Slap In The Face

I'm a bit of a news junkie and I try every day to keep up with the latest in the local, national and international news any way I can. In my case in Lianga where no local community newspapers exist and where up to date copies of the national broadsheets are nowhere to be found, I get my daily fix through news programs on cable television and the Internet.

Yesterday morning, the local news inbox on my computer contained a whammy of a news item, big news least for those closely following the political developments in the province of Surigao del Sur which counts this town as one of its own. For the current political leadership at the provincial capitol in Tandag, however, it is certainly not the kind of news report they would welcome and it could not have come at a more inopportune time.

It seems that the Philippine Daily Inquirer has reported that the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) which is the government's highest policy making and coordinating body on statistical matters has tagged this province as No. 6 on its list of ten of the country's "worst governed" provinces. Oh my God! That certainly got my full attention.

Maguindanao (of course!) headed the list followed by Camarines Sur, Masbate, Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Surigao del Sur, Camarines Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Albay and Romblon. The list was compiled based on an NSCB survey in 2005 which used economic, political and administrative indicators to formulate a good governance index (GGI) which is used as a basis for the ranking of the aforementioned provinces. The statistics used were sourced from official government agencies foremost among them the Department of Health, the Department of Education and the Department of Interior and Local Government. (Read the complete news article here.....)

No matter how one views the news report, it cannot be construed except as a slap on the face of the political leadership having control of provincial government since 2001. Governor Vicente Pimentel Jr. has always maintained that his nine year stewardship of the province has been exemplary and that it would continue to prosper under the leadership of his brother, Johnny Pimentel, the current provincial administrator who is eyeing to succeed his elder sibling as provincial governor in the coming May 2010 local elections. The release of the BSCD findings at this time when local politicians are gearing up for the approaching campaign period and the May elections must come like a surprise rabbit punch to the chin for both of them.

The fact that a government statistical agency, using government statistics, has determined that this province has been essentially misgoverned must be now giving Pimentel detractors and their political opponents ample reason to jump up with delight and chortle with glee. And for sure, in the coming official campaign period, the NSCB findings will provide them with more than sufficient ammunition for embarrassing the current provincial administration and putting them on the defensive in what may yet prove to be a bruising slugfest of a campaign.

One aspect of this controversy is intriguing local political observers here. The Pimentel political clan is closely allied with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's Lakas-Kampi-CMD which happens to be the dominant political party in the country. Thus, the release of the NSCB report which obviously would be politically embarrassing and damaging not only to the Pimentels but also to the political leadership of the other provinces mentioned in the report seems rather a surprising development.

A report like that or a news item based on it could have been controlled or killed easily. Is the Inquirer news item a message or warning of sorts or merely an indication that not all is really well within the ranks of the party leadership?

What does former senatorial candidate, Prospero Pichay Jr. (presently chairman of the Local Water Utilities Administration) and his brother, Cong. Philip Pichay, have to say about this issue? The Pichays have been closely allied with the Pimentels in the past yet rumors are rife here that that may no longer be the case. The publication of the NSCB report could be, some are speculating, the result or the first overt confirmation of an impending parting of ways in what used to be a solid political partnership.

Of course, the question of whether the negative political and publicity fallout resulting from the Inquirer news report will really matter in the end remains to be seen. After all, the Pimentel political machine is a lavishly funded, well-oiled juggernaut that may prove to be very difficult to overcome by their political opponents even in the light of such negative publicity.

To illustrate that point, Dr. Romulo Virola, the secretary general of NSCB was also quoted in the news report as saying that the fact that eight of the poorly managed provinces in the list eventually re-elected their governors (or their relatives) who were already in power in 2005 when the survey was made, is indicative that many Filipinos "do not vote for good governance". It does seem that the people of Surigao del Sur (who re-elected their own governor in the 2007 elections) like most Filipinos either did not agree with the NSCB's findings or used a different set of criteria (or no criteria at all) in choosing their political leaders.

Filipinos also apparently do not appreciate good governance even when it is exists. In the 10 best governed provinces (which includes Batanes, Rizal, Benguet, Siquijor, Bulacan, Apayao, Laguna, Cavite, Nueva Vizcaya and Pampanga), three of the governors incumbent in 2005 were not returned to office. So not only do Filipinos not vote against bad governance, they also, in many cases, do not vote for good governance when they have it. No wonder the country is in such a mess!

So, the NSCB report in the final analysis, even if taken at face value, actually says nothing new about how Filipinos in general or Surigaonons in particular vote for or choose their leaders. It merely restates formally and statistically what is already common knowledge.

We have no confidence, trust and respect in our own government. That is the case because we have, in the first place, no confidence, trust and respect in ourselves as a people and as an electorate. So we elect choose and elect leaders we mistrust and despise while we gripe, grumble and complain about how oppressed and exploited we are.

If we are, then it is clear that we deserved to be.

.......Click here to read the rest of this post!........

Epitaph

He was a great lumbering hulk of a man, blessed or cursed (depending on how you would look at it) with the great physical bulk genetically common to my mother's side of the extended Murillo clan. But he carried his not inconsiderable stoutness with grace, aplomb and good humor convincing many that it was a manifestation of good health and good living rather than the result of a privileged and dissolute lifestyle.

He also had that rogue gene not uncommon within my mother's clan that gifted him with the fine Caucasian features, the hazel-brown eyes and the brown-black hair that many would ascribed to the supposed influence of distant Spanish forbears. That plus his physique gave him the air of a plump, good-natured and mischievous child with the carefree, roguish twinkle in the eyes despite the fact that he was already past middle age and approaching 60 years of age.

That he was liked by the many who he came into contact with was a fact for he was essentially a likable man. He cultivated friends like a game fowl breeder raised champion cocks and had an affable, extroverted nature which enabled him to enjoy a wide circle of friends, all of whom held him in great esteem and who remember him with fondness.

He was not perfect and had his faults though like the rest of us. He could be pushy, domineering and even occasionally guileful but it was easy to forgive him for his excesses because deep inside his heart was as big as his body and his imperfections were trivial compared to his virtues particularly his capacity to empathize and sympathize with others.

Within our clan and extended family he was a maverick. Among my maternal first cousins, he was then the most senior and thus our physical link to the generations that came before us. He knew most if not all of the older members of the clan and through him the lore, legends and stories of the clan passed through to us as it will soon pass to the generation that will come after us.

In one sense, Lalo Salinas spoke for and stood for our generation of the entire clan. That is why his recent demise at 59 years, just 11 years shy of the biblical measure of three-score and ten supposedly given to all men, was a jarringly painful and unexpected tragedy for the many of us who knew him intimately as a close relative and friend.

Myasthenia gravis, that debilitating neuro-muscular disease that ultimately laid him low robbed him of the change to grow old and savor the rewards of a long and fruitful life. That such a man who loved life and savored its pleasures so openly and unabashedly would be felled by such a rare and physically degenerative disease seemed tragically ironic but one cannot question the fickle ways of heaven or the whims of fate. All those Lalo Salinas left behind can do is to remember the man he once was and find solace in the many poignant memories he left behind.

Manong Lalo passed away last December 30 and was laid to rest at the Lianga municipal cemetery last January 9. He will be sorely missed.
.......Click here to read the rest of this post!........

Lost Cause

The Communist Party of the Philippines celebrated its 41st founding anniversary last December 26 and in northeastern Mindanao, local communist cadres commemorated the event in a day-long ceremony in an undisclosed location said to be just a kilometer or so from the national highway in Marihatag town which is just a little over 40 kilometers north of Lianga.

Jorge Madlos, better known as Ka Oris and officially the spokesman for National Democratic Front in Mindanao, outlined the revolutionary movement's optimistic assessment of its current status and its plans for intensifying the war in the next five years. The target, Madlos said, is to advance its conflict with the government to the next level which is supposedly the strategic stalemate stage wherein the communist forces will have attained numerical and tactical parity with the Philippine armed forces. According to NDF thinking, this strategic stalemate level will only be in preparation for the next crucial stage which will be the strategic offensive level where the revolutionary forces will have achieved the capacity to conduct large scale military offensives against an already weakened and increasingly defense-oriented national government.

Ka Oris also reported during the anniversary celebration that the New People's Army (the CPP'S military wing), contrary to government claims that the NPA is a force in decline and that its number of armed partisans has shrunk to less than 6000 at the end of last year, has actually been growing at a healthy 5 percent a year although he has declined to give the actual figures even for just the number of rebel forces in the Mindanao area alone. The target, he claims, is to train and equip one platoon of armed fighters for every town in the country within the next five years for the movement to be able to advance to the next stage of their prolonged and protracted war with the Philippine government.

He also announced the reactivation of the so called Sparrow Units, the urban assassination squads of the NPA which in the past targeted policemen, military personnel and government officials. These units were active in many of the major cities all over the country particularly in the 1980's and gave the urban masses then a taste of the ferocity and violence of the guerrilla war raging almost exclusively in the countrysides.

For those of us here who live in Lianga and Surigao del Sur, it is obvious that that much of what Ka Oris said could be labeled more as propaganda and bombast rather than a cold and sober reportage of the true state of the communist revolutionary movement nowadays as exemplified by it current status in the province. Surigao del Sur has always been one of the flash points of the insurgency war in the country and how well or how badly rebel forces are doing here is reflective to a large degree of the state of the revolutionary war the CPP-NPA is waging nationwide.

While the NPA remains a potent force in the province and remains capable of mounting occasional ambuscades, raids and other small scale military actions against local military outposts, isolated government buildings and facilities, as well selected private and civilian installations and business interests, it is, most certainly not, the military or political force it once was three or even two decades ago. From a high of more than ten thousand armed partisans (according to some military estimates) in the 1970's and 80's, it has shrunk to a much leaner force of less than 6000 armed regulars with just more than a thousand operating in Mindanao.

It is also an ideological movement searching for relevancy and meaning in a world where traditional communist thought has largely become discredited and considered obsolete. As a consequence, it continues to be riven and split by doctrinal and ideological differences among its members and even more so among the top leadership, a fact highlighted by the violent purges and "purification" campaigns that decimated much of the top cadre of the communist movement in the recent past. The decision of many leftist groups to gradually abandon the armed struggle and participate in the democratic process has also essentially sidelined the movement and diminished its overall influence and effectiveness.

Be that as it may, the Philippine armed forces and its security agencies cannot claim victory yet in the communist insurgency war. Weakened though it may be and reduced to surviving and funding its operations through the extortion of "revolutionary taxes" from business interests operating in the countryside, the NPA remains a major security threat particularly in the poorest provinces of the country where it continues to enjoy some degree of support from some sectors of the urban poor.

In Surigao del Sur, specifically in the Lianga area, a number of the remote mountain barangays or viilages remain part of the NPA mass base that provides guerrilla forces with much needed logistical and material support. These remote mountain communities handicapped by extreme poverty, the lack of proper education and viable economic opportunities remain largely isolated from the reach of essential government services, thus providing a steady supply of recruits that the movement desperately needs to sustain its operations.

Yet even in this impoverished province which has for many decades been a major front line in the insurgency war, the NPA has lost much of the clout it once had during its heyday thirty or even twenty years ago. Despite its rural mass base, it enjoys little support in the population centers and among the rural middle class. There are even confident predictions from many local observers here that with further economic development brought about by improvements in road infrastructure, the rise of income levels brought about by outside stimulus to the local economy and the gradual lowering of poverty and illiteracy levels throughout the province , the communist revolutionary forces may become eventually marginalized and weakened further.

That is, of course, something that remains to be seen. What is clear is that the insurgency remains a major political and security concern here as well as all over most of the country. The recent ambuscades and raids conducted by rebel forces in the past month or so against local military targets and private companies that have resulted in numerous casualties on both the government and rebel sides are more than ample proof of this fact.

One wonders, however, if the local leaders of the revolutionary movement, despite their recent confident and optimistic pronouncements, are really blind to the the bleak possibilities in store for for them and their armed struggle in the foreseeable future. Any one who has studied political and revolutionary movements in history knows fully well that no armed struggle against a duly constituted government can succeed unless such a movement has a clearly defined ideology and objectives that have appeal and relevance to most, if not all, of the sectors of the society it wants to lead.

This is something that the CPP and the NPA has clearly failed to achieve either on both the national or local level. Even in Surigao del Sur they remain a marginalized movement existing only outside of the fringes of society and gradually becoming more isolated as the years pass.

Their time in history has, for all intents and purposes, definitely come and gone. What remains is a movement desperately riding on the residual discontent brought about by the continuing poverty, lack of education and social and economic injustice that still prevails in the rural countryside and the urban slums of the country. Little of the fiery Moist rhetoric remains except for the tired slogans and obsolete catch phrases that no longer stir the emotions and captivate the imagination and commitment of the new generation of the youth.

Ka Oris may be trying to see a better and brighter future for the revolutionary movement he has been a part of for most of his life and I understand his need to project a sense of optimism for the many who still dream of a communist utopia for this country. But from where I stand, all I can say is that the dream that he and his comrades are fighting for is already dead (and has, in fact, been dead for some time already whether they accept it or not) and all the countless lives tragically lost and ruined as well as the untold misery resulting from the decades of the relentless war they have been relentlessly waging have been all clearly for naught.
.......Click here to read the rest of this post!........

Ho-Hum

The office of the local election officer in Lianga recently released the list of candidates who filed their certificates of candidacy for local positions in the May 2010 general elections. All of them had managed to file their COC's before the deadline which expired at midnight last December 1 and will, unless disqualified by the Commission on Elections, be eligible to run in the coming local polls.

Except for one or two minor surprises, the public response to the names on the list was decidedly lukewarm and matter-0f-fact at best. The list was just as the local folks had expected it to be, nothing more and nothing less. Ho-hum.

Incumbent municipal mayor, Roy Hegino Sarmen will be slugging it out, one on one, with Felino Pantaleon Jr who is a veteran of Lianga politics. Pantaleon has been a fixture in local politics for decades and has served several terms as mayor of Lianga himself in the past. Sarmen, while considerably younger than his opponent, is no political neophyte either. He has been a barangay captain, a municipal councilor and has served one term as a provincial board member representing the federation of barangay captains all over the province.

Sarmen actually won election as vice-mayor in 2007 and only took over as the town's chief executive when Mayor Vicente "Belos" Predrozo passed away after a sudden illness last year. He will be heading the Lakas-Kampi-CMD municipal ticket while Pantaleon will be carrying the banner (or torch, if you will) of the Liberal Party.

Both, however, share a relaxed, laid-back, consensus-driven and non-assertive leadership style as mayors, something many local critics here say is not exactly what the town urgently needs nowadays. Their similarity in leadership and management styles coupled with the widespread observation that both may lack the necessary vision and a clear program of development for the future of Lianga may lead to the possibility that the coming mayoralty contest will be one that will be won not on issues and political platforms but by the candidate with the bigger campaign purse and the larger network of blood and family relations.

The vice-mayor's seat in the municipal council will be up for grabs between Robert Lala Jr. (Lakas-Kampi-CMD) and Mansueto Pantaleon, who is running as an independent candidate. Lala, the top ranking member of the council in the 2007 elections, became vice-mayor last year when Roy Sarmen moved on to the mayorship and will be seeking his first full term as presiding officer of the municipal council. He is heavily favored to win in next year's local elections over Pantaleon who unexpectedly entered the vice-mayoralty race at the very last minute.

Prior to Pantaleon's late entry into the race, the young and popular Lala had been expected to run unopposed. Who and what convinced Pantaleon to oppose him next year is the subject of a lot of speculation among political observers here. The man has tried his hand at politics in the past and had been resoundingly unsuccessful so his candidacy this time is more than a bit surprising to many here.

Lala may be a strong candidate but he is also young and unproven. He has yet to make his mark and the year or so he has spent as head of the municipal council although promising has not been long enough for him to prove his mettle and his character. The question as to whether he has the potential to make a difference in Lianga in the near future remains yet to be answered.

Of the incumbent municipal councilors who assumed office in 2007, two are not seeking reelection. These include Fe Dumlao and Enrique "Elgie" Layno. The rest composed of Carlos Bala-an (Ind.), Esmeralda Elimanco (Lakas), Hernando Layno Jr. (Lakas), Leon Montilla Jr. (Ind.), and Richie Yves Mosquera (Lakas) are all gunning for another three-year term. Raymundo Moreno who was appointed to fill the vacancy in the council last year is also seeking a mandate for a new term. (Those interested to see the complete list of candidates for local positions in Lianga in the 2010 general elections can go here....)

If there is a lack of a semblance of general excitement or outpouring of enthusiasm over the identities of those who could be taking charge of affairs at the town hall after next year's elections, it can be put down to one overriding reason.

There is the general feeling among the local folks here that Lianga deserves more than the current crop of politicians who have been sitting behind the office desks at the town hall. This is not to say, of course, that all of the town's current officials have been entirely useless during their last three-year stint in office. But neither have they, except for an exception or two, been exactly model public servants either. None of them have also been able to provide that spark of exemplary leadership and visionary insight that Lianga so desperately needs in these difficult and challenging times.

On the other hand, those who have signified their willingness to challenge the current officialdom in next year's polls are either largely unknown and unproven talents or, worse, recycled politicians who have been so much a part of the local political landscape here for so long that they have become essentially identified with the worst aspects of local politics, one that is still dominated by old-style political clans and family loyalties and where force and intimidation, vote-buying and electoral cheating are the norm rather than the exception.

The lack of a dynamic, "proactive" (a favorite term among local pundits) and credible leadership also does not speak well of the level of political maturity of the electorate in Lianga. While there is clearly here a growing demand and desire for change in the traditionally dirty way politics has always been played here, this desire has not been adequately articulated or expressed in a way that has encouraged the entry of new, more idealistic and reformist leaders who have the guts to battle the status quo. Nor has it led to the development of an outspoken and assertive citizenry that can fearlessly and effectively challenge and expose the rot and apathy that still predominates at the town hall.

Inevitably, the degree to which the people of Lianga will individually and collectively respond to the growing demand for better leaders for their government and how effectively they will be motivated to speak out and act on that desire will determine the future of local politics and the quality of the governance they will get in the near future. The point that must be stressed here is that local folks here can not ask and demand for change and yet remain passive, apathetic and hesitant about becoming directly involved in the political process themselves.

In the end, those of us here in Lianga and elsewhere who care for this town and its future must be willing to get our hands dirty in suggesting, initiating and supporting the changes we want and envision for it. Time to put the fate of the town in our hands and time to start doing something concrete rather than just bitching and griping about how oppressed and misled we have been in the past.

To win the national lottery we must invest our hard-earned money and ourselves in what is, most assuredly, an uncertain outcome. To win as a people in the politics of democracy, we must also be willing invest our precious time, effort, and resources in the political process, however uncertain it may also be. Otherwise, we have no right to criticize the the venality and mediocrity of the leaders we have now who, in our apathy and hardheadedness, we have allowed to abuse, mislead and plunder us for so long.

.......Click here to read the rest of this post!........

Magkono

Mention the name Xanthostemon verdugonianus Naves to avid collectors of fine wood decorative pieces and top quality wooden furniture and you are certainly going to get more than your fair share of interest. The latter, of course, is simply the scientific name for the Magkono tree and the source of the extremely dense, heavy, dark-hued and now very rare species of Philippine hardwood that only a few places in the Philippines, Lianga included, is known to produce.

Wood from the Magkono tree is often called "ironwood" for its reputation as the hardest of the Philippine hardwoods. It is so hard that cutting down a mature tree of the species can take two or three days when a similar sized tree of another type can take just two to three hours. Most modern loggers use diamond-point saws to slice through Magkono trunks to speed up the process but copious amounts of water are often needed to aid lubrication and prevent excessive heat generation during the cutting.

In the past, this hardwood species was highly valued for its extreme durability and density. Old steamships used Magkono wood bushings for their propeller shafts. It was made into tool handles, rollers, shears, poles and piles for wharfs and bridges, and,not surprisngly, for bowling balls before the advent of modern plastics and resins.

In Lianga as well as elsewhere in the country the felling of Magkono trees is already prohibited by law since this hardwood species is already extremely rare and on the endangered list. But there is one still legal outlet for Magkono wood products supposedly sourced, according to the local offices of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, from already old and existing timber stocks.

Exemeria, located some 12 or so kilometers north of Lianga, is a small community in Barangay Manyayay that is the headquarters of a religious foundation that calls itself DAVISOL (for Divine Arc Victory Instituted in Sion Omnipotent in this Latter Days of Christ). Originally considered by local residents primarily as a religious cult, the small village under the leadership of Godofredo Retuerto who calls himself Pater Fred has evolved into an alternative lifestyle community whose innovative stone contour landscaping, kibbutz-style organization and skilled workmanship in woodcraft and furniture products has made it one of Lianga's premier tourism destinations.

Exemeria's skilled wood artists have fashioned the dark and tough Magkono wood into variety of popular commercial products. They range from small decorative pieces like paperweights and pen holders to elaborate wood art exemplified by both large and small decorative wooden jars with carved covers, wood table centerpieces consisting of artfully shaped goblets surrounding miniature wine kegs and decorative containers carved to look like trays and bowls of all sizes and designs.

Magkono wood furniture is also available on display. They include small coffee tables with matching stools to wide settees, couches and dining room sets all made from the gleaming, dark-colored and durable wood.

Customers can have also personal items made to order. All they have to do is bring a detailed design and then consult Exemeria's artisans for a cost estimate. For sure, Magkono products don't come cheap but some of the smaller decorative pieces and souvenir items can be surprisingly affordable as pasalubongs or gifts for all occasions.

The Magkono tree has been classified by the government and many international conservation organizations as endangered due to over-cutting and habitat loss. It is also unfortunately endemic to only a few Visayan provinces as well as the Surigao provinces in northern Mindanao. Supplies of fresh, raw timber are, thus, rare if nonexistent.

This is why it is rather sad to note that just when the enormous commercial potential for wood products made from this king of Philippine hardwoods is just being realized, the tree itself that is the source of this prized wood is facing possible extinction. No one really knows how long existing Magkono timber stocks will last but it is clear that the disappearance of this precious natural resource is inevitable unless an aggressive tree replanting program coupled with a truly effective forest conservation and preservation program can be instituted by the government with the support of local communities.

Much of the allure of this wood species is in its dark color, its almost metal-like hardness and durability. But there is something more to the Magkono wood than those physical qualities. Run your fingers along the surface of a Magkono jar or shiny tabletop and there is more than shiny deadwood there that you can feel. There is a vibrancy, a feeling of touching something partly living and not entirely inert.

Old folks used to say that spirits and enchanted beings lived within the trees of the ancient forests and imbued them with their powers and qualities. If that is the case then mighty spirits must have lived within Magkono trees for them to have acquired such beauty and strength. Maybe it is their lingering magic suffused in the wood that makes Magkono products so beautiful and imminently desirable to the touch and sight of mortal men.

My fear is that these wood products will ultimately go the way of the fast disappearing forests that used to shelter the mighty trees from where they came. When that happens, something else that is unique and singularly beautiful will be gone from the world, gone the way of the dodo and the passenger pigeon. And those who have not seen, touched and have been entranced by the beauty of the Magkono's mystical wood will never realize how poorer we are because we allowed something so extraordinary and unusual to disappear without a shout or even a whimper of protest.
.......Click here to read the rest of this post!........