This story was
taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines’s
alternative
weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net,
www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 37, October
23-29, 2005
Mines over Citrus in Nueva Vizcaya
10,000 rights
violations reported due to mining
To the farmers, Ifugao
communities, some business leaders and
government
officials of Didipio, Nueva Vizcaya, northern Philippines
a far worthy
treasure more than mines exists in a budding citrus fruit
industry in
their province blessed with fertile land, a hospitable
climate and lush
forests.
BY FELICISIMO
MANALANSAN
Bulatlat
Citrus or mines?
To the farmers, Ifugao
communities, some business leaders and
government
officials of Didipio, Nueva Vizcaya, northern Philippines
a far worthy
treasure more than mines exists in a budding citrus fruit
industry in
their province blessed with fertile land, a hospitable
climate and lush
forests.
Despite of the
billions of pesos expected to be gained from the
Citrus farms,
government favors the extractive, destructive mining by the
Australian
Climax-Arimco Mining Corp. (CAMC), recently renamed
Australasian
Mining.
This threat of
foreign mining on Nueva Vizcaya’s citrus fruit farms
was among the
highlights of the mining forum entitled “Defend Land,
Life and
Resources” held on Oct. 10 at the Quezon City Memorial
Circle Seminar
Hall. Organized by Defend Patrimony, the forum was attended
By more than 100
participants who later on marched to the Department of
Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR) in a symbolic protest
action.
A budding citrus
druit industry
Anti-mining
groups in Nueva Vizcaya have vowed to oppose the
Australasian
Mining under the Didipio Earth Savers Movement (Desama).
Desama leaders
who attended the conference believe that the mining
will devastate
the Cagayan Valley watershed, aside from denying the
land’s bounty to
the people of Didipio and the entire province.
“Parang di ekonomista
ang pangulo samantalang mas malaki ang kikitain
sa citrus kaysa sa
mining” (The President is not really an economist
considering that
citrus will yield more earnings compared to mining),
said Alfonso Acoje,
an agriculturist who claimed to have started the
citrus fruit
industry in Didipio in 1997.
Currently, 500
hectares of land in Didipio are planted to citrus
oranges. This is
projected to earn the province P806 billion ($14.6
billion at
P55:$1), according to a power point presentation during
the
forum. “Imagine
if instead of just 500 hectares, we could have 5,000
hectares of
citrus,” said Acoje whose plan to expand citrus farms to
benefit farmers
throughout the province is frustrated by the mining
company.
In contrast, according
to John Olandi of the Didipio Earth Savers
Movement (Desama),
CAMC forecasted a dismal $1.2 billion as proceeds
of its mine
after mine life. Furthermore, CAMC is silent about the
environmental
costs of its operations, Olandi said.
But Olandi alleges
CAMC’s bribery and “dirty tactics” are making it
hard for the
people of Didipio to make a united stand. Already 12
members of the Sangguniang
Panlalawigan (provincial council) of Nueva
Vizcaya gave
their consent to the mining project as against only one
opposed, says Olandi.
Australian CAMC
officials claimed they have the backing of the
national
government in the Financial and Technical Assistance
Agreement (FTAA)
for mining project.
Olandi also said
that since the mining company started in 1994, some
farmers from the
Ilocos provinces also started settling in Didipio.
He said these
settlers sold their land to the mining company and now
constitute the
“anomalous majority” favoring CAMC’s mining project.
More than 10,000
victims of rights violations
The forum also
cited a total of 10,500 individual victims of human
rights
violations related with mining projects throughout the country
in 1994-2005.
The violations
reflect a nationwide trend in human rights abuses in
places where
there are mining projects, according to Clemente
Bautista of Kalikasan
People’s Network for the Environment, a member of Defend Patrimony.
Nine activists opposing large-scale foreign
mining Projects have already been killed in
different parts of the country recently, he
said.
The groups Soccskargends
Agenda and Inpeace Mindanao accounted for
The rights
violations in 60 documented cases involving 3,181 families in 30 communities,
most of them indigenous B’laans, in the boundaries
of Saranggani, Davao del Sur,
Sultan Kudarat
and South Cotabato. The
cases were
documented by a solidarity and sympathy mission (SSM) led
by the two
groups last September.
The human rights
violations involved cases of massacre, frustrated
massacre,
strafing, torture, denial of medical attention, illegal
arrest, search
and seizure, harassment, displacement and
reconcentration
of communities, food blockade and divestment of
property.
According to the SSM report, human rights violations, happening from
1994 to January
2005, coincided with the entry in Tampakan, South
Cotabato, of
Australian-owned Western Mining Company (WMC), now
Sagittarius
Mining, Inc. (SMI), one of two transnational mining
corporations,
which hold existing Financial and Technical Assistance
Agreements
(FTAA) with the government.
The violations
also coincided with increased military operations in
the area. Five
battalions of the Philippine Army, including Scout
Rangers, patrol
the quadri-boundary within the vicinity of SMI’s mine
site. B’laan
leader Dulphing Ogan, secretary general of Kahugpungan sa mga Lumad sa Halayong
Habagatang Mindanaw (Kalubhamin), believes
there is coincidence in the entry and operation
of SMI and
increased military
presence in the quadri-boundary.
To him, SMI is directly and
indirectly to
blame for the human rights violations, adding that the
mining company
may even be funding the military operations in the
area.
“Hindi kaya ng
AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines)
ang marami at
sunud-sunod na mga
operasyon kung walang pondong nanggagaling sa SM”
(The AFP cannot
afford the series of multiple military operations
without funds
coming from the SMI), says Ogan.
“Where else can
we go?”
Meanwhile, B’laan
families in barangays Danlag and Tablao, Tampakan
are now being
coerced and intimidated to leave their dwellings and
farms to make
way for SMI’s operations, it was learned. Ogan says the
B’laan
communities in these barangays are located directly below the
base camp of
SMI. The communities will be buried with SMI’s mine
waste, says Ogan.
But most B’laans
in the said barangays do not want to leave, says
Ogan. Ogan
adds he foresees a repeat of bombing incidents in 1994
when a B’laan
woman and the child in her womb died when the military
resorted to
aerial bombardment to force B’laan communities out of
exploration
sites of the former WMC.
During the
forum, indigenous peoples of Cordillera revealed similar
threats of
displacement. Nearly half of the Mt.
Province’s 1.8
million
hectares of
land, or 730,000 hectares are now applied for mining
permits by
transnational mining corporations (TNCs), according to
Pastor Vergel Aniceto
of the Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA) and
APIT-TAKO.
“Saan na pupunta
ang mga Igorot, Kankana-ey, Kalinga at iba pa naming
katutubong mamamayan
ng Cordillera?” (Where else will the Igorots,
Kankana-ey, Kalinga
and other Cordillera indigenous peoples go?”
Aniceto asks.
Aniceto,
however, says that most people in Cordillera, including the
local
government, are determined to oppose new mining ventures in the
Cordillera
provinces. He cites as example a recent multi-stakeholders
meeting in Baguio City
where the participants united to block any new
mining projects,
despite being denied to speak during the meeting.
The
multi-stakeholders meeting was convened by the Office of the
President
through presidential envoy for mining Delia Albert,
according to Aniceto.
Bulatlat
© 2005 Bulatlat
” Alipato Publications
Permission is
granted to reprint or redistribute this article,
provided its
author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and
notified.
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051027/lf_afp/afplifestyles_051027195738>
Thu Oct 27, 3:57 PM ET
Ilocano way of Cooking
BATAC, Philippines (AFP) - Bile stew, buffalo brains,
termites and raw
grasshoppers -- even by adventurous Asian tastes the cuisine of the
Philippines'
Ilocos region makes some visitors balk.
Over centuries such delicacies have blended by
necessity into the
gastronomic traditions of this parched northwestern corner of the
Philippines,
where a brief rainy season heralds a time of plenty.
The tamarind trees on its scraggly hills shake
violently as children
come to pluck the slumbering June beetles, while termites fly out at
night at their peril to shed their wings into large vats filled with
water.
Frogs are caught on the rice paddies, as are crickets
and snails of
various shapes, all of which take pride of place as entrees on dinner
tables alongside young bamboo shoots, mushrooms and various vegetable
shoots all smothered in cane vinegar and fish paste.
"Subtlety is not found in their gastronomic
dictionary. Reflecting the
difficult conditions of the land, most of the dishes are either salty
or bitter," says the official tourist guidebook of the cuisine of
Ilocos Norte province.
"The Ilocanos' penchant for whipping up dishes
from ingredients which
others would consider inedible gives Ilocano cuisine its distinct
edge," it adds.
At the weekly livestock fair on the outskirts of Batac,
spouses
Franklin Calacal and Minda Tan serve water buffalo meat and tripe
cooked in bile, ginger and black pepper and served in a scalding soup.
The diner used to cater to farmers and other
livestock traders who
haggle over water buffalo, cattle and other draft animals beneath the
shade of spiny monkeypod trees. But locals say the 35-peso (62.5 US
cents) dish has turned it into the most popular restaurant in the
province.
Local officials, doctors, and other professionals
from across Ilocos
Norte and other nearby provinces as well as increasing numbers of
tourists from elsewhere take the long drive every Sunday to dine al
fresco on long communal tables on a dirt floor.
"They eat breakfast here, snacks, and then
lunch," eating the same
dish, Calacal tells AFP. Many of the diners are in their Sunday finery,
having just attended mass at the Batac church.
For those averse to bile stew, there is buffalo
brains and a pork dish
made of minced pig ears mixed with chopped onions and lime.
"The peak periods are Lent and the Christmas
season," says Calacal, a
former tricycle driver who gets the wood-burning stoves fired up at
dawn.
"After a week, they cannot wait to eat water
buffalo meat. They say it
is tastier and juicier than beef," says his wife.
Western-style fast food restaurants are mushrooming
across the region,
"but I still go for Ilocano food", says Jocelyn Corpuz, who helps her
mother run a 40 year-old meat pie business beside the Batac Roman
Catholic church.
She says Ilocos food is different -- the meat pie is
made from papaya
shavings, bean sprouts, and egg wrapped in tangerine-colored rice dough
then deep-fried. To non-Ilocanos, "they think all we eat are weeds",
she tells AFP.
An Ilocos-born Filipino senator once famously blew
his top when his
staff threw out the contents of his lunch box -- nalta jute herb leaves
that they mistook for garbage.
When Ilocanos butcher a pig, nothing goes to waste
with innards and
pig's blood sauteed and cooked in vinegar, crushed garlic, ground
pepper.
It's the same story for goats, a regional favorite.
The animal is
force-fed with vinegar then butchered and hauled over an open fire to
burn off the hair. Thin slices of meat and liver are then served up,
marinated in vinegar and mixed with chopped garlic and mixed with
partly digested juices from the tripe.
Tina Bayden hawks frog meat for 150 pesos (2.68
dollars) a kilogram
(2.2 pounds) on Wednesdays and Sundays in the public market of nearby
Laoag, the provincial capital.
The white meat is marinated in vinegar or lime and
deep-fried, or
seasoned with vinegar, garlic, and soy sauce like a pork dish.
She keeps a few frogs alive in a small sack, just in
case the buyers
want to prepare the dish differently. Fishermen catch the croakers from
rice paddies in nearby villages around Batac, using ordinary baited
fishing rods.
The dry season brings a new set of delicacies, including
certain types
of grasshoppers that are eaten raw in situ as farmers harvest the rice
crop.
The leaves, shoots or flowers of many vegetables, and
even trees, are
considered edible, including the crescent-shaped white flowers of the
corkwood tree.
It is also the time when giant red tree ants build
nests atop trees to
breed their young. The large white eggs of these ants, which faintly
taste sweet and sour, are among the most expensive of Ilocano
delicacies.
For the less adventurous, the less starling faces of Ilocano
cuisine
are the homemade sausages made from ground pork, pork fat, chopped
garlic, ground pepper and marinated with cane vinegar, and deep-fried
slabs of pork.
The latter is the garnish of choice for the region's
most popular dish
-- eggplant, bittergourd, gumbo, and string beans cooked in fish paste.
Wealthy Indian trader killed in Nueva Vizcaya
A wealthy Indian national engaged in buy-and-sell business was shot
dead while five persons were seriously hurt in two separate incidents
here on Monday.
Provincial Director Robert Mangaccat identified the victim as
Ragvander Singh, 34, Indian national. Singh's assailant who still
remains unidentified shot the victim inside a videoke bar here.
Police reports showed that Singh and a certain Renato Jose were
engaged in a drinking spree inside the bar when an armalite rifle
wielding man wearing a bonnet fired at him. Singh was hit in his left
chest. He died while undergoing treatment at the Veterans Regional
Hospital here.
On the other hand, Chief Superintendent Jefferson Soriano, Cagayan
Valley regional police chief, said five persons were seriously
wounded on Monday when two vehicles fell into a ravine along the
national highway here.
Two of the victims were identified as Sonny Sozimo and Caesar Franco,
both residents of San Isidro, Nueva Ecija.
They, along with the three others, whose identities have yet to be
determined, are now undergoing treatment for their multiple injuries
at the Magsaysay Provincial Hospital in Bambang town and Veterans
Regional Hospital.
The incident took place after the Isuzu elf driven by Sozimo rammed
on another elf truck parked at the roadside of the national highway
in Barangay Almaguer, Bambang, causing them to plunge into the ravine.
Baguio-Aritao road now 35% complete
ARITAO, Nueva Vizcaya, Nov. 9 - The regional office of the National
Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has expressed optimism that
the 102-km. Baguio-Aritao road network will further hasten the flow
of trade and commerce between the Cordilleras and Cagayan Valley once
it is completed. The NEDA regional office, which also serves as the
secretariat of the Regional Development Council (RDC) of Region II,
said as of last month, the project is already 35 percent complete.
Acting regional director Mary Anne Darauay said the road improvement
project, being undertaken through a loan with the Japan Bank for
International Cooperation (JBIC), will be the shortest road link
between Cagayan Valley, Benguet and the Ilocos provinces in Northern
Luzon. Transport of the region's agricultural products especially
vegetables will soon be facilitated as most of the vegetable produce
of Nueva Vizcaya land in Baguio City markets, she added.
Historic Dalton Pass to be renamed Balete Pass
To "Filipinize" Dalton Pass and highlight its historic value, the
provincial government here and some government line agencies have
made a move to rename it as "Balete Pass" to give back its glory.
After passing through Carranglan town in Nueva Ecija, motorists from
the rest of Luzon enter the marker gateway to the Cagayan Valley
region.
At the left side of the road on top of a mountain about 3,000 feet
above sea level is the famous Dalton Pass.
A rugged terrain and the only access road between Pampanga and
Cagayan Valley, it is also the gateway to the world famous Banaue
Rice Terraces in Ifugao.
During World War II, Balete Pass played an important role in the
country's struggle for freedom from the Japanese forces.
The Battle of Balete Pass is one of the 16 significant events in the
liberation of the Philippines then.
The Battle of Balete Pass, the gateway to the Cagayan Valley, was
declared Japanese-free by General Kruger on May 13, 1945. The drive
through it cost 2,200-battle casualties with 544 soldiers killed.
In memory of the battle, Balete Pass was renamed Dalton Pass after
Col. James L. Dalton II, 161st Infantry Regiment Commander, belonging
to the 25th Division, I Corps, US Sixth Army, which led the main
attack to Balete Pass.
Authorities at present, however, deem it proper to resurrect the
road's old name.
Earlier, the national government, in cooperation with the provincial
government of Nueva Vizcaya and some line agencies constructed a view
deck at the road's highest point as a tribute to its importance in
Philippine history,.
The view deck, which is being maintained by the local government unit
of Sta. Fe through the leadership of Mayor Florante Gerdon, now
provides a rest area for motorists as they enjoy the view of the
headlands.
Vacationers and motorists just passing by the area enjoy having their
meals in this breezy and breath-taking spot.
THE COUNTRY'S poorest provinces
have conditions already approximating those in some African countries, while
the most progressive ones are just at par with Jamaica
or Turkmenistan.
A United Nations-sponsored study gave this analogy in
ranking the "Top- and Bottom-10" provinces in terms of their Human
Development Index, a measure of well-being based on life expectancy, literacy,
enrollment ratio and per capita income.
The 2005 Philippine Human
Development Report (PHDR) said the Top 10 provinces were as follows (from
highest to lowest): Benguet, Laguna, Batanes, Rizal, Cavite,
Nueva Vizcaya, Pampanga, Bataan, Bulacan and
Ilocos Norte.
The bottom-dwellers, in descending
order, were Lanao del Sur, Eastern Samar, Western Samar, Sarangani, Zamboanga
del Norte, Masbate, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi,
Maguindanao and Sulu.
Veggie festival to be held in Nueva Vizcaya
BAMBANG, Nueva Vizcaya, Oct. 21 - After the successful Citrus
Festival at the Malabing Valley in Kasibu town two months ago, the
Nueva Vizcaya agricultural terminal (NVAT) will hold its
"Panagnanateng 2005," a festival featuring the province's different
vegetables at the NVAT compound in barangay Almaguer here before the
month ends. The festival will feature not only vegetables like beans,
squash, ginger, onion, cabbage, cauliflower and carrots but also farm
machineries, vegetable seeds and supplies and other farm implements.
NVAT general manager Gilbert Cumila said during the festival,
Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban will also inaugurate the
three newly-constructed multi-purpose buildings and the retail market
outlet fronting the NVAT. Cumila said buyers from Divisoria, Urdaneta
and Balintawak were invited to likewise grace the vegetable auction
during the festivities. Bernabe Almirol of the provincial
agriculturist office said Nueva Vizcaya is also supplying some of the
vegetable products sold in Baguio City. "Some buyers in Baguio City
think that Baguio beans come only from Benguet and the Mountain
Provinces, rarely do they know that a larger percentage of the Baguio
beans are produced in Nueva Vizcaya," Almirol said.
This story was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative
weekly newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net,
www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 37, October 23-29, 2005
Mines over Citrus in Nueva Vizcaya
10,000 rights violations reported due to mining
To the farmers, Ifugao communities, some business leaders and
government officials of Didipio, Nueva Vizcaya, northern Philippines
a
far worthy treasure more than mines exists in a budding citrus fruit
industry in their province blessed with fertile land, a hospitable
climate and lush forests.
BY FELICISIMO MANALANSAN
Bulatlat
Citrus or mines?
To the farmers, Ifugao communities, some business leaders and
government officials of Didipio, Nueva Vizcaya, northern Philippines
a
far worthy treasure more than mines exists in a budding citrus fruit
industry in their province blessed with fertile land, a hospitable
climate and lush forests.
Despite of the billions of pesos expected to be gained from the
citrus
farms, government favors the extractive, destructive mining by the
Australian Climax-Arimco Mining Corp. (CAMC), recently renamed
Australasian Mining.
This threat of foreign mining on Nueva Vizcaya's citrus fruit farms
was among the highlights of the mining forum entitled "Defend Land,
Life and Resources" held on Oct. 10 at the Quezon City Memorial
Circle
Seminar Hall. Organized by Defend Patrimony, the forum was attended
by
more than 100 participants who later on marched to the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in a symbolic protest
action.
A budding citrus druit industry
Anti-mining groups in Nueva Vizcaya have vowed to oppose the
Australasian Mining under the Didipio Earth Savers Movement (Desama).
Desama leaders who attended the conference believe that the mining
will devastate the Cagayan Valley watershed, aside from denying the
land's bounty to the people of Didipio and the entire province.
"Parang di ekonomista ang pangulo samantalang mas malaki ang kikitain
sa citrus kaysa sa mining" (The President is not really an economist
considering that citrus will yield more earnings compared to mining),
said Alfonso Acoje, an agriculturist who claimed to have started the
citrus fruit industry in Didipio in 1997.
Currently, 500 hectares of land in Didipio are planted to citrus
oranges. This is projected to earn the province P806 billion ($14.6
billion at P55:$1), according to a power point presentation during
the
forum. "Imagine if instead of just 500 hectares, we could have 5,000
hectares of citrus," said Acoje whose plan to expand citrus farms to
benefit farmers throughout the province is frustrated by the mining
company.
In contrast, according to John Olandi of the Didipio Earth Savers
Movement (Desama), CAMC forecasted a dismal $1.2 billion as proceeds
of its mine after mine life. Furthermore, CAMC is silent about the
environmental costs of its operations, Olandi said.
But Olandi alleges CAMC's bribery and "dirty tactics" are making it
hard for the people of Didipio to make a united stand. Already 12
members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial council) of Nueva
Vizcaya gave their consent to the mining project as against only one
opposed, says Olandi.
Australian CAMC officials claimed they have the backing of the
national government in the Financial and Technical Assistance
Agreement (FTAA) for mining project.
Olandi also said that since the mining company started in 1994, some
farmers from the Ilocos provinces also started settling in Didipio.
He
said these settlers sold their land to the mining company and now
constitute the "anomalous majority" favoring CAMC's mining project.
More than 10,000 victims of rights violations
The forum also cited a total of 10,500 individual victims of human
rights violations related with mining projects throughout the country
in 1994-2005.
The violations reflect a nationwide trend in human rights abuses in
places where there are mining projects, according to Clemente
Bautista
of Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment, a member of Defend
Patrimony. Nine activists opposing large-scale foreign mining
projects
have already been killed in different parts of the country recently,
he said.
The groups Soccskargends Agenda and Inpeace Mindanao accounted for
the
rights violations in 60 documented cases involving 3,181 families in
30 communities, most of them indigenous B'laans, in the boundaries of
Saranggani, Davao del Sur, Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato. The
cases were documented by a solidarity and sympathy mission (SSM) led
by the two groups last September.
The human rights violations involved cases of massacre, frustrated
massacre, strafing, torture, denial of medical attention, illegal
arrest, search and seizure, harassment, displacement and
reconcentration of communities, food blockade and divestment of
property.
According to the SSM report, human rights violations, happening from
1994 to January 2005, coincided with the entry in Tampakan, South
Cotabato, of Australian-owned Western Mining Company (WMC), now
Sagittarius Mining, Inc. (SMI), one of two transnational mining
corporations, which hold existing Financial and Technical Assistance
Agreements (FTAA) with the government.
The violations also coincided with increased military operations in
the area. Five battalions of the Philippine Army, including Scout
Rangers, patrol the quadri-boundary within the vicinity of SMI's mine
site.
B'laan leader Dulphing Ogan, secretary general of Kahugpungan sa mga
Lumad sa Halayong Habagatang Mindanaw (Kalubhamin), believes there is
coincidence in the entry and operation of SMI and increased military
presence in the quadri-boundary. To him, SMI is directly and
indirectly to blame for the human rights violations, adding that the
mining company may even be funding the military operations in the
area.
"Hindi kaya ng AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) ang marami at
sunud-sunod na mga operasyon kung walang pondong nanggagaling sa SM"
(The AFP cannot afford the series of multiple military operations
without funds coming from the SMI), says Ogan.
"Where else can we go?"
Meanwhile, B'laan families in barangays Danlag and Tablao, Tampakan
are now being coerced and intimidated to leave their dwellings and
farms to make way for SMI's operations, it was learned. Ogan says the
B'laan communities in these barangays are located directly below the
base camp of SMI. The communities will be buried with SMI's mine
waste, says Ogan.
But most B'laans in the said barangays do not want to leave, says
Ogan. Ogan adds he foresees a repeat of bombing incidents in 1994
when a B'laan woman and the child in her womb died when the military
resorted to aerial bombardment to force B'laan communities out of
exploration sites of the former WMC.
During the forum, indigenous peoples of Cordillera revealed similar
threats of displacement. Nearly half of the Mt. Province's 1.8
million
hectares of land, or 730,000 hectares are now applied for mining
permits by transnational mining corporations (TNCs), according to
Pastor Vergel Aniceto of the Cordillera People's Alliance (CPA) and
APIT-TAKO.
"Saan na pupunta ang mga Igorot, Kankana-ey, Kalinga at iba pa naming
katutubong mamamayan ng Cordillera?" (Where else will the Igorots,
Kankana-ey, Kalinga and other Cordillera indigenous peoples go?"
Aniceto asks.
Aniceto, however, says that most people in Cordillera, including the
local government, are determined to oppose new mining ventures in the
Cordillera provinces. He cites as example a recent multi-stakeholders
meeting in Baguio City where the participants united to block any new
mining projects, despite being denied to speak during the meeting.
The multi-stakeholders meeting was convened by the Office of the
President through presidential envoy for mining Delia Albert,
according to Aniceto. Bulatlat
(c) 2005 Bulatlat ” Alipato Publications
Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article,
provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and
notified.
They are from Bambang, NV
Guen is best pal of slain Filipino Domestic Helper
BAGUIO CITY - "Guen could not have killed Jane,
because they were best friends," said Edwin
Aguilar, 27, husband of Guen Garlejo Aguilar, the
Filipino maid charged with killing fellow
domestic helper, Jane Parangan-La Puebla.
"It’s so painful for me to hear that my sister
has been killed that way by her own friend," said
Julie Fe Parangan, the victim’s younger sister.
Guen Aguilar and Jane La Puebla, longtime friends
and residents of Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya, applied
for work abroad together, lived in neighboring
apartments in Singapore. And now tragedy and horror inextricably bind
the two.
Aguilar faces Singapore’s mandatory death
penalty, execution by hanging, if found guilty of dismembering La
Puebla.
La Puebla’s head and limbs were found in a sports
bag behind a metro station on Orchard Road,
Singapore’s main shopping district, on Friday.
The torso of a woman dressed only in
undergarments was found at MacRitchie Reservoir,
a heavily wooded park several kilometers away
from the spot where a cleaner made the first
grisly discovery. Police are still carrying out
tests to determine if the torso was La Puebla’s.
Aguilar was arrested 12 hours later at her
employer’s house, where a cleaver was seized. She
has yet to enter a plea. Manila’s labor attaché
in Singapore, Miriam Cuasay, is providing
assistance to the suspect. A Philippine legal
counsel, Maria Isleta, is assigned to Aguilar’s case.
In Bambang the families of both victim and
accused bewail their plight and grapple with how
and what to tell their children.
"Our eldest has been asking what has happened to
their mother. They already know about their
mother’s incarceration but they could not yet
understand fully. I just tell them that she’s all
right, and is still abroad working," Edwin Aguilar tearfully explained.
Aguilar’s seven-year-old eldest child Mark Angelo
is sick. He has been feverish for the past week,
according to his father. The boy has a
six-year-old brother, Mark Edwin. Together with
their father Edwin, who works as a farmer, the
children live in a one-room 30-by-40-square-meter
bamboo shanty in Barangay Baracbac in Tagudin,
four to five kilometers from the Ilocos Sur highway.
Speaking in Ilocano, Aguilar pleads with his wife
to "tell the truth of what really happened, that
you (Guen) are innocent, because the way that the
crime was committed makes it impossible for my wife to have done it."
Edwin’s last telephone conversation with Guen was
on August 28. He said their conversation was
light banter and that she neither confided any problem nor sounded
agitated.
In another part of Bambang, La Puebla’s husband
Eddie and their nine-year-old son, Clifford John,
could not be interviewed, because both still had
to come to terms with the death of their wife and
mother. For her part, La Puebla’s sister says,
"She didn't come home for four years, because she
wanted to earn much for her family only to be killed nonsensically."
For its part, the government has extended aid to
both families. The Overseas Workers’ Welfare
Administration has extended financial assistance
to Aguilar’s husband. According to the OWWA
officer, Marco Antonio Liwag, who headed the OWWA
team that visited the Aguilars, the OWWA is in a
predicament because La Puebla, unlike Aguilar, is
not an OWWA member, making it difficult for them to extend assistance.
The Assistance Council for Vizcayano Overseas
Workers said they tried to contact the Department
of Foreign Affairs office in Singapore but only
got word from a staffer that La Puebla’s body
could not yet be brought home because of an
ongoing investigation by Singapore police while
the suspect is in jail awaiting court proceedings.
his story was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's
alternative
weekly newsmagazine
(www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net,
www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 32, September 18-24, 2005
Kamote: Poor Man's Staple
Food
The lowly rootcrop is a lifesaver to
many families in the Cordillera.
BY Johnny Fialen
Northern dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat
BAGUIO CITY
― In the Cordillera mountain region and adjacent
provinces, kamote or sweet potato is
the staple food of most
villagers, especially those living
far from the provincial centers. It
is the only reliable crop in times of
drought, typhoons, as well as in
times of economic crisis.
Kamote (Ipomea Batatas) is a common
substitute food for rice and corn
especially for families living below
the poverty line. This crop does
not require intensive care since it
grows on the ground and can
survive in poor soil. It contains all
kinds of essential amino acids
to supplement other plant proteins.
Elleo Docio, 56, a farmer who lives
in a mountain village called
Boundary in Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya,
said kamote is their staple food in
the mountain. Living far from the
market, he said it has been their
staple food ever since he was a
child.
"Gapu iti kamote nabiag ko ken
napag-adal ko dagiti putot ko, isunga
saan a basta-basta ti kamote ta
dakkel la unay ti naitulong na dayta
kadakami a marigrigat. Mabalinmi nga
ipalastog ditoy nga adu ti
nakaadal nga ubbing gapu iti kamote
laeng Adda ti maestro, abugado,
inhenyero, pulis ken dadduma
pay," (Because of kamote I was able to
raise and send my children to school,
that's why kamote is very
important especially to us poor. We
are proud to say that because of
kamote many of our children finished
their studies, we have teachers,
engineers, police, lawyers and
others).
Docio said that most of them are
gardeners, who also plant vegetables
but mostly for consumption. Their
products are primarily kamote and
banana, and they use carabao-drawn
carts to bring their products to
the market, a good two hours trek
away.
"My wife and my children help
each other to sell kamote in the town
center. We boil, fry or bake it. It
sustains the schooling of our
children," he said.
Most of Docio's buyers are from Baguio City
and the lowlands, mainly
from the provinces of Nueva Ecija,
Pangasinan, Pampanga, and Isabela.
The customers get five to six sacks
of kamote at P180- P200 for every
sack and P6 to P8 a kilo.
The farmers are able to sell 25-28
sacks in two days, earning them
P4,500 to P5,300. But, Docio said,
this is not enough for their daily
needs and for their children's school
needs.
Not ashamed
Meanwhile, Fermina Odsi, 27, a
teacher from Nueva Vizcaya and member
of the Kalanguya indigenous group,
said, "I'm not ashamed to say that
from childhood until graduation,
kamote was my staple food. It still
is because I seldom eat rice. There
was no budget to buy rice with
since my parents relied only on selling
kamote in the town centers.
They were too hard up."
Odsi recalls, "Studying in Baguio City
was not easy for us. I had to
buy all that I needed. But for me,
material things were not so
important. I only had a pair of shoes,
four T-shirts, and two pairs of
pants until I graduated. Many of my
boardmates helped me, offering
food and clothing because they
observed that I was always eating
kamote and walking to and from the
school."
"Gapu ta kayat ko a makalpas iti
eskuwela, inanosak amin a rigat ti
biag. Ti kamote ket importante la
unay kanyak gaputa isu ti
mangipalagip kaniak ti napalabas ken
kasano ngay ngata ti biag dagiti
napopobre no awan daytoy? (Because of
my strong determination to
finish my studies, I tried to overcome
those difficulties in life.
Kamote is very important to me
because it reminds me of the past, and
I'm always thinking that, what will
happen to poor people without
kamote), she said.
Kamote has three new varieties: the
VSP-1, VSP-2 and the VSP-3 which
can be harvested within 105 to 115
days. The traditional kamote takes
from five to seven months before
harvesting. This plant also is a good
source of vitamins A and B, Calcium,
Iron, Potassium and Sodium that
other plants do not have.
Kamote can also be fermented into
vinegar and wine. All these are
reasons why kamote production in the
country has been increasing,
making it a valuable commodity.
Upland indigenous communities in the
Cordillera and nearby provinces
subsist on kamote mainly because
rice, which is grown on narrow strips
of rice terraces, usually lasts for a
only a couple of months. Kamote
is thus the main staple food
throughout the year.
Rice production has been destroyed by
forest denudation in the whole
region which depletes water irrigation
as well as by artificial
farming that was introduced during
the Marcos dictatorship's Green
Revolution. Northern Dispatch/Posted
by Bulatlat
(c) 2005 Bulatlat ■
Alipato Publications
Permission is granted to reprint or
redistribute this article,
provided its author/s and Bulatlat
are properly credited and notified.
Prominent Nueva Vizcaya lawyer shot
BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — A prominent lawyer here was still fighting
for his life as of presstime after two motorcycle-riding men shot him while on board his car before noon yesterday.
The victim, Virgilio Castro, 52, former president of the Integrated Bar
of the Philippines’ local chapter, was about 50 meters away from his residence in neighboring Solano town when he was attacked, police said. He had come from a court hearing in this capital town.
Four of the five caliber .45 bullets that pierced the tinted window of
Castro’s Mitsubishi Lancer hit him in the chest, police said.
Probers could not say what the motive could be behind the attack on
Castro, who has handled several controversial cases, including the kidnap-slaying of Allan Que and graft and corruption complaints against local officials.
He is currently the legal counsel of Santiago City Mayor Jose Miranda
in his electoral case against former mayor Amelita Navarro.
Typhoid fever outbreak downs 26 students in Nueva Vizcaya
BAMBANG, Nueva Vizcaya — Twenty-six students including three teachers
here were
hit by typhoid fever in only a week time this month, rising fear of a
widespread of the disease in this province's southern commercial town.
Eloisa Ang, principal of Bambang National High School, confirmed the
outbreak
of the bacterial disease yesterday while predicting that more students
could be
afflicted with the bacteria if no appropriate measure will be taken to
prevent
its possible outbreak.
The disease, she said, started to persist here following the continuous
rainfall hitting this landlocked province for the past few weeks now.
Typhoid fever, according to Health officials is an acute disease caused
by a
bacteria from impure food or water, producing longed, debilitating
fever and
diarrhea.
Ang said Health officials are still determining the source of the
disease as
the school's source of potable water has been cleared of any bacterial
contamination.
The students and teachers, she added, have started consuming commercial
bottled
water provided for them by the municipal and provincial governments,
pending
further bacteriology testing to ensure the potability of their drinking
water.
(news from PNA re-printed in part for discussion only)