Baguio council twits NEA on Beneco/ Letter to NCIP Commissioner Cayat

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

BAGUIO CITY -- It is a welcome development that the Baguio City Council chaired by Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan showed some government characters from Imperial Manila that it is not good to run roughshod over institutions like the Benguet Electric Cooperative. The city council Monday grilled representatives of the National Electrification Administration why the government agency’s board of administrators endorsed only Anna Marie Rafael Banaag, Assistant Secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office as Beneco general manager to the electric cooperative’s board of directors in violation of its rules.
    There were two applicants to the position. One of them was engineer Melchor Licoben and Banaag. NEA representatives were asked: Why did the NEA endorse only Banaag when Licoben was also qualified for the position, being the OIC GM of the Beneco?       
    The two NEA representatives were flustered, saying they will refer the matter to their legal department which has yet to come up with a stand on the matter.

This, considering the NEA allegedly violated its rules on appointment of general managers of electric cooperatives like Beneco on qualifications, expertise and experience. (Please read banner story in page 1 for more details).

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This controversial issue is are now one of favorite topics in Baguio watering holes and restaurants. I met councilor Vladimir Cayabas later at Luisa's Resto, the favorite media hangout of Baguio newsmen. He said the city council was anticipating how the NEA would respond to their resolution seeking to clarify how GMs of electric cooperatives like Beneco are endorsed and appointed.

The NEA may now be in a quandary on how to answer the city council resolution considering “blatant and illegal acts” have reportedly been done by  the NEA in endorsing the Asec as Beneco GM as aired by all electric cooperatives nationwide who endorsed Licoben as GM.

All local government units of Baguio and Benguet have also endorsed Licoben as Beneco GM considering his qualification and experience.

Licoben was earlier appointed by the Beneco BOD.

 Why some people beside the filthy Pasig River are still pushing for the Asec as Beneco GM, even if this is allegedly a violation of rules is actually a mystery which everybody knows.         

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(Hereunder is a letter of an “Igorot” to Commissioner Gaspar Cayat, for Ilocos and Cordillera of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples):

I watched your video, which had been circulating in social media, not just once.  I wonder why you said what you said.  You are either so ignorant about the people you are representing or you are too eager to please some red-tagging big bosses to the point that you sacrifice the truth about your people.

Igorot means people from the mountain.  The prefix “i”means “people from” which today remains very common to many indigenous peoples in the Cordillera region.  “Gorot”  is from an archaic Filipino term “golod,” which means mountain or mountain range. 

Dr. William Henry Scott, author of “The Discovery of the Igorots: Spanish contacts with the Pagans of Northern Luzon,” and who did other scholarly works on the Igorot credited Dr. Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, an early 20th Philippine historian for the etymology. 

 It was no misnomer that we, mountain peoples of the Cordillera region, were called Igorots by our lowland brothers as early as the pre-Spanish period. Today, it is a reality that some do not like to be called Igorot either because of the history of misinformation and disinformation or simply because they do not know they are Igorot.  For the latter, many of them have high regard to the Igorot who they think are only those from Benguet and Mountain Province.

 Yes, the Spaniards, the colonizing Spaniards started the misinformation/disinformation about us Igorots by labelling us as savages, ignorant, pagans, barbaric or wild. 

Up to now, these labels got stuck in the subconscious of many Filipinos including Cordillerans, which seems to include you.  

I would understand the ignorance of an ordinary Filipino or Cordilleran about us Igorots and I would patiently explain its etymology and history.  Unfortunately, I cannot fathom one of your stature, an NCIP Commissioner and a former Chairperson of the Cordillera Executive Board (CEB) to be saying those words.

These labels are concrete examples of historical injustice.  Historical injustice is the reason why there is IPRA and NCIP or Cordillera autonomy for your former CEB.    

What happened Mr. Commissioner?  You seem not to know the raison d'etre of the offices you had been holding and is currently holding?

For one thing you are correct in saying that Igorot is not in the list of NCIP’s indigenous peoples.  Igorot is the generic term for all the different indigenous peoples in the Cordillera including those who think they should not be called Igorot. 

Funny how you seem to suggest that those not in your list are not legitimate IPs.  If we take a closer look into your list, you might be surprised that a lot of them needs clarifying and debating.  Take Applay for example.  They were once called Kankana-ey. What made them Applay?  I have the feeling even NCIP personnel are confused if your list should be called IP group, tribe, ethnolinguistic group or indigenous cultural communities.  I do not blame them. What I am saying is do not be too cocky about your list.

I wish the IP groups in the Cordillera would prefer to have only one name.  That would be a sure indicator of a pan-Cordillera consciousness, a necessity for Cordillera autonomy. 

I would be kinder by not dropping the inefficiency tag of the body you used to head which was tasked to prepare the region towards autonomy. 

I know the Cordillera needs uniting.  They appear to think not as one region but as Kalinga, Benguet, Ifugao, etc.  This however is broader than what you seem to propose.  That we think as Kalanguya, Ibaloi, Tuwali, Iwak, etc.

We need a broader consciousness to keep as afloat as a region of indigenous peoples.  There is nothing wrong about pride of one’s specific group but we should not undermine a name that puts us all together.

 May we, the Cordillerans, be called Igorots.  Dr. Scott said:  We, will either be defined by our highland pride or the prejudice that the colonizers created against us.  Thank you.

Very truly yours,

Peter Wales 

An Igorot