MORE NEWS, BENGUET

Chilly mornings a bane to Benguet farmers who fear damage of frost to veggies
BY DEXTER SEE

ATOK, Benguet – The onset of the chilly mornings signaling the Yuletide season is just around the corner is no good news for thousands of farmers in highly elevated areas of this vegetable-producing town due to the expected frost bite that devastates vast vegetable plantations at this time of the year.

Mayor Concepcion Balao said it is their hope and prayer that the frost phenomenon will not occur because it would really result to bankruptcy among farmers who rely on vegetable production as their main source of livelihood.

Frost or “andap” in the local dialect occurs when the temperature drops to below 10 degrees Celsius with ice crystals forming on top of the vegetable plants causing it to die.

It was learned that there are vast agricultural lands that are already planted with crops such as cabbage, carrots, potatoes among others because it is the planting season for such crops.

Balao pointed out that the municipal government had already issued reminders to farmers to prepare for the onset of the frost because it could happen anytime from November to February due to the onset of the cold season.

At the same time, she had instructed the municipal agriculturist’s office to closely monitor the trend of temperature in the town so that they could immediately issue the proper advisory to farmers once it drops significantly.

However, Balao explained that the frost phenomenon should not be used by importers and smugglers as a license to freely import vegetables from China that would directly compete with locally produced products.

Balao explained that frost bite only occurs in isolated areas in the province especially in the highly elevated areas of Atok, Kibungan, Buguias and Mankayan in Benguet and Bauko in Mountain Province, thus, the supply of vegetables being brought to the lowland and Metro manila markets are still stable.

She appealed to concerned government agencies to be vigilant in case of the frost attack so that importers and smugglers would not take advantage of the situation.

Experts have recommended that farmers must construct greenhouses to protect their crops from being ravaged by the frost but it seems such proposal is impractical especially for small farmers in this vegetable-producing town.

Last year, over P10 million worth of agricultural crops were damaged by the frost bite when the temperature dropped to 5 degrees Celsius which caused heavy losses among thousands of farmers whose crops were on their vegetative, flowering and harvesting stages.

Ironically, Balao cited that the occurrence of frost could not be exactly predicted because it is a natural phenomenon, thus, farmers must also be aware of the temperature and work out possible ways to rid their plants with the frost bite in case it suddenly comes.


Cordillera elections was still most peaceful, says PNP: Abra barangay poll candidate, pal critically hurt in ambush
BY DEXTER A SEE AND MAR T. SUPNAD

CAMP DANGWA, La Trinidad, Benguet — Armed men who ambushed a candidate for barangay captain and a farmer at Sitio Barbarit, Barangay Cosili East at Bangued, Abra around 7 p.m. on Oct. 28 are still unidentified.

Both victims survived the ambush but they were seriously wounded at the crime scene barely a few hours before the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

Chief Supt. Eugene G. Martin, regional director of the Police Regional Office in the Cordillera, identified the victims as a certain Fernan Pacamalan Sabalo, 32, married, and a candidate for chairman of Barangay Cosili East and one Desiderio Manglanlan Sabaot, 28, single, farmer and resident of same place.

Sabalo sustained multiple gunshot wounds in different parts of his body while Sabaot suffered a lone gunshot wound in his body, police said.

Both victims were rushed to the Abra Provincial Hospital for treatment.

Initial investigation said the victims were walking from Sitio Barbarit going to Central Cosili together with four other companions when they were fired upon by still unidentified armed suspects who fled to an unknown direction after the incident.

The victims were immediately brought to the Abra Provincial Hospital for medical treatment.
Police said weapons used in the incident were believed to be M-16 Armalite rifles and shot guns following the recovery of numerous shells for said firearms.

Martin said the motive of the ambush could have been revenge as Sabalo had criminal records.
Previously, the Cordillera, which included Abra was dubbed most troubled area during elections. Not anymore.

Records showed only minimal election-related incidents were recorded, which the police claimed were only isolated cases.

But prior to the election, the police regional office convened and mapped out plans on how to ensure an honest, orderly and peaceful election.

Although there were some barangays in the Abra and Mt. Proving that were noted to be election areas of concern, Martin said reported the election process was peaceful and orderly and no election-related violence had transpired last Oct. 29.

The security measures and programs of the PNP as implemented by martin turned out to be successful. With the cooperation of the community in securing every vote, candidates were ensured of an honest, orderly and peaceful election.

As of Oct. 31, at 8 in the morning, more than 90 percent of the counting had been finished in the Region.

There are broken down to Baguio and Benguet with percent; Mt. Province with 97 percent; Abra with 94 percent; Ifugao with 91 percent, and Kalinga and Apayao with 86 percent and 81 percent, respectively.

The problem is with the distances of the precincts which affects the arrival time of the results to the central offices.

At press time, there are no election-related incidents recorded by the Regional election Monitoring Action Center of PRO COR except a case in Bangued where a barangay bet was killed.

The assailants, however, were immediately arrested, said Sr. Supt. Alex Pumecha, Abra police director.

No areas had been declared to have experienced a failure of elections, although delays were noted in Talacda, Tubo, Abra and Basao, Tinglayan in Kalinga.

Martin reported only 29 violators of the gun ban and 24 violators of the liquor ban, all in the region.


3 foreign, 8 local firms bid for Ambuklao Dam Nov 28
BOKOD, Benguet -- Eleven groups have informed the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. that they would bid for the 175 megawatt (MW) Ambuklao hydro-power plant.

PSALM vice president for asset management and electricity trading Froilan Tampinco said on Nov. 1 in Manila, of the 11 prospective bidders, three are foreign groups and eight are local firms.

Tampinco said they would bid out the hydro power facility on Nov. 28 as scheduled.

Tampinco said they moved the expected deadline for the pre-bidding process by another week as per request of the bidders.

But the PSALM official said the extension may only apply on the bidding process but not on the bidding proper.

“Extension of the bid date is non-negotiable. We may agree on extensions of certain deadlines prior to bid date,” he said.

In the last pre-bidding process of Ambuklao, some prospective bidders have raised the issue of lack of time for them to form their respective consortia to bid for the said hydro-power assets.

The prospective bidders assured that should there be any extensions on some areas of the bidding procedure for Ambuklao, the bidding date will not be affected.

PSALM wants interest parties to complete the incorportation of their corporate vehicles to bid for Ambuklao in the first week of this month.

But the bidders argue that they may need more time to meet the PSALM’s requirement.

The incorporation of these companies at the Securities and Exchange Commission is necessary to enable the winning bidder to take over the asset.

Among the firms the participated in the pre-bid conference include Itogon Power, Ramcar Inc., Sta Clara Power, AES Ambuklao and Binga Pte Ltd, First Gen Northern Energy, Marubeni Philippines, Kansai Electric Power, SN Aboitiz power, Suez Tractebel and State Investment trust Inc.