Hasty decisions put health at risk

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza

BAGUIO CITY -- My half Ilocano-half Ibaloy Uncle Alfonso Lorente Fianza celebrated life on August 06, passing on just eight days before his 87th birthday. His friends and relatives remember the former mayor of Itogon (1986-1992) and Benguet provincial board member (2007-2016) as a “happy go lucky guy”. But it is with that personality that his acquaintances are countless, proof of which is that he wins hands down, not needing to exert effort in political campaigns. Prior to his political life, he worked with the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

In all my encounters with my politician uncle, he had that ever-present smile and always had a story to tell. Indeed, he is a storyteller that he forgets to throw into his mouth the pulutan he has held with two fingers all the time and fails to swig that jigger of spirits he has gripped with the other hand for the longest time. I imagine, his cigarettes burn up to his fingers everytime.

Friends through this space extend their sincerest sympathies to the immediate family and relatives. He is survived by aunt Dominga, children namely; Benguet SP member Alexander and wife Patty, Napoleon and wife Filipina, Mila, Jennifer; and nine grandchildren. He has a special place in our hearts. Rest in peace Uncle Ponso.

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Since the late 70s, raiding marijuana plantations all over the Cordillera has been an extra-special activity by the police, army and anti-drug forces in coordination with helicopter pilots of the Philippine Air Force in Isabela or La Union.

The plantations were either wide or small, exposed or hidden, depending on whether the plants were wild or propagated by man. Marijuana plants come in varieties. Of course, the first hemp in the region was planted by man for its commercial value. The other plants known as “Don Juan” grew wild, did not have medicinal value and were not even good for “tea” preparations.

The word “marihuana” in its etymology suggests that it may have possibly originated from the Chinese word “ma ren hua” literally meaning “hemp seed flower”. Semitic root is also found in the Spanish word mejorana and in English marjoram (oregano), which could be related to the word marihuana. Combined, it was known in Mexico as “Chinese oregano”.

When ships were the means of transport thousands of years ago, 90% of their sails and rope were made from hemp, thus, the word “canvas”, which is Dutch for cannabis. In his diaries, Thomas Jefferson smuggled hemp seeds from China to France then to America.

George Washington, other founding fathers and Jefferson grew hemp, not for recreation or smoking which was the case in China, Mexico and Europe but for paper and textile production. It was then that taxes were collected and growing marijuana was banned because propagating the hemp competed with other products.

Competing industries noted the commercial value of marijuana as an industrial need, so fast forward to the present, anti-marijuana enforcers today put an equivalent price on the plants they eradicate whether these were propagated by man or they grew naturally wild so that no suspects are caught.

Man-made plantations are easy to detect as raiding teams find the plants neatly on a row interspersed with corn, beans, sweet peas and other climbing plants, or planted under a canopy of sayote.

In an interview with a suspect-farmer during one eradication campaign led by Cordillera police officials in the past, they were told pointblank that they (farmers) cultivated marijuana by intermingling them side by side with other plants because this was “cash crop” to them, nothing else.

That was why in later interviews, when asked about the amount of the seized marijuana, the police put more emphasis on the volume, believing that publishing the amount would only encourage more farmers to engage in marijuana cultivation that would stimulate marijuana trade. I think it is good to learn from the past.

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Finally, the plastic barrier between two family members who stay under one roof and riding in tandem on a motorcycle was scrapped by the IATF. Either the latter woke up from a bad dream, or swallowed their embarrassment, or realized a big mistake. After spending hard-earned money on an uncomfortable plastic barrier that was not studied carefully before it was enforced, husband and wife riders get a relief.

At least, lesser reports of motorcycle accidents is expected. Meanwhile, the barrier could still be useful as a shield in case the husband and wife are engaged in a shouting or throwing match. Hasty decisions do put health and life at risk.

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 According to regional director Cameron Odsey, the different offices of the Department of Agriculture in the Cordillera are free from COVID-19 infection. Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center (BAPTC) head Violeta Salda also confirmed that no positive cases of people in the facility were reported.

That means, farmers who travel and transport food products from the farm to the trading centers and markets in the lowlands, including Manila are safe. Movement is what the coronavirus wants. Travel makes our vegetable farmers vulnerable to the disease. But if they are healthy, then vegetable consumer-buyers need not worry. They too are safe.

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In a conversation with teachers of Tabora Elementary School, we saw some difficulties that they expect to encounter when it is time to distribute modules for blended learning.

It was announced that distribution of modules will be done with the help of barangay officials. Parents representing their sons and daughters enrolled in different levels will have to stay around the barangay premises and wait for the modules.

Since barangay halls can only accommodate a few, the parents will have to wait in line outside the barangay hall, under the hot sun or in the cold rain. With that scenario, COVID-19 transmission is likely to happen, certainly due to crowding and violations of health protocols.

The solution that the teachers saw is that distribution of modules should still be done in the school premises because the different grade levels have individual classrooms to use and the spacious school grounds can accommodate the crowd of waiting parents as compared to most barangay halls.

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Payout for the second tranche of the SAP is too slow because of unforeseeable reasons, as compared to the disbursement for the first tranche that was done in the barangay. I was told that the conduit-agent with whom DSWD had an agreement with, can only assist a batch of around 30 beneficiaries a day, in addition to their existing clients.

During the distribution of SAP 1, barangay officials and the DSWD workers accommodated around 100 beneficiaries because they were called to receive their financial assistance in batches of five, thereby avoiding crowding.

As for SAP 2 senior citizen-beneficiaries who are not allowed to go outside their houses, a representative will receive the financial aid. The problem here, according to those who already received their assistance, is that the conduit-agent has been asking beneficiaries to show two valid ID cards.

For a senior citizen representative, he has to bring with him four ID cards – two IDs for him and two more for the person he is representing. The process of verifying IDs alone takes time. To add to the burden, the beneficiaries will be crowding in front of the conduit-agent.

The reason to take away the disbursement of SAP 2 from the barangay and ask a private partner to do it is incomprehensible. Instead of making the distribution faster, it became slower and too risky. Why is that?