Some rice traders in Tabuk City stop buying palay

Tabuk City, Kalinga - As the prices of rice in the country continue their upward climb, the prices of palay (unhusked rice) in this city have started a steep downward trend dashing the hopes of farmers for a higher income this cropping season.

From all time highs of P17.00 per kilo for fresh palay and PI 8.50 per kilo for dried palay last week, the prices have gone down to P15.00 and P16.50 for fresh and dried palay, respectively, as of this writing.

Worse, half of the local rice traders have stopped buying palay starting early this week alleging the instability of palay prices which they claimed started to manifest starting last weekend when nearly everyday the price in the market went down by as much as P0.50 per kilo a day.

Maxell Co of the Maxell Rice Mill in Magsaysay, this city, alleged that according to their sources, as of press time the price of fresh palay in Isabela where they sell their stocks is PI5.00 per kilo.

"The stocks in my warehouse were bought at P16.00 per kilo so I will be in trouble if the price keeps going down," Co said adding that from what he heard, the downtrend of palay prices in the market is due to the coming into play of the law of supply and demand because of the simultaneous harvest in many places in the country.

Daryl Estranero of the Universal Grains Center in Bulanao Norte, this city, on the other hand claimed that the price in Isabela plunged from P16.00 to P14.50 on April 15 when it rained there so he had no choice but to stop buying.

He also said that one other reason he has stopped buying is that with a large volume of palay already being harvested in many parts of Isabela, the big time rice traders there have tightened their classification procedures.

"We stopped buying because the price is unstable. We thought that the price would stabilize at the new level but we were wrong. It is possible that the price will go back to normal which is P9.40 to P9.70 for fresh and P12.00 for dry," Estranero said.

Regarding the accusation of farmers that local traders are cartelized, Estranero said that they have an organization but the purpose is to maintain uniformity of prices among them and not to take advantage of farmers.

He also denied the speculation of farmers that the local palay traders agreed among themselves to stop buying as a prelude to bringing down the prices declaring that they are just following the current prices in the market because if they don't, they will incur losses.

As for the allegation that local palay traders are preventing outside buyers to deal directly with farmers, Estranero said that local traders pay their taxes and .that there are many farmers who run to the buying stations for their farm inputs.

"There is no problem if outside buyers go directly to the farmers except that it is to us the farmers come to when they are in need," Estranero said.

He challenged the complaining farmers to just put up their own trading business and see if they could take the pressure of the volatile palay trading. **By Estanislao Albano, Jr.

Man wanted in Cagayan falls in Kalinga

Tabuk City, Kalinga - A man wanted for a case of robbery with homicide in Penablanca, Cagayan was arrested by operatives of the Kalinga Provincial Police Office (KPPO) night of April 15,2008 in his house at Magaogao, Pinukpuk, this province.

Inspector Abraham Galingan who headed the ar-resting team informed the media that Nestor Merin, 29, single, and resident of Magaogao was asleep in his house when the police served the alias warrant of arrest issued by Judge Jezarene Aquino of the Regional Trial Court Branch 5 of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.

Galingan said that the arrest came after an intelligence report that Merin was sighted in Magaogao turned out positive.

Galingan said that Merin was implicated in the break-in of the house of Penablanca businessman Hermogenes Addun which resulted in the killing of Addun sometime in December 2006.

The police official said that after Lupo Tuliao of Buyan, Penablanca was arrested in Tuga, this city, sometime in December 2006, for a different crime, he revealed his involvement in the Addun robbery case and likewise pointed to Merin, Agustin Cawilan of Camalog, Pinukpuk, and Peter Bakulen of Pinukpuk as his companions which prompted the filing of a of robbery with homicide case against them.

Merin admitted that he was with the group during the incident but claimed that it was his companions who entered the house of Addun.

The arrest of Merin came at the heels of the apprehension of Hadji Obal, the No. 5 most wanted man in the Cordillera, at sitio Dalimuno, Bantay, this city, at 4 AM of April 9.

Galingan who also headed the arresting team said that the arrest was made in compliance with the warrant of arrest issued by Judge Marcelino Wacas of Regional Trial Court Branch 25 of this city for the crimes of double murder and frustrated murder. **By Estanislao Albano, Jr.

Tabuk City hog raisers fail to make the most of current hog supply shortage

Tabuk City, Kalinga - The hog supply shortage brought about by the recent hog epidemic which originated from Bulacan and spread to other parts of Luzon including the Cagayan Valley and Kalinga has jacked up live and dressed weight prices here.

City Veterinarian Fermin Quinto said that around 20 percent of the hog population in the city was lost due to the infection of hog cholera, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) and the circo virus disease.

But according to Quinto, despite the crisis, local hog raisers as usual are not getting the most from their production because local meat vendors are reluctant to let them.

Quinto told the media that while meat vendors from Cagayan and Isabela now going around the city looking for hogs are buying at P90.00 to P95.00 per kilo, local meat vendors are buying hogs at P85.00 to P90.00 and that's even after they have raised the price of lean pork meat to P140.00 from the P130.00 set by City Ordinance No. 04, series of 2004.

Quinto also said it is doubtful if during the present crisis the local meat vendors will stop their notorious practices of not paying hog raisers right away and returning the parts of the hog which are hard to sell such as the head, feet and belly to the hog raiser at the dressed weight price.

Quinto said that hog raisers are partly to blame for the shabby treatment they are receiving from the meat vendors because they could not put up a united stand relative to the local meat vendors.

"For many years now, we have been telling them to organize so they could have a strong bargaining position with the vendors but none of the several organizations they have set up without assistance ever became operational," Quinto said.

Quinto added that they have stressed to the hog raisers that the best thing they could do is not to remain mere producers but also to slaughter and process their hogs so they could dictate the price but the hog raisers are not heeding the advice.

Asked for their side, Tabuk Market Meat Vendors Association (TMMVA) Vice President Elizabeth Castillo denied that they have raised pork prices claiming that P140.00 per kilo is the legal price.

She explained that prior to the current hog supply shortage when there was an over-supply of hogs they have been selling meat at as low as P120.00 per kilo.

Castillo rued that when it's the live weight price of hogs which are hiked, it goes unnoticed but when it's the prices of pork which are raised, the public and hog raisers raise a howl.

She said that the TMMVA are planning to raise the prices of pork to PI 50.00 per kilo so that they could compete with the outside meat vendors who are buying at as high as P100.00 per live weight kilo.

Regarding the issue of parts .of hogs being returned by buying meat vendors to hog raisers, Castillo said that no member in the TMMVA is involved except in the case of sows but then again, it is only when the hog raiser consents.

Anticipating that the hog raisers will not respond to fresh calls for them to sit down to plan and formulate strategies to successfully deal with the meat vendors, Quinto only gave them the practical advice not to sell the hogs they are fattening which are not yet of market weight of 90 to 120 kilos so they could maximize their investment.

Regarding the hog epidemic, Quinto said that his office has not received any report of an incident since mid-March in the wake of the information campaign, distribution of disinfectants which were provided by the Department of Agriculture and massive vaccination undertaken by his office. **By Estanislao Albano, Jr.

Tabuk City agri official sees increased subsidy to rice farmers as solution to shortage

Tabuk City, Kalinga - The top agri official of this city, dubbed the "Rice Granary of the Cordillera," says that the government is in the right track when it recently increased the government palay support price to PI7.00 per kilo and likewise the subsidy for seeds.

City Agriculturist Gilbert Cawis believes that in the end, the increase of government subsidy to rice farmers will solve the rice shortage because it encourages the latter to maximize the yield of their farmlands.

“The higher NFA (National Food Authority) price for palay is expected to raise the buying price by private traders and the bigger seed subsidy is another morale-booster for farmers both of which have the effect of making the farmer produce more rice," Cawis said.

According to Cawis, this cropping season, the government has increased the subsidy for hybrid seeds from P1,000.00 to P1,500.00 per bag and for in-bred varieties from P440.00 to P600.00 per bag.

Cawis said that another reason the government should increase subsidy to the rice farming sector is the skyrocketing of farm input prices.

He suggested that the government should address this concern by giving free compost fertilizers to farmers because not only is organic fertilizer cheaper but it is also environmentally friendly unlike inorganic fertilizers which make the soil acidic.

The agricultural official believes that although most farmers prefer commercial fertilizers due to the easier application and quicker results, "they will use compost fertilizer if this is given free."

A check with palay traders in the locality showed that at the moment when the current crop is starting to come in, the price of fresh palay is P16.50 per kilo and dried palay at P18.70 a kilo, the highest ever in the history of Tabuk Valley.

Cawis also said that the government should also control the importation of rice because if rice floods the market, the tendency is for the price of palay to revert to old levels to the detriment of the farmers.

With its 10,000 hectares of irrigated rice lands, the Tabuk Valley is the foremost rice producer in the Cordillera. **By Estanislao Albano, Jr.

Democracy 102

By Prof. Alex Magno
This is a continuation of last Thursday’s discussion on the problems confronting our practice of democratic politics.

Considering all the structural constraints on the full blossoming of democratic practice in the country, how do we proceed?

Time is running short. The 2010 elections is fast approaching. It will be a severe stress test on our institutions and our democratic faith.

If we become path-dependent, continue with politics as usual, the next government will be as tenuous as this one. It will continue to be besieged by hostile political factions trying very hard for the established authority to fail. There will be more political circuses, more scandal-mongering and more unseemly alliances among opportunists.

By 2010, the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo presidency will be the second longest-serving administration in our Republic’s history. The longest one was Ferdinand Marcos’. But that was unduly extended by martial rule and dramatically terminated by means of an uprising.

The fact that this administration survived is a feat by itself.

The constitutional structure within which we operate is designed to doom the presidency. The single-term provision makes the incumbent a lame duck on Day One. The multiparty electoral system condemns every winning candidate to the top post to the status of minority president, vulnerable to being held hostage by every political bloc that could muster votes in the Congress for an impeachment or mount a sustained campaign to diminish the President’s popularity and political capital. Read more...

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Democracy 101

By Prof. Alex Magno

Bear with me.

In preparation for an international meeting on the future of democracy in the Philippines, I have been focusing my thoughts on what works, what doesn’t and what is likely in our democratic practice.

The interest of other nations in our glories — and our follies — is understandable. We are Asia’s oldest democracy. Which is not to say that we are Asia’s most mature.

We know, from observing people around us, that age and maturity are two very different things.

Our practice of democracy has had its ups and downs. The democratic edifice has been accused of concealing oligarchic rule. As a form of government, democracy has not enabled us to be our best. Our spotty economic record attests to that.

Once before, the democratic culture was unable to resist a long period of dictatorship. But then again, the dictatorship was terminated by a flamboyant democratic uprising. A regime armed repression was overthrown by the solidarity of a people daring to mount an unarmed resistance.

The grand hopes sparked by a spectacular uprising were dashed by inept and corrupt government. A facsimile of the first uprising was again launched in 2001. The same grand hopes were sparked and then dashed just as quickly.

Two years from now, we will hold critical elections for a new president using the same antiquated and vulnerable electoral process we have kept that way for decades. There is some potential for the whole process breaking down and the continuity of our democracy put in peril. Read More...

US eye mission in Tabuk City unable to serve all comers

Tabuk City, Kalinga - An eye . medical mission conducted here by optometrists and optometry students from the Amigos ofthe Pacific University (AFU) College of Optometry in New Groove, Oregon was cut short after the group ran out of glasses.

The mission which started on March 22 and supposed to last until March 25, was terminated on March 24 with those coming on the 25th turned away.

Natividad Sugguiyao, president of the Rotary Club of Tabuk, which, along with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, organized the eye mission, informed the media that after serving more or less 3,000 eye patients, the mission wasn't able to accommodate some 300 patients who came on the fourth day due to the exhaustion of their supply of reading glasses.

In behalf of the Rotary Club of Tabuk, Sugguiyao apologized to those who were not served on account of the shortage of the supply.

She also relayed that Dr Thomas Barreto, one of the three AFU optometrists who held the clinic, had said that they are leaving with a heavy heart and had vowed to return in two years.

Sugguiyao said the AFU group which is conducting eye missions all over the world came to Tabuk for the first time in 2006 and that at that time, even after serving 2,000 patients, the group had not run out of glasses.

According to Sugguiyao, in addition to the check-up and free glasses, in partnership with the College of Optometry of the University of Santo Tomas (UST), the 2006 mission conducted operation on patients with cataracts.

Saying that during this mission, some 91 patients were found out to need cataract operations, Sugguiyao announced that arrangements have been made for them to have free operations at the UST provided that they go there on their own and pay the P6,000.00 fee for the operation room.

In reaction to various complaints and criticisms from the public on the conduct of the eye mission, Sugguiyao simply promised that there will be a better system next time.

Sugguiyao thanked Orlando Obar of the Lions' Club Corregidor in Los Angeles, California for coordinating with the AFU and likewise the Kalinga LGU for offering the KPH as venue for the mission. **By Estanislao Albano, Jr.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Can signatures change a culture?

That's the question in the midst of efforts of the peace arm of Tabuk City to ratify policies that conflict with the practices of remaining warlike tribes here.

The Matagoan Bodong Consultative Council (MBCC), this city's version of the peace and order council, is currently holding an information drive among ethnic communities in the city on policies passed by the council which include the "no gopas" policy banning the severance of a bodong or peace pact and the mandate on tribes not to coddle members who commit crimes.

Community Affairs Officer Alexander Gunaban said that after the explanation of the policies to the tribes, the tribal leaders or papangats and the barangay officials will be made to sign the document as a manifestation of their approval and commitment to comply and likewise help implement the policies.

"Their signature means they agree with the policies and will stand for them. If they would later violate the policies, we will remind them that they have signed the document”, Gunaban said.

Gunaban said only members of the MBCC have signed the policies during their passage in 2006 and their amendment in 2007.

Gunaban admits the "no gopas" policy which in effect outlaws tribal wars may meet strong resistance considering that there are still tribes specially in Upper Kalinga who are warlike but at the same time, he expressed the optimism that the time has come for cultural change.

"Even tribes in Lower Kalinga who are now referred to as Lipa (hen) used to relish killing but when they saw that the act is against the laws of God and of the government, they stopped. It may take a long time yet for the kawitan (rooster) tribes to do away with violence but if we start now, we might yet succeed," Gunaban said.

Gunaban reiterated that there is no logic in severing the bodong the moment the tribes cannot come to terms over a case because the bodong is supposed to be a bridge for peace between tribes.

He claimed that the "no gopas" policy makes the bodong consistent with national law.

Gunaban also pointed out that the conversion of Tabuk into a city is an added impetus for cultural change. The policies have already been ratified by six of the eight original Kalinga tribes inhabiting Tabuk and that after the eight tribes, they will go to the Kalinga tribes hailing from other municipalities and also the immigrant groups.

CAO Heriberto Barila who is part of the team conducting the information and ratification campaign alleged that some members of the warlike tribes he has talked to have expressed willingness to embrace the MBCC policies because they realize the high price of tribal vendetta.

"One of those I talked to pointed out that when the bodong is severed, the students and the sick who are in the matagoan have to be evacuated. Another said that they just came to live in Tabuk and they therefore should follow the laws of the original inhabitants of the place," Barila said.

Under the MBCC policies, the matagoan or peace zone of the city where the policies apply are the seven barangays in the center of the city which are not covered by a bodong, namely: Bulanao, Bulana Norte, San Juan, Appas, Magsaysay, Dagupan Centro and Dagupan Weste.

Asked what happens in case some tribal leaders and barangay officials refuse to sign the document, Gunaban said they will ask why and then solicit their "suggestions on how to safeguard the matagoan." **By Estanislao Albano, Jr.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Memorial shrine for people who perished due to violence in Kalinga inaugurated

Tabuk City, Kalinga - People who want to remember their relatives and friends who lost their Lives through tribal and” criminal violence in the province now have a place to go aside from the individual graves of the victims.

Called the Peace Memorial Shrine, the landmark which is located at the Roman Catholic Pastoral Center in Bulanao, this city, is a 20-foot edifice consisting of two hands one of which holds a cross and the other reaching for a dove with a gong hanging from its beak.

A granite marker at the base of the statue is inscribed with the names of the four Roman Catholic priests who were killed in the province and the words “and all victims of tribal and criminal violence. May the blood they shed be the seed of lasting peace in Kalinga.”

Forming the background of the statue are two oval-shaped panels. In between the two panels is a flat panel inscribed with the text of Luke 6:29 - “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.”

Beside the central panel is a fountain of jars.

During the inauguration of the landmark on March 15, Bishop Prudencio Andaya, Jr. of the Vicariate of Tabuk, said that the two hands symbolize the aspiration of the people of Kalinga for peace and reconciliation, the cross is an emblem of God’s infinite love and compassion and of Jesus who offered Himself for the salvation of mankind, the dove, peace and the gong speaks of the cultural practice whereby people can only dance when peace exists.

Andaya said that when funds are available, the names of all the victims shall be engraved in bronze crosses on the background panels.

The shrine is a physical symbol of the peace movement being spearheaded by the Peacemakers’ involvement, a group of aggrieved families united by their renunciation of vengeance and the yearning and commitment to work for lasting peace in the province.

Andaya informed during the inauguration that on March 14, the existence of the Peacemakers’ Movement has been formalized through the formulation of their vision-mission and the formation of their organization structure.

The vision mission of the movement is as follows: “We envision a dynamic, Christ-centered organization committed to justice and peace whose members are imbued with integrity as instruments of healing and reconciliation to build a peaceful Kalinga.”

The inauguration of the shrine brought together relatives of victims of violence including Governor Floydelia Diasen, Tabuk City Mayor Camilo Lammawin, Jr. and Jane Claver, wife of former Kalinga Congressman William Claver.

Diasen’s husband, then Vice Governor Rommel Diasen, was gunned down on April 7, 2007, Lammawin’s brother, Judge Milnar Lammawin, was murdered on August.9, 2004 and a son of the Clavers was also lost in a violent incident sometime in the 1990s.

In her extemporaneous and emotional speech, the governor spoke of the pain and anguish of losing her husband, the necessity of moving on after the tragedy, God’s constant love and care, and her hope that one day the province will finally find lasting peace.

The governor said that in the midst of her effort to come to terms with the loss and move one, there is the nagging pain about finding justice for her husband even as she asked all the aggrieved people present to pray for justice “for the death of our loved ones, specially death that we could not explain.”

Commenting on the Biblical passage on the background of the edifice, the governor said: “I am trying to find the logic of this but then our enemies are also God’s people. And so I think that if we are able to find a place for our enemies in our hearts, then we can find peace. Let us hope that as we love our enemies, we could build a peaceful community especially in Tabuk.”

She called the acceptance of the loss of a loved one without bitterness the first step in attaining peace.

Earlier in the program, Lilia Langbayan, whose testimony had inspired Andaya to initiate the formation of the Peacemakers’ Movement in 2004, shared her experience following the murder of her son, Bernard Vincent, a new engineer.

She said that she went thrice to Piat, Cagayan to pray to the Virgin Mary for strength and guidance after which she was led to entrust her burden to the mercy of God for the acceptance of the life of her son and likewise the healing of the one who committed the crime. ** By Estanislao Albano , Jr.

Blogged with the Flock Browser