THE MOUNT BALATUCAN MONITOR

“ I do not know, I hope not.” – Gov. Oca Moreno

“Hanjin kisses Misor project goodbye”

Herbi Gomez and Susan Palmes

The Korean firm Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Corp. has decided to withdraw its US$ 2 billion shipyard project from Misamis Oriental due to difficulties in dealing with the government, highly placed sources said yesterday.

A senior Hanjin executive told The Gold Star Daily that the Korean firm started moving out last Saturday. Lawyer Jose Alejandro Pallugna, a columnist of this paper also claimed to have been informed by reliable sources about Hanjin’s decision to back off from Tagoloan and Villanueva towns in Misamis Oriental.

“I do not know, I hope not, “ said Misamis Oriental Gov. Oscar Moreno when this paper asked him about the reported hanjin withdrawal. The last time he checked, Moreno said, Hanjin suspended its operations to assess its Misamis Oriental project. Moreno’s mood had radically changed. Just a few weeks back, the governor was in high spirits because of the Hanjin project that was seen to create 40 thousand jobs in Misamis Oriental. The Misamis Oriental would have been the biggest Hanjin Shipyard outside South Korea and one of the biggest in the world. Moreno said the problem on Hanjin project would be included in the agenda of President here today. Moreno said there were “events” that made things complicated for Hanjin. Sources said a confluence of factors resulted in the Hanjin decision to back off. The bottomline: the locals made it difficult for the Koreans to invest in the province.

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An old Mindanao map

“Federal fol-de-rol”

By Antonio C. Abaya

My American Heritage Dictionary defines “fol-de-rol” as “foolish talk or procedure, or nonsense.” And that is what this recurring advocacy for federalism is: foolish talk, nonsense.

Senate Minority Leader Nene Pimentel is principal author of a Senate resolution calling for a debate on charter change (again), for a revision of the Constitution to shift from a unitary to a federal system of government.

The resolution was signed by 11 other senators: Senate President Manny Villar and Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Francis Pangilinan, Edgardo Angara, Rodolfo Biazon, Pia Cayetano, Juan Ponce Enrile, Francis Escudero, Gregorio Honasan, Panfilo Lacson Jr., and Ramon Revilla Jr.

The resolution seeks to convene both Houses of Congress into a constituent assembly to amend the Constitution before the end of President Arroyo’s term in 2010. It seeks to convert the country into a federal union of 11 states: Northern Luzon, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Bicol, Minparom (Mindoro, Palawan, Romblon), Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas, Western Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Southern Mindanao and BangsaMoro.

The motivation supposedly is “to spur economic growth.” The implication is that economic growth is not possible, or is not fast enough, under a unitary system of government.

This is a lot of nonsense. The empirical evidence is that of the most successful countries in our part of the world, only one—Malaysia—is a federal union. The others—Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand—are all unitary states. So, contrary to what Nene Pimentel and his 11 apostles apparently believe, economic progress—even spectacular economic progress in the cases of Japan, China and South Korea—is achievable and has been achieved under unitary states.

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More village chiefs leaving PaDayon

Lizanilla Amarga

More village chiefs are seen to leave the party founded by Vice Mayor Emano soon without any of his political enemies lifting a finger. Gusa Barangay Chairperson Enrico Salcedo said yesterday.

Salcedo, the official who first revealed the supposed decision of 27 barangay chairpersons to severe ties with the city’s dominant party said many village chiefs have sent feelers that, like him, they were also fed up with Emano’s alleged boorishness.

He said the feelers were sent to him and the other barangay chairpersons who earlier decided to leave PaDayon Pilipino. Salcedo, said the first batch of barangay chairpersons who joined anti Emano forces also received feelers from their fellow village chiefs who shared feelings of resentment toward the PaDayon Pilipino leader. Salcedo said the first 27 barangay chairpersons who decided to bolt out from PaDayon Pilipino made a stand without any Emano’s known political enemies lifting a finger.

They left the party on their own. Note that the big politicians in the city kept their distance and did not influence the barangay chairpersons in their decisions. What do you think will happen when these politicians start moving? asked Salcedo rhetorically.

This writer received a call from a barangay chairperson who claimed that he was aware that seven village chiefs from the city’s 2^nd district were fed up with the way Emano has been dealing with them.

“If barangay captains like Eric Salcedo, who had close ties with Emano, could not take it anymore, how much more of us who are really not that close to him (Emano)? said the barangay chairperson who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Samot na kami nga dili doul sa luwag.”

Emano’s ally, Councilor Alexander Dacer claimed that Padayon Pilipino remained strong. “We will know more about this in the last days (before the elections), said Dacer, a former president of the influential Association of Barangay Councils (ABC).

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Romarate              Barbers

From Periodicosurigao

Election Protest ni Ex-Gov. Lyndon kang Cong. Romarate Gibasura

Hingpit na gyud nga gibasura sa House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) ang petisyon ni kanhi Gobernador Robert Lyndon Barbers batok kang Cong. Guillermo Romarate. Mao kini ang nakuha nga report kaganihang buntag gikan sa tigpamababa ni Cong. Lalo Matugas nga si Manny Kong.

Matud ni Kong, napakyas si kanhi Gob. Lyndon sa pagdeposito sa kantidad nga P179,000.99 nga additional nga kantidad sa maong sumbong didto sa ubos balay balauranan. Kung kahinumduman, mipasaka ug electoral protest si Gob. Lyndon sa HRET batok kang Romarate tungod sa ginaingong pagpanlimbong sa pipila ka mga lungsod sa probinsya sa Surigao del Norte niadtong miaging 2007 eleksyon.

Tungod sa kapakyas sa pagdeposito ni Gob. Lyndon sa HRET nga gihatagan lamang ug 15-ka adlaw nga lugway, miduso ug motion ang mga abogado ni Romarate sa pagbasura ning maong reklamo.

Junkshop in Butuan City

2010 elections is just more than 2 years away, but certain people are now seem to chart their political future which may be adverse to the interest of taxpayers. The frenzy peaked when the National Statistics Office conducted its census last year. There’s a buzz in redistricting everywhere.

Iligan and Lanao del Norte. Rep. Vicente Belmonte filed HB 3164 which aims to separate Iligan City district from the 1^st District of Lanao del Norte. On the other hand, Rep. Bobby Dimaporo filed HB 2824 which will reapportioned Lanao del Norte into two districts. At present, the 1^st District of Lanao del Norte is composed of some municipalities including Iligan City. Belmonte however admitted that he refrained from filing a bill creating another district for Lanao del Norte because it will not meet the requirement of 250 thousand voters since Iligan City will separate from the said district.

Davao City. Davao City Councilor Peter Lavina said Davao City has a population of 1.36 million which qualified the city to have at least five congressional districts. The city has currently three congressional districts. Lavina said Congress should immediately pass an enabling law so that the new districts could be in place for the 2010 elections (dagan dayun sehal!). He said this constitutional provision should be implemented to follow the dictum “no taxation without representation.” He said reapportionment is a better means to create new districts rather by case to case basis law based on individual requests of provinces and cities.

Surigao City and Surigao del Norte. There is much noise about the proposal to create another congressional district out of the 2^nd district of Surigao del Norte. The proposed district will comprise Surigao City and the municipalities of Sison, San Francisco and Malimono which is part of the 2^nd District of Surigao del Norte. The idea came after Surigao City Mayor Pons Casurra intimated that Surigao City should be allotted one congressional seat. However, with this proposal, it seems that the population requirement will not be met by Surigao City alone that it has to include the 3 municipalities so as to create another district. There might be negotiations now with Rep. Jun Romarate for this proposal. This is appealing to both parties. For any congressional aspirant, it will open a golden opportunity to become a member of Congress. For Jun Romarate, his hold on the 2^nd district will be much more secure as his potential rivals come from Surigao City. With only 8 municipalities to concentrate and sans Surigao City, Romarate can now carve a bailiwick and a political dynasty of his own.

Cotabato City. Mayor Muslemen Sema said its high time for Cotobato City to have a separate representation in order to give more support to Cotabato for improvement. This after the latest census showed that Cotabato City has a population of 259,153, just a little over 250,000 limit for a certain locality to be entitled to at least one Congressman. But perhaps the best argument was expressed by Congressman Digs Dilangalen in opposing the creation of another Congressional seat in Cotabato City. According to him, he does not believe that Cotabato City will improve when there is a separate representation.

Applying it generally, more representation doesn’t mean better representation. In most cases, it will only benefit a few who have vested interest who will assume another position of power and will prejudice the taxpayers whose money will be spend just to support another batch of patronage politicians.

Wide screen monitor at Divisoria

Busy Don Apolinar Velez St. Cagayan de Oro City

RX FOR A REGIONAL IDENTITY: MISAMIS REGION

 

Mike Banos

April 12, 2008

Mindanao Gold Star Daily

 

Of the four administrative and one special regions in Mindanao, only Northern Mindanao enjoys the distinction of having a generic moniker.

 

We have the Zamboanga, Caraga, Davao and Socksargen regions, as well as the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).  Note that the people or our region variously known as Region 10, Region X, Northern Mindanao, Amihanang Mindanao or Normin, to mention a few.

 

By October 10, it will be nine years since the Region 10 Tourism Council passed a resolution asking the national government to rename Northern Mindanao as the “Misamis” Region.  The motion was passed following a presentation by then Commissioner Antonio Montalvan II of the Cagayan de Oro Historical and Cultural Commission during the Council’s 5^th General Assembly in October 2, 1999 in Gingoog City.

 

Montalvan’s presentation was based on his paper “Resurgence of Identity: The Heritage of Misamis 1818-1945” tracing the Misamis region’s rich cultural and historical heritage from the times of Himologan settlement at the Huluga caves site dating back to the Late Neolithic Age or 377 AD down to contemporary history in World War II when Cagayan de Misamis (as Cagayan de Oro was then known) and Bukidnon became the rallying points for the underground resistance against the Japanese invaders.

 

Montalvan traces the Misamis region’s beginnings during the early 1800s when the Spanish government decided to pacify Mindanao.  The island was made into one province with Zamboanga as its capital.  It was divided into three politico-military districts under the administration of a military governor: the Primero Distrito de Zamboanga, the Segundo Distrito de Misamis and the Tercio Distrito de Surigao.  The largest f these was the Segundo Distrito de Misamis which covered the present day Zamboanga del Norte, the Lanao and Misamis provinces, Camiguin, Bukidnon and the northern portions of Cotabato and Maguindanao.

 

The Misamis district was further divided into four: Partido de Misamis (Ozamiz), Partido de Dapitan (Zamboanga del Norte), Partido de Cagayan (present day Cagayan and Partido de Catarman (Camiguin).  It was named Misamis after its capital town at the mouth of Pangil Bay, now Ozamiz City.  Here the Spanish Jesuit Jose Ducos built the Fuerza Real de la Virgen de Triunfo as a fortress against the Moro raiders who had to pass through the narrow bay in their raids against Spanish and Filipino towns along the coast. 

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DOT HELPS LOCAL GOVT’S RESTORE CULTURAL HERITAGE IN REGIONAL FESTS

Mike Baños

Director Romulo A. De Los Reyes of the Department of Tourism office pf Special Projects is on a mission to restore cultural heritage in regional festivals to arrest the increasing homogeneity of Filipino festivals.

“All festivals are becoming like Ati atihan or Sinulog”

de los Reyes (who’s fondly known as Dir. Ting in DOT) said.

“People in the regions are not doing tradition based activities. We want to encourage people to do research to showcase the best from the regions.”

“We are alarmed at the trend of festivals which are not influenced locally”

said Catalino E. Chan III Region 10 Tourism Director who noted Region 10 currently has 21 festivals in the national grid, adding, “We have to preserve our traditions.”

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The recent libel case filed by the Department of Justice (could also be INJUSTICE) may have been triggered by the statement of Bishop Oscar Cruz that he will not give to communion to a public sinner like Gloria Arroyo. Irked, the administration used its reliable tool to get back and silence at its critics-libel.

This law has been repeatedly abused. It is no longer used to redress a grievance but a weapon against perceived enemies of the government. Accordingly, Bishop Cruz committed libel when he described lady marketing assistants of Pagcor as like GROs. The DOJ said GRO by contemporary cultural standards has become synonymous and used sparingly or alternately with the words “hostess, bar girl and prostitutes and to described women as such imputes dishonor to them” That’s a big BS! Contemporary cultural standards? Wtf! Is that a well defined and universally accepted standard to speak of? Or the DOJ was just making it up from thin air to justify filing the case against the good bishop?

I have seen a lot of karaoke bars, and other similar establishments posting notices as “Wanted GRO’s”. If DOJ has its way the said notices of the said establishments reads as “Wanted Prostitutes.” Or how about newspaper notices about some establishments accepting GROs? Why no publisher has been charged for publishing that job vacancy notices if that were libelous?

The libel case against Bishop Cruz is one of the long lines of examples of how the laws of this country are twisted, and bastardized to suit the thirst for vindictiveness of some individuals in power. Which is made much worse if their claims to legitimacy is constantly in serious doubt.

Monsignor Achilles Dakay of the Archdiocese of Malacañang este Cebu give his two cents worth of opinion on the raging Cebu surgery scandal. In what could be a statement of a person probably nearing senility, Monsignor Dakay said that the real issue is gay sex. My eyebrows are raised a little bit. Maybe someone should check whether one of the perpetrators of the improper act is related in one way or another to Dakay because he seems to be protecting someone. Dakay wants to shift the focus from the culprits to the victim himself. However, in doing so, he seems to be out of tune with the world.

In the religious and spiritual aspect, yes of course, that is an issue. But that would be taken care of later. Right now, focus should be on the malpractice committed by the said medical practitioners. It’s quite myopic that we look into the case merely in relation to the gay sex incident which caused the canister insertion on the victim’s anus. What if another case comes up not necessarily arising from gay sex? What if its Monsignor Dakay (God forbid) is put under the knife? Will Monsignor Dakay be comfortable and happy that someone inside the operating room took a video of his anus and posted in Youtube for the entire world to see? Santa Banana! Would he be happy too if people in the operating room made fun of him and allow others to witness the procedure while he is sedated?

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A bridge in Bayabas, Surigao del Sur

Columnist Bert Gorgonio Sr., of Periodico News made an assessment on the present political reality in Caraga Region after the recent visit of Gloria Arroyo in Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Norte last week. It’s a primer on the political alignment in the region.

“MAKA ADIK ANG GAHOM (POWER IS ADDICTIVE)

Originally written in Cebuano (my translation in English)

In my assessment, it looks like the opposition is non existent in Caraga Region. At present, if there are people or politicians who are opposed to the administration, they are the so called “Way G” and “Way N” which means Way Gahum (No power), and Way Nahot (No Wealth). All the veterans and the strong already kissed the hand of Madam, including the Church!

Let us begin with the political leaders of Surigao del Norte. If in the past there is someone who is against President Gloria Arroyo, now it is ZERO. Despite the numerous issues in the national capital, including the expose of the so called CORRUPTION OF THOSE IN POWER, not one political leader in Surigao del Norte can speak against it.

But former Governor, now Congressman, Francisco “Lalo” Matugas cannot be blamed if he is now under the banner of the President. Cong. Lalo’s candidacy under the KAMPI party is a logical decision so that the people of Siargao Island can readily avail government projects. Its just right for Cong. Matugas to bless the hand of Malacanang to assure that Siargao Island cannot be left behind. Look, projects are promised left and right by Presidet Gloria Arroyo for the upliftment of Siargao Island which is now called the surfing and fish gaming capital of the Philippines.

If Cong. Lalo did not choose to join the umbrella of the President, it’s a cinch that only the Barbers’ (led by Governor Robert Ace Barbers) will be known by Malacanang. Oh well, there is the “graduating” Mayor Pons Cassura (of Surigao City) who is also a favorite of the Palace being an official of the League of Cities.

Well, there was a time when former Congressman and now Governor Robert Ace Barbers attempted to challenge the power of the President when the Hello Garci (issue) was still the craze. But Ace realized that like the undercurrent in Nonoc during northerlies, it is very difficult to counter flow the power of Malacanang. That’s why Gov. Ace consolidated his position in the Lakas party, which enabled the Barbers to retain the reins of power in the Provincial Capitol.

Its also a good thing that Congressman Jun Romarate in District 2 sing allelujah to Malacanang otherwise he would have a difficult time challenging the Barbers camp.

In Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur and Butuan City, it seems that there is no well known opposition group that exists. What I mean of being well known is that which has a member occupying a present elective position. From the Amantes of Agusan del Norte to Joboy Aquino and Mayor Boy Daku Plaza in Butuan City and to the Plaza’s of Agusan del Sur, it seems no creature is working against the President nowadays. Well, Congressman Ompong Plaza tried to play as an oppositionist, who has no qualms about his pro impeachment stand against Mrs. Arroyo because of the numerous issues. But like Governor Ace Barbers, Cong. Ompong realized its very difficult to meet head on the current.

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