2 dead, 18 injured in grenade explosion in Kalinga

Two persons were killed while 18 others were injured when a grenade explosion hit a small carnival in Tabuk City, Kalinga

Victim Joel Tabanganay died instantly during the explosion that took place past 11 a.m. Another victim, identified as Redentor Bayangan, died while being treated at a nearby hospital. Read more...

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Project watchdog runs out of patience on DPWH

Tabuk City, Kalinga - After waiting in vain for months for answers on the allegedly anomalous implementation of a P2M farm-to-market (FMR) project, a joint project monitoring group here has run out of patience and is suing all those involved in the project.

Claiming that they have been given the runaround by the Department of Public Works and Hjghways-Kalinga Engineering District (DPWH-KED), the group which is composed of the Kaljnga and Apayao Religious Sector Association (KARSA), the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and Provincial Agrarian Reform Coordinating Committee (PARCCOM) are in the process of filing formal charges with the assistance of the Concerned Citizens of Abra for Good Governance (CCAGG).

Fr. Denver Marrero of the KARSA said that the gist of their complaint is that the process of awarding the project was grossly disregarded and that the KED paid 89 percent of the amount when only 34 percent of the project has been accomplished.

"With the project being CARP-funded, the PARO (Provincial Agrarian Reform Office) should have been the one to bid it out but according to PARO (Victoriano) Laguinday, his office only learned of the existence of the project when it was already being implemented. At least, the PARO should have been represented in the bidding but what allegedly happened was that it was the DPWH which bidded out the project," Marrero told the media.

Marrero said that the group first inspected the project on November 22,2007 and promptly informed the DPWH of its findings but only received an answer sometime in January 2008 that the implementation was slated for completion on December 27, 2007 as it was delayed due to the road having been washed out by a typhoon.

Marrero related that on March 27, the monitoring team inspected the project again this time with engineers from the DPWH.

Marrero said that after their engineers bored and measured the project, the group assessed the accomplishment to be mere 34 percent as against the claim Df the DPWH of 89 percent.

Marrero said that on March 12, the group went to see District Engineer Leo Mustard but it was Assistant District Engineer George Mi-ing, Construction Chief Ernesto Vecaldo, Project Coordinator Teodoro Owek and Project Engineer Elemar Palattao who faced them.

Marrero said that instead of being clarified, more questions arose during the meeting because Palattao who did not take part in the measurement and boring although present during inspection tried to question the accuracy of the findings.

According to Marrero, the group next recommended to the. DPWH "to explain why thecon-tractor collected P1.63M despite his accomplishment of only P667,573.43," discipline all the DPWH personnel involved in the project and blacklist the contractor from taking part in the bidding of all future CARP-funded projects.

"There was no action on our recommendation. Neither was there any response to the PARCs letter sometime in April asking for the status of the case. All our communications were duly received," Marrero said. **By Estanislao Albano, Jr.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tabuk City to mark first anniversary with a big bang

Tabuk City - With high hopes that the petition against the legality of its conversion into a city now pending before the Supreme Court (SC) will be junked, the leadership of this city is gearing to mark its first foundation anniversary June 24.

With the theme "Abante Tabuk: The City of Life," the four-day celebration which starts on June 23 will revolve around the city's reputation as one of the country's leading producer of hybrid rice and the main white water rafting destination in the north and aims to project Tabuk as the "city of life."

The city will also play up its rich amalgam of indigenous culture as majority of its population are native Cordillerans.

One of the new attractions of the foundation day celebration otherwise known as Matajoan Festival - matagoan is the Kalinga word for place of life - will be the "Longest Hybrid Rice Linudag Show" where hybrid rice will be cooked in bamboo cuts placed horizontally over the fire. The show will link Bulanao and the Poblacion, the two centers of the city, which are seven kilometers apart.

Mayor Camilo Lammawin, Jr. said that one of the aims of "Longest Hybrid Linudag Show" which fuses the traditional and the modern is to place the city in the Guinness Book of Records later on but that more than the record, "we want to send the signal that our city is contending for the title 'Hybrid Rice Capital of the Philippines'.”

In 2004, the Department of Agriculture has adjudged Tabuk as the town with the widest area planted to commercial hybrid rice. It is also widely accepted by hybrid rice experts that Tabuk possesses the ideal convergence of soil, altitude and climate for the production of hybrid rice seeds.

Acknowledging that without the people who labor in the fields, Tabuk would never have attained and maintained its title "Rice Granary of the Cordillera" and could never contend for the accolade "Hybrid Rice Capital of the Philippines," Lammawin said that the farming sector will get centerstage through games and competitions such as manual rice hauling or karyada and carabao racing on the second day of the festival.

The third day will showcase the culture of the city. It will be kicked off by the 8Km Matagoan Fun Run where the runners would wear nothing but G-strings to be highlighted by competitions in cultural street dancing and in other native cultural practices.

For those who seek adventure and sports, the action will shift to the Chico River morning of the fourth day of the festival for a taste of white water rafting.

City Tourism Officer Designate Loyda Saboy says that this year and as part of the city's continuing tourism promotion, fresh graduates from the city's high schools will be given free rafting rides because of the idea of the Mayor Lammawin that with personal experience in rafting, these students will become effective promoters of the city's foremost tourism draw wherever they would be enrolled.

The province of Kalinga is known as the "Whitewater Rafting Capital of Northern Philippines" and the busiest rafting section of the Chico River is the stretch which passes the city.

Invited as guest of honors of the festival are Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and Cordillera Tourism Director Purificacion Molintas.

The League of Cities of the Philippines is challenging the legality of the conversion of Tabuk and fifteen other municipalities into cities in the SC claiming that it violates RA 9009 which increased the local income of towns applying to become component cities to P100M. **By Estanislao Albano Jr.

Blogged with the Flock Browser