in this province when we start planning the next phase,” Tobin said.

But he added there are certain areas that needed attention. Specifically, she mentioned the incidence of child and maternal deaths which is relatively low but which should be eliminated.

She cited cases of unenrolled children in the province. With the participation of concerned sectors, she hopes that all children should finish at least secondary education.

Gov. Maximo Dalog thanked the New Zealand government and the UNICEF for their concern for the children in the province. “We could not find a word that could express our thanks for all the assistance you gave to the province. We could have not reached this far without you,” the governor said.

Matheson and his entourage visited the Bontoc General Hospital before he went to Bauko and Tadian.

It was Matheson’s first trip outside Manila after assuming his post three weeks ago.

Tobin promised to attend next year’s Lang-ay Festival while Matheson left his word that he will be back to the province before his tour of duty in the country ends.

TRAILS UP NORTH

Glo Abaeo Tuazon
The highlands of Sacasacan

SADANGA, Mountain Province -- Sacasacan. A weird name for a beautiful place. Located above the other barangays of Sadanga, this place overlooks most of the mountains that surrounds the municipality. From the crest to the west way before sundown, the mist shrouds most of the valleys, transforming it into a mystical place where legends live. At sunset, it becomes a glorious fusion of deep orange and reds.

Sacasacan is the oldest village in the area. It was where the ascendants of the townspeople of Sadanga originated from. According to the old lores, it was because of a pig wandering away from their homestead that the owners strayed further away in search of it and discovered that the place down below is more accessible and had more flatlands for agriculture. Sacasacan for a time stayed the capital village of the municipality until it was changed and passed on to Sadanga Poblacion.

Being in the uplands, the strategic view gave it advantage which was well beneficial to the Americans in the early 1900's after they took over the Spanish forces. They constructed a garrison and a lookout point on a ledge overlooking the possible routes of incoming enemy forces.

To this day, the lookout stayed where it was, reconstructed a few times and turned to concrete, serving more as a view deck in these days of peace. There also stands a few meters away a chapel of old GI sheets, the roof painted in a dull red more for weather protection rather than for aesthetics. I was told this used to house the American soldiers, then turned into a temporary school building, now a chapel. Even the rusty old bell hanging at a corner near the doorway tells a story. It hangs there in a disfigured way, like a reminders of the village's past wounds and triumphs.

Taking a walk a little bit on the northern slope is an amazing view of the Fokong Rice Terraces. A whole valley encamped between the mountains. Like a bowl of rice where sustenance could be had, it lies there like a gaping maw, filled to the brim with the crop of the season. The overpowering greens of the newly planted rice reaching for the skies above it.

The paddies were like gentle waves of water interlapping each other in an almost subtle way, not abrupt or crude. Up close the sides were neatly stoned walled, one craft the people here are proud of. The stones piled atop each other, in perfect fit that it almost seem the stones were "born" for each other.

Here and there the womenfolk work the land from sunrise to sundown, tending to the crops with gentle calloused hands. When the sun dips below the horizon, they know it is time to straighten up and head home, often teasing each other along the way. In this place the teasing goes on, normal to sarcastic in a way but still acceptable to them. They go home to their families and the next day the routine goes on. Life here in the uplands go as simple as it could, but they find happiness in the little things, the best way they know how.

Morning kissed me with the crowing of the cocks and life coming about the village. People doing the chores, pots clanging and smoke puffing out of makeshift chimneys. The pigs were fed, the kids sent running to school in their slippers, the house closed and again the cycle of life begins.

There is so much here to see. Maybe unlike the spires and skyscrapers of modern cities, but these are real people, clinging to the comfort of the throbbing heartland, passed on as legacies of family lineage from generation to generation.The smile of the toothless old man and the tiny old lady manually separating the grains from the chaffs made me stop awhile. These were people of the uplands where my father came from, my people. -- email: twilight_glo@yahoo.com

MORE NEWS, MOUNTAIN PROVINCE

Mt Prov has new budget officer

BONTOC, Mountain Province – This province has a new budget officer in the person Oliver Angsoban Culallad after Frank Daytec who held the post resigned and joined a top corporation. Culallad took his oath of office before Gov. Maximo B. Dalog at the provincial capitol Oct. 3.

The 55-year-old Culallad was born to a farming family of Barangay Mainit of this capital town and 1982 graduated at the Mountain Province College now Mountain Province State Polytechnic College with a degree in Bachelor of Science in Commerce.

After graduation, he worked as clerk-typist at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Office and was later promoted as a senior clerk in the same office.

He applied and became a senior budget examiner in 1987 to 1986 at the provincial budget office and was promoted as Budget Officer IV for three years.

He became assistant budget officer in 1992 until his appointment as budget officer this Oct. 3.
Along with his thriving career, Culallad has also raised a brood of achievers. He and his wife Clementine Tudlong who also works with the provincial government have six children.

Some of their children are now successful in their own fields while others are still studying. -- Wynner Sayaan

THE MOUNTAINEER

Edison L. Baddal
Bailout: Trend to a policy shift

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- With the US congress having stamped its approval of President Bush’s $700 billion bailout plan on Oct. 3, it is expected that the financial turmoil created by the bankruptcy of many wall street bankers will level off to a certain extent. However, even with this pump-priming initiative of the US Government, it failed to erase the jitters in the financial markets in Europe and Asia with the unbelievable fall of many Wall Street investment banks.

These banks, generally regarded as masters of the universe, are the chief clients of wall street, a global financial king which dictates the dynamics of investment trading worldwide. In the same vein, wall street executives are looked upon not only as financial whiz kids, being mostly “ivy-league” graduates, but also financial deities as they are immensely knowledgeable of the trends in the financial market and its impact not only on the US economy but on the rest of the world.

At any rate, the fall from grace of these leviathans in investment banking, like dominoes or stack of cards, inexorably affected the financial market of all countries. Shock waves of tremendous magnitude coupled with trepidation and fear accompanied the collapse of the US financial market. This is due to the fact that almost all the financial markets and systems of the capitalist world are tied up with the day-to-day operations and developments of wall street.

The disastrous fall transpired in the first two weeks of September but this was portentously preceded by the acquisition of the US Government of investment banks Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Bear Stearns within the last 15 months after the financial crisis that struck the USA in 2007.

First to fall was the Lehman Brothers in September, once an invincible multi-billion investment bank, whose bankruptcy threw wall street into panic and turned the finance and business world around the globe upside down. Most intriguing about this is that this financial empire once bought a tottering investment bank named Archston to the tune of $3.9 billion last Oct. 2007.
This was the fourth month of the financial crisis which transpired last year starting July, 2007.

The financial crisis last year came to the fore when two hedge funds managed by Bear Stearns, another huge investment bank, imploded and led to its purchase by JP Morgan. Back then, Lehman Brothers seemed to have been unaffected by the financial crisis as it has enough liquidity to buy the assets of Archston.

Nobody had the hunch that 11 months later, Lehman will suffer implosion of its funds itself that triggered its bankruptcy. Closely following suit is the downfall of another investment banker, Merill Lynch, whose assets were quickly bought by the Bank of America. Another investment banker, Washington Mutual, also fell and included to the list of distressed firms that need to be bailed out by the Fed.

Consequently, the unexpected insolvency of these financial giants one after the other thus left Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs as hold-outs in the investment banking business. Nonetheless, perhaps anticipating a precipitate fall or entertaining angst on what befell their bigger competitors in the business, they self-demoted their category from standalone investment banks to holding companies so as to access federal bailout funds to hedge against future insolvency.

Prior to the fall of these huge investment banks, AIG, the largest US insurance company with insurance interests spread out in many countries around the world including the Philippines, suffered heavy book losses in its transactions. Its innovative financial products called credit-default swaps and collateralized debt obligations failed to sustain its profitability as the management failed to calculate adequately the risks involved in peddling these products. Thus, it failed to predict accurately the magnitude of its losses which at first it presumed to be about a few billion dollars but which turned to be a whopping hundreds of billions of dollars after sometime.

Honesto C. General, in his column Sept. 24, fancied that the AIG may have gotten in dept trouble with the New York Insurance Commissioner. He averred that “under the insurance code, the AIG is required, as any insurance company in the Philippines, to keep its admitted assets (assets admitted by the Insurance Commissioner, not by AIG’s accountants, at 110 percent of liabilities. This is the mark of insolvency.”

The admitted assets below this threshold causes a dilemna on the part of the insurance company and for the AIG, in order for it not to lose its license and to keep its business afloat, the Fed rescued it with an $85 Billion loan. Right now, it is selling some of its assets in some parts of the world in order to pay some of its debts to the Fed. Philamlife, its subsidiary in the Philippines, and probably its subsidiary in the Bahamas are among its assets that it is putting up for sale to the tune of 402 billion pesos. Grapevine sources intimate that SM is among the takers.

By financially pumping billions into the finance industry, the US Gov’t will buy bad assets from banks and other financial firms through the Treasury and the Fed. These bad assets, considered as nonperforming assets in layman’s terms, are the toxic subprime mortgages invested in the banks that failed to bring money to said banks when real estate prices fell.

This plunge, after a time of bubble, destabilized and choked the smooth dynamics of the finance industry. Nevertheless, the meltdown of the industry that triggered the US economic crisis, with its crippling effects being felt worldwide, came to a head when the Lehman Brothers, a giant investment bank filed for bankruptcy.

ENVIRONMENT WATCH

Robert L. Domoguen
Watershed care in the Cordillera

BONTOC, Mountain Province---In the bid to gain full community support to watershed care and protection, development agencies might as well consider prioritizing development assistance in areas where watersheds are valued, protected and cared for by the local residents.

The proposition comes from engineer Delfin Aglit, officer-in-charge of the National Irrigation Administration provincial office here. He said that given the opportunity, his office will prioritize development assistance to those communities that promote or have established measures on reforestation and protection of the watersheds over those that have yet to demonstrate their care for this most precious natural resource which is emerging today as a major component of any viable irrigation system.

Aglit, said the development of productive agricultural lands and the sustainability of old and newly established irrigation systems largely depends on the year-round availability of water. This is also true to all other livelihoods and industries that depend on this precious resource for their viability and sustainability.

In Mountain Province, people know the critical role of watersheds in making water available for domestic and other uses, Aglit said. Such awareness was seen in the people’s readiness to volunteer their time, effort and resources in support to the implementation of the province-wide planting of 1 million forest and fruit trees in less than two-years initiated by the provincial local government.

This initiative mobilized support from a multi-sectoral group to include religious and civic groups, national government agencies and non-government organizations and employees of the provincial and municipal local government units for its successful implementation.

However, there is a need today for all communities in the province to sustain the effort and consistently match their awareness of the importance of trees and watersheds to quality survival in the area with greater commitment through participatory planning, monitoring and reforestation, and enforcement measures, Aglit said.

He added without the communities’ full support to environmental conservation, protection and rehabilitation, the long term benefits and impact of investments to agricultural and rural development, to include rural infrastructures, irrigation and domestic water supply, among others, will not be maximized and enjoyed by the people themselves over the long term.

Mountain Province has a total of 10,288.19 hectares of farmlands considered developed or fully irrigated, as of December 31, 2007. Of this total, 8,845.69 hectares is devoted to rice production. The remaining 1,442.50 hectares is utilized for vegetable production. With a potential irrigable area in the province of 30,060 hectares, around 19,771.81 remain to be developed or fully irrigated.

In the face of increasing demand for food, the challenge according to Engineer Aglit, is to increase production in irrigated farm lands. The easiest way to do this is to increase the frequency of planting in irrigated lands but this will necessarily require a year-round availability of sufficient irrigation water.

Meeting the increasing demand for food also requires the rehabilitation of old systems and opening up of new ones. Rehabilitation of irrigation system is viable only if sufficient water is available and sustained during the targeted production season in the irrigation systems of NIA and others that were constructed by other government institutions and private individuals. Unless a good source of irrigation water is identified that is close to production areas, its development would be hampered by cost and other considerations involving design, maintenance, availability of materials, among others.

As in all provinces of the Cordillera, the NIA provincial office of Mountain Province has been promoting watershed rehabilitation, protection and care among the local residents.

Aside from tree planting, engineer Abraham Akilit, NIA regional director said before projects implemented through the NIA are fully paid, the final payment called “retention money” is withheld and released to beneficiaries only upon compliance to the planting of an agreed number of forest trees in the watersheds or fruit trees in the community.

NIA has been highlighting the same message in its participation in the extension of technical and mobilization assistance for the promotion and development of the province’ heirloom rice as an export crop.

In pursuit of this development endeavor, the agency is currently pushing for the approval of an inter-agency Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), encouraging participating development agencies to prioritize and extend development assistance to the rice farming communities who have set-up participatory protection, rehabilitation and enforcement measures for the care of their watersheds.

MORE NEWS, MOUNTAIN PROVINCE

More scholarshipsset for MP school

BONTOC, Mountain Province – Students enrolled at the Mountain Province State Polytechnic College here who are not enjoying any scholarship grant will have the chance to avail of future slots provided they file their intention to be a recipient of one.

This was disclosed by Dr. Nieves A. Dacyon, MPSPC president, who added the administration is doing its best to look for available scholarships for students.

Earlier, Kalinga Rep. Manuel S. Agyao, caretaker congressman of Mountain province, told school and student leaders he will try his best to source out funds for the scholarship of the students who were not able to qualify for existing scholarship programs of the school.

At least 2,000 students are currently enjoying the full scholarship program which was institutionalized by the late Rep. Victor S. Dominguez.

Sen. Manuel Villar had also facilitated the release of P7 million worth of scholarship grants to deserving students who are enrolled in various courses offered by the institution in order to provide the needed assistance for poor but deserving students to advance their knowledge and skills for productivity.

According to Dacyon, the application for future scholarships is still open but in case they will qualify with the available funds, their scholarship grants would be effective during the second semester of this schoolyear.

“Education is the best inheritance that we could give our present generation, thus, we are doing our best to establish linkages with various groups and individuals who could support the education of our poor and deserving students,” she stressed.

With the influx of funds for scholarship grants, the MPSPC official cited the school could now implement various programs and projects aimed at improving instruction, research and extension and student development so that the standards of education would be at par with other private and public institutions in the different parts of the country.

Despite the smear campaign being done by some disgruntled sectors in the province against her leadership, Dacyon vowed to continue the implementation of programs, projects and reforms which would bring the institution to greater heights especially with the stiff competition in the education sector.

She branded her critics as irritants to the desire of the youth for better access to education and to become productive citizens of the country that would help contribute in spurring economic development in this landlocked province since the hope of development now lies in the present and future generations.


MP execs support reproductive health bill filed in Congress
By Angel Baybay

BONTOC, Mountain Province – Just as the heat relative to the Reproductive Health bill became intense in parts of the country, provincial officials here threw their support for the passage of the proposed law saying there is no provision in the document that enhances abortion.

The decision to support the bill now pending in congress was firmed up after a dialogue between population and health personnel and provincial officials.

The dialogue was also graced by Cristopher Estallo of the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development who briefed the officials on the bill.

Estallo said the bill only encompasses different measures which couples could choose from should they want to plan an ideal family size within their means.

He added different family planning methods contained in the proposed law are not impositions but mere choices from where married people could select which is suited for them.

Provincial health officer Nenita Lizardo however warned that couples should first consult medical people before making their choice especially if they opt to use any of the artificial family planning methods.

“We need to see to it that what they use will not endanger their health,” Lizardo said.

Provincial PopCom officer Lourdes Cumitag cited the need to manage population growth in the province saying those with more children are couples with lesser income.

“The pattern should be reversed. The number of children in a family should be congruent to income,” she said.

Meanwhile, Gov. Maximo Dalog and Vice Gov. Louis Claver called on all sectors in the province to intelligently discuss among themselves social measures like the pending RH bill so that they could help in disseminating right information to the people even as they expressed their appreciation to the religious sector in the province for their openness and cooperation in ironing out sensitive social concerns.

Mt Prov 2nd best PPOC nationwide

By Angel Baybay

BONTOC, Mountain Province – The Provincial Peace and Order Council received another national award for its “consistent efforts in addressing peace concerns in the province and in the region in general.”

In a letter addressed to provincial governor and PPOC chairman Maximo Dalog, Local Government Sec. Ronaldo Puno said the Mountain Province PPOC was adjudged second in the national search for the best provincial peace council for the year 2006.

The province was entered in the first to third class province category. The national search is an annual activity of the National Peace and Order Council chaired by the DILG secretary to strengthen peace councils in all levels in effectively coordinating public and private sector involvement towards the attainment of peace and order in the country.

“The national search team is pleased to inform you that your provincial peace council has been adjudged second best council in the country for the first to third class province class. The exemplary performance and service delivery of your council despite modest means shall serve as role model and inspiration to other peace and order councils,” the letter said.

The provincial PPOC was earlier a Hall of Fame awardee under the fourth to sixth class province bracket after it consistently placed first since 1996.

It was selected as the best council in 2004 when it first joined the upper category then was among the five national finalists the following year.
Davao province topped this year’s search.

Dalog said the province may not join future searches to give chance to other Cordillera provinces interested in joining the annual search.

He said he would write a letter to the regional National Police Commission which acts as the Regional Peace and Order Council secretariat to inform other provinces in the region to prepare needed documents for the upcoming regional selection.

“The national citations awarded to the PPOC are indeed blessing to the people for their cooperation and sense of volunteerism in keeping peace within the province. We want other provinces to experience the same. Who knows, they may have better chances of landing at the top,” Dalog said

MP gov denies barbs on P150 loan project

By Angel Baybay

BONTOC, Mountain Province – Gov. Maximo Dalog branded as baseless and politically motivated the contents of a circulating text message here at the capital town alleging that the provincial government shall be securing a P150 million peso loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines purportedly to finance a micro power plant to generate electric energy.

In a radio interview, the governor said the message was baseless. “I never talked to any DBP officer to grant the provincial government a loan. The more it is untrue that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan has authorized me to enter into any form of loan agreement with the said bank,” the governor said.

But Dalog added some DBP officials had an audience with him and members of the provincial legislative body last August 5 at the legislative building where the bank officials explained the newly opened window at the bank that finances micro power plants.

He said there was no action of the SP to authorize any person to enter into any form of loan from the bank. “This claim is supported by a check of the minutes of the SP session on that date which is without any hint that the matter was taken up.”

Dalog called on those responsible in sending out the messages not to politicize the issue so that the people could make objective discussions on the matter. “Should our constituents be receptive to the project, it will take years before it will be realized but it should be brought out in the open this early so the people will start thinking about it,” Dalog said.

Before any power plant project will be started, it needs to undergo a reconnaissance survey and given an environment clearance certificate from the DENR.

Since, the province is an indigenous people’s community, a prior informed consent from affected communities is required.

Meanwhile, the proposal of tapping the province’s water resources to generate electric power has earned positive reaction from some local officials and individuals.

“It will generate employment and income for the local government units aside from lessening the monthly bills paid by consumers,” said a resident.

The power generated shall be sold to the local electric cooperative. Any excess could be retailed to other interested electric consumers outside the province.

MORE NEWS, MOUNTAIN PROVINCE

Checkpoints to stop theft of bridge parts in Mt Prov

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- Gov. Maximo Dalog has asked provincial police director Pedro Ganir to establish check points in strategic exit routes to regulate transport of scrap iron outside the province.

Dalog, who is also provincial peace and order council chairman said reports reaching the local peace keeping body have it that stealing of steel pipes including iron parts of infrastructure projects alarmingly continues despite earlier warnings from officials.

After the sway braces of the Amlusong bridge were stolen, GI pipes for the Paracelis town waterworks were taken by suspects and were reportedly transported and sold somewhere in Cauayan City.

Even the pipe line supplying water to Bila, Bauko were not spared. The latest incident is the stolen plastic pipes of the Bontoc water project which were stored at Talubin, Bontoc.

Except for the Amlusong incident, suspects in the other cases are yet to be identified although police said investigations are underway to locate the missing items and to eventually unmask the culprits.

Ganir asked the cooperation of the public in solving the cases. “Securing government and private property is the responsibility of the people and not only of the uniformed men. Unless he himself is the witness, a policeman can not solve any case if the civilian populace will not give their part,” Ganir said, adding police should not be solely blamed for all crimes committed within their area of responsibility.

“If the reason for the occurrence of a crime is because of police inaction or participation, report to my office those involved so that I could make my action accordingly,” Ganir said. Meanwhile, Dalog requested board member Luke Wanason as committee chairman on peace and order to sponsor a resolution asking police authorities to establish check points to give more weight to the decision of the council.

The governor said check points will deter transport of stolen iron scraps outside the province. This, after the initial plan to bar dealers from entering the province was shelved based on the opinion of provincial attorney Einstein Calaoa that such move is against existing laws.

The checkpoints shall be constructed along the Bontoc-Banaue, Bontoc-Baguio, and Bontoc-Cervantes national roads.


CHED releases P3.5 M for MP school’s facilities

BONTOC, Mountain Province – The only state college here is still receiving support from concerned government agencies to improve its facilities and laboratories to boost the eventual accreditation of its courses.

Latest was the Commission on Higher Education which released a total of P3.5 million to fund the completion of the school’s speech laboratories in the Tadian and Bontoc campuses.

The release made by CHED central office was the P1 million intended for the completion of the facilities of speech laboratories so students could use the speech labs to strengthen their learning tools and materials and avail of the latest technology for better quality of education. Since last year, the CHED has released a total of P2.5 million from its available funding source to ensure the establishment of the speech laboratories, one of the most important tools for teaching and learning.

Dr. Nieves A. Dacyon, MPSPC president, said support from government and private sectors for the development of the school was encouraging, thus, the administration, faculty and students must reciprocate such support through responsible and dedicated efforts in teaching, managing and learning for the benefit of the future generation.

Dacyon said support from various sectors is being utilized for the development of school-based facilities that would provide the teachers and students a wider avenue of interacting with each other and strengthening tertiary education.

She added education is still the best inheritance that parents could give to their children since it could not be easily taken away from an individual, thus, everyone has the responsibility in bringing education in the rural areas to greater heights so that it will be at part with the education offered by well-known private and public higher education institutions outside the province.

With education being highly commercialized in urban areas, poor but deserving students now prefer to enroll in state universities and colleges like MPSPC which are located in their own areas because of lower tuition and school fees but with the same quality of education being offered by respected colleges and universities nationwide.

Dacyon urged stakeholders in the province to support the school’s development in order to have its courses accredited so it could attain university status. -- Dexter A. See

MORE NEWS, MOUNTAIN PROVINCE

62 MP OSYs pass accreditation exams
By Juliet B. Saley

BONTOC, Mountain Province – Sixty two of the 343 out-of-school youth in the province passed the accreditation and equivalency (A & E) examinations conducted February.
Of the total, four of the 20 elementary drop outs and 58 of the 323 secondary drop outs passed the examinations.

These passers will be given certificates equivalent to elementary or high school diplomas which will allow them enroll in formal schools.

Provincial schools division superintendent Mary A. Lang-ayan said their division office will download from the internet certificate of eligibility which she would certify to show proof they passed.

Lang-ayan said these OSYs who took the examinations underwent modular classes. These are the products of Alternative Learning System, she added.

The A & E examinations is given annually to out-of-school youth to give them a chance to return back to the formal education.

Qualified to take this test are elementary drop outs (at least one year at the time of registration) who are 11 years old and above for the elementary level test and high school drop outs ( at least one year at the time of registration) aging 15 years old and above for the secondary level test; and non-passers of the previous A & E test.

Meanwhile, some 3,025 fourth year high school students in the province took the National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE) last Aug. 27.

Lang-ayan said the NCAE was designed to assess the abilities of the students. It serves as a guide in choosing an appropriate career path after graduation.
It is also designed to address the growing mismatch in career choices against the students’ skills and inclinations.

TRAILS UP NORTH

Glo A. Tuazon
Cindewoll

NATONIN, Mountain Province -- CINDEWOLL, to mean Cordillera Indigenous Elected Women Leaders league, sounds like the ever-famous Cinderella fairytale. This group of women put on their glass slippers last Sept. 7. The founder USEC Josephine de Castro Dominguez rode on a squash-colored vehicle, led a team of about 40 people from different agencies and drove to the unlikely castle in the far away land of Natonin.

The team composed of representatives and volunteers from the PNRC-MPC, LHMRH, MPSPC, Media, PNP, AFP and the Natonin LGU overall known as the Natonin Leg Team, worked on more than 600 people on Sept. 8. Eighty five people were given dental services, surpassing the expected 50 patients. Extraction was the most common case. In the medical service, about 530 people were served, also surpassing the expected 250 people by more than half.

In between the program was the awarding of relief goods to about 50 indigent families, pre-picked for the event by their respective barangays. USEC Dominguez gave a short but meaningful talk. One of her jokes was met with a hearty applause from the men, gleefully looking over their shoulders at their wives who were mournfully seething with half-meant laughs.

The gist of Madam Josephine's advice that caused this was "for women to stand by their husbands, even if they have 2, 3 or more women because in the end these men are the umbrellas by which women lean on to."

Our teammates from the PNP and AFP were all smiles at that too. Mayor Marie Paz Banaag gave her own speech and welcome address, happy as can be because that day happened to coincide with her birthday. With the happiness also comes the remembrance of her late father. Beside her that day is her mother, the still-mourning wife of Mayor Rafael of Paracelis who was brutally murdered Christmas of 2007.

The medical-dental mission was formally opened at 8 a.m. and ended at about 8 p.m. The medicine distribution team, worked under the sparse lighting system of the covered court.

As the medical-dental mission was going on, Ms Dominguez with Mayor Banaag took the chance to conduct a meeting with all the barangay officials of Natonin. Winnie Ananayo, the administrative officer of the Bontoc Brigada System conquered the floor to share her group's experiences.

This was to goad and inspire Natonin to also form a similar group. The BBS has been under the limelight quite a few times when it was featured in newspapers and on TV for the great feats they have been doing the past years.

Ms Ananayo said her group started in 2001, making it seven years old today and has contributed a great deal to the peace and order of mostly the central business district of Bontoc.
Composed of elderly women, they converge at night and go around stalking the known night spots at about near closing time to make sure the 10 p.m. curfew is implemented. Anti-gambling is one of their known advocacies aside from the control of boozing activities. To date this has stayed a respected and successful venture, for even a solid, uncompromising drunk is not a match to any of these women.

After the meeting, the group pushed on to the nearby Immaculate Heart High School where the Philippine Red Cross and Luis Hora Memorial Hospital group conducted a free blood typing campaign. The students lined up, some of the ladies wincing at the ant-like pricking but willingly undergoing the test. This was deemed important, that the children may know their blood type in cases of medical emergencies when they needed to receive or donate blood.

After the high school blood typing event, the Natonin Leg Team moved a little further down the main road where the Natonin Elementary School was located. The children lined up their school desks outside to give a short welcome program to the NLT but the afternoon was met by an early, heavy downpour.

Like scampering ants hurrying to stack food, the children and their advisers brought down the dividing wall of two classrooms and again brought in the desks, treating the coming of the rain a blessing from Above. The program went nicely after which the feeding program ended with children receiving pre-packed snacks for the afternoon.

All things done, Cindewoll and NLT concluded this event to be very successful. It has done and exceeded what it had aimed to do in Natonin. Everybody on the team bonded as well and off they went again in that same squash-colored vehicle to another fairy tale land called Tadian. -- email: twilight_glo@yahoo.com

MORE NEWS, MOUNTAIN PROVINCE

Mt Prov posts low population growth
By Angel Baybay

BONTOC, Mountain Province – If the actual population count is an indication, the population management program in the province is a success.

This is how officials of the province and population management officers explained the low birth rate registered by the province the last seven years.

Based on the latest actual population count conducted last year by the National Statistics Office, the province registered an annual population growth rate of .77 percent which is way below the regional and national growth rates of 1.50% and 2.04% respectively.

Data provided by the NSO said the province, as of 2007, had an actual headcount of 148,661 which makes up .16% of the national total count (88,574,614) and 10% of the regions population (1,520,743).

The actual provincial tally was 14,195 lesser than the projected total number of 162,856. Local planners said they arrived at the projected number using the previous annual growth rate of 2.11%.

The municipality of Paracelis registered the highest increase with an annual growth rate of 3.70 followed by the towns of Sagada (3.46%), Sadanga (1.69%), Bontoc (1.47%), Bauko (.80%), Sabangan (.57%), then Natonin (.55%). There was decrease of population in the other three towns with Besao submitting the highest decline at -4.34% then followed by Barlig and Tadian with a drop of -.40 and -.38, respectively.

Bauko remained most heavily inhabited with 29,382 trailed by Bontoc (24,798), Paracelis (24,705), Tadian (17,148), Sagada (10,930), Sadanga (9,706), Natonin (9,431), Sabangan (9,098), Besao (7,295), and Barlig (6,168).

Population specialists said the recorded decrease in the three municipalities was due to migration and the absence of some residents particularly students who were out of the province during the conduct of the census.

Gov. Maximo Dalog said the relatively low increase was partly because of population education campaigns sponsored by concerned offices.

The collective efforts of the local offices were complemented by the United Nations Fund for Population Activities which piloted its services in the municipalities of Bontoc, Paracelis, and Sagada.

Provincial PopCom officer Lourdes Cumitag said aside from the education campaign activities, present realities made couples plan a family within their means.

In separate interviews, the two officials cited coordination of all schools and sectors of the community.

They pointed out collaborative stance of the religious sector. “In fairness to church leaders, they are cooperative unlike in other parts of the country. An atmosphere of trust and respect exists among the key players as far as educating our people on population management is concerned”, Dalog said.

Population growth in the province was seen to be maintained at a manageable level with the continuous collaboration of all sectors in informing the people the possible choices of population control and with the passage of the Provincial Reproductive Health Code which coordinates and specifies the roles and responsibilities of all sectors.


Walk for 'Gawis ay Mt. Province'

BONTOC, Mt. Province – A fund raising activity dubbed "Walk for Gawis ay Mt. Province," will be conducted here on Oct. 14 to help support sports development in the province.

Members of the provincial school board, provincial literacy coordinating council approved in a meeting last week this activity which was proposed and presented by executive assistant for external sports development Romeo Palod.

Palod said all national, provincial, municipal government employees and the general public are invited to participate in this activity which he said is at the same time serves as a morning exercise.

Participants are asked to register and pay a registration fee of P50 which will be submitted to the secretariat at the Governor's office.

Proceeds of this fund campaign will be used to augment fund for invitational sports.

The "Walk for Gawis ay Mt. Province" will start at 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 14 at the first tunnel (coming from Bontoc) as the starting point and finish line will be at the provincial plaza.

Palod said this is the second year that this kind of fund campaign will be conducted.

Last year's fund campaign dubbed "Alay Lakad" was able to raise more than P 12,000, which was used to augment sports budget. "Although the amount is very meager, we were able to show that sports is not the concern of the government alone but it is everybody's concern," Palod said. -- Juliet B. Saley


Cordillera women leaders to hold med missions in Mt Prov

BONTOC, Mountain Province – Women leaders in the Cordillera will try to reach out to the remote communities of the region through the conduct of a medical mission and information and education campaign on the important issues affecting the rural communities to make the people feel the presence of the government and other concerned sectors in addressing their plight.

The Cordillera Indigenous Elected Women Leaders League (CINDEWOLL) will hold a joint medical mission and information and education campaign in Natonin town on Sept. 8 where hundreds of beneficiaries are expected to benefit from the said activity.

Aside from the conduct of medical mission, the women leaders headed by Atok, Benguet Mayor Concepcion Balao, CINDEWOLL president, and Undersecretary Josephine de Castro-Dominguez, the CINDEWOLL founder, will distribute relief goods to indigent beneficiaries at the covered court and awarding of relief goods to indigent patients at the Natonin district hospital.

Health support staff from the Luis Hora Regional Memorial Hospital and the Philippine National Red Cross – Mountain Province chapter will conduct a free blood typing at the Natonin covered court and at the Immaculate Heart High School in the said town.

The CINDEWOLL officers will meet with Natonin barangay officials for an information education campaign on peace and order initiatives and ecotourism to further advance the interest and promotion of the town as a peaceful and tourism-oriented local government unit.

At least 250 pupils of the Natonin Elementary School will also benefit from the CINDEWOLL’s schoolfeeding program which will be undertaken by the PNRC Mountain province chapter.

On Sept. 12, the CINDEWOLL officers will be in Tadian town for a meeting with barangay officials and for the conduct of an information and education campaign on peace and order and eco-tourism to accelerate the promotion of the town as a potential tourism destination in the province.

The Girl Scouts of the Philippines – Mountain province chapter, together with CIDEWOLL officers, will hold a school visit at the Kayan West Elementary School to have an interaction with the teachers and the pupils.

According to Balao, the CINDEWOLL’s medical mission and information and education campaign on various issues affecting the development of a certain locality is just an initial wave of their
series of activities which is expected to be done all over the cordillera in the coming months.

Atok will be the nest stop of the medical mission and information and education campaign project of the CINDEWOLL.

P5.2 M released for school’s scholarship program

BONTOC, Mountain Province – The regional office of the Commission on Higher Education officially released to the Mountain Province Polytechnic College here P5.2 million for the national government’s Student Assistance Fund for Education for poor but deserving students of this province.

Out of the said amount, P3.1 million was set or the SAFE scholarship while P2 million was allotted for the SAFE loan.

Dr. Nieves A. Dacyon, MPSPC president, said 53 qualified students will benefit from the SAFE scholarship while 250 deserving students could avail of the SAFE loan given to the institution.<