MORE NEWS, BAGUIO

Loakan airport closure stopped

BAGUIO CITY – The historic 70-year-old Loakan Airport won’t be closed, President Arroyo announced here, saying she was heeding pleas of local officials here even if it was seldom used by commercial airlines.

“We heard the cries of your local leaders,” the President said when she addressed Lakas and Kampi leaders of the Cordillera who met here July 18 to declare a Lakas-Kampi merger at Camp John Hay.

Baguio officials and residents earlier opposed the closure of the airport saying it meant a lot to tourism, business and sentimentalism.

They earlier petitioned the President to reconsider closing the 4.3-km. airport built at the former grasslands in Barangay Loakan in 1932.

Baguio Rep. Mauricio Domogan who signed in behalf of Lakas the merger declaration before President Arroyo earlier vowed political pressure on the President.

He had enlisted other Cordillera congressmen or urge Malacañang not to close
Loakan.

The national government earlier planned to close Loakan with the upgrading of the international airport in Poro Point, La Union.

The President told local officials if not for her reneging the closure, Texas Instrument within the Philippine Export Zone Authority in Loakan would be using the area for expansion of the US-based microchip manufacturing firm.

Domogan earlier insisted instead of the Loakan airport area, the abandoned mine sites of the Benguet Corp. in nearby Itogon town, in Benguet could have been used by PEZA for TI’s purposes.


Councilor wants ban on drinking, gambling in Baguio funeral parlors
By Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – Councilor Nicasio Aliping Jr. last week filed an ordinance prohibiting drinking of liquor and gambling activities within the premises of funeral parlors here. In his proposal, Aliping said drinking of liquor and gambling activities were rampant in wakes held at funeral homes.

Aliping said wakes are for mourning, grieving, sympathizing and condoling over the loss of loved ones but said intentions were supplanted when drinking sprees and gambling activities occur.

“As observed in funeral parlors, drinking of liquor and gambling are rampant and when drinking and gambling start, noise, rudeness and other violent reactions are triggered where trouble and conflicts arise,” Aliping said.

“In order to properly observe the wake practice and to mourn with the bereaved family members in a solemn, peaceful and orderly manner, drinking and gambling within the funeral parlor premises need to be prohibited,” he said. As proposed, these activities will be prohibited with notices and signages to be posted in funeral parlors.

Proposed penalty for violators is P500 or imprisonment of five days or both.

The measure will be discussed on first reading by the city council soon.


Samaritan delivers relief to poor laundrywoman
By Ramon Dacawi

BAGUIO CITY -- A Samaritan went out of his way Tuesday afternoon to look for Elena Solis, a 45-year old laundrywoman, while she was washing clothes in a church compound along Dangwa St., Guisad Valley here. “He handed P4,500 for my daughter’s treatment, but declined to give his name,” Solis, a mother of three girls, said, “He’s quite handsome.”

The handsome amount will be enough for the daily maintenance dose of Manellaine, Elena’s eldest. The 20-year old girl, an out-of- school who dreams of becoming a teacher, is suffering from lupus nephritis, an inflammation of the kidneys caused by a disease of the immune system.

Elena doesn’t know if the donor was the same Samaritan who had somebody call her two Wednesdays before, to pick up P4,000 from a government office here. She just knows she’s been lucky this month.

Manellaine is resting in their two-room rented house at 20 Pucay St., Central Guisad, recovering from the effects of that first four-hour chemotherapy done last July 7. She has five more quarterly treatment sessions, the second scheduled early October.
Somehow, her parents shouldered her initial six monthly chemo rounds since the illness was diagnosed in 2005. It left the family in deep debt. Her father Manuel earns P184 a day as a security guard, while her mother averages P300 a week - hardly enough for the basics and the house rental.

Like Elena, banker Rolly de Guzman can’t figure out who another Samaritan is, and admits he doesn’t even know if the kind soul is a he or a she. For months now, he or she has been sending Rolly, through a courier, amounts ranging from P6,000 to P8,000 for indigent patients. “Adda pay la gayam tao nga kasta,” Rolly said, awed by the regularity of the support.

Of the donor’s latest support of P8,000 , cancer survivor Linda (not her real name), a widow with nine children, used P4,100 for her check-up that cleared her breast cancer two years after she underwent surgery and chemotherapy.

A total of P1,503 paid for the maintenance dose of one-year old encephalitis patient Ruth Acyapas; P1,883.19 for kidney patient Filbert Almoza and P539 for the infant formula of one-year old Jason, whose mother can not breast-feed him as she’s into psychiatric medication.

“Adda pay la gayam tao nga kasta,” also exclaimed Pok Chan, a former concert-for-a-cause organizer. He was reading a few months back e-mails from an Ibaloi woman in the United States and from Baguio boy Freddie de Guzman in Canada.

The Ibaloi lady, who is raising her daughter, sent $250 last June, her latest in a series of remittances since April the other year. Converted by the drawee bank at P10,718.81, the support went to Almoza’s dialysis (P2,716.81), Jason’s milk and her mother’s psychiatric pills (P3,000), baby Ruith’s medication (P1,502), and post-cancer treatment tests for former day care worker Rose Ann Cordova of Outlook Drive (P3,500).

Bulk of de Guzman’s latest support of P19,000 was broken down as follows: P8,000 for victims of a bus accident that killed 12 persons last April, P5,000 for baby Irish Garcia who is afflicted with congenital heart ailment, P1,468 for Jason’s milk and food for his family, and P3,000 for Almoza’s dialysis.

A nurse who goes by the chat room name “Princess Lea” had allowed $500 (P22,000) of the remaining amount from her fund used for the heart surgery of 10-year old Santy John Tuyan to go to other patients.

The bulk went to the chemo of cancer patient Divina Amor Sabado (P13,000), transport of biliary atresia patient Kenneth Robeves (P2,000), post-chemo check-up of Cordova (P4,000), and infant formula for Jason (P1,000).

There’s another woman out there who, last February, wrote a check for P50,000 at a time she was having her own medical check-up. Partial use of the same was earlier reported. Those who would like to take the cue from last Tuesday’s unknown Samaritan may ring Elena’s cellphone number 09207034496.


Cordi DPWH head cries foul over ‘smear drive’
By Dexter A See

BAGUIO CITY – A top official of the Department of Public Works and Highways in the Cordillera cried foul over a series "of misinformation and baseless allegations" hurled against him by some groups.

Engineer Mariano Alquiza, regional DPWH director, said it was unfortunate there were people who wanted to discredit his good performance by circulating lies "to advance their personal and business interests that could prejudice the implementation of vital projects in the region."

Earlier, a group of alleged contractors requested DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. to transfer Alquiza to another region "because of alleged graft practices in the implementation of flagship projects of President Arroyo."

The letter sent to Ebdane was unsigned and obviously designed to create disunity and disrupt the momentum of the Cordillera DPWH office in the implementation of infrastructure projects in the region, he said.

The DPWH official added the unsigned petition was a direct attack on his person and credibility as a public servant.

He challenged anonymous petitioners to file charges against him at the proper forum.

Alquiza said he was willing to face his accusers and answer charges provided confrontation was done fairly and squarely.

Alquiza said he would file the charges against people who publicly accused him of graft and corruption, adding, they could not prove their allegations and continued to spread misinformation against him.


PMA entrance exams on Aug. 31
FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City – The Philippine Military Academy entrance examinations would be held Aug. 31in 30 exam centers nationwide.

Lt. Col. Joseph Villanueva, PMA assistant chief of staff for civil military operations bared this saying the “PMA is offering a well-rounded, free college education and stipend while studying in the academy. It will usher them into a progressive career as an officer in either the Philippine Army, Philippine Navy or Philippine Air Force and the rare privilege to serve the motherland.”

To qualify for admission to PMA Class 2013, applicants must be a natural born Filipino citizen, of good moral character, physically fit, single and never been married, at least 5’4” for males and 5’2” for females but not more than 6’4” tall, at least 17 years old but not a day older than 22 years on April 1, 2009, high school graduate with a general average of 85 percent and able to perform the minimum requirements for a physical fitness test.

Villanueva said walk-in applicants are accepted. Applicants should bring their Form 137, NSO birth certificate, and 2”x 2” ID picture with white background.

Applicants are advised to prepare for the examination covering Algebra, Geometry, Grammar, Composition, Reading Comprehension, and Verbal/Numerical Reasoning and Pattern Analysis.

Free application forms are available at AFP and PNP units around the country or online at http://www.pma.ph.