THE Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) is pointing to the Intelligence Service Unit of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp) as behind the disappearance of one of its members, James Balao.
The CPA based this allegation on Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) dossier, which classified Balao as a ranking official of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) who heads the "education bureau" of the group.
Balao, a founding member of the CPA, was reported missing since September 17. As of this writing Thursday, Balao has not surfaced.
CPA chairperson Beverly Longid said her group has reason to believe the AFP is behind Balao's disappearance because prior to this, he reported someone has been tailing him from his residence to anywhere he went. **By Rimaliza Opiña, Sunstar Baguio Read more..
Kalinga province will conduct the Diddiga Festival with the theme “Pride of the Past – Hope for the Future” as they join the world in celebrating the Indigenous People’s Month this coming October. According to Miss Natividad Sugguiyao, provincial officer of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), “Diddiga” is a Kalinga term used in the Ullalim which literally means “pride” or “a show of beauty “expressed through one’s talent, arts, prowess, strength and everything that is beautiful – making the Diddiga Festival 2008 a ‘festival of Kalinga’s Best.’ The month long festival she said will feature four culture-rich events consisting of the Forum on Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) to provide a venue for the public to understand better the rights of IPs and clarify issues concerning their ancestral domains. Another event would be the Chico River Festival that will offer the people a chance to appreciate the beauty and the role and significance of the Chico River to the existence of the Kalinga people. The Chico River is dubbed the river of life in Kalinga. The Sallidummay festival on the other hand would showcase ethnic music, dances and sounds of the various ethnic communities of the province so the public will get a chance to witness the actual performance of ‘batok’ and meet Kalinga elders who wear the traditional tattoo symbolizing achievement, gallantry and honor on the part of the men and an expression of beauty for the Kalinga women. To promote the event recognizing the Indigenous Cultural Communities of Kalinga, Governor Floydelia R. Diasen through Executive Order No 2008-28 enjoined the participation of the entire province to observe the indigenous month with the Diddiga Festival as its highlight. This intends to provide an “opportunity for the Kalingas as Indigenous People to come together to celebrate their pride and identity, the best of their arts, traditions, culture and bring once more to the fore the protection of their rights.” The EO states that this celebration is “meant to engender the Kalinga’s pride of identity to enrich their foundation to stand on their own ethnicity anchoring their dreams and aspiration to the positive dynamic aspect of culture and time tested traditions.” In support of this Gov. Diasen had directed all national line agencies and local government units to come up with activities relative to their respective programs to highlight the observance of the Indigenous People’s Month. **By Gigi Dumallig, ZZW
Acting to thwart the alarming rise of the crime rate in the province, Kalinga board member Efraim Orodio proposed two resolutions for the local government units to act on.
In a motion during the recent Sangguniang Panlalawigan regular session, Orodio, citing Section 51b(2) of Republic Act 6975, said that local government units are mandated to come up with an Integrated Community Safety Plan (ICSP) identifying the action plans and peace and order thrusts of the different municipalities here.
The plan, he said, should reflect the responsibility of each department as basis for their programs and logistics. This he explained will also provide outside sectors or agencies the groundwork for inputs to augment the LGUs’ efforts on their peace and order programs.
Each municipality he said should submit its ICSP to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for proper action.
Being the chairman of the Provincial Peace and Order Council, the provincial governor is responsible in overseeing the Provincial Public Safety Plan Implementation prepared in consideration of the municipal ICSPs, Orodio informed.
The formulation of the plan he said would ensure the sustainability and continuity of the province’s peace and order efforts since this will serve as the blueprint for the incumbent and upcoming officials of the provincial and municipal government units as well as the Kalinga PNP provincial director.
In support of this move, Vice Governor Jocel Baac suggested that City Mayor Camilo Lammawin Jr. immediately convene the City Peace and Order Council (CPOC) to come up with its plan considering that most of the recent crimes were committed in Tabuk City. The request was directed to the city’s chief of police, Colonel Alfredo Dangani, who was representing the provincial director and the city mayor during the session.
In another motion, Orodio requested for Gov. Floydelia R. Diasen to consider and immediately act on two previous resolutions that were both approved by the SP in support of the proposal of the Provincial Development Council. First is to provide the Kalinga Provincial Police Office’s request for P300,000.00 and the repair of their two police patrol cars.
The requests were made to provide the needed logistics and mobilization equipment for the PNP to monitor and conduct patrols and to increase police visibility in the province.
In his discourse, Orodio said that if only provincial police director Maximino Valiente and city mayor Lammawin responded to the call of the SP to join the September 16 regular session it would have been an opportunity for them to discuss the present peace and order issues.
“We are not looking for faults but we are trying to find time to discuss and help find solutions and recommendations on the issues,” he said clarifying the reason of the SP’s summon.
He underscored that there is a need to “sit together and see what each can do” on the negative perception of the people on provincial director Valiente and the PNP members due to the indiscriminate commission of crimes especially in public areas around the city.
Dangani said that both officials could not personally appear as requested since both are occupied with other official duties during their scheduled appearance at the SP session. **By Gigi Dumallig, PIA, ZZW
Tabuk City, Kalinga – The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) is conducting a legislative inquiry into persistent complaints on the quality of the water being served by the Tabuk Waters (TAWA), the private firm operating the water system of the city which was constructed through a loan from the World Bank.
Councilor Sandra Mejia, chairman of the committee on health, informed the media that the foremost concern of the SP is the rising level of manganese, copper and fluoride in the water, which, according to tests made by the TAWA last month and in December 2007, have gone beyond the safe range.
Mejia said that during the SP session on September 1, TAWA Assistant General Manager Rodolfo Yumol has assured that despite the increasing levels of the three substances, the water is still safe for human consumption but the body wants to make sure.
Mejia intends to immediately consult the Department of Health (DOH) regional office on the finding to know the implication to public health and safety of the increasing pattern of the substances in the TAWA water.
Mejia also informed that the TAWA has agreed that henceforth, she and Councilor Reamcy Adong, infrastructure committee chairman, will be present during the collection of water samples for physical and chemical properties test “to remove all doubts that the samples were taken elsewhere.”
“We also recommended to the TAWA more sampling points because we noticed that their present sampling points are not representative of all the areas in their coverage. For instance, they need to get samples in areas where many people congregate such as public markets,” Mejia said.
Regarding the complaints on murky and undesirable odor of TAWA water experienced by some consumers, Mejia quoted Yumol as saying that it is caused by ”suction pressure” which, according to him, happens when there is a sudden stoppage in water supply and which results into the entry of outside water into the pipeline through leaks.
Yumol went on to say that another possible explanation of the phenomena is the reaction between chemicals present in raw water and water treatment chemicals.
“I recommended to the TAWA that they should conduct periodic inspection and repairs of leaks in the pipes to prevent the contamination of the water. Even if there are sudden stoppage in the flow of the water if there are no leaks, outside water cannot seep into the pipeline,” Mejia said.
Mejia said that leaks are indeed dangerous because the water outside the pipes could contain contaminants such as solvents, petroleum products, metal degreasers and other chemicals.
Mejia said that during his appearance before the SP, Yumol did not say whether they have already complied with the earlier DOH recommendation for TAWA to install more chlorinators to answer the observation of some consumers of sudden increase and decrease of chlorine in the water.
Mejia said that the TAWA has no choice but to improve its water because there are already cases of consumers disconnecting on account of poor quality of water and defective meters.
“As of now, the number of consumers of the TAWA is not yet enough to maintain the sustainability of the water system. How will it be able to attract more consumers if it does not improve the quality of its water?” Mejia asked.
Because of the policy of the TAWA to only act on formal complaints, Mejia has urged the public to submit black and white complaints or contact the hotline of the firm.
“They require individual customer complaints but they were amenable when I told them to treat the legislative inquiry as a formal complaint and act on the issues and concerns raised,” Mejia said. ** By Estanislao Albano Jr., ZZW
