January | 2009 | Northern Dispatch (nordis) Weekly

Streetlights: GMA’s last dance

January 25, 2009 in columns, general, opinion

By MARIANNE LORENZO

GMA could have won in many dancing competitions. After all, she is fond of dancing and re-hashing the Cha-cha. Many times, she danced to the beat of Cha-cha and even composed a Consultative Commission on Charter Change years back. Now as she faces the last year of her term, she is again practicing her favorite dance. Her best partner now, is House Speaker Prospero Nograles who authored Resolution 737.

The resolution, authored by House Speaker Prospero Nogales, proposes amendments to Sections 2 and 3 in Article XII of the Constitution “to allow the acquisition by foreign corporations and associations and the transfer of conveyance thereto of alienable public lands and private lands.” Read the rest of this entry →

Weekly Reflections: A new covenant

January 25, 2009 in columns, general, opinion

By REV. LUNA L. DINGAYAN

“The time will come when I will make a new convenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the Old Covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. Although I was like a husband to them, they did not keep that covenant. The new covenant that I will make with the people of Israel will be this: I will put my law within them and write it in their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. None of them will have to teach a neighbor to know the Lord, because all will know me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs. I, the LORD have spoken.” — Jeremiah 31:31-33

Obama Inaugural

I joined millions of people all over the world in watching the television coverage of the inaugural activities of the 44th president of the most powerful nation on earth. US President Barack H. Obama made history as the first African American that ever occupied the White House – a physical structure built out of the sweat, blood, and tears of African American slaves. His inaugural celebration was indeed heart warming. Millions of people all over the US braved the freezing temperature and gathered together at the Western side of the Capitol Hill in Washington DC fronting the Lincoln Memorial to witness history in the making. According to some analysts, the number of people present during the celebration was the biggest so far in any presidential inauguration in recent American history. Read the rest of this entry →

Poetry: Footnote to the Gaza assaults

January 25, 2009 in general, literary

By CHERYL L. DAYTEC*

The coppice and orchards became graveyards
Fashioned like desolation, their color is violence
Flowers for all seasons have been stunted, wilted
What sprouts from battlefields but odious hate
Whose thirst is quenched not by water but blood
Yearning not for sunshine but the yawning torment Read the rest of this entry →

Poetry: Vengeance

January 25, 2009 in general, literary

By ALIGUAS VELASCO RAYOS

Yuro, in my native language, means knife.
That with which we pare guavas and green mangoes
Or cut up green papaya that we would dip in vinegar
or plain salt for a crunchy snacks Read the rest of this entry →

Tula: Ang nakaraan

January 25, 2009 in general, literary

By MARV BOAC TERCEÑO

Ano kaya ang aking nakaraan,
Sa libro ko na lang ba ito makikita?
Makikita ko nga ba ito sa bayan ko?
Sa paaralan ko nga ba eto malalaman? Read the rest of this entry →

Chengs talk on old Baguio, their home

January 25, 2009 in Baguio City, general, people

It was supposedly a lazy afternoon for the brood of three men, four women, all in their twilight years, their espouses and their children. Only one of them stayed put in her US home, the Cheng siblings came for an unusual reunion at the Supreme Hotel along Magsaysay Avenue in Baguio City.

BAGUIO CITY IS THEIR HOME. The Chengs during the launching of Valley of Peace – Ping-on, authored by youngest of nine siblings, Richard. From left, Elizabeth Lee, Diana Chua and Alex. Behind them is Linda Chua with her son Archie. Not in photo are Dorothy, Charles and Richard. Evelyn is in the US, while Ellen has joined her creator. Photo by Lyn V. Ramo

The book launching for the Valley of Peace, however, was also intended as a family reunion, where the Chengs had a chance, for the first time in the last ten years, for the recollection of their childhood in the city. Read the rest of this entry →

Book Review: Ti Daga Ket Biag

January 25, 2009 in general, reviews

By RAYMUNDO ROVILLOS

The book “Ti Daga ket Biag” (Land is Life) is a much awaited publication of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance. It puts together the works of activists and scholars of scholar-activists on and from the Cordillera region.

With Macliing Dulag and other Cordillera martyrs as its inspiration., the book on the land question is out. Photo by Noel Godinez

Most, if not all of the contributors to this book have admirably devoted their knowledge and skills not only in the study of the Cordillera, but also in the struggles to change the perceived structural and systematic causes of inequality and oppression that confront the Cordillera peoples. Read the rest of this entry →

Makan a la Pinoy: Lettuce wrap

January 25, 2009 in food, general

Ni BRENDA S. DACPANO

Ti lettuce wrap ket maysa kadagiti adu a makan a maidasdasar iti panangselebrar ti Chinese New Year. Segun iti pagsasao a Cantonese, ti lettuce wrap ket maibalikas a kas ti panagdur-as ti masakbayan isu a kadawyan daytoy a maidasar iti baro a tawen.

Photo by Brenda S. Dacpano

Dagiti maikabil a natnateng ditoy ket segun iti adda iti panawen. Mabalin nga agusar ti bitswelas, cauliflower, carrots, kdpy. Mabalin met a laukan ti tofu wenno tokwa imbes a manok para kadagiti vegetarian. Read the rest of this entry →

All systems go for Panagbenga

January 18, 2009 in Baguio City, general, tourism

BAGUIO CITY — The executive committee of the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation Inc. (BFFFI) announced Wednesday it is an all systems-go for the upcoming 14th Baguio Flower Festival or the Panagbenga 2009, which will run from February 1 to March 8.

This year’s theme “Panagbenga…Our Festival…Yours Too,” will be filled with more innovative and quality events according to Albert Flores, Chairperson of the Events and Concepts Committee of the Panagbenga 2009, highlighted with major events like the opening parade on February 1, Fluvial Parade on February 14, Grand Street Parade on February 28, Grand Float Parade on March 1 and the Session in Bloom form March 2 to 8. Read the rest of this entry →

Groups hit Panagbenga

January 18, 2009 in Baguio City, general, tourism

BAGUIO CITY — As the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation, Inc. (BFFFI) is preparing for the upcoming 14th Panagbenga, the city’s festival was not spared the criticisms from different groups.

The annual festival of the city became a target of criticism for the commercializing and bastardizing the Cordillera culture in its grand street dancing and float parades which are its usual major activities the yearly event is slated next month. Read the rest of this entry →

Baguio mayor nixes drug testing

January 18, 2009 in general

BAGUIO CITY — Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr said during the weekly Ugnayang Panlunsod, Thursday, it is just right for a mandatory drug testing especially for those vying for an elected position in the government, driving license applicants and employment applicants.

According to the mayor, however, the government’s mandatory drug testing for students should be shifted to resolving tobacco and alcohol abuse among the youth. Read the rest of this entry →

Bid to decriminalize sidewalk vending aired (1/2)

January 18, 2009 in Baguio City, employment, general

By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW

First of two parts

BAGUIO CITY — Maria Mendoza, 51, widow, is a vegetable vendor at the city market here for 25 years now. Naty Corpuz, 49, has been selling vegetables here since she was 10. Ana Killip, 45, arrived here from the Mountain Province, at least 150 kilometers from here, to try her luck as a fruit vendor since she married in her early 20s.

They came from different places and backgrounds but they now face a common threat: the city’s anti-vending policy, which they claim would deny their right to earn a living for their families. Read the rest of this entry →

On the Year of the Ox, Econ crisis not affecting most Filipinos

January 18, 2009 in Baguio City, general

BAGUIO CITY — The Chinese see the Year of the Ox as an opportunity to observe thrift, patience and hard work, in the context of the world financial crisis, but say the economic meltdown only affects the Western world.

“Filipinos are resilient and we usually survive even in hard times,” businessman Dennis Sy, president of the Baguio Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce said during the press conference on the Chinese New Year at the Supreme Hotel here. Read the rest of this entry →

Participation empowers poor folk

January 18, 2009 in Cordillera, general

BAGUIO CITY — Volunteerism and community participation in decision-making, in project identification and implementation, simplify the 16-step processes of empowering poverty- stricken communities, according to beneficiaries of the government poverty alleviation program.

“Idi damo, kuna dagiti kakailiak a nakaat-atiddog ti proseso a dalanen mi,” Teddy Mayumes of Tinoc, Ifugao said of the long processes the community has to undergo before a Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-assisted project could be realized. Read the rest of this entry →

Low sugar strawberry jam out soon

January 18, 2009 in Cordillera, general

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — Low sugar strawberry products are on a market test as part of a study being conducted by a team of researchers from the Benguet State University (BSU) here.

The research and production of low sugar products, adheres to the popular clamor for low-calorie health food, according to Dr. Jane K. Avila, manager of the BSU Food Processing Center, here, who presented the study results among farmers and entrepreneurs at a farmer’s forum here Wednesday. Read the rest of this entry →

Ganza parking area turns to an immediate response center

January 18, 2009 in Baguio City, general

BAGUIO CITY — Despite the pending case of the Jadewell Parking Systems Corporation in the Ganza parking area, city personnels cleared the area Thursday morning, intending to be converted into an immediate response center.

Armed with bolt-cutters, sledge hammers, heavy equipment, and brooms, the combined forces of the Public Order and Safety Division (POSD), City Environment Management Office (CEMO), City Parks Management Office (CPMO), trooped to the area at 10:00A.M. to clean up and rehabilitate the area, left idle for years since the Jadewell-City Government wars erupted 2004. Read the rest of this entry →

City council mulls a possible traffic summit

January 18, 2009 in Baguio City, general, transport

BAGUIO CITY — Councilor Rocky Thomas Balisong, chairperson of Public Utilities, Transportation and Traffic Legislation, views the possibility of having a traffic summit, during the city council’s regular session last January 12, Monday.

Police Superintendent David Mariano and Engr. Fredrico Tan appeared before the council and presented the evaluation report of the Traffic and Transportation Management Committee (TTMC) regarding the ongoing traffic schemes within the City of Baguio. Read the rest of this entry →

Baguio photographer exhibits work

January 18, 2009 in Baguio City, Cordillera, general

BAGUIO CITY — Inquirer photojournalist Edgardo “EV” Espiritu is displaying some of the definitive images of the Cordillera in his first solo-exhibit at Hotel Elizabeth along Gibraltar Road.

Espiritu’s show, which will run from January 17 to February 13, is called “Soul Catcher” — a reference to the shy Igorot community whose lives he has dedicated his time to document. Espiritu said it refers to an I-fontok woman’s camera-shyness. Read the rest of this entry →

Bamboo advocacy gains foothold in Cordi

January 18, 2009 in Cordillera, general

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — Advocacy work for the propagation of bamboo, both as a forest cover and ornamental foliage, is gaining a foothold nationwide with the creation of bamboo development councils.

ENDEMIC. Several bamboo species grow abundantly in many Cordillera and lowland provinces, like this one in Kibungan, Benguet. Photo ny Lyn V. Ramo

Optimism runs high with forestry students of the Benguet State University (BSU) at the core of the bamboo advocacy in the province. Read the rest of this entry →

Baguio Roundup: 18 Jan. 2009

January 18, 2009 in Baguio City, general

Number coding ordinance clarified: only private cars of tourists exempted

BAGUIO CITY—Only private motor vehicles of tourists, not of city residents, are exempted from the coverage of the city’s number coding ordinance.

Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. clarified this as he issued Executive Order No.1 setting the guidelines for Ordinance No. 107 series of 2008 exempting private and chartered vehicles participating in sanctioned activities like conventions, conferences and assemblies from the number coding ordinance.

Only the private motor vehicles and chartered public utility vehicles of visitors, tourists, vacationers, or participants of the said sanctioned activities are exempted from the city’s number coding scheme. # Aileen P. Refuerzo/PIO-Baguio City

Mayor assures effective waste collection

BAGUIO CITY—Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. Thursday assured the city would continue to implement an effective waste collection system in the coming months for its major activities lined up for the Baguio Flower Festival and Baguio Centennial celebration.

Bautista had directed general services officer and city environment management head Romeo Concio to work out an effective waste management plan for the expected influx of tourists.

He said the smooth collection activities for the past months show regained control over the erratic collection system last year.

Bautista early last week also directed Concio to continue hauling residual wastes to Capas, Tarlac while other alternative measures are still being pursued on the waste disposal system of the city.

He said the city is also fast-tracking the rehabilitation of the Irisan dump site to utilize the same while the engineered sanitary landfill is still being worked out. # Aileen P. Refuerzo/PIO-Baguio City