Two Kalinga business establishments got CE seal of excellence

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Two business establishments here were awarded the Certified Establishment (CE) seal of excellence by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) after complying with trade and industry laws.

Josie Daliyong of DTI-Kalinga said Tabuk Lumber and Hardware and Kalinga Lumber and Hardware were among the 26 other awardees in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) given the seal during the culminating program of Consumer Welfare Month at the Atrium Hall, SM Baguio City, last week.

Those who qualified for the distinct award in business met the requirements in providing benefits to their employees like minimum wage, social security services, Philhealth and other employment benefits.

Tabuk Lumber and Hardware was handed the Silver Award for meeting the Minimum wage, SSS, and Philhealth requirements, while Kalinga Lumber Hardware qualified for Bronze for satisfying the fair trade law.

The highest Gold Award, which is still highly coveted in the region, is to be determined by the International Standards Organization (ISO), with more requirements.

Daliyong said the program is a reward mechanism encouraging business firms to be more socially responsible and enable them to regulate their own operations and satisfy employment conditions mandated by law.

To ensure that these services are sustained, DTI conducts constant monitoring among business establishments, making it a regular project of the department, Daliyong said.

Last year, T. Bayle Supermart was awarded the CE seal of excellence. It is the first qualifier in the province. **By Larry Lopez, ZZW

Kalinga hunger task force prepares action plan

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Members of the Provincial Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Program (AHMP) Task Force prepared an action plan aimed to mitigate hunger in the province and uplift the development status of the municipalities of Tanudan, Tinglayan, and Pasil identified in the latest economic survey as among the poorest in the country.

Chaired by Gov. Floydelia Diasen, front line agencies and offices signed a pledge of commitment to help mitigate hunger in the province. They declared their genuine commitment and duty to uphold the basic human right to food and good nutrition. Along with their pledge is their affirmation to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger in the province.

The task force targets to reduce subsistence incidence of population from 17.7% in 2000 to 8.85% and poverty incidence from 39.3% to 19.65% by 2015.

The AHMP is a flagship program of the Arroyo administration as a mitigating measure to reduce hunger pursuant to the MDG. Kalinga ranks No. 9 as a food poor province thus including it as a beneficiary of the AHMP program under priority two.

The key players for AHMP are grouped into five committees where offices of related tasks will work to “increase food production”, “enhance efficiency of logistics and food delivery,” “put more money in poor people’s pockets,” “promote good nutrition,” and “manage population.”

Under “increase food production” chaired by the Office on Agricultural Service, the group committed to implement the Gulayan sa Paaralan including the distribution of seeds to 236 elementary schools and 36 high schools; subsidies on certified seeds and fertilizers to farmers.

Under “food distribution” chaired by the National Food Authority (NFA) with DSWD, DepEd will be the distribution of cheap rice; operation of Tindahan Natin Outlets, SEA-K, Kalahi-CIDDS, Pantawid Pampamilyang Pilipino Program, noodle feeding for 80 days in Magabbangon, Eleb, Allaguia, Malalao, Guilayon, Butbut; and vita-meal feeding for below normal weight children.

DENR has already distributed Sasou chickens to 50 poor families who are victims of typhoon Mina in Cawagayan and Mapaco in Pinukpuk. The DPWH committed construction and rehabilitation of farm to market roads and MPPs and the food for work scheme. NIA worked on the P42.5 million worth of Communal Irrigation System implemented in the province as its counterpart to AHMP.

Diasen directed other members of each committee to come up with an action plan for presentation next week and to start all activities by reaching out to the various municipalities. **PIA

Kalinga coffee farmers draft micro-business plan

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Members of the Gawidan Coffee Farmers Association (GCFA), here drafted a 3-year micro-business plan aimed at promoting civet coffee production under the Rural Micro-enterprise Promotion Program (RuMEPP).

Noryn Bagano of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) provincial office said the plan emphasizes development of a civet coffee product, which is acclaimed to be the best coffee blend.

Kalinga is producing three top brewed-coffee classes in the market, Kalinga Brew, Kalinga Blend and Mananig Coffee.

RuMEPP under DTI assists small business entrepreneurs by providing them business management capabilities through trainings on simple book keeping, marketing and financial planning.

This is in line with government program on job creation and provision of livelihood opportunities among low-income families in the countryside in the fight against poverty and hunger.

Civet coffee production is a part of the product development component which DTI is advocating for small business groups for them to maximize income out of their limited business ventures, Bagano explained.

The three-year plan, according to Bagano, will give a pathway for growth and sustainability for GCFA so that within the period they will have a business focus.

It has been a common observation that small entrepreneurs only operate for one to two years because of lack of proper business capability and direction. This is the need the RuMEPP program aims to answer, Bagano said.

After its capability building, small entrepreneurs can obtain a financial aid from the program, as an association, ranging from P200,000 to P2 million with a minimum interest rate of 8-10% per annum.

In the planning, GCFA also wants to expand to other resource-based activities like coffee seedling production to supply other farmers.

This is eyed as a lucrative enterprise with coffee now becoming a high source of income among farmers, reaching the P75/kilo price on the last season.

Aside from providing business management capability, DTI advocated to the group proper business discipline. **By Larry Lopez, ZZW

PGMA urged to overturn geothermal contract in Kalinga

Residents and elders of barangay Dananao in Tinglayan, Kalinga are asking President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to cancel the Geothermal Service Contract (GSC)whose coverage include their ancestral domain because they have not given their consent thereto.

A declaration of condemnation and protest was signed by at least 105 Dananao residents against the GSC awarded on Sept. 24, 2008 to APEC-GMC, a private company. Their main grounds are they have not given their consent nor was there any consultation held in their community.

The APEC-GMC applied for a geothermal exploration permit covering parts of Pasil, Tinglayan and Lubuagan. The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples conducted the Free Prior and Informed Consent process in the Pasil areas and the people there eventually gave their consent paving the way for the issuance by the NCIP of Certificate Precondition to APEC-GMC. The certification, however, according to the NCIP Kalinga office covers only the Pasil areas and does not include the Lubuagan and Tinglayan areas.

The problem is the DOE issued a general permit according to the Dananao people. Gaspar Dawing, the punong barangay of Dananao, forwarded to President Arroyo the protest last October 22. This is a bold encroachment into our ancestral domain and we see it as a threat to peace and development, Dawing said in his covering letter.

Earlier in September, the barangay captains of the affected communities of Lubuagan and Tinglayan expressed protest against the contract which was endorsed by the mayors of the two municipalities and also by Gov. Floydelia Diasen. Despite this the contract was signed by APEX-GMC and the DOE.

In the declaration of condemnation and protest the tribe also challenged its municipal and provincial officials: “That we live and advocate peace and development, but not this kind marked with dictatorship and treachery for it brings intra- and inter-tribal havoc and may even lead to open tribal wars if not appropriately handled.”

The tribe is also inviting neighboring tribes to join in its condemnation and protest. **By Joel B. Belinan, ZZW

Separate schools division for Tabuk City eyed

Tabuk City, Kalinga – The city government here is spearheading a move to establish an ad interim schools division while waiting for the creation of a regular schools division for the city.

The Local School Board (LSB) of the city has set the ball rolling by passing a resolution requesting Education Secretary Jesli Lapus for the establishment of an ad interim division during its special meeting on November 6.

Mayor Camilo Lammawin, Jr. informed that the resolution when endorsed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod, the schools division superintendent and the regional director of the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan is the initial requirement for the establishment of an ad interim schools division.

The other two requirements, according to Lammawin, are a certification of willingness of employees of the DepEd to be deployed in the ad interim division and also the presence of at least 750 teaching and non-teaching staff in the locality.

Lammawin said that at the moment, there are around 800 DepEd employees assigned to the city with around a 100 more working in the private sector.

Lammawin said that the ad interim division is a de facto division although not regular.

“It will function just like a regular division in preparation for the amendment of the charter of the city or the passage of bill for the creation of a regular schools division,” Lammawin said.

In his speech during the opening program of the first city sports meet on November 6, Congressman Manuel Agyao has pledged that he will fully support the establishment of an ad interim division and that later on, he will work for the amendment of the city charter for the creation of a separate schools division.

Lammawin expressed the hope that the interim set up will be in place by January 2009 even as he informed that towards that end, P1.5 M is allocated in the 2009 executive budget P1M of which is for MOOE and the P0.5M for office equipment outlay.

“We believe that having a schools division will make the city more responsive and resilient for the continued growth and accelerated development of education and sports in the city,” Lammawin said.

Lammawin said that the establishment of an ad interim schools division will mean closer working relationship between the LGU and the DepEd especially in the provision of trainings to improve the capabilities of teachers which will redound to the benefit of students. **By Estanislao Albano Jr., ZZW

Relief of Kalinga police chief sought

Tabuk City, Kalinga – The fate of PSS Maximino Valiente as police director of this province is now up to Camp Crame as Cordillera Police Regional Director Eugene Martin has endorsed the call of majority of the officers of the Kalinga police force and the local clergy for his immediate relief due to alleged lack of concern for the peace and order situation in the province, among other complaints.

In a phone interview, Martin said that he has recommended to the Philippine National Police (PNP) national leadership the relief of Valiente on the grounds cited in the petition signed by 15 of 18 subordinate police officers in the province and the letter of the Kalinga and Apayao Religious Sector Association (KARSA) backing the police officers’ petition.

In their petition, the police officers said that Valiente “does not seem to be concerned about the peace and order situation in the province. He holes up in his quarters and does not even ask his subordinates what is happening. The situation in the provincial office is now to each his own because there is no effective supervision and management.”

The officers also alleged that Valiente “relieves and reassigns personnel without any cause which greatly affects the morale of the PNP organization in the province.”

The officers also claimed that the exact amounts of maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) and gas allocations intended for lower units do not reach them and that the additional MOOE of stations were not given without any explanation.

In their letter of support to the police officers, the KARSA expressed deep concern over the allegation that Valiente does not seem to care about the peace and order situation in the province.

The letter quoted the police officers who approached them as saying that “they cannot work well with the kind of leadership their commander is exhibiting.”

The KARSA took note of the incidents of broad daylight murders right in the heart of the city adding that the public is crying for an end to the violence and the solution of the crimes committed.

The clergymen said that they see no hope for the situation to improve if the police force is saddled with an ineffective leadership and asked Martin for the replacement of Valiente as soon as possible “in the interest of addressing peace and order issues in the province.”

Asked for his side, Valiente who was attending a command conference in Camp Dangwa, Benguet October 3 sent a text message claiming that the petition of the police officers has been resolved as early as April and that the few who signed it have already apologized to him for signing the document.

He added that the officer who has initiated the petition is now relieved for poking a gun on a provincial board member and that his case is now pending with the Ombudsman and the Regional Internal Affair Service (RIAS).

In an earlier interview, Sangguniang Panlalawigan Member Antonio Bakilan scored Valiente’s habitual absences in the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) and the Kapehan sa Kapitolyo which he said is unusual because his predecessors religiously attended these forums.

Bakilan said that Valiente did not even attend the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) when it was held in the province and he was also a no show when the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) invited him to attend its session on September 16.

“How then could we ask questions and air our concerns directly to him? There are things that representatives could not answer. He should show up so that questions could be resolved on the spot and we could plan what to do,” Bakilan said.

Bakilan informed that the SP called Valiente and Tabuk City Chief of Police Alfredo Dangani on September 16 to ask them what they are doing with the spate of violence in the city. Only Dangani showed up, Bakilan said.

“According to Kalinga Provincial Police Office records, there were 10 murders from November 2007 to September 2008 with all the perpetrators at large and unidentified. Some of these murders were committed in broad daylight. Where is the protection the police was supposed to provide us?” Bakilan asked. **By Estanislao Albano Jr., ZZW

Geothermal exploration permit granted despite opposition

Tabuk City, Kalinga – The Department of Energy (DoE) has given the go signal to two locally based companies to prospect and tap geothermal energy in the province despite stiff opposition to the project.

Natividad Sugguiyao, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) provincial director here, informed the media that DoE Secretary Angelo Reyes has signed the geothermal service contract (GSC) in favor of the Aragorn Power and Energy Corporation (APEC) and the Guidance Management Corporation (GMC) to jointly explore for geothermal energy in some 26,250 hectares located in the municipalities of Pasil, Tinglayan and Lubuagan, all in Kalinga.

Sugguiyao clarified, however, that although the GSC covers areas in Tinglayan and Lubuagan, the exploration will only be made in Pasil until such time that the tribes in the ancestral domains affected in the two other towns will give their free and prior informed consent (FPIC) to the activity, if they ever will.

Regarding the fear raised by the oppositors that the inclusion of the tribal domains of the tribes which did not give their FPIC to the map of the project, Sugguiyao said that it is speculative even as she expressed confidence that the tribes will respect each other’s boundaries.

“Besides, there are safeguards in the MOA (memorandum of agreement) between the communities and the companies that in the event that exploration will be done in the borders with tribes who have not given their consent to the project, there will be consultations with the bodong holders (bodong enforcers) of the concerned tribes,” Sugguiyao said.

Sugguiyao said that they have conducted preliminary consultations with the affected tribes in Tinglayan and Pasil with Tulgao outrightly rejecting the project. The other tribes have yet to arrive at a consensus because in the case of Sumadel and Uma, they want to see an actual geothermal project first. As for Dananao, they said they want to consult among themselves further first.

“It’s not that they do not want the project. They just want to see if the project has no adverse effects on the community and be assured they are making the right decision,” Sugguiyao said.

The opposition to the project by members of the affected tribes in Lubuagan and Pasil centers on why the DoE included their ancestral domains in the GSC when they have not given their FPICs to the project.

“They have put the cart before the horse. Under the IPRA (Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act), an FPIC should first be obtained before any endeavor could be undertaken in an ancestral domain. The GSC should only have covered Pasil and not Tinglayan and Lubuagan,” Silverio Daluping of the Tulgao tribe of Tinglayan, one of the oppositors, told this paper.

He said that the approval of the GSC leaves them with no option but to take legal action.

“The Law Review Center of the University of the Philippines whom we have consulted said that the GSC violates the IPRA and that they will file the necessary case in court,” Daluping said.

“What the NCIP does not realize is that if the affected tribes in Lubuagan and Tinglayan will see that their lands are included in the project without their consent, they might make trouble with the tribes of Pasil who gave their consent. They might also disturb the flow of work in the project,” Daluping said.

In reaction to the statement of Sugguiyao that there are safeguards against possible misunderstandings between the tribes who gave their FPICs and those that did not in the MOA, Daluping commented that “we should not wait for something to happen before we act. Before embarking on the project, everything should be cleared first. The DoE should have altered the GSC accordingly.”

Daluping made it clear that they are not questioning the conduct of the FPIC process in Pasil but they are taking issue with the DoE for including the other ancestral domains where FPICs were not given and against NCIP for not advising the DoE accordingly.

Sugguiyao said that the GSC gives the APEC and GMC the right to explore for geothermal energy in the area and, if warranted by the results, produce geothermal energy. The two activities will have a maximum time frame of 50 years.

Sugguiyao called the project the biggest investment made in the province in recent years.

Pasil Mayor James Edduba told the media that if the estimated 60 megawatts potential of the area is realized, the geothermal operation will not only be the biggest in the country but it will make the Philippines surpass the United States as the foremost user of geothermal power in the world.

Aside from prospecting for geothermal energy, APEC is also involved in petroleum exploration in the Cagayan Basin while GMC also holds the GSC for the Amacan Geothermal Prospect in Compostela Valley and two Coal Operating Contracts.

Edduba and Sugguiyao informed that the entry of the GMC into Pasil in 2006 was attended with controversy because it started to explore without first undergoing the process required by the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA).

They said that because of the offense, the firm was fined by the Balatoc and Colayo tribes in the amount P1M in the form of community projects in 2007.

The process of obtaining the consent of the affected tribes was undertaken in 2007 and the Pasil tribes finally gave their FPICs for the project on February 8, 2008. **By Estanislao Albano Jr., ZZW