ISTAMBAY SA MINDANAO

The Bukidnon Forest Incorporated has initiated its clearance process to cut down trees in its industrial forest plantation project in Bukidnon. Read news report here.

This must be subject to scrutiny especially viewing it from the firm’s reported dismal record of reforestation since it started operating in 1989.

The firm might be good in cutting but are they as good in planting? This should be considered in the approval of its application for Environmental Compliance Certificate.

Its Industrial Forest Plantation Management Agreement (IFMA, yes silent “P”), which will expire in 2016, should be reviewed if they have cut more than they planted.

Communities near those areas subject for reforestation and cutting should be empowered to monitor this endeavor.

The Bukidnon tribe is seeking endorsement from the city government of Malaybalay for its Daraghuyan ancestral domain claim over at least 4,700 hectares inside the Mt. Kitanglad Range and Natural Park. Bae Inatlawan Adelina Tarino, head claimant, said the city government’s endorsement is the last requirement for the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to process their application.

“We hope you will help us in this requirement, which is the last document we need for the application,” Tarino’s September 23 letter to Mayor Florencio Flores, said. Tarino’s letter was written in Cebuano.

Flores endorsed the request to the city council on the same day. The legislators have calendared it for October 7, Tarino said, adding Councilor Manuel Dinlayan, the council’s committee on indigenous people’s chair, assured here it will be tackled this week.

She noted the tribe’s great difficulty in acquiring an endorsement from the barangay government in Dalwangan village, where the tribe is based.  Read full story here.

The Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has agreed to consider Bukidnon’s request for consideration in the approval of environmental compliance certificate (ECC)  for projects based in the province. Read full report here.

Inside the crowded air-conditioned bus from Davao, the faces of the passengers looked weary and their eyes looked tired. At least 15 new passengers embarked from the busy, old Valencia City terminal. 

For a moment the vehicle looked like a wet public market, and then sounded like one.

The passengers settled in the vacant seats at the rear end of the bus, and then almost simultaneously released sighs of relief. 

It was probably the last air-con bus to leave for Cagayan de Oro before dinner.

It was not quite relieving, however, for others who have to stand as all seats were taken. Some others were left waiting eternally at the messy terminal.

Shortly after, the bus rolled off.

Still tired, most of the passengers were silent for a moment, and another. 

At the front portion of the bus, the conductor, a stocky middle-aged man with a rounded face, called on the passengers bound for Cagayan de Oro for tickets.

“Kinsa pa’y wala’y ticket diri?” he asked a column of “standing” passengers. Read the rest of this entry »

At 2a.m. the city was asleep. The road was deserted.  The early morning breeze engulfed the highway to freezing point.

Manong David, wrapped in his thick coat, was chilling and has stammered when I hailed his motorela cab for home. He agreed to a pakyaw rate of P35, a win-win between his P40 offer and my P30 bargain. 

Even if he would have offered P50, I would have taken it. That’s definitely better than be left frozen and alone in the middle of Fortich Street early morning.

On the way, he talked of that road accident somewhere, then about the MILF, and then about trying to make both ends meet.

The casual exchange paused over a topic that seemed a suggestive attempt to make me feel guilty for haggling five pesos less. 

He said the oil prices are slowly taking his sanity. He is beginning to lose hope about being able to bounce back and be able to even cross the “boundary”.

Crossing the boundary is a need of every driver. He has to cross it to be able to pay rent and earn extra money above it to be able to live.

I was able to put out courteous responses. At one point, we were trying to analyze the root cause together, something like “while we are at this, the oil firms are bloating” stuff. Read the rest of this entry »

Facade of the under construction new Malaybalay City Public Market, subject of debate of the city council as its contractor H.R. Lopez Co., Inc. has sought a nine-month extension following a delay over legal issues

The city council has scheduled to tackle in its session on September 2 the status of the delayed construction of Malaybalay City’s new public market. Read the rest of this entry »

Waking up to a broadcaster howling against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front one morning, I was tempted to turn the radio off.

The grain of his voice has pestered me in my space in that corner of the house.

“Maayo ng girahon sila kay gusto man diay nila og Independence!” Gusto pa gyod nila iapil ang tibuok Bukidnon aron mohimo sila og regional government!” (It’s good to go to war with them since they wanted independence. They also like to cover the whole Bukidnon in a bid to form a regional government!).

I was really forced to get on my feet even if I only had three hours of sleep yet and dialed the radio station. Read the rest of this entry »

That Bukidnon is a peaceful province is now a myth.

One cannot play blind to the kind of stories we hear from both the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the New Peoples Army about gaining strength against each other.

Both camps, even with disproportionate advantages, have brought the battlefield from the mountains to the media.

The news room has become a fierce war zone of propaganda. Read the rest of this entry »

Water is inarguably Bukidnon’s most important agricultural resource.

It is a cause of wonder, however, why the sloppy process of acquiring water permits have escaped the pruning attention of local governments.

There were doubts raised by many over the years on the questionable process of acquiring water rights permits.

But over the years, too, local governments and communities seemed powerless over the matter. Read the rest of this entry »

He willingly accepted our “invitation” for a courtesy call posed as a quick stop over. D.A., a known and even vocal advocate and leader of Lumads in Mindanao received us warmly in his humble shed-reception hall-meeting place made of bamboo. It was despite our short notice. 

My colleague J.J. and DA knew each other for quite a while and with their mutual respect and admiration for each other’s works, it is obviously the reason of the warmness.  

DA talked openly about what has kept him busy over the years: the life, plight and struggle of the Lumads in Mindanao. He is part of a group of lumad leaders working together to assert their role in today’s Mindanao, their aspirations, their futures and lives. Read the rest of this entry »

Measuring my rice has been the tease at home — something that has caused me ‘hunger’. When you are carrying heavier load than you should, you know what I mean.

I did try to eat less of it every time I remember; most of the time I failed.

So when the rice shortage news was carried in broadsheets the tease hit me even more. There was a friend who said I was to be blamed. I was also blamed for the protests in Tibet. Read the rest of this entry »

Is this survey valid and reflective of reality? 

From the MindaNews dispatch >>>> Hope for the New Year is high nationwide at 91%  but in Mindanao, residents were more hopeful for 2007 than they are for 2008, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.
The survey, conducted nationwide from November 30 to December 3 but released only on December 28, showed Metro Manila as the most hopeful,  at 95%; Visayas at 94%; the rest of Luzon at 91% and Mindanao at 87%.

The survey asked “Angdarating na taon ba ay inyong sasalubungin na may pag-asa o pangamba?” (Is it with hope or with fear that you enter the coming year?). Read the rest of this entry »