Dying young

Last Wednesday my nephews Joshua Asbucan Banoey, 8, and his brother Evan James, 7, were laid to rest in their grandparents’ backyard.

Based on what we were able to piece together, Joshua and EJ went to take a bath at a pond where excess water from the rice fields spill over sometime before noon last Sunday. What remains unclear to us is how both brothers got themselves into a portion of the pond that is a little too deep for them. The pond is some distance from the nearest houses so that about 30 minutes had passed before somebody passed by and learned that the brothers had drowned. Their bodies were already stiff and bloated when they were recovered. They were embracing each other.

Joshua and EJ are children of my cousin Eleonor, a public school teacher, and Johnny, an army sergeant. Leonor requested to be transferred to the Rizal National School of Arts and Trade to be together with all her children. When Leonor gave birth to Joshua, she was pursuing here master’s degree on values education in a prestigious Manila university, thanks to a scholarship grant she had been very fortunate to avail of. Joshua grew up in the care of his grandparents, Uncle Benjamin and Auntie Linda Asbucan. Since Leonor had been assigned to Amdalao, Pasil all those years before her transfer to RNSAT, Joshua practically grew up as the “last child” of Uncle Benjie and Auntie Linda.

As we were laying Joshua and EJ to the ground, I could almost hear my heart breaking as Uncle Benjie sang his thanks to the Lord in tears. Just three years ago, Uncle Benjie lost a son, a victim of a fatal love triangle.

We don’t know what really happened yet. But the family has embraced one theory based on the state of the corpses and the signs of struggle on the scene of the tragedy. It was easy to see that Joshua had drowned longer. We all agreed that he may have drowned trying to get EJ out of the water. Leonor herself claims that her eldest is very protective of his ading and would be sure to fetch EJ from school on his way home. As for EJ, he might have refused to leave his brother instead of trying to save himself.

Few deaths could actually touch the depths of my soul, but the death of the very young stirs up raw emotions that overwhelm my being. It also makes me brood over the meaning of life. Joshua and EJ’s tragedy brought back to mind the many times I could have drowned, having taken in water through my nose, but somehow managed to swim my way out of danger by sheer force of will. There were also those few times I lost my footing catching coins on top of the big rock at Mines View. There was also that summer in 1983 when the Buliyat family took my younger brother Gerald and me to a picnic by the Asin River. As the rest were enjoying their lunch, Gerald and I stayed on the water. Somehow Gerald got carried away to where the water got too deep for him (he was no swimmer) and he was taking in water as he struggled to stay afloat while he calling me for rescue. Instinctively, I swam after him and managed to grab him as he was about to go under. However, the current was too strong for my eight-year old body and we only got carried further downstream. Fortunately somebody spotted us – I cannot remember who but I can remember a scream – and the men immediately scrambled for us. Judge Francis Buliyat must have reset the sprint record that day as he quickly bounded down the stony path towards us and we were soon safely out of the water.

I am quite sure that Gerald and I could have easily shared a similar fate with Joshua and EJ if we didn’t have people who cared enough to watch over us. The irony of that rescue was that when I got home, I found the taste of the cough syrup I was taking in at the time too hard to resist and I drank more than I was supposed to. I ended up in a hospital that same night for a near fatal overdose.

Life remains a complete mystery to me. I had courted danger several times and had managed to cheat death each time by, I suppose, plain luck. Others were far worse at it than I was but have stayed around like the proverbial weeds in the garden. My nephews could have used a slice of that luck but it was not meant to be.

It must be very hard to lose boys like them. EJ, especially, has a very sweet disposition and an easy smile and that will be how I will forever remember him. My wife, Maria Christina, could not sleep for three straight nights upon receiving news of the children’s death. The tragedy had shaken her peace of mind so she kept going back to those moments we got Joshua and EJ to come over to our house for some celebration.

***

The boys' death capped a week filled with death by accidents and natural causes.

The teen-aged nephew of my co-teacher, Ms. Suzette Arboleda, was killed as a drunken man slammed his vehicle at the boy who was helping push a stalled vehicle on the other side of the highway.

Before that, provincial assessor Jeffrey Uyam was trying to overtake another vehicle when he crashed into a motorcycle bearing a couple moving from the opposite direction. The couple died while Manong Jeff was fine but only in the physical sense: his lady victim happens to be his immediate neighbor.

A Tabuk policeman who jumped off a jeepney that had mechanical trouble on an uphill road in Tanudan ended up an "accidental hero" as he got caught under the jeepney, which was loaded with women and children, preventing it from plummeting down a ravine -- at the cost of his life.

Two of my co-workers lost their fathers to infirmities while the husband of Mrs. Pacita Litorco, our Makabayan department head, died of choking. Sometime during the evening of Oct. 18, Lakay Angnganay passed on to the other side after more than 90 years on earth.

My condolences to: Leonor and Johnny and their respective families, the Pugao family (he did his duty to the end -- to serve and protect), the Tabbang family, the Litorco family, the Arboleda family, the Sarol-Arobel family, Manong Doming Oclarino, and the Angnganay clan of Lubo.

***

Happy birthday to EJ (Oct. 17, the day of his burial), my sister Golda Mira (Oct. 18), my beloved son Nathan (Oct. 19) and my niece Queenie (Oct. 20). Except for EJ, may you have, indeed, many more birthdays to come.**Bani Asbucan

Blogged with Flock

Five Pasil Towns allow geothermal explorations

Tabuk City, Kalinga - The tribes of Balatoc, Colayo, Dalupa, Guinaang and Dangtalan in Pasil municipality, this province, have signed separate free and prior informed consent (FPIC) documents and memoranda of agreement (MOAs) for the exploration and possible production of geothermal energy in their ancestral domains in favor of Guidance Management Corporation (GMC) and Aragorn Power and Energy Corporation (APEC), two Makati-based firms.

A source who witnessed the signing which took place during the first and second weeks of October said the councils of elders and leaders signed in behalf of the tribes. Earlier in Tabuk, GMC executive vice president and chief operating officer Salvador San Jose and APEC executive vice president Bernardo Lim signed the MOAs. National Commission on Indigenous Peoples Chairman Eugenio Insigne will also sign the documents in behalf of his agency.

The source said the five tribes hold 14,722 hectares of the 24,939 hectares covered by the Geothermal Service Contract application of the corporate partners with the Department of Energy (DOE). The remaining area is located in the ancestral domains of the Uma tribe in Lubuagan municipality and Dananao, Tulgao, Sumadel, Bangad and Tinglayan tribes in the municipality of Tinglayan.

The source said that the Tulgao tribe has already out-rightly rejected the proposal due to fears that the exploration will affect their water sources while negotiations are still underway for the consent of the other tribes.

The source said that with the signing of the FPICs and the MOAs by the five tribes, the NCIP could now issue the Certificate of Precondition, a condition for the issuance by the DOE of a Geothermal Service Contract which give permission to the applicants to explore and produce in the event the geothermal resources are found viable for commercial production.

The MOAs will be effective within the exploration period which will be five years and renewable for another two years.

The MOAs provide that in the event that the exploration will determine the geothermal resources to be of commercial quantity, the GMC-APEC will have the exclusive right to conduct geothermal operations within the contract areas for 25 years and an additional extension of 18 years.

However, before the start of commercial operations, the parties will execute an addendum to the MOAs to cover the "work and financial obligations of the parties in accordance with the IPRA and other pertinent laws in proportion to the geothermal resources within the area."

The MOAs mandate the two corporations to exercise cultural sensitivity by implementing the project and performing their obligations under the agreement with due consideration to the customs, traditions, values, beliefs and interests and institutions of the tribes.

Also among the obligations of the GMC-APEC embodied in the contract is the funding and implementation of community development projects.

The source said that the five tribes differed in some of the development projects they chose, but common among them are educational scholarships, construction and improvement of roads, construction of school buildings and concreting of irrigation systems.

The MOAs also provide that the GMC-APEC to prioritize members of the tribes in employment except in positions which requires skills not available in the indigenous cultural communities concerned.

Department of Energy geologist Ronald Pendon projected once the project prospers, the plant will be the biggest in the country. **by Estanislao Albano, Jr., Zigzag Weekly, Oct. 14, 2007

Blogged with Flock

Kalinga Board places province under state of calamity

TABUK CITY, Kalinga - The Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) here during its session last week has declared the entire province under a state of calamity on account of the heavy damage inflicted by tropical depression Hanna and tropical storm Ineng on crops and infrastructure in the province.

The action of the SP was based on the consolidated report of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC) which placed the total damage on local and national infrastructure at P 62M and on crops at P 8M.

The report also revealed that there was one casualty in Pinukpuk municipality in the person of Ronald Te-od, Sangguniang Kabataan president of the Bayao. He was drowned on October 2 while crossing the creek between Bayao and Tuga, Tabuk City which was swollen by rains dumped by the two storms.

The report also stated that some 1,695 families were affected by the calamities. The houses of six families in Pasil and one in Lubuagan were partially damaged by landslides.

Included in the PDCC report were damage estimates from the Department of Public Works and Highways and the National Irrigation Administration which claimed their infrastructures incurred damages worth P19M and P5M, respectively.

SP Resolution 2007-277 also authorized the use of the five percent calamity reserve from the first to third quarters "to alleviate the effects of the calamities." **Estanislao Albano, Jr., Zigzag Weekly, Oct. 14, 2007

Blogged with Flock

Kalinga police: Torn between 2 Regions

TABUK CITY, Kalinga - The implementation of General Order DPL 09-11 issued a month ago by then Philippine National Police Director General Oscar Calderon placing the police commands of Kalinga and Apayao under the control and supervision of Police Regional Office 2 (PR02) has put the two commands in a confusing situation.

That's because instead of fully transferring control of the two police forces to PR02, the police authorities of PR02 and the Police Regional Office-Cordillera Administrative Region (PROCAR) have decided that only the operations of the Kalinga and Apayao commands be transferred to PR02 while the administration will remain with PROCAR.

Kalinga OIC-Provincial Director Florante Camuyot told the media that he gathered during a PROCAR police command conference last week that the Philippine National Police (PNP) leadership is hesitant to fully implement the general order because of the threat of being charged administratively and criminally for undermining Executive Order 220 which created the CAR.

He identified the local officials of the region and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines as the groups poised to file the charges against the PNP lead­ership on account of the general order.

Camuyot said that with both regional offices issuing direct orders to the two police commands, "there is confusion sometimes."

He cited the case of the security preparations for the coming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections where he has to deal with the PROCAR for financial support and with PRO2 for troop augmentation.

Camuyot also said that their gas allowance which is not much to begin with is also being affected by the situation because he has to attend command conferences in both regions.

"There are a lot of work where we need the assistance of a boss. We do not know whom to turn to now," he said.

Camuyot expressed the wish that the issue under which region the Kalinga and Apayao police would be finally placed should be resolved at the soonest possible time "for us to know our real boss and to remove the confusion."

Camuyot also said that with the Kalinga LGU vehemently opposed to the transfer of control and supervision of the Kalinga police to PR02, some of the command's activities have been hampered.

He cited the directive of PR02 for the conduct of a command conference regarding the deputation of tanods and auxiliary units in the province but he is hesitant to set it up because he doubts it will be productive considering the non-acceptance of Kalinga officials of the general order.

He added the Kalinga government expressed Willingness to give some fund for physical improvements in Camp Juan Duyan, the police headquarters here, but since the issuance of the general order, he noticed that the local officials are no longer as keen on pushing through with the project. **By Estanislao Albano, Jr., Zigzag Weekly, Oct. 14, 2007

Blogged with Flock

Police chief bashes amicable settlement practice

Tabuk City, Kalinga - The chief of police of this city has lashed anew at the practice of suspects here of threatening complainants and witnesses and forcing them to agree to amicable settlement of cases.

PCI Romulo Danglose called the two practices "the agony of policemen here because they practically undo our work in investigating, identifying and filing cases against suspects."

"Settlement of cases is the in thing here. We cannot prevent the victims from agreeing to amicably settle their cases because that's their right. The problem is as a result, criminals continue to roam about the city," Danglose said.

Danglose made the remarks in connection with the filing of a robbery case against the three suspects in the robbing of a chainsaw store here and the killing of a tanod and the wounding of another evening of September 21."

Danglose explained that they have only filed the case for the robbery because they still do not have enough evidence to pin down the suspects for the murder and the wounding of the two tanods.

"We still do not have an eyewitness although the evidence at hand appear to show that the three suspects could be the same persons who shot the two tanods," Danglose said.

Danglose did not mention the names of the three suspects one of whom has already been arrested "for the safety of the complainant and the witnesses."

The police investigation showed that at around 8:30 PM of September 21, three men held up Arnel Francisco, 22, single, an employee of the Powersaw Trading stores at Dagupan Weste and Magsaysay, both in this city, while he was on his way to the latter branch.

The three men who were armed with short guns took away his Seiko Diver's watch, Nokia 3315 cellphone arid the key to the Dagupan Weste branch which two of the suspects used to open the store while the other guarded Francisco.

The two suspects took away from the store two chainsaws worth P74.000.00 and one portable generator worth P8,000.00 and cash collections of more .or less P50,000.00 after which they returned for their companion and Francisco whom they used as their hostage in their flight.

While they Were about to pass the Magsaysay barangay hall, however, a passing vehicle illuminated them and Francisco took the chance to make a run for it. He sought help from people who were drinking at a nearby store who brought him to the police station.

Danglose said that Francisco had positively identified the suspect who was arrested.

The police said that later that evening Patrick Pasabing, 49, married, a barangay tanod of Appas and and fellow-tanod Paul Ducayag, 39, saw three persons passing by carrying two chainsaws and one portable generator.

Suspecting that the persons were rohbers, the two coordinated with other tanods to block the suspects afterwhich they followed the suspects themselves, and when they reached the boundary of Appas and San Juan, they were fired upon by the suspects hitting Pasabing fatally.

The tanods who were supposed to block the path of the suspects namely Ramon Pinartoc, Lambayong Cumisa and Noel Marquez were also fired upon with Pinartoc getting hit in the stomach. **By Estanislao Albano Jr.

Blogged with Flock

Person with P300,000.00 prize on his head arrested

Tabuk City, Kalinga - Joint in­telligence operatives from the Police Regional Office of the Cordillera, from Baguio City and this province and the Kalinga Provincial Mobile Group arrested last Saturday a suspect in a kidnapping case committed in Baguio City some­time in 2003.

Roger Agtulao alias Ludlud, 31, native of Pingad, Sabangan, Mtn. Prov., has a P300,000.00 prize on his head.

Kalinga OIC-Provincial Police Director Florante Camuyot said that Agtulao who had been hiding in Bangad, Tinglayan, Kalinga, the residence of his wife, was on his way to Tabuk from Tihglayan when surprised by the police at sitio Patiking, Naneng. this city, 8:15 morning of September 29.

Camuyot said that the police were armed with a warrant of arrest for the crime of kidnapping issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 62 in La Trinidad, Benguet.

Camuyot also informed that all of the other suspects in the crime have already been arrested and are undergoing trial.**By Estanislao Albano, Jr., Zigzag Weekly, Oct. 7, 2007

Blogged with Flock

Dialogue on areglo system in the offing

Tabuk City, Kalinga - A multi-sectoral group composed of businessmen, doctors and clergymen which had a dialogue October 4 with the police over the rash of robbery incidents in the city intends to consult with lawyers and exponents of the areglo or amicable settlement practice.

This plan was prompted by the information from the police during the dialogue that along with the shortage in logistics and personnel, the areglo system is one of the major problems in the enforcement of laws in the city.

Businesswoman Christine Wangdali, one of the convenors of the dialogue, quoted the police as saying that even with the arrest of the suspects in robberies, the case will not prosper because victims normally resort to areglo or out of court settlement with the suspects.

"We sympathize with the police because once the parties agree to settlement, there is nothing anybody could do with it anymore," Wangdali said.

Dr. Cynthia Rojo, also one of those who initiated the dialogue, said there is a need to hear the positions of legal minds and binodngans (bodong practitioners) on the issue because the areglo system is one of the reasons it's the same people committing robberies in the city again and again.

She quoted Rev. Luis Aoas, one of the more active amicable settlement negotiators in the province, as saying that supposed to be, only the civil aspect of the case will be settled to bring peace to the parties involved and for the criminal aspect of the case to take its course so that the culprits would be punished and learn their lesson.

Rojo, however, said that the dilemma is that as practiced, the amicable system requires the execution of an affidavit of desistance by the complainants.

Wangdali said that aside from the plan to thresh out the issue on the areglo system, the multi-sectoral group will also help the police by lobbying with city and provincial government for the extension of more financial support to the police especially in the form of gasoline allocation.

Pending the response of the LGUs, the businessmen offered .the police 200 liters of gasoline. The police also agreed to reestablish the detachments in the Spring area along the Tabuk-Tuguegarao Road and in Luyocan along the Tabuk-Roxas Road as well as maintain a 24-hour visibility in certain areas in the city to deter criminal activities.

The group also agreed to activate a text brigade composed of concerned citizens who will report incidents and give useful information to the police through its hotlines.

The Kalinga Medical Society, the association of doctors in the province, also intends to conduct a search for model policemen as a means of encouraging better performance amongst them. **by Estanislao Albano , Jr., Zigzag Weekly, Oct. 7, 2007

Blogged with Flock

“Bolt cutter” gang on the loose in Tabuk City

Tabuk City, Kalinga - A gang which makes use of bolt cutters to destroy padlocks to gain entry into buildings appears to be on the loose in Tabuk City adding another woe to store owners in the locality.

On the night of September 14, three business establishments in downtown Tabuk were burglarized through the use of bolt cutters.

The Safe Value Convenience and Drug Store lost coins amounting to P2,930.00, the Nansev Grocery Store lost change amounting to P5.000.00 and checks amounting to P28,000.00 and Casigayan Farm Supply could not account for more or less P50.00 in coins after the break-in.

Tabuk City Police Chief Investigator Manolito Meana said that had the robbers been professionals, they would have taken expensive medicines from the victimized drug store.

Betty Cawilan, owner of the Casigayan Farm Supply which is infront of the Tabuk public market, observed that the two padlocks and chain which the robbers cut were worth more than the amount taken from the store.

Cawilan complained that the police were sleeping on the job because had they been patrolling, there is a chance they may have apprehended the culprits if not in her establishment, in either of the two other victimized stores.

Meana brushed aside the comment that the bolt cutter robberies were a slap on the face of the police because the robbed establishments were within 300 meters from the police station.

"These criminals monitor the police station who might have seen that the police car just entered the compound and that was when they struck." Meana said.

Regarding the robbery on the Safe Value Convenience and Drug Store which is around 100 meters away from the police station, Meana said that the neighbors heard loud metallic sounds coming from the store but they did not alert the police.

Robbery is still one of the most prevalent crimes being committed in the city.

Starting September 1, some 14 burglaries and stick-ups have been reported in the police blotters.

These include the hold-up to two employees of the Motortrade Company who were on their way to Tuguegarao City on a motorcycle when they were stopped by three men armed with guns. The two employees lost P 13,400.00 in cash and also their cellphones.**by Estanislao Albano, Jr., Zigzag Weekly, Sept. 23, 2007

Blogged with Flock

Competitive

The optimistic forecast, at the start of this year, was for the exchange rate to hold at P46:$1. That was subsequently revised to P45:$1.

This week, a number of investment houses have readjusted their projections. Some of them are looking at an exchange rate of P40:$1 by the end of this year.

If that happens, the peso will likely be the best performing currency in the whole world.

Last Monday, the Philippine Stock Exchange charged ahead to a new record high. The bullishness was attributed to positive jobs growth data in the US, indicating that major consumer economy was not about to slide into recession in the foreseeable future. Read more...

New bid to pass law for cheap medicines

LOBBY AT WORK: Too many Filipinos suffer or die just because they cannot afford to buy good medicine. Senate Bill No. 1658 seeking to provide quality and affordable drugs to the public has been sponsored by Sen. Mar Roxas to correct that.

The bill is the resurrection of a similar Roxas measure approved by the Senate in the last Congress — but dribbled to death by the House of Representatives until adjournment overtook it. Its demise in the House had been traced to an expensive lobby by drug companies, some of them multinationals. Read more...

Aggression

We will have peace and quiet for a few weeks. Congress is in recess and the politicians are off on their favorite junket destinations.

Last week, however, we saw the sort of belated Halloween the politicians intend to pop on us when they get back from their break.

After savaging their guests during the NBN hearings, the senators started to savage each other before the recess (and their respective flight schedules) forced a time-out on the hostilities. Read more...

Stop US Intervention Against Breastfeeding!

Just this morning, October 5, 2007, I opened my email inbox and found out a message that is so shuddering in my mind. How the hell could the US officials and businessmen trivialize the health and nutrition of babies worldwide? That is inhuman; plain and simple!

I am quoting some texts of the message and ask you to please sign the online petition.

Help us save 16,000 Filipino children’s lives every year and 1.5 million babies dying every year throughout the world, because they were not breastfed.

To counter the mounting pressure that US officials and businessmen exert against breastfeeding advocates and Philippine health officials to prevent them from strictly implementing the laws that protect breastfeeding, the initiator of this petition-signing organized two simultaneous breastfeeding Guinness World Records in single and multiple sites in the Philippines, synchronized breastfeeding worldwide and initiated Senate and Congress hearings in her country. The battle has reached the Supreme Court and the case is still being adjudicated. The case constitutes a precedent that may affect the Breastfeeding Movement in the entire world, especially in developing countries where the financial muscle of multinational corporations and official American pressure are influencing national policies.

We humbly submit for your consideration this petition to the people and leaders of the United States from the mothers and breastfeeding advocates of the world, in consideration of the coming US presidential election, and the opportunity it provides us who are gathered here from all over the world, to acquaint them of our concerns, especially those of the poor countries, that they may better exercise their role as the leader and role model of the world.

And the dispositive portion of the petition reads as follows:

Now therefore, the undersigned mothers and breastfeeding advocates, representing themselves, their organizations and their respective nations, as well as American citizens who believe in the cause of breastfeeding, do humbly and respectfully petition the people and leaders of the United States,
(1) to enjoin the multinational milk companies as well as the United States government to respect the 2001 Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health that Public Health is far more important than issues involving intellectual property rights (WTO on 14 November 2001 declared, “The TRIPS Agreement does not and should not prevent members from taking measures to protect public health”; a joint WTO-WHO study in 2002 reaffirmed that statement);
(2) to enjoin US embassies to observe international protocol in presenting their demands to other countries, that is, to course their demands in writing through the Foreign Ministry of the country involved, instead of utilizing back channels and verbal intervention to impose its will on government officials, especially when it involves issues of Breastfeeding;
(3) to make sure that the breastfeeding issue is taken up in every political platform in the coming US presidential elections for the consideration of the entire electorate; and finally
(4) to make it understood among all nations on earth that America ’s main business is NOT “business itself” or corporate profits, but more importantly, international amity and the betterment of all humankind, as befits a nation with the might and power to lead the world.

Please sign this petition at: http://www.petitiononline.com/probf1/petition.html

Blogged with Flock

Tabuk City hybrid rice production down

Tabuk City, Kalinga - Tabuk may have lost its reputation as the informal hybrid rice capital of the country after its hybrid seed and hybrid commercial rice production plunged in the last three years.

After it exceeded 700 hectares for F1 or hybrid seed production in 2003 and 2004 and 7,000 hectares for commercial hybrid rice or F2 production during the same period, it is now down to 40 hectares for F1 production and 1,579 for commercial rice production this wet season.

City Agricultural Services Officer Gilbert Cawis said that development is attributed to a lot of factors including the deterioration of the quality of both the F1 seeds and the A x B seeds (parent lines of F1).

According to Cawis, many commercial rice farmers were turned off after their supposed the F1 seeds yielded multi-variety rice while the seed producers were also discouraged after their A x B have been found to be impure.

Cawis hinted that the Philrice, one of the government agencies promoting the hybrid rice technology, is partly responsible because, it is the source of the A x B seeds and some of the A x R being planted in the area.

Cawis also blamed Tabuk farmers because some of them do not rogue or remove the off type rice plants and likewise the seed inspectors of the Kalinga LGU for not being strict in the implementation of the procedures of F1 production.

It's not only local farmers who are victimized by the low quality seeds but farmers in other regions where the F1 production of Tabuk are being sold. Cawis said he has learned from the Agriculture Training Institute that Bicol farmers are complaining of the impure seeds sold to them by Tabuk farmers.

According to Cawis, rouging is necessary because once the seeds are harvested, there no longer is a way to determine if they are F1 or not because they look the same although their genetic characteristics are different.

Another factor in the case of F1 production is the difficulty in collecting payments from the Department of Agriculture - Cordillera, Cawis said adding that there are times when the it takes two cropping seasons before the payment of the seeds are collected.

"If the farmer has only two hectares and he has planted the whole area to A x R, where will he get his operational expenses for the next cropping season if his seeds are not paid on time?" Cawis asked.

Cawis also said that farm workers compound the problem by charging higher rates for pulling and planting seedlings on the grounds that hybrid rice farmers earn a lot from their crops.

He said that for inbred rice, farm workers charge P3,600.00 for the pulling and transplanting but demand P4,000.00 for hybrid rice.

Cawis also said that the change in the eating quality of the Mestizo 1, one of two government hybrid rice varieties, has worked against the promotion of hybrid rice among farmers.

Cawis alleged that the higher price of hybrid seeds as against inbred rice seeds is also turning away farmers.

This cropping season and with the government subsidy for each bag of F1 at P1,000.00, the farmer's equity is P1,400.00. It is higher if the seed is produced by the private companies.

The question in the mind of Cawis and other agriculture officials in the province is how to recover the billing of Tabuk as the leading hybrid rice producing locality in the country.

Cawis said that the recent entry of private firms engaged in the production of hybrid seeds in Tabuk is an initial step along this direction because these firms are very strict in the enforcement of the standards of seed production.

Just this cropping season, the SL8 Agritech, the leading private seed producer in the country, has expanded its operation to Tabuk planting 14.5 hectares to it's A x R and Cawis said that this might increase depending on the result of the trial. **by Estanislao Albano , Jr.

Kalinga now has crime lab

Tabuk City, Kalinga – In what is seen by many as a shot in the arm of crime fighting in the province, a crime laboratory has just been established here. It was inaugurated September 26,2007.

Inspector Joel Bentican, chief of the laboratory, said that pending the appointment of more personnel and provision of more equipment, they will be initially performing paraffin tests and authentication of the identity of motor vehicles in addition to conducting scene of the crime operation (SOCO).

Bentican said that examinations which their office cannot perform will be forwarded to the regional crime laboratory and to the national crime laboratory in cases of DNA testing.

Bentican believes that with the presence of a SOCO in the province, the criminal elements win lie low because they will have to contend with the scientific means of investigating and prosecuting crimes.

Kalinga Philippine Nation Police investigation chief PSI Joe Baday also said that the coming of the crime laboratory will be a great.

To prove his point, Baday informed that a SOCO could only be done on the murder of Vice Governor Rommel Diasen last April three days after and two days after the bloody demolition in Malapiat, Rizal last June because the SOCO team came all the way from Camp Dangwa in Benguet.

Baday said that while it is true that local police investigators are also trained in evidence gathering and handling, the SOCO are specialists and with them, “the proper way of gathering, preserving and transporting of evidence will be observed.”

“With the SOCO team already here, we can go together to the crime scene instead or waiting for them to come later,” Baday said.

Cordillera crime laboratory Chief Dalmacio Magastino, who was present during the inauguration on September 26, informed the media that there are five slots for the crime laboratory available this year to beef up the seven initial manpower of the office.

He also sees the addition of a forensic chemist to the team in the near future. With the addition of three such items for the Cordillera “one of whom will most likely be assigned to Kalinga.”

He informed that the establishment of the Kalinga laboratory is part of the program of the national leadership of the PNP Crime Laboratory to set up crime laboratories in all the provinces adding that the Kalinga crime laboratory is the second opened this year. **Estanislao Albano, Jr.

Blogged with Flock

Congressman fields anti-robbery teams

Tabuk City; Kalinga - In a bid to finally put a stop to the rampant robberies along the two major entry points to the province, the office of the congressman here has fielded two teems of elders to the Tabuk - Tuguegarao Road and the Tabuk - Roxas Road sections where these robberies have been taking place starting this September.

Ruben Tuazon, peace and order coordinator of the office of the congressman, informed the media that the two teams composed of elders from native tribes living along the two roads are tasked to convince the people in the areas to turn from hold-ups to legitimate livelihood activities and also to point to hold-uppers and stand as witnesses against them.

Tuazon said that Congressman Manuel Agyao has decided to hire and field the eight elders who are divided into two teams because for quite a time now, the hold-ups have been happening despite the presence of the police.

Tuazon said that Agyao is ready to help the people in the hold-up areas to engage in banana and beans production as alternative livelihood activities and will look for direct buyers for their future produce.

The frequent robberies occurring in these roads have the effect of driving away businessmen who want to do business in Tabuk and likewise give people who want no come and visit second thoughts.

Tuazon informed that on September 24 the team working the Tabuk - Tuguegarao Road has already scored an initial success after it was able to convince the culprits in a robbery staged there that day to return their loot to the victim.

Tuazon related that one Napoleon Matute who was then riding a motorcycle with his kid was held-up near the cemetery in Nambaran and was divested of his cellphone and wallet containing Pl,000.00 cash.

Learning of the robbery, a roving member of the team who happened to be near the site of the hold-up called on the other members of the four-man team and tracked down the robbers to their hiding place.

Tuazon said that at first, the culprits denied that they pulled off the stick-up but would later admit and surrender the items taken from Matute to the elders.

Later, the elders and Matute went to the police station in Bulanao to report the incident. However, Matute was afraid to press charges and the elders just executed affidavits naming the hold-uppers and pointing to their whereabouts. **By Estanislao Albano, Jr.

Blogged with Flock