Cordillera | Northern Dispatch (nordis) Weekly

NIA to stop lift of Philex suspension

June 16, 2013 in agriculture, Cordillera, Featured, mining

By DELIA BAGNI
www.nordis.net

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The National Irrigation Authority (NIA) vows to find a way to restrain orders allowing the permanent lifting of the suspension order of operation issued by Mines and Geo sciences Bureau (MGB) to Philex Mining Corporation during the 50th years celebration day of NIA at Benguet State University, June 11.

According to NIA Administrator of region 1, Anton Nangel, the agency will find ways to stop the permanent lifting of the suspension order. “The board meeting is still ongoing, addressing the issues concerning Philex mines, but we will find a way to stop the permanent lifting of the suspension, if it is necessary to file temporary restraining order (TRO) then so be it. Why not find solutions, why are they returning the problem?” Nangel stated. Read the rest of this entry →

CHRA disappointed over Mankayan rape case

June 16, 2013 in Cordillera, human rights

By DELIA BAGNI
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY— Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) Secretary General, Jude Baggo expressed disappointment over the turtle paced delivery of justice to the rape victims in Mankayan, Benguet as he enjoined all concerned agencies and sectors to work together.

Baggo disclosed that at present, the rape case filed against Captain Danilo Lalin is now archived due to lack of witnesses and the current health situation of one of the victims Isabel (not her real name).

“We were able to talk to witnesses but they do not want to testify in court because they are afraid of reprisal from the army. The other victim, a friend of Isabel’s refused to cooperate after Capt. Lalin visited her sometime last year. It is disappointing at the same time frustrating but this is the current status of the case,” he stressed. Read the rest of this entry →

Vilification a license to violate peoples rights — CHRA

June 16, 2013 in Cordillera, human rights

By KIMBERLIE NGABIT-QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — “Political vilification aims to remove the protection of law over the victim.”

This was the statement of Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) Secretary General Jude Baggo during the Amnesty International Philippines second rounds of 2013 reports at the Bloomfield Hotel, here, June 14.

NPA strongholds

Baggo cited as an example of political vilification the Philippine Army’s labeling of certain barangays or communities as strongholds of the New Peoples Army (NPA) to justify military atrocities pointing to the May 31 army air strike in Malibcong, Abra. Read the rest of this entry →

Abra folk decry bombing, belie army claims

June 9, 2013 in Cordillera, Featured, human rights

By KIMBERLIE NGABIT-QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — Residents of the Bangilo District Malibcong, Abra condemned the 503rd Brigade and 41st Infantry Battallion of the Philippine Army airstrike conducted last May 31 and belied military claims that the bomb fell 500 meters away from the community residential area as they demand for appropriate punishment of erring army troopers and officers.

BOMB SHELL. This is what is left of the bomb that fell on the stone wall of the Pugo Rice field in Barangay Lat-ey, Malibcong, Abra after Philippine Army troopers launched an airstrike in the area. Photo courtesy of Innabuyog-Gabriela

BOMB SHELL. This is what is left of the bomb that fell on the stone wall of the Pugo Rice field in Barangay Lat-ey, Malibcong, Abra after Philippine Army troopers launched an airstrike in the area. Photo courtesy of Innabuyog-Gabriela

In an emailed statement, affected residents of Barangays Umnap, Lat-ey and Buanao composing the Bangilo District of Malicong condemned the airstrike and decried the statement of 503rd Brigade Commander General Hernando DCA Iriberri in his radio interview that the bomb landed some 500 meters away from residential area.

“We the indigenous people of Malibcong, Abra, particularly from the Bangilo district (Barangays Umnap, Buanao ken Lat-ey), strongly condemns the indiscriminate bombing that happened Friday, May 31, 2013, that fell on the Pugo Rice field within Barangay Lat-ey at arounf 9:05 in the morning,” the statement said in Iloco. Read the rest of this entry →

Three Benguet schools still congested

June 9, 2013 in Cordillera, education, Featured

By DELIA BAGNI
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — Department of Education (Dep-Ed) identified three schools in Baguio and Benguet that still have congested classrooms, during the regular kapihan at the Philippine Information Agency office, June 5.

Dep-Ed Assistant Director for Benguet Schools Division Sebastian Tayaban identified Baguio City National High School (BCNHS) and Pines City National High School (PCNHS) in Baguio while in La Trinidad, Benguet only the National High School (BCNHS) remains congested.

He said that there is still a slight congestion of classrooms in the urban areas, however there are no significant problems in the province so far. Read the rest of this entry →

Anakpawis to push for wage hike bill

June 9, 2013 in Cordillera

By ALDWIN QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — Anakpawis Cordillera Regional Coordinator Michael Cabangon said they will resume drum beating their demand for the immediate passage of House Bill 375 or known as the P125 Wage Hike Bill on the opening of the 16th Congress.

He recalled that HB 375 was already approved at the House Committee on Labor and Employment last January 18 during a special hearing held at La Trinidad, Benguet. He said that under the rules approved by the outgoing 15th Congress, the approved bill will be automatically approved in the incoming 16th Congress. Read the rest of this entry →

Remembering one of the greatest sons of the Cordillera

June 9, 2013 in Cordillera, human rights, people

By KIMBERLIE NGABIT-QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — June 8 marks the seventh year anniversary of the death of one of the greatest sons of the Cordillera, Markus “Makoy” Bangit, a respected Kalinga tribal leader and elder, and staunch defender of indigenous people’s and human rights.

Makoy, as his colleagues lovingly call him, is a victim of political killings under the counter insurgency program of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He was gunned down at a bus stop in Isabela while enroute to Baguio with his eldest son on that fateful day in 2006. At the time of his death, he was in charge of the elder’s desk of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA). Read the rest of this entry →

2nd Sagada-Besao FPIC still opposes wind farm

June 9, 2013 in Cordillera, energy

By NORTHERN DISPATCH

BAGUIO CITY — Sentiments expressed by participants present leaned heavily against the project during the 2nd assembly called in relation to the proposed Sagada-Besao Wind Farm between May 20 to 27 with the project proponent, experts, concerned government agencies and citizens of the affected communities.

The local office of the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) as earlier requested started discusions by giving a review of the “Free, Prior Informed Consent” (FPIC) process and guidelines that their office is assigned to facillitate, observe and document among indigenous communities affected by development projects such as that proposed here. Read the rest of this entry →

Ifugao NGO denounce PNP chief statement

June 9, 2013 in Cordillera, human rights

By JUDE BAGGO
www.nordis.net

LAGAWE, Ifugao — The Ifugao Resource Development Center (IRDC) denounced the statement of Ifugao PSSupt. Angelito A. Casimiro directly linking IRDC as the “Hayag na Kilusang Masa” to the Nona del Rosario Command, a New People’s Army (NPA) unit in Ifugao.

“The statement made by PSSupt. Casimiro is outrageous. This statement also validated earlier claims that legal and legitimate organizations are vilified as enemies of the state or “front organizations” of the NPA,” IRDC OIC William Bugatti stressed. Read the rest of this entry →

Shootings, grenade blasts ushers in June in Abra

June 9, 2013 in Cordillera

By KIMBERLIE NGABIT QUITASOL and ACE ALEGRE
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — The ambush of a village chief, a grenade blasting and two other shooting incidents marred the first week of June in Abra, barely three weeks after the widely acclaimed most peaceful elections in the province.

It can be recalled that no shooting incident occurred in the whole province of Abra during the elections. Police Regional Office Cordillera (PROCor) pre-election data also showed a decrease in the number of shooting incidents in the province during the first quarter of the year as compered to the previous years. Read the rest of this entry →

Sablan passes ordinance penalizing prank callers

June 9, 2013 in Cordillera

By DELIA BAGNI
www.nordis.net

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — The municipality of Sablan passed an ordinance that penalizes persons who makes prank calls to emergency hotline numbers of government and private entities with in the municipality.

The ordinance number 13-04 passed aims to protect emergency hotlines from senseless callers and lessen clogging of lines that disables legitimate callers accessing the emergency numbers as well as creating misinformation to the response personnel. Read the rest of this entry →

Bombings endanger Abra folk

June 2, 2013 in Cordillera, Featured, human rights

By KIMBERLIE NGABIT-QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — Human rights watchdogs reported that airstrikes conducted by the 503rd Brigade of the Philippine Army (PA) endangered the lives of community folk and destroyed their sources of livelihood in Malibcong, Abra.

Abra Human Rights Movement (AHRM), the provincial chapter of the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) reported that today, May 31 the 503rd Brigade, through air strikes, indiscriminately bombed Malibcong, Abra in their combat operations almost hurting two minors (13 years old and 17 years old, both females) who were on their way to gather vegetables.

The AHRM report added that two bombs exploded at Bolan/Pugopog east of Barangay Duldulao at around 9:00AM. Another bomb exploded at the Allikoman ricefields, around 180 meters from residential houses of Barangay Alligang according to the sms forwarded to us by residents in the area. One of the bombs fell on the Pugo ricefield at Barangay Lat-ey, 150 meters away from the community’s powerhouse. Read the rest of this entry →

Ifugao congressman confident to finish term despite Ombudsman ruling on administrative case in 2009

June 2, 2013 in Cordillera, elections, Featured, politics

By KIMBERLIE NGABIT-QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — Re-elected Ifugao Representative Teddy Brawner Baguilat Jr. is confident he will finish his second term in the 16th congress until 2016 despite talks of his disqualification stemming from an ombudsman decision on an administrative case filed against him when he was still governor in 2009.

“Comelec (Commission on Election) no longer has jurisdiction and they will just dismiss the disqualification case against me. But it is safe to say I will sit as congressman until 2016,” Baguilat claimed.

He said that since Comelec already proclaimed him, the disqualification case is “moot and academic”. He added that the only recourse of those who filed the disqualification case is to bring the case to the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET). Read the rest of this entry →

GDP growth unfelt by the people — Anakpawis

June 2, 2013 in Cordillera, economy

By ALDWIN QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — Anakpawis-Cordillera Regional Coordinator Michael Cabangon said that while the present administration of President Benigno Aquino III is boasting of the 7.8% growth in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the number of hungry Filipinos grows bigger.

On May 30, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) announced that the Philippine’s GDP soared to 7.8 percent. The board said that the growth exceeds government and market forecasts and beating other Asian neighbors including China.

NSCB announced that consumer and government spending shot up by increased investments in construction and durable equipment. Read the rest of this entry →

CPDF clarifies AFP, NPA excluded in pagta

June 2, 2013 in Cordillera, Featured, insurgency

By ALDWIN QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — Through a statement of the Cordillera People’s Democratic Front (CPDF) Spokesperson Simon “Ka Filiw” Naogsan reminded the 5th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army that combatants from both sides of the New Peoples Army (NPA) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are excluded in the Pagta (agreement) of the tribal Bodong (peace pact).

In reaction to the filing of the 5th ID of a complaint before a Tabuk City, Kalinga-based Matagoan Bodong Consultative Council, Naogsan stated that it is a desperate move and is likewise laughable.

5th IDPA based in Camp Gamu, Isabela filed a complaint before the office of the MBCC chaired by Tabuk City Mayor Ferdinand Tubban over an ambush on May 9 carried out by NPA guerillas belonging to the Lejo Cawilan Command (LCC) in Sitio Patiking, Barangay Dupag, Tabuk City. Said ambush resulted to the death of Sgt. Wilfredo Bacacao and Cpll Allen Pattaguan and the wounding of six other soldiers. Read the rest of this entry →

PNP Ifugao says NPA campaigned for chosen candidates

June 2, 2013 in Cordillera, elections, insurgency

By KIMBERLIE NGABIT-QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — The provincial command of the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported that members of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Ifugao campaigned for their chosen candidates during the recently concluded post election assessment conference here last May 28.

Police Provincial Director PSSupt. Angelito A. Casimiro reported that NPA rebels actively campaigned for their chosen candidates from Senators down to municipal councilors. He disclosed that the rebels campaigned for Makabayan Senatorial bet Teddy Casiño and Katribu partylist. He however did not name other candidates supported by the rebels. Read the rest of this entry →

Ched allows tuition hike in Cordillera

June 2, 2013 in Cordillera, education

By MARIA APRILA W. CRUZ/PIA-CAR

BAGUIO CITY — The Commission on Higher Education – Cordillera Administrative Region (Ched-CAR) allowed seven colleges and universities to increase their tuition and other school fees this school opening.

Ched-CAR Assistant Regional Director Ramon Santiago in an interview over DZEQ – Radyo ng Bayan announced that Ched has granted 10 % tuition and miscellaneous hike to Pines City Colleges, Baguio College of Technology (BCT), Baguio Central University (BCU) for incoming freshmen. Read the rest of this entry →

Namal hosts renewable energy, human rights seminar

June 2, 2013 in Cordillera

By JUDE BAGGO
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CTY — More than 50 participants from the different sitios of Namal, Asipulo, Ifugao attended the Renewable Energy and human rights seminar conducted in Namal Proper.

The main objectives of the seminar were to increase awareness on renewable energy on the different types of energy and its impacts and human rights; to come up with a community stand on the issues of renewable energy and human rights; and documentation of human rights violations. Read the rest of this entry →