Ping or Bongbong in 2016

LETTERS  FROM THE AGNO

March FIanza

In 2016, should it be Noynoy, Mar, Binay, Ping, Miriam, Bongbong or Cayetano? These are names we have been hearing about who might just go for the position of President. As a personal random survey, I asked a mixture of 25 friends belonging to different ethnic groups living in Baguio and Benguet who they will vote for and why, in case the names mentioned above would be allowed to run for President, and these were their answers:

Noynoy – Two of them said they believe in his honesty and vision to clean corruption in government, and they will vote for him again in case he is allowed to run. But they doubt that he will be allowed by the opposition and other wannabes to run again.

Mar (Roxas) – Four respondents want him because they believe he can continue what Noynoy has started in terms of weeding out government corruption. I do believe so, I told them. But when asked if Mar can make it through, many of them said, he should strive harder to “feel for the masses”, meaning, he should be “more down to earth”. “Honest naman pero parang mataas at burgis” was one of the comments.

Binay – Only three said they want him to be President because he is an action man, referring to the way he managed Makati. I also asked two other guys (male and a female friend) why they will not vote for Binay and they both said, “he corrupt is dangerous” in case he becomes President, whatever that meant.

Ping (Lacson) – Five voted for him saying that Lacson has “determination, decisiveness and is not corrupt”. Three females I approached said he is “gwapo” and “hindi bading na gaya ni Aquino”.

           

Miriam – Only one of the respondents said she will vote for her because she sees her as a straightforward legislator. The others said although she is honest as seen through the manner she speaks, the country needs a President who has “actions not words of hatred”.  

Bongbong (Marcos) – Five voters said they want him because he is an Ilocano and believe that he has the money to run his election campaign. The other respondents commented that although Bongbong still has his father’s campaign supporters intact, they are quite wary that he might cover up for the mistakes of his late father Ferdinand.

           

When asked about Alan Peter Cayetano, one of them said he has not read about the senator talking about running for President.

           

With that simple, raw and casual survey, it turned out that it is a toss between Bongbong and Ping. This is only as far as people in Baguio and Benguet are concerned. It does not even represent the majority in the area.  

Whatever, for most Igorots whether Ping or Bongbong or Mar or Binay makes it doesn’t matter. Things have not changed much as living standards have not improved for the common Pinoy, except that the politicians and their collaborators are the ones who are becoming richer everyday. What is important is that there is food on the table three times a day, but that is not.

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Pocket miners are active on Mt. Santo Tomas. Last week, I got a message from Danny Milo, an old friend and a distant relative about how Mt. Santo Tomas has been the subject of abuse by all kinds of commercial mining and agriculture activities through the years. In his letter, he accused some government officials at the Benguet Capitol as “liar and hypocrite”. Many years ago, his family had already called the attention of the DENR regarding the illegal activities in their ancestral property that is still within the bounds of Mt. Santo Tomas. As a consequence of the complaint, the DENR and MGB on behalf of his family, issued a stoppage order for the illegal activities. I understand, this was forwarded to officials of Benguet at the Capitol, and this was where the order stopped.

The illegal activities within the forest reservation are small-scale mining, squatting and cutting of Pine trees that are used for timbering the mine tunnels. The letter said, all these have been ongoing for many years but Tuba and the concerned provincial officials have not acted on them. As of last month, the latest census of illegal miners in the vicinity has reached 140 plus and counting. If this is so then what Baguio and lowland residents get into their body system is Mercury poisoning. Remember, Mt. Santo Tomas supplies water for Tuba, Baguio and those living along Kennon Road and Pangasinan whose sustenance depend upon the Bued River that is below Mt. Santo Tomas.

Quoting part of his letter, Danny said, “… members of the provincial monitoring board (maybe referring to the provincial mining board?) and namely …. And Engr….., who is the President of the Small Scale Mining Assoc., do not like to sign/implement the Stoppage Order issued by the DENR and MGB. For reasons we all know – profit loss for them. We are at a loss as the mountain will come down soon. We went thru due process for long, sacrificing lives tooth for tooth to save the mountain, but it looks like politics and greed has overtaken everything, including the environment.”  

Aside from the recent illegal excavation and wanton bulldozing of trees atop the forest reservation, what is more shameless that I learned from Danny is that the perpetrators are not people indigenous to the place, but migrants from a province north of Benguet. True, outsiders are lording over Benguet’s natural resources because officials whom we have elected to protect us are lax or not responding accordingly, not that they are unaware of what is going on but because they benefit from being so.

Relatively, another letter was sent by multi-awarded stone carver Gilbert Gano, a resident along Kennon Road. Reacting to the proposed garbage dumpsite project of Baguio that might soon rise at Apugan below Mt. Santo Tomas, he said, “it is not only residents around Santo Tomas who are up against the dumpsite but also residents along Bued River, Kennon Road and down to Pangasinan, as their source of drinking water will be contaminated.

This is more harmful than cutting trees because in 10 years trees can grow back, but 100 years is not enough for water contamination to disappear. Garbage contamination of water sources is unhealthiest as animal and plant life along Kennon will die.” I agree 101 per cent.