Kalinga road accidents up; CCTVs mulled

By Peter A. Balocnit

TABUK CITY, Kalinga -- Alarmed with the high number of vehicular traffic accidents the past  eight  months of this year, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan is mulling to  include in the 2014 provincial budget funds for installation of electronic gadgets along roads to monitor traffic violations.

SP member Gelacio Bongngat, chairman on transportation and communication committee, considered the recommendation of the Kalinga Police Provincial Office for installation of closed circuit (CCTV) cameras along provincial roads saying “It’s high time to go hi-tech in saving lives and properties”.

The KPPO during the recent SP committee hearing recommended  the installation of CCTV cameras along thoroughfares to  help monitor traffic violations  that may help prevent occurrence of vehicular traffic accidents.

The police also pushed  for the enactment of local ordinances  regulating  vehicles speed limits and use of lanes, and the tasking of barangay tanods to help enforce traffic rules and regulations.

Bongngat told participants during the committee hearing they would enact an ordinance limiting the speed limit of vehicles plying provincial roads and to assign a separate lane for agriculture machineries like “kuliglig” and bicycles.

Supt. Reynaldo Pasiwen, Tabuk city police chief, had  reported 126 vehicular traffic accidents (VTAs) from January to August this year with  May-July registering  the highest number of VTAs.

The report also noted VTAs resulting to physical injuries as highest with 74 victims.

Among traffic management jurisdictions, Tabuk also has the  highest with 91 cases followed by Rizal with 18 and 11 in

Pinukpuk.

Most of such accidents happened from May to July during the opening of classes from 6 to 5 a.m. when  students rush to school and when they are dismissed from 4 to 5 p.m. 

During the meeting, police were tasked to lead campaign for 24-hour safe traffic.

Board members Camilo Lammawin Jr. and Macoy Diasen also urged police to maintain checkpoints to deter road accidents but appealed that such should be friendly before the eyes of the public and visitors.

Department of Public Works and Highways district engineer Alexander Castaneda said adequate signs were installed in highways and volunteered to install street lights on national roads within the city.

The Department of Interior and Local Government will  tap barangay tanods in  enforcement of traffic rules.

It will also spearhead information, education, communication (IEC) drives in colleges regarding road safety and traffic rules and regulations.

The committee will also coordinate with the Commission on Higher Education  to require tertiary schools for stricter policies on students using motor vehicles going to school.

On the other hand, Jenilyn Angog, Land Transportation Office chief, was  asked by the committee to work with the Tabuk City government to require motor companies to process registration of vehicles in the province for close monitoring and to help the city in  revenue generation.

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COMMUNITY BILLBOARD

Balili River website launched

BAGUIO CITY  -  In celebration of the Balili River Day  Sept. 16, the Balili River System Revitalization Coalition (BRSRC) website was officially launched with the theme “Save the Balili River, Count me in,” at the University of the Cordilleras auditorium.

The project aims to design website for the BRSRC as a medium of information dissemination, to develop a web based Balili River monitoring system and to involve the community in the conservation of the Balili River through short messaging system (SMS) and web technology.

The UC developed the BRSRC website featuring its profile, projects and activities as well as researches, news and updates about Balili River. 

The contents of the Balili water quality monitoring system will show the water quality data and statistics from the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO) and the Environmental Management Bureau-Department of Environment and Natural Resources (EMB-DENR). 

It also shows the google satellite imagery with sampling points.  The community will have the opportunity to express and react through the BRSRC Forum by the SMS.

Benguet State University College of Arts and Sciences Dean Aurea Marie Sandoval presented the BRSRC background and the key result areas. 

The Balili River as water quality management area (WQMA) and its rehabilitation activities were also presented in the said launching.

In celebration of the Balili River Day, a simultaneous clean up drive by the local government units of the city, La Trinidad and Sablan.  --JhoArranz

Baguio therapy sessions for children set Oct 6-7 

A Child's DREAM, Baguio's 1st therapy center for children with special needs, invites all to join "A Fair To Remember" on Oct. 6  and 7 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Free evaluations, family, occupation, physical, speech and special education  therapy sessions  will be held.

Call 074-446-6121 to register. limited slots onl. Free kindermusik, dance, story telling, financial wellness, nutritional counseling will also be held.

Organic food and Human Nature products will also be up sale in booths at Baguio Pines City Lions Club, Gov. Pack Road. Visit www.achildsdream.ph or email info@achildsdream.ph 

NCIP education fund benefits 293 students in Mt. Province

BONTOC, Mountain Province –  Two hundred ninety three students from the province  are beneficiaries of the Education Assistance Program of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples. 

According to Florence Fadchar of  the NCIP provincial office here, effective first semester of school year 2013-2014, each of these student- beneficiaries who are now in second year to fourth year college, receives a financial assistance of P5,000 per semester.

Fadchar said for the past years, the NCIP and the Office of the Congressman of Mountain Province have been jointly implementing their  education assistance program  wherein each of the student beneficiaries have been receiving a financial assistance of P2,500

But effective this first semester, Rep. Maximo B. Dalog  implemented  his education assistance program through  the Commission on Higher Education.

Meanwhile, staff of the NCIP provincial office have  conducted information, education campaign (IEC) regarding the new guidelines of the agency’s education assistance program which will be implemented effective school year 2014-2015 for incoming first year college students.

Fadchar said the IEC was conducted among high school students particularly in far flung barangays to give them the chance to avail of the agency’s education assistance program.

She said the new guidelines of the NCIP education assistance program requires an aptitude examination to interested fourth year high school students which will be conducted this November; third year average rating shall be 80 percent and above; and parents’ income shall not be more than P150,000.00.

Students who will qualify under this program are required to enroll in any of the state colleges or universities.

Preferred courses for student beneficiaries to enroll include Social Science, Agriculture, Forestry, Economics, Community Development, Education, Environment Sciences, Entrepreneurship, Anthropology, Foreign Service and Geology.

Fadchar said each student beneficiary shall be receiving a financial assistance of P10,000.00 per semester but has to maintain an average rating of 80 percent and above every end of semester. – Juliet Saley

Livelihood program benefits 397 MP folks

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- The livelihood program of the provincial government  here has benefited 397 individuals as of August 29  said Dominga Ortiz of the Provincial Cooperative Office.

The provincial livelihood program is a project of Gov. Leonard G. Mayaen to help jobless individuals in the province who want to start livelihood projects with financial assistance.

The provincial government has allotted P2.5 million in 2011 which was loaned out to some 29 self-help groups and associations or a total of 303 individuals.

Ortiz said the amount was used to finance exclusively approved livelihood activities they have applied for.

Most of the beneficiaries who availed of the program in 2011 have paid their loans and the total amount of P650,000.00 from the collections were also loaned out last year to some 23 groups and associations or a total of 73 individuals, Ortiz said.

This year, as of August 29, the amount of P710,000.00 was also loaned out to some 11 individuals. There are also 17 individuals who filed their application and are on waiting list since collections were already loaned out,  she added.

Ortiz said the loan is payable together with its annual interest of five percent for a period of one year from the date of release.

Payment of loan starts on the seventh month since the beneficiaries are given six months to roll the money they have loaned. A surcharge of one percent is  charged on the monthly amortization due in case of failure to pay the amortization on time.

Ortiz said to ensure the effective implementation of the program, applicants are required to have two co-makers who are permanent employees of the provincial government.

A memorandum of agreement  is  entered into by and between the provincial government represented by the provincial governor, applicant and his/her co-makers.

Under the MOA, the co-makers agree to be the guarantor of the applicant for the payment of the loan and further agree that the obligation shall be deducted from their salaries from the default of payment of the loan until the obligation shall have been fully paid. – Juliet Saley

Abra leaders push for plastic-free environment              

BANGUED, Abra -- The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Abra recently  passed a proposed ordinance regulating the use of plastic bags and styrofoams as the province’s contribution to the global action to promote a plastic-free environment.

                

The proposed ordinance authored by SP Member Kathleen Maria A. Balbin prohibits use of plastic bags on dry goods and regulates  its utilization on wet goods.

It prohibits use of styrofoam in the province to minimize  use of environmental hazard materials.

Said measure  was presented in a recent public hearing. 

In Abra, the use of plastic bags and styrofoam is rampant as well as cases of improper waste disposal.

During rainy season, these solid and non-biodegradable materials which are not properly disposed cause clogging of canals, creeks and other waterways. This is one of the main causes of flash flood in the province  especially in some areas of Bangued, the provincial capital.

Lagawe trike group pushes P1 fare hike

LAGAWE, Ifugao--  The  tricycle association in this capital town  is pushing a P1 fare  increase in selected parts of   the municipality.

The Lagawe Tricycle Operators and Drivers Association (LATADO) passed a resolution to the Sangguniang Bayan for approval fare increase.

According to LATODA president Tejano Balinon,  requested fare hike  is due to the increasing price of gasoline and spare parts of motorcycle that gravely affected the economic condition of the more than 800 members of the association.

He said the P10 minimum fare in the poblacion will not be affected  by  said fare increase but only some selected parts of the four urban barangays of the municipality. -- Marcelo Lihgawon

4 govs, 3 private sector reps nominated  to top RDC post

BAGUIO CITY-- Four provincial governors and three private sector representatives were nominated as incoming Cordillera Regional Development Council chairman here last week.

Final list of nominees included former RDC chair Kalinga Gov. Jocel Baac, Apayao Gov. Elias Bulut, Abra Gov. EustaquioBersamin and Ifugao Gov.  Denis Habawel from the government sector.

Private sector representatives were also nominated:   Voltaire Acosta of the Development Administration committee, John Bugaling of the agriculture committee and MarietaParagas of the Social Development Committee.

The list of nominees will be submitted by the RDC, through its acting chairman, National Economic Development Authority-Cordillera Director Milagros Rimando, to the Secretary of Socio-Economic Planning, who shall endorse it to the President of the Philippines.

President Benigno S. Aquino III shall then choose from among the nominees the region’s RDC chairman and co-chairman who shall serve for three years. -- Redjie Melvic Cawis

Infra tops typhoon Labuyo damage report in Benguet

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- Infrastructure incurred the most damage  due to typhoon Labuyo aggravated by the continuous monsoon rains that battered  the province and other Northern Luzon areas  during the second week of August,  reports of the provincial government showed.

Semi-final damage reports of the provincial government showed  that of total damage cost  of P135,397,122.54 in the province, infrastructure damage amounted to P100,685,000 while the damages in the agriculture sector totaled P34,712,122.54.

Road network damages amounted to P54.02M while damages to flood control structures amounted to 42M. The rest covering waterworks and irrigation systems including residential houses totaled P4.665M worth damages.

In agriculture, high value crops recorded the highest damage with a total of P31.5M while agri-infra such as damage to greenhouses and warehouses, among others amounted to P2.77M.

Livestock and aquaculture damages totaled P441,440.00.

For towns, Buguias had the most damages accruing to a total of P55.089M. Affected most were flood control structures amounting to P20M followed by damages in high value crops amounting to P15.554M then road networks worth P15.415M.  -- Susan Aro

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Freedom of information

EDITORIAL

At a time when the people, are losing faith in top elected and executive officials of this country because of scams and scandals involving public funds like the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), officials who profess to serve the country with “tuwid na daan” should now act with speed and sincerity in making sure that an honest-to-goodness Freedom of Information bill would be ratified.  

              

 It is also high time that the President concretely expresses his support for this piece of legislation that will institutionalize transparency and accountability in government.

The sponsorship of the People’s Freedom of Information Bill ahead of its original schedule in the Senate, as propounded by Sen. Grace Poe, is most welcome. Indeed, the right of the people to access to information should be taken seriously by senators, congressmen and other top officials.

                

Proponents, to include the FOI Youth Initiative, are saying the House of Representatives should take their cue from their counterparts in the handling of the FOI bill if they are serious in transforming government into an institution that is transparent and trustworthy.

The Lower House, they said, should guarantee that the measure will be considered the soonest possible time by the committee on public information headed by Rep. Jorge Almonte.

It may be asking for the moon, but then the country’s top elected officials may yet be made to ratify the FOI bill considering they would be opening themselves and other branches of government like executive and judiciary to scrutiny on how they use their PDAF and other public funds.   

Those in government who profess to the ideals of “tuwid na daan” should now show the way in making government transparent in how it uses public funds. The public is watching and basing from surveys, they want a Freedom of Information Law now to check excesses of government and make it more responsive to the needs of the people.

               

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Squatters at BIBAK lot

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

BAGUIO CITY – For so long, squatters in Baguio have been perceived as being tolerated by city officials. Lately, they have been called “informal settlers”-- to ease the stigma of the original tag.

Now observers are watching with keen interest considering that officials made pronouncements that squatters, like those who have encroached on roads would be eased out.

                

One particular issue is the so-called BIBAK (Benguet-Ifugao-Bontoc-Apayao-Kalinga) lot along Harrison Road, which officials said, would be rid of squatters.

A report by Aileen P. Refuerzo of city hall’s press information office said the city government is working out the demolition of some 55 illegal structures at the government property referred to as BIBAK lot.           

Mayor Mauricio Domogan said the city anti-squatting committee is preparing a resolution for issuance of demolition orders for dismantling of these structures based on investigation report of the city building and architecture office and public order and safety division.

            

The mayor said even the Regional Development Council expressed support to the city government’s plans to clear the lot of squatters.The mayor said the occupants are not entitled to relocation privilege as they occupied the lot beyond the March 1992 cut-off period.

            

Last year, the city council served intention for the city to acquire ownership of the BIBAK lot and to apply for the acquisition of the land for public needs after confirming that the lot which remains a government property cannot be transferred to the Centralized BIBAK Association being a private entity.

            

Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources Cordillera representative Edgar Flor then said the lot was plotted in the name of the Centralized Bibak Association but was not issued a proclamation as the national government cannot name it to the said association being a private organization.

            

The said lot used to house the dormitory for students from the Cordillera region which was previously managed by the Centralized BIBAK Association.

            

Two buildings were said to have been constructed on said lot in the early 1960’s and were managed by the BIBAK Association as a dormitory for students from the Cordilleras.

            

The management of the buildings were turned over to the then Ministry of Human Settlements-National Housing Authority.

In 1983, the city engineer issued a demolition order to pave the way for the construction of student housing facilities by the said agencies but the planned demolition was aborted with the abolition of the MHS-NHA.

Part of the lot was also reportedly allotted in the ‘80s as site where local media could set up an office. But then, squatters built structures over the lot and nothing happened with nary a complaint from members of the Fourth Estate.  

In 1990, the Cordillera Executive Board caused the construction of the BIBAK multi-purpose building on the site of the former dormitory but there was no record of a building permit for said structure.

            

In November of same year, the CEB turned over the building to the Office of the National Cultural Communities but the Cordillera Regional Assembly continued to occupy the facility.

            

In 2006, former mayor BraulioYaranon ordered the demolition of a structure being built on the lot based on the complaint of then BIBAK Students Dormitory Inc. president Constancio Manglan.

            

On the same year, the municipal council of Tuba town in Benguet passed a resolution inquiring from the DENR Land Management Bureau on the status of said dormitory site with the hope of reviving the project to help Igorot students facing hardship in renting boarding houses.

                

This maybe putting the cart ahead of the horse considering the illegal structures at the BIBAK lot haven’t been demolished yet, but a public hearing on what to do with the lot should be held.

                

For sure, a lot of ideas would spring out during the hearing, and of course, there would be heated arguments. But such is the essence of democracy.

Now observers are saying Domoganmaybe contemplating retirement as he is starting to show signs of being resolute in his programs like ridding roads of illegal vendors and of course – squatters.    

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Scourge of our times

PERRYSCOPE
By Perry Diaz

Lately, the people have been asking, “What’s going on with our country?”   First, the Ballsy Aquino-Cruz alleged extortion followed by the Bureau of Customs smuggling scandal.  Then the pork barrel scandal erupted.  Then, on September 9, 2013, a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) under Nur Misuari attacked Zamboanga City and took more than 300 hostages.  That’s too much for P-Noy to take. 

Four days later, P-Noy took his cue from the saying, “If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”  He then flew to Zamboanga, far from the madding crowd that has been pestering him for not giving up his presidential pork barrel.  

***

Holed up in an undisclosed “command post,” he stayed out of public view and avoided the media.  On September 21, after eight days of isolation, he emerged from his hideout and held a press conference at the Zamboanga Airport.  He told the media that he had to go to Zamboanga because as the commander-in-chief, command responsibility rests in him. He said that he plans to stay there until the crisis was over.   But, criticized for micro-managing the military operation, he flew 

back to Manila the following day. 

t’s interesting to note that during P-Noy’s extended stay in Zamboanga, reporters asked Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda during a press briefing in Malacañang why P-Noy had not made any statement on other national issues, Lacierda said that the President had no access to Manila newspapers. “You know, the problem in Zamboanga is that no planes are flying there. They’re not getting news there. No newspapers are being flown there,” he told the reporters.  Whoa! 

Since when did the President not able to access the news when he was away?  He has access to the Internet, has he not?  And can’t Lacierda or his deputy Abigail Valte or the two other Cabinet-level “communications” secretaries – Ricky Carandang and Sonny Coloma -- update P-Noy with what’s happening in Manila?  

They’re just a phone call away, aren’t they?  And, oh! how about the online news?  They’re accessible at the tip of P-Noy’s fingers, aren’t they?  And if there is no electricity in the city, P-Noy should be able to get a generator.  Simply put, there is no excuse for failure to communicate. 

***

Foremost among the national issues is P-Noy’s stand on the filing of plunder and malversation charges against 38 individuals, which include Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.  And then there are the pressing issues of the postponement of the SangguniangKabataan (SK) elections and the prioritizing of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill as “urgent.”  With these issues lingering in limbo, it makes one feel that the whole country is at a standstill. 

But granted that Lacierda was telling the truth that nobody outside Zamboanga City could reach P-Noy; then it would be the same the other way around: P-Noy wouldn’t be able to reach anybody in Manila, particularly his boys in Malacañang.  

P-Noy’s return to Manila provided a sigh of relief to his boys in Malacañang.  

Meanwhile, it was reported that six of the 35 individuals charged with plunder on the Bureau of Immigration’s “lookout list” have left the country!  And, listen to this: Secretary of Justice Leila de Lima said that the government has practically “no

recourse” against the six. 

With more and more lawmakers being investigated for plunder and malversation, the list could grow.  And what would happen then?  Could it be that the country is heading towards an anarchic order?  Heaven forbid!  Or, is another “people power” revolution in the offing?  Indeed, the specter of another “people power” revolution sends shivers down the spine of every lawmaker… and the President, too. 

***

This brings to mind P-Noy’s controversial P1.3-trillion presidential pork barrel. Yes, we’re talking trillions here!  That’s 1,300 billion!  Compare that to the P25 billion allocated to all the lawmakers in 2013, that’s like comparing a mouse to an elephant!  And what is really sad is that P-Noy may have planted, wittingly or unwittingly, the seeds of corruption by substantially increasing the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations or pork barrel of the lawmakers beginning in 2011.  

In my article, “P-Noy chops pork, keeps the bacon” (August 26, 2013), I wrote: “P-Noy should stop blaming Gloria for all his problems. While it may be true that the pork barrel scam ran by Janet Lim-Napoles started during Gloria’s time, it did not end when P-Noy ascended to the presidency. In fact, the COA report shows that the pork barrel scam increased in volume and more lawmakers – 12 senators and 180 congressmen – were involved in raiding the PDAF funds and splitting the funds 70-30 with the lawmakers getting the lion’s share.

“But blaming Gloria is not going to work this time around. Department of Budget and Management (DBM) records show that in 2010, Gloria’s last budget year, PDAF was P6.9 billion. The following year, with P-Noy having full control of the budget, he could have pared down the PDAF allocations. But instead, PDAF allocations took a quantum leap. In 2011, PDAF more than tripled from 2010’s P6.9 billion to P22.3 billion! In 2012, it was increased to P24.89 billion. It was for the same amount in 2013. But in 2014, PDAF will increase to a record P27 billion!”

***

But due to the heat created by the pork barrel scandal, lawmakers from both chambers of Congress decided to forego their PDAF allocations in favor of earmarking these allocations directly to government departments needing them.  In other words, they couldn’t dip their dirty hands into the cookie jar anymore.  It remains to be seen, though, if this “reform” would work.  The greedy always find ways to beat the system.

But how about P-Noy’s P1.3-trillion pork?  That’s a lot of moolah under his absolute control.  In essence, he can move or redirect all or part of these lump sum allocations to projects of his choice and Congress couldn’t do anything about it.  In other words, Congress no longer has the “power of the purse.”  P-Noy usurped it. 

It comes as no surprise then that the national uproar over the humongous presidential pork barrel is growing fast and could reach critical mass any time soon. But so far, P-Noy is resisting calls for him to let go of his pork.  But how long can he hold on?

Ultimately, P-Noy has to deal with the scourge of our times: war in Mindanao and plunder in the government.  That’s the price of leadership.  It’s called command responsibility. (PerryDiaz@gmail.com)

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Pacifying this whimpering watershed cradle

BENCHWARMER

Ramon S. Dacawi 

Six years back, we heard that Region 1 was worried over the dwindling river flow from these Cordillera uplands that is the life-blood of its lowland agriculture economy. Region 1 said so in a message from its Regional Development Council (RDC), the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to their counterparts up here in the boondocks. 

The Region 1 bodies reiterated the obvious: Less water flow, less food production. What was missing was the less obvious, a fact ignored for generations: Watershed preservation is a collaborative task, given the truth that everybody, whether you’re up here or down there, lives in a watershed..

For so long, the Cordillera has been at the receiving end of neglect. In a "user-friendly" view of national development, the resource base is ignored until it fails to produce and deliver. Or when it refuses to, as in the case of upland tribal villages now opposing new, "responsible" gold mining explorations and operations because previous extractions had them left holding the empty bag in an environment dug up and left to waste.  Or when the lowlands get flooded, something the plains easily perceive to have been triggered by deforestation of the watersheds and siltation from the dams or mines up here.

It's more than spilt milk that the Cordillera lost and sacrificed through the extraction of its gold and the damming of its water resources - all in the name of national development. Yet we're told the whimpering, the shouting in our remaining wilderness, is over. We're told it's time to move on, for the sins of neglect will no longer be repeated -- again. It’s no longer simply “gold mining”, kiddo; its now “responsible mining”, as if the qualifier works like a magic wand.

With its message, Region 1 (together with Regions 2 and 3, which also benefit from the law of gravity) can help us square the account of national development. Perhaps at the roundtable to discuss their worry over dwindling water, we seek a quid pro quo.They can help us address the following suggested resolutions to our national development planners and decision-makers in imperial Metro Manila: 

1.Urging the Department of Energy (DOE) to redefine "host community" under the implementing rules of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), from one based on dam location to one anchored on the river-basin concept. 

You see, for every kwh produced and sold from the operation of the San Roque Dam in Pangasinan, one centavo is set aside for livelihood and other development projects for the "host community", to include watershed conservation and protection. 

While Benguet is where San Roque's watersheds are, the province can not  avail of the fund as it does not fall within that myopic definition of a "host community" provided for by the EPIRA’s Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). 

The term is limited to where the dam is located, in this case in San Nicolas and San Manuel in Pangasinan. Pangasinan is qualified to a share as host province, so is Region 1 as host region. One centavo may mean nothing, except when equated to the fact that San Roque has a 340-megawatt capacity. 

We pointed this injustice then Energy Secretary Vincent Perez came up for a hearing on the IRAA of the EPIRA. He said the observation was “most insightful” and assured it would be considered. Not so. When the IRR was released, it adopted the old definition.  

2. Urging the Office of the President, the Congress, the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Environment and Natural Resources, the National Power Corp., the NIA and other national line agencies supposed to be concerned, to come up with incentive policies for the keepers of the watersheds up here. 

For generations, the integrity of the Cordillera watersheds was maintained not because of state policy but through indigenous wisdom exemplified by the "tayan" of Mt. Province, the "lapat" of the Tingguians and the "muyong" or "pinugo" of Ifugao. 

In fact, state laws were passed and are still in effect that restrict and constrict the indigenous peoples' access to the land and forest resources that they have conserved for centuries for their -- and the lowlands' -- survival. 

The law did not allow them to have titles to their lands that are over 18 degrees in slope. It bans them from cutting trees situated 1,000 meters above sea level and over. It was only lately that government began recognizing  their watershed preservation practices that are the original models of community-based resource management. 

The purpose of a watershed is to slow down the flow of water to the river and to the sea, so that it will seep underground to recharge the natural water table. That's what the rice terraces do -- slow down the water flow. This system made the terraces monuments to "sustainable development", long before world leaders started mouthing that term in the 1992 World Summit in Rio de Janeiro. 

3. Urging the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Congress to include the preservation of the Cordillera mossy forests in the country's Forest Management Plan, that is, if such plan exists and has been ratified. 

Our mossy forests up here serve as the water tanks and towers of the river systems that are dammed for electricity of the urban centers and for irrigation of the lowland farms. 

They act like a sponge, harvesting and absorbing mist and rain, releasing water gradually to form the rivulets, creeks and springs that form the rivers that flow into the dams, and then piped and channeled to irrigate the lowland rice lands. While their damp condition insulates the mossy forests from heat, their natural elevation immediately above or beside the resinous and easily combustible pine stands makes them also vulnerable to fires. 

We are losing these unique and vital forests because conservation is focused on the lower forests of these islands. We do not even have a national forest fire management plan, and the Bureau of Fire Protection, whose concentration and expertise are on structural fires, is also given jurisdiction over forest and brush fires. . 

4. Urging the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) and the NIA to review and fine-tune equitably policies governing access to and harnessing of water resources. 

It took too long for the government to transfer the NWRB from the infrastructure-based Department of Public Works and Highways to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.  

We understand the NWRB had awarded water rights over rivers up here to electric power developers and speculators from the outside without the knowledge and consent of indigenous villagers who regard water as a common resource. 

Before he quit to become mayor of Bauko, Mt. Province,  then NIA regional director Abe Akilit saw the wisdom of including provisions for sustainability of water sources in the agency’s irrigation development plans. Yet we wonder how many irrigation projects in the past went to waste because of their limit to infrastructure -- dam, inlet and outlet --, without ever taking into account the protection of the watersheds that fed them and had since dried up. 

5. Urging the DOE and other (supposed to be) concerned agencies to share electric power to all the villages up here in the Cordillera for the region’s role as renewable energy source and resource. . 

The two dams built in Benguet  in the 50s -- the Binga and Ambuclao – were recently  on their death throes (before Ambuclao was rehabilitated), yet some of our villages within spitting distance of these power generators have yet to be energized. Some of the people displaced by their construction remain uprooted, like pine that can't survive in lowland relocation sites. 

Perhaps the practical thing for the Cordillera RDC and NEDA to do is to help the local government units seek grants for the building of mini-hydros to be owned by these provinces,, towns and barangays. Given the wealth of the Cordillera as a gold mine in hydropower, hydro plants continue to be built, yet these are operated and owned in perpetuity by investors.

There’s wisdom in limiting their operation and turning these facilities to the host communities after the investors have recouped their investments and made profits, as in a build-operate-transfer scheme. Personally, I wonder if new host communities took the developers’ promise hook, line and sinker and agreed to investors’ ownership in perpetuity.

Residents of Kapangan and Kibungan in Benguet who are opposing the construction of a weir for a hydro plant may find the B-0-T scheme less onerous to adopt if they are left with no choice but to accept the project that the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples claimed was subjected to a residents’ vote.

Tongue-in-cheek, the Cordillera pioneered the B-O-T scheme of development. They built the mines and dams here, operated them and then transferred the gold and electric power, including the taxes, to Makati and Metro-Manila. (e-mail: mondaxbench@kyahoo.com for comments.)

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Yamashita’s ghost reappears in JLN’s 'surrender'

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza

Kiangan has been and always will be a place to be kept close to the heart and memory, considering that it was one of the communities I first visited in the Cordillera in December of 1977, along with Baguio musicians.

This was upon the invitation of then law student Denis B. Habawel who wanted to put books in the libraries of Lagawe, Banawe and Kiangan through live folk music performances. More than 25 years ago, no one had the hunch that Denis would later become Governor Habawel of Ifugao.

            

I was in Kiangan again last week to swap stories with personnel of the Ifugao Provincial Department of Social Welfare Development, together with media colleague Sly Quintos. The accidental visit gave me the opportunity to wander around places that have escaped my memory, but slowly became familiar again as soon as I set foot on them.

There was the more popular Kiangan Shrine that was built in Nabulaguian Hill, an area that was obviously a forest before it was developed into a tourist hub. It is also carries the name “Yamashita Shrine” because many believe that the area was where General Tomoyuki Yamashita and his men fought their last stand for almost one month.  

I heard stories that after Yamashita’s surrender, American generals and government authorities beat each other into looking for the JIA commander’s hidden gold and jewelry treasures.

Even the late Benguet Governor Ben Palispis over a cup of Dainty Restaurant coffee related to me a story that after the war, he also ventured into “treasure hunting” together with his best friend, the late Sinai Hamada. Even an American consultant who was close to the late President Marcos believed so. General John Singlaub, World War II and Korean War veteran according to past newspaper reports after Martial Law, was a covert agent active in the efforts to recover the “Yamashita gold.”

President Marcos, according to Singlaub, was able to “scrape” a little and that left more than a hundred treasure sites untouched. Treasure hunters say Yamashita’s gold treasures were buried in 175 tunnels and caves in the Philippines. If this was true then Yamashita’s gold treasure amounts to billions of dollars in value, a source of wealth and power for Marcos that was why he was spirited away to Hawaii by the Americans.

The flight of Marcos to Hawaii that was stage-managed by the Americans brought back a scene similar to the manner Gen. Yamashita was swiped from Kiangan to the American Ambassador’s Cottage inside Camp John Hay in Baguio.

On September 2, 1945, Yamashita of the Japanese Imperial Army in the Philippines, dubbed as “The Tiger of Malaya” surrendered to American and Filipino allied forces in the Home Economics building of the Kiangan Central School located just below the shrine. General Yamashita stayed overnight in Kiangan with his battle-scarred but extremely loyal soldiers before being flown to Baguio by helicopter the next day.  

Apparently, Yamashita signed surrender documents before American forces at Camp John Hay against his will. His trial in Manila was conducted by a vindictive tribunal.  American lawyer Harry E. Clarke, Sr., a colonel in the US Army fought for the acquittal of Yamashita. Even Justice Frank Murphy questioned the hasty trial, protested procedures in the trial and questioned the inclusion of hearsay evidence. The evidence that Yamashita did not have ultimate command responsibility over all Japanese military units in the Philippines was not admitted in court.

With these, war crimes prosecutor Allan Ryan concluded that by order of the five American generals namely, Gen. Handwerk, Gen. Bullens, Gen. Donovan, Gen. Reynolds and Gen. Lester, along with General Douglas MacArthur and the Supreme Court of the United States, “Yamashita was executed for what other Japanese soldiers did without his approval or prior knowledge.” The two dissenting Supreme Court Justices called the entire trial a miscarriage of justice, an exercise in vengeance, and a denial of human rights. At 60, he was sentenced to death in December 1945 and was hanged on Feb. 23, 1946 at the Los Baños Prison Camp.

US President Harry Truman through his generals kept tab of Yamashita’s trial from October to December. Yet after getting all the information they can squeeze from the Japanese general, they ordered his execution. In the case of Marcos, the difference was that the Americans got information about Yamashita’s treasure from him, but he died of natural causes. What about Janet Lim Napoles who ate breakfast, lunch and dinner with PNoy in Malacanang? Did she cough up vital information about anyone’s PDAF and finances before she was brought to “prison” in Camp Crame in a manner similar to Yamashita’s surrender? Pray that she will not meet the same fate that Yamashita and Marcos did. – ozram.666@gmail.com

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Refocusing on local governance

PUNCHLINE

Ike Seneres

The bottom line of the pork barrel issue is local governance. In theory, the purpose of the pork barrel is to fund local development needs that could not be “seen” by Congress as it approves the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for each fiscal year.

Pursuing that theory, the Congress apparently came up with the legal fiction that whatever could not be “seen” by them as a whole assembly could be seen by the district Congressmen from their own local vantage point.

According to newspaper reports, the Lower House of the Congress has already decided to “scrap” the old pork barrel system, apparently replacing it with a new system that would focus more on line item budgeting, although it seems that the Congressmen could still “recommend” their own local projects subject to the approval of the appropriate House Committee and the corresponding implementing line agencies, i.e. the National Government Agencies (NGAs).

As it is now, most if not all of the NGAs have their own branch offices at the local levels. What that means is that all of these branch offices are in a position to “see” the local development needs from their own vantage point, at least in theory. You can add to that the theory that the career NGA officials in these branches are probably more technically competent to “see” these needs, with a better “sight” than the Congressmen.

The prerogative given to the district Congressmen to “see” local development needs seems to be based on the assumption that on their own, acting as individual observers, they could “see” the needs better than anyone else, presumably better than the career NGA officials, supposedly acting as a team of experts. In reality however, there are Local Development Councils (LDCs) that could work together collectively to “see” these needs.

As it turns out, all district Congressmen, together with the career NGA officials and the Local Government Unit (LGU) officials are all members of the LDCs, meaning that there is already an existing venue or forum where all of them could collectively “see” all of the local development needs, putting together all of their eyes and brains.

As a matter of fact, there is a separate Executive Order that empowers all district Congressmen to become de facto members of these LDCs, in addition to what the Local Government Code (LGC) already stipulates.

The idea of allowing the district Congressmen to “recommend” their own projects seems to be based on the reasoning that they could identify local development needs subjectively on their own, acting as individuals, without consulting with the LDCs.

The ideal and logical option of course is for them to work collectively with the LDCs, thus they would be acting objectively with the other LDC members. If the proper process is to be followed, it should be the branch offices of the NGAs that should recommend projects to their head offices, so that these projects could be included in their line item budgets.

Going straight to the point, all provinces should have their own Medium Term Development Plans (MTDPs) that should be based on their own Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUPs). That is about as objective as everyone at the local levels could get, using a process that is very transparent. More so if Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are used, it would already be possible to “see” all local development needs, without anyone missing out on anything.

We know what really happened in the pork barrel scam and we should deal with that reality. For the most part, the pork barrel was used not to deliver projects to the local levels, but to deliver kickbacks to the pockets of corrupt Congressmen. It was almost a rule of thumb, that politicians would “invest” money in their political campaigns, expecting that they could earn, yes earn “profits” in the form of pork barrel kickbacks. Hopefully, the shift to line item budgeting would change all that.

What should be declared as local priorities should depend on the consensus of the LDC members. That is the advantage of many council members thinking and acting collectively, rather than just one Congressman doing it for everyone else. On my part, I believe that all priorities should be based on the MTDPs. What I mean is that there should be a process of elimination, meaning to say that what should be submitted for priority funding should be those projects that could not be funded under the line budgeting approach.

As I see it, there should be a differentiation between public services and development needs in the planning process. Public services should be intended for the present, whereas development needs should be intended for the future. The prevailing thinking is that all public service needs should already be provided for in the usual and regular budgets of the LGUs, and other than that, their extra development needs would then need additional funding from national sources.

Technically, the GIS database should only be part of a broader LGU database that should include both the public services data and the development needs data. Since most LGUs could not afford to maintain these databases on their own premises, it may be best for them to already consider the option of cloud computing, so that they could enjoy the advantages of data center virtualization and big data.

For feedback, email iseneres@yahoo.com or text +639083159262

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