There's an interesting column by Neal Cruz in the Philippine Daily Inquirer regarding the Barangay and SK elections and I could not agree more. The Barangay and SK elections have become a breeding ground for corruption.
We all agree that the barangay is the basic unit of a community and the youth should have a voice in nation building but the earnest move to formalize their contributions to nation building by making them elective seems to have backfired. We cannot fault the author of the Local Government Code, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, because he could not have predicted what is happening now at the time he wrote the law.
Having a voice in nation building however does not mean we have to put a lot of layers into our electoral process. It not only adds confusion, it is costly as well. In order to put the importance of barangay officials in its proper perspective, let us keep in mind of what the role is of the local elective officials including the elective barangay officials. Primarily, they are elected to make and implement laws to promote order in our municipality and to contribute to the process of nation building. What law can the barangay make that otherwise could not be done by local Sangguniang Bayan or what law cannot be implemented by the Mayor that the barangay can? Did we not elect our Mayor and the members of the Sangguniang Bayan basically to manage the affairs of the town and direct the implementation of local and national policies?
According to Section 384 of the Local Government Code, "the barangay serves as the primary planning and implementing unit of government policies, plans, programs, projects, and activities in the community, and as a forum wherein the collective views of the people may be expressed, crystallized and considered, and where disputes may be amicably settled."
With this provision in mind, is the spirit of the law really followed in our case? Basically what the law says is that everything must emanate from the barangay and in my own understanding, the mayor and the local SB will have to consult with the Sangguniang Barangay on any plans the barangay has. I doubt if this is being followed in our town or in any other town in our province.
As for the SK, I don't have to say much about this because it is quite obvious that the SK hasn't done much for the welfare of our youth. All they ever do is sponsor basketball tournaments and nothing else. This concept is such a waste of money. One more thing, as Neal Cruz said, it has become a breeding ground for corruption. We are damaging the future of our youth by encouraging them to start the practice of vote buying at such an early age. Even the most unqualified may become an SK Federation Chairman as long as he or his family can afford to buy votes to ensure a seat in the local Sangguniang Bayan.
Are these practices contributory to nation building? I don't think so.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
Beachwalks and other musings...
I find it really envigorating to take a walk along the beach on early mornings. This morning, I took a walk along Baybay to get a whiff of fresh air and exercise my weary bones and muscles at the same time. You see, I am trying to get my weight down per advise by my doctor. The water level was already very high considering that the tide wasn't still at its highest. It is really interesting to watch the water come in from the river. I noticed this as I passed by the bridge where the Irriberri fishpond used to be. The water looked really green and one would think that it came from a clean river. I tried to suspend reality at that moment. I was tempted to take my shoes off and jump off the bridge but I controlled myself.
The sight of water rushing in from the river reminded me of my childhood days when we used to jump off the bridge at Casa. Those were the days when our river was still relatively clean although you would ocassionally see some flotsam and jetsam and in those days, it didn't matter to me nor with the other kids. We just brush the debris aside, smelly or otherwise. Water is water and whenever we get the chance, and those chances were plenty, me and my friends would hie off to our river to take a swim. I learned to swim on my own at Cantilan river that's why I have nostalgic memories of this river. In fact, I almost drowned in our river because a friend of mine who didn't know how to swim tried to use me as his floatation device when a boat we were riding in capsized. I was just learning how to swim then and you can just imagine what I did to stay afloat. It was a good thing my friend was able to grab on to something and that saved both of us. To this day, we remain the best of friends.
I mentioned that I have nostalgic memories of our river, a river that was and still is a major transport route for our agricultural and fishing products. It pains me that when I look at our river nowadays, the landscape has totally changed. Where I used to see a river bank with trees, now I see houses on stilts and it's not a pretty sight. I really wonder how it reached to this point when Cantilan has plenty of land where the inhabitants of these houses on stilts could live. With the proliferation of these stilt houses, I can just imagine the ecological impact of this to our river. I haven't even mentioned the impact of having the Puyat Veneer Plant situated at this river. I do not personally know if the plant dumps its waste materials into our river but I can't imagine it not dumping anything into the river. These factors contribute to the slow death of our river.
Rivers are supposed to be a source of life, a place where people bathe, travel and have fun. Think of the Nile, Amazon and Yangtze, the Tigres and Euphrates were civilization started. People built settlements near rivers because of its obvious importance and here we are ignoring this important value of rivers particularly our own. What have we done to our river, I ask myself? And what can I do to help rehabilitate this very important part of our economy and history? Is it too late or can we still do something to stem the slow death of our river?
I wonder.
The sight of water rushing in from the river reminded me of my childhood days when we used to jump off the bridge at Casa. Those were the days when our river was still relatively clean although you would ocassionally see some flotsam and jetsam and in those days, it didn't matter to me nor with the other kids. We just brush the debris aside, smelly or otherwise. Water is water and whenever we get the chance, and those chances were plenty, me and my friends would hie off to our river to take a swim. I learned to swim on my own at Cantilan river that's why I have nostalgic memories of this river. In fact, I almost drowned in our river because a friend of mine who didn't know how to swim tried to use me as his floatation device when a boat we were riding in capsized. I was just learning how to swim then and you can just imagine what I did to stay afloat. It was a good thing my friend was able to grab on to something and that saved both of us. To this day, we remain the best of friends.
I mentioned that I have nostalgic memories of our river, a river that was and still is a major transport route for our agricultural and fishing products. It pains me that when I look at our river nowadays, the landscape has totally changed. Where I used to see a river bank with trees, now I see houses on stilts and it's not a pretty sight. I really wonder how it reached to this point when Cantilan has plenty of land where the inhabitants of these houses on stilts could live. With the proliferation of these stilt houses, I can just imagine the ecological impact of this to our river. I haven't even mentioned the impact of having the Puyat Veneer Plant situated at this river. I do not personally know if the plant dumps its waste materials into our river but I can't imagine it not dumping anything into the river. These factors contribute to the slow death of our river.
Rivers are supposed to be a source of life, a place where people bathe, travel and have fun. Think of the Nile, Amazon and Yangtze, the Tigres and Euphrates were civilization started. People built settlements near rivers because of its obvious importance and here we are ignoring this important value of rivers particularly our own. What have we done to our river, I ask myself? And what can I do to help rehabilitate this very important part of our economy and history? Is it too late or can we still do something to stem the slow death of our river?
I wonder.
Monday, September 24, 2007
NPA Raid of Cantilan Police Station
On Sunday, September 22, two truckloads of NPA rebels attacked the Cantilan Police Station at around 1 p.m. According to reports, there were only two policemen present when the raid happened. As soon as they arrived, the rebels started strafing the station destroying property inside the station and the office of the police chief. The gunfire lasted for roughly 15 minutes. The policemen on duty did not even have the chance to return fire considering that they were heavily outnumbered and outgunned. Both of them were wounded and one of them was supposedly treated by one of the women NPA rebels. I don't know if we were supposed to thank them for this act of magnanimity. The fate of the other cop is still not clear. He was supposed to have been airlifted to Davao.
I read a copy of the letter that purportedly came from the rebel group. It listed several "sins of ommission and commission" that members of the police department of Cantilan has supposedly done, including drug use (shabu), kutong or filching of drivers of tricycles and motorized tricycads, and crime protection. Other "sinners" included illegal loggers and they mentioned a few names. I will not mention the names of those who were mentioned in the letter in fairness to them. I have no basis of knowing whether these people really committed such "sins". What the rebels listed are mere allegations as far as I am concerned. It is up to the legal authorities to prove if these allegations are true or not.
I believe that this letter is just a smokescreen put up by the NPA. The real reason for this raid, for me, was for them to make a statement. To me, this says very boldly that they can penetrate any town in the area, that the government is ineffective in stopping them and that they can do it again. In doing this, the NPA's merely highlighted security lapses on the part of the police and the military and this is something that should be seriously looked into.
The police and the military have several questions that they should answer and these should be investigated by both of these groups or maybe even somebody independent from these groups. First, as far as the military is concerned, the question I would pose to them is: Was there a breakdown in military intelligence? Were they not able to detect movements inside the rebel group?
The rebels were supposed to have organized in Banban, Panikian, Carrascal, Surigao del Sur. If the military were on top of things, they were supposed to have detected these movements and prepared for the eventuality of an attack. However, in light of the situation in Maguindanao where the AFP have been massing their troops, there's reason to believe that the military suffers from lack of manpower. Their troops are heavily concentrated in Maguindanao and the MILF areas where war is going on. If this is true, what is the policy of the military as far as dispersing troops is concerned? In the process of heavily massing troops in Western Mindanao, aren't they exposing the rest of Mindanao or the country in general to serious security threats coming from the NPA?
As far as the police is concerned, I have a few questions. Why were there only two people on duty? In a town as big as Cantilan, how many cops are supposed to be on duty at any given time during the day? Where was the police chief when the incident happened or in the absence of the police chief, who was the highest ranking officer on duty? In light of this incident, I would also like to know how many cops are assigned on detail with the town Mayor? As far as I know, there are two cops who are assigned to provide security for the Mayor. Are these cops on a full time basis providing security for the mayor? Isn't it a little disproportionate that two cops are assigned on full detail for one person and yet only two cops were on duty last Sunday supposedly guarding the whole town of Cantilan?
These are some of the questions that I would like our authorities to answer. The answers to these questions will tell us where our security forces failed to provide us with basic security. It will also help us prepare for such attacks in case they happen again in the future, if we ever learn our lesson.
Wake up people! Do you want this to happen again? Let us condemn the act committed by the NPA and at the same time, call on our military, police and elected officials to do something to prevent such an act from happening again in the future.
I read a copy of the letter that purportedly came from the rebel group. It listed several "sins of ommission and commission" that members of the police department of Cantilan has supposedly done, including drug use (shabu), kutong or filching of drivers of tricycles and motorized tricycads, and crime protection. Other "sinners" included illegal loggers and they mentioned a few names. I will not mention the names of those who were mentioned in the letter in fairness to them. I have no basis of knowing whether these people really committed such "sins". What the rebels listed are mere allegations as far as I am concerned. It is up to the legal authorities to prove if these allegations are true or not.
I believe that this letter is just a smokescreen put up by the NPA. The real reason for this raid, for me, was for them to make a statement. To me, this says very boldly that they can penetrate any town in the area, that the government is ineffective in stopping them and that they can do it again. In doing this, the NPA's merely highlighted security lapses on the part of the police and the military and this is something that should be seriously looked into.
The police and the military have several questions that they should answer and these should be investigated by both of these groups or maybe even somebody independent from these groups. First, as far as the military is concerned, the question I would pose to them is: Was there a breakdown in military intelligence? Were they not able to detect movements inside the rebel group?
The rebels were supposed to have organized in Banban, Panikian, Carrascal, Surigao del Sur. If the military were on top of things, they were supposed to have detected these movements and prepared for the eventuality of an attack. However, in light of the situation in Maguindanao where the AFP have been massing their troops, there's reason to believe that the military suffers from lack of manpower. Their troops are heavily concentrated in Maguindanao and the MILF areas where war is going on. If this is true, what is the policy of the military as far as dispersing troops is concerned? In the process of heavily massing troops in Western Mindanao, aren't they exposing the rest of Mindanao or the country in general to serious security threats coming from the NPA?
As far as the police is concerned, I have a few questions. Why were there only two people on duty? In a town as big as Cantilan, how many cops are supposed to be on duty at any given time during the day? Where was the police chief when the incident happened or in the absence of the police chief, who was the highest ranking officer on duty? In light of this incident, I would also like to know how many cops are assigned on detail with the town Mayor? As far as I know, there are two cops who are assigned to provide security for the Mayor. Are these cops on a full time basis providing security for the mayor? Isn't it a little disproportionate that two cops are assigned on full detail for one person and yet only two cops were on duty last Sunday supposedly guarding the whole town of Cantilan?
These are some of the questions that I would like our authorities to answer. The answers to these questions will tell us where our security forces failed to provide us with basic security. It will also help us prepare for such attacks in case they happen again in the future, if we ever learn our lesson.
Wake up people! Do you want this to happen again? Let us condemn the act committed by the NPA and at the same time, call on our military, police and elected officials to do something to prevent such an act from happening again in the future.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
My thoughts for today..
My Sunday morning was almost ruined when I saw a comment in Cantilangnon's blog regarding my blog. It's not the content of the comment that I was really mad about but rather the discourteous manner of the person who made the comment. Cantilangnon's blog is a well-respected blog and people visit his blog to check the lighter and happier side of Cantilan. To the person who made the comment, it's rather bastos of you to insert a comment about my blog in Cantilangnon's blog and I believe you owe Cantilangnon an apology. If you want to make a comment about my blog, please write it here. You can write whatever you want to write. Don't ruin somebody else's blog because of my blog. Cantilangnon's blog is his own private space.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Rubout or accidental death?
Last week, the body of Rommel Miranda was found floating at the Cantilan River near our public market. His body particularly his face was reportedly bruised up and signs that he was mauled were apparent. He was also in handcuffs when his body was found. According to reports, he was supposedly arrested and handcuffed the night previous to when his dead body was found to prevent him from causing a scene at a KTV bar. Previous to this incident, the victim caused a scene at the KTV bar and since the owner did not want a repeat of the incident she called the cops. 3 cops responded to the owners call for help.
Two things come to my mind about this incident: firstly, shock that such a crime could happen to our otherwise peaceful town and secondly, that the police has not satisfactorily answered about their role in the incident.
There's a big question regarding the role that the cops played in this particular incident. According to reports, the victim ran away after the cuffs were put on him. The cops did not even attempt to pursue the victim considering that he was under police custody. If this is true that the cops did not pursue the victim when he ran away, what was their reason for not going after the victim? Is it fear that they might get into trouble for running after a defenseless man or is it just plain laziness and complacency? Either way, they are in too much trouble for not performing what they were supposed to do.
What has happened to the investigation? Up to this point, we still have to hear from the investigation supposedly being conducted by the provincial PNP.
One thing I noticed about police investigations here in our town is that there is none. Our cops are not even trained to do basic investigative work or if they are, they do not know how to do it. They wait until somebody complains before they start investigating and usually, nothing comes out of it. If there is no complaint although a crime has been committed, they do not do anything. In other words, our cops are not proactive, they are reactive. And if ever they are proactive, as in the case of this victim, they get careless.
Again, is this a case of a rubout or accidental death? Considering the way our police conduct their investigations, I wouldn't even venture a guess. I just hope that they will not try to cover up for their own kind. I also hope that if the cops who arrested the victim will be found out to be negligent in their work, sufficient punishment will be meted out to justify the death of Rommel.
I think it is about time that our police will learn a lesson that doing sloppy police work will not be rewarded. There cannot be an excuse for it especially if somebody died in the process.
Two things come to my mind about this incident: firstly, shock that such a crime could happen to our otherwise peaceful town and secondly, that the police has not satisfactorily answered about their role in the incident.
There's a big question regarding the role that the cops played in this particular incident. According to reports, the victim ran away after the cuffs were put on him. The cops did not even attempt to pursue the victim considering that he was under police custody. If this is true that the cops did not pursue the victim when he ran away, what was their reason for not going after the victim? Is it fear that they might get into trouble for running after a defenseless man or is it just plain laziness and complacency? Either way, they are in too much trouble for not performing what they were supposed to do.
What has happened to the investigation? Up to this point, we still have to hear from the investigation supposedly being conducted by the provincial PNP.
One thing I noticed about police investigations here in our town is that there is none. Our cops are not even trained to do basic investigative work or if they are, they do not know how to do it. They wait until somebody complains before they start investigating and usually, nothing comes out of it. If there is no complaint although a crime has been committed, they do not do anything. In other words, our cops are not proactive, they are reactive. And if ever they are proactive, as in the case of this victim, they get careless.
Again, is this a case of a rubout or accidental death? Considering the way our police conduct their investigations, I wouldn't even venture a guess. I just hope that they will not try to cover up for their own kind. I also hope that if the cops who arrested the victim will be found out to be negligent in their work, sufficient punishment will be meted out to justify the death of Rommel.
I think it is about time that our police will learn a lesson that doing sloppy police work will not be rewarded. There cannot be an excuse for it especially if somebody died in the process.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Polls
You probably have noticed two polls that I included in my blog. I am discontinuing this mainly because I have no experience in polling. My questions were just out of curiousity how readers will answer but without any scientific basis or methodolgy. I cannot control how the answers will come particularly if one person using different email addresses may be able to answer in the affirmative or negative twice. This is my last experiment with polling. I'll leave it to the professionals like SWS and Pulse Asia to do what they do best. Mea culpa.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
SB Cellphones
The Sangguniang Bayan is now, again, involved in a controversial issue regarding allocating for themselves cellphones for supposedly work-related use. This matter was brought to the attention of the "netizens" by karahu, a participant of the CarCanMadCarLan Discussion board. This is also currently the flavor of the week in talks among the different social circles of Cantilan after the issue of the P1.4M robbery has cooled down. The issue has been fanned some more with stories going around that one of the councilors, Mr. Modesto Yparraguirre also known as Sir Moding, is going to file a case against one of the councilors who personally took the money from the OIC Treasurer and who supposedly arrogated unto himself the authority to personally purchase the cellphones.
There are several issues that need to be addressed by the Sangguniang Bayan foremost of which is the propriety of the appropriation as correctly pointed out by another participant, popeye, of the CarCanMadCarLan discussion board. According to popeye: "kun may prebelihiyo baja, abusohan ra kan lamang maski di na kun pabor para sa munisipyo? amo pay ila pag-ingkod sa katungdanan, tagkawatan pa gajud an munisipyo nan 1.3m, hampan unahon nila an ila kaugalingon? pila ka percent nan mga tawag nila an related sa ila trabaho? uman doctor sila kay kinahanglan on-call sila pirmi?"
I agree with popeye on all of the points that he raised. Granting that there is a privilege given to the councilors on this matter, it is not a God-given right. The first thing that should have been addressed is the issue of need, as pointed out by iskolar, another member of the CarCanMadCarLan discussion board. Is there a need for the councilors to have cellphones? Let me point out what I think about this matter of need. In years past, we survived without cellphones and yet things worked out well. The cellphones came into the world within the last decade or so and only within the last five years here in Cantilan and yet in just a short span of time, the Cantilangnons are well-equipped with the it. There is even an anecdote that a mananggutay fell from a coconut tree because his cellphone rang and he had to answer it. We are probably one of the most well-connected people in the planet with our ready access to world-class communication especially also with the advent of broadband connection. Yet, even in this modern age of communication, there still is a lot of miscommunication.
Do councilors really need a cellphone to be issued to them by the LGU paid for by taxpayers money? This can be answered by looking at the volume of calls each councilor handles that are related to his or her work in comparison to the total number of calls in a given month. After getting a summary of work-related calls or texts that each councilor sends, it should be determined what percent is the work-related calls or texts to the total calls and texts that each councilor sends. This should be the basis for determining if it is justified to purchase cellphones for the councilors. Just like any equipment, the SB should then set a policy for the purchase of the cellphones. For example, if the volume of calls or texts averages between 30% to 40%, if the councilors already have existing personal cellphones, wouldn't it be prudent instead to just provide the councilors a cellphone allowance instead of buying a cellphone for each of them? If in this example the councilor does not own a cellphone, maybe the LGU can purchase the cellphone and just like any other equipment owned by the LGU, loan it to the councilor making the councilor accountable for the cellphone. When his or her term expires, he or she should turn over the cellphone to the LGU.
This should have been the right approach that the SB should have taken instead of automatically allocating cellphones for each of them two months after taking their oaths of office. This leaves a bad taste in the mouth especially since just a few weeks ago, the LGU was robbed of P1.4M.
There are more pressing matters that the council could have taken up but instead, they are losing momentum for taking causes that are detrimental to the interest of the general public. First Sipangpang and now this.
What next, dear councilors?
There are several issues that need to be addressed by the Sangguniang Bayan foremost of which is the propriety of the appropriation as correctly pointed out by another participant, popeye, of the CarCanMadCarLan discussion board. According to popeye: "kun may prebelihiyo baja, abusohan ra kan lamang maski di na kun pabor para sa munisipyo? amo pay ila pag-ingkod sa katungdanan, tagkawatan pa gajud an munisipyo nan 1.3m, hampan unahon nila an ila kaugalingon? pila ka percent nan mga tawag nila an related sa ila trabaho? uman doctor sila kay kinahanglan on-call sila pirmi?"
I agree with popeye on all of the points that he raised. Granting that there is a privilege given to the councilors on this matter, it is not a God-given right. The first thing that should have been addressed is the issue of need, as pointed out by iskolar, another member of the CarCanMadCarLan discussion board. Is there a need for the councilors to have cellphones? Let me point out what I think about this matter of need. In years past, we survived without cellphones and yet things worked out well. The cellphones came into the world within the last decade or so and only within the last five years here in Cantilan and yet in just a short span of time, the Cantilangnons are well-equipped with the it. There is even an anecdote that a mananggutay fell from a coconut tree because his cellphone rang and he had to answer it. We are probably one of the most well-connected people in the planet with our ready access to world-class communication especially also with the advent of broadband connection. Yet, even in this modern age of communication, there still is a lot of miscommunication.
Do councilors really need a cellphone to be issued to them by the LGU paid for by taxpayers money? This can be answered by looking at the volume of calls each councilor handles that are related to his or her work in comparison to the total number of calls in a given month. After getting a summary of work-related calls or texts that each councilor sends, it should be determined what percent is the work-related calls or texts to the total calls and texts that each councilor sends. This should be the basis for determining if it is justified to purchase cellphones for the councilors. Just like any equipment, the SB should then set a policy for the purchase of the cellphones. For example, if the volume of calls or texts averages between 30% to 40%, if the councilors already have existing personal cellphones, wouldn't it be prudent instead to just provide the councilors a cellphone allowance instead of buying a cellphone for each of them? If in this example the councilor does not own a cellphone, maybe the LGU can purchase the cellphone and just like any other equipment owned by the LGU, loan it to the councilor making the councilor accountable for the cellphone. When his or her term expires, he or she should turn over the cellphone to the LGU.
This should have been the right approach that the SB should have taken instead of automatically allocating cellphones for each of them two months after taking their oaths of office. This leaves a bad taste in the mouth especially since just a few weeks ago, the LGU was robbed of P1.4M.
There are more pressing matters that the council could have taken up but instead, they are losing momentum for taking causes that are detrimental to the interest of the general public. First Sipangpang and now this.
What next, dear councilors?
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