A Lianga Diary

No Dingy, Little Town

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:59:00 +0000

A dingy, little town. That was exactly, word for word, how a foreigner acquaintance of mine who was on a whirlwind tour of the Caraga region called Lianga when he passed by my town recently. I stared at the e-mail on the computer screen and had almost made up my mind to reply with a blistering defense of my hometown when I decided to hold off for a moment and reflect for a moment if this visitor's description had any merit at all.

I have always considered Lianga to be quaintly beautiful in its own way, if not exactly picturesque (although many locals will certainly disagree with me on this point). Like many truly old, coastal towns all over the country, its real charms are not patently or immediately obvious. Its old houses and narrow streets do not come out well in most photographs. "Just like another tired, third world, ramshackle town," wrote a reader of this blog from Europe not long ago after looking over some of my pictures of this town.

Lianga has to be experienced in order to be fully appreciated. One has to walk its streets and alleyways, amble through its marketplace and public places, seek refuge in the blessed coolness of its lovely, old church, loiter in the rickety yet historied corridors of its schools or walk barefoot on its lovely beaches before the real magic sets in. It is definitely not one of those touristy show towns where one glance is enough to convince a visitor to kick off his shoes, rush into sandals and shorts then start running for the nearest hotel resort.

My foreigner friend probably saw only the wide, muddy, disheveled field of yellowish gravel pitted here and there by clumps of grass that virtually surrounds the town's new market mall and bus terminal while he was passing through. Maybe he saw only the blackened and abandoned skeletal remains of what used to be display booths and stalls or the small piles of garbage scattered haphazardly in this desolate field instead of focusing, more importantly, on the magnificent vista of the blue green sea beyond and the silhouette of Lianga's famous lighthouse islet clearly defined in the bright blue of the midday sky.

He should have instead marveled at the sight of the Lianga Market Mall, a recent and much admired architectural addition to the center of the town and not be distracted by the aberrant mud puddles and the occasional garbage heap scattered like random afterthoughts here and there. After all, there much better things to train one's attention on like the new, elongated boxlike commercial building complex being built right across the church and the parish center.

Like all visitors to Lianga, he should not be turned off by the sight of uprooted trees and ravaged vegetation on a couple of street corners and residential lots that were the handiwork of Typhoon Sendong last Christmas or the sacks of garbage (again!) piled somewhat neatly on top of each other on the curb of some streets. Instead, they all should be seen as part of the unique ambiance and rural attractions of this town, quintessential manifestations of the rustic, carefree, let-tomorrow-come and the devil-may-care attitude of its people.

If visitors nowadays, like my foreigner friend, find Lianga more than a bit untidy or unkempt, they should not be too eager to blame the local people or, even more so, even the municipal government who is supposed to be in-charge of somehow spiriting all the detritus and unsightly grime away from plain sight and hiding or disguising them somewhere else where they can be less noticeable. In time, I am sure, local officials will surely and finally get around to the mundane task of sprucing up and cleaning of the town, when they will ultimately see the need to do so.

This town, as it is today, of course, will never be the exemplar of a truly "clean and green" town like some other municipalities in the province of Surigao del Sur. If I heard it right, it came in second to the last under that very category last year and so is certainly, if it is any consolation at all, not the dirtiest or the very least "green". Thank God for such small blessings!

So, I must vehemently object to Lianga being labelled "dingy". If we have to be really strict about the meaning of such terms, the town is, if you want my honest, unbiased and impartial opinion, not absolutely or unequivocally there yet. But then, of course, I must also have to grudgingly admit that with little or no effort on the part of its people and its elected officials, it will easily get there soon enough.

Stormy Endings

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:49:00 +0000

December has always been traditionally considered a month for wet and stormy weather by the local people here in Lianga. But as as 2011 drew to a close barely two weeks ago, we here had to admit that we did not expect the last month to be more stormy, in more ways than one, than we had bargained for.

First, Typhoon Sendong (international name Washii) caught us by surprise when it made landfall late afternoon on Dec. 16 near Hinatuan town on Surigao del Sur's southern tip. Hinatuan is just over an hour's drive from Lianga and the typhoon, packing winds of at least 60 kph near its center, struck our area hard just as dusk was gathering. Power lines snapped and electric posts toppled over plunging much of the whole province into darkness.

Many coastal houses especially those built with light materials sustained damage and at least one motorized boat was reported missing at sea. Last minute voluntary evacuation, however, by many local people living in coastal areas vulnerable to storm surges and heavy seas did prevent the great toll in human lives and massive damage to properties that the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan would suffer later in that night.

Most Lianga residents were spared the worst of the gale force winds and flooding that ravaged many areas in Mindanao along the typhoon's track that veered north and west of Surigao del Sur. For most of the local folks, the storm only inflicted the inconvenience of going through almost a day and a half without electricity, clean water and mobile telecommunications as all mobile cellphone service were cut off almost immediately during the initial onslaught of the storm.

It was only later, when the local people were able to get news of the massive humanitarian disaster unfolding in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan that they realized how lucky they were to be spared the same tragic fate and how purely random factors and the fickleness of Mother Nature had let them off rather easily while their fellow countrymen elsewhere had to bear the full brunt of Sendong's fury.

On another storm, this time of the peace and order kind and not of the meteorological classification, the New People's Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has become rather restive as the year was drawing to a close, launched a series of offensive actions here in Lianga and elsewhere in the province. The NPA, which the government and the leadership of the armed forces has recently belittled as an ideologically obsolete and militarily spent force which is on the verge of final defeat, has been itching to disprove that assessment and drive home the point that they intend to remain a potent force to reckon for the foreseeable future at least in this part of the country,

On Dec, 15, at about 8:40 am, a group of NPA rebels dressed in military uniforms and on-board a white van managed to gain entry into the annex of the Surigao del Sur provincial jail here in Lianga. They quickly overpowered the jail guards and carted away a rifle, a shotgun and a collection of handguns plus the cellphones and personal items of some of the guards.

An hour earlier, elements of the army's 75th Batallion figured in a 40 minute firefight with another group of NPA insurgents in Barangay San Pedro just south of the Lianga town proper. The military reported no casualties on their side but claimed that they managed to recover an M-16 rifle from the encounter site. There is speculation that the group was a so called "blocking force" which had been assigned to ambush police and military reinforcements that might be sent to aide the jail guards at the provincial jail annex in Lianga.

Then the next day on Friday, Dec. 16, the rebels struck again when they attacked a seven man team of soldiers manning an outpost in Barangay Mabuhay in Tandag City, the provincial capital of Surigao del Sur. The heavily armed guerrillas on-board a commandeered truck overpowered the outpost and killed five of the defenders. The government lost possession of at least ten high-powered rifles, a grenade launcher and valuable radio equipment. This particular attack is ironic in the sense that it took place on the first day of the effectivity of the 18 day unilateral Christmas truce declared by the government in its war with the communist revolutionary movement.

Hinatuan, which had borne the initial fury of Typhoon Sendong, was not spared by the NPA when last two days later a landmine attack on a military truck on the way to market in Barangay Bincongan resulted in the death of an elderly woman and wounded five soldiers. The series of NPA attacks in the province has led Col. Arnulfo Macelo Burgos Jr., chief of the Armed Forces Public Affairs Office, to denounce what he referred to as atrocities being committed by rebel forces against soldiers and civilians.

As the government and the military went into damage control mode and tried to explain away how its local security forces had been caught unprepared for the series of rebel actions, it became clear that the communist revolutionary movement did not feel itself bound to reciprocate the Aquino government's then unilateral ceasefire declaration for the Christmas holidays and had simply taken advantage of laxity and complacency among local military and police units who might have thought the opposite.

If there is one lesson that the storms of December will have to teach us it is simply the plain and obvious truth that disasters and calamities, whether natural or man-made in origin, always happen when we least expect them to. They also happen because we have become, more often than not, soft, complacent and unheeding of the repeated signs and warnings of the impending dangers that are coming.

We are also reminded again, in the aftermath of misfortune, sorrow, loss, unimaginable destruction and the specter of sudden and violent death, that life, cruel and capricious it may sometimes be, does go on. The cycle of life just like the cycle of the seasons continues on, deaf and blind to the scenes of man's tragedy and misery. The dead may have no choice but rest where they lay but the survivors have to pick themselves up, salvage what remains of the pieces of their old lives and start living again.

Left Behind

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:18:00 +0000

Only in recent years has it become obviously and painfully clear to many of the people here in Lianga that that if there was one industry that could help the town lift itself out of years of economic apathy and stagnation, it would have to be foreign and domestic tourism. I remember just a few years ago one foreigner friend gazing in wonder at the thundering surf at one of the local beaches, his bare feet half buried in the white sand. "My God!" he exclaimed. "You live in a tropical paradise yet you don't make money out of it. How can you all be so blind?" He then shook his head in exasperation and disbelief.

For decades now, town leaders here have looked towards some form of industrialization as Lianga's ticket to economic progress. Memories of the heyday of the logging industry in the 1960's when the Lianga Bay Logging Company was the engine powering the town's then rapid growth and economic expansion remained obstinately fixed in their collective minds. There were grandiose plans to reactivate the logging franchise which had folded up in the 1970's. The plans included proposals for a seaport (two were built but both remained unused to this very day) which would hopefully turn Lianga into a shipping and marketing hub for this part of Mindanao.

None of these proposals in the wake of present day economic realities, despite all the rhetoric, effort and money wasted on them, amounted to anything significant and it was only recently when the obvious became, well, glaringly apparent. Build on the town's strengths. Capitalize on what it already has. And what it had, by the grace of Mother Nature, were plenty of was white sand beaches and spectacular seascapes that local and foreign tourists could not get enough of.

Sad to say, this shift in thinking and the resulting surge in investments in beach resorts and visitor facilities could not be credited to resourceful or innovative planning on the part of the local government but largely to the foresight of the private sector. Known local visitor hangouts like the Kansilad Beach Resort, the Sea Hoi Family Resort or the MEDEVCO Training Center, for example, were purely recent, private initiatives by local businessmen with the foresight and the courage to risk pouring their hard earned money into what many of the less prescient here considered, just a few years ago, as a foolhardy, risky thing.

This brings me to the crux of the matter.

That there is indeed a growing tourism boom in this part of Mindanao is undeniable and Lianga is just one of the municipalities enjoying its benefits. Other coastal municipalities in Surigao del Sur like San Agustin, Hinatuan, Cantilan and Lanuza are also reaping the rewards of investing in tourism infrastructure. The pristine, natural beauty of the coastline here has become an irresistible draw for outsiders from within and outside the Caraga region and from even outside the country.

Yet in Lianga, it is clear that the town is not in any way positioned to maximize its capacity to take full advantage of this potential windfall. This is because the local town government has, now and in the past, not provided the essential policy initiatives and the requisite material and infrastructure support needed to help the local tourism industry grow and expand.

In other nearby municipalities like Hinatuan and Cantilan or Lanuza, for example, municipal governments have initiated reforms and implemented programs designed to assist and support private investments in their local tourism industries. They offer tax incentives and investment packages designed to attract investors and have not hesitated in prioritizing spending on support infrastructure like municipal and barangay roads, adequate street lighting, modern water and sanitation facilities, bus and jeepney terminals and parks and public gardens. They have encouraged telecommunication companies to set up within their areas modern electronic communication facilities.

They have also beefed up the capacity of their police and security forces to provide a visible and effective presence that encourages visitor confidence in their personal security and that of their families and companions. This factor is critical in places like Surigao del Sur which has been unfairly labelled as a high security risk because of its location within a part of the country noted as a hot spot for the communist insurgency.

These towns have also been aggressively promoting their tourism attractions in the print and electronic media. Hinatuan's Enchanted River, Bislig City's Tinuy-an Falls and San Agustin's Bretania Islands, to name a few, have become well known must-see destinations. Other sister municipalities like Tago, Lanuza and Cantilan also regularly sponsor festivals or aqua-sports competitions that serve to lure tourists and visitors.

Lianga's town leadership is probably the only one that remains inexcusably blind if not inexplicably and obstinately apathetic in the face of this local tourism boom. Either by sheer ineptitude or lack of vision, it has placed the full burden of developing the local tourism industry solely on the backs of its own citizens who, already burdened and handicapped by a lukewarm and tepid local economy, may not be in a good position to invest in such expensive ventures.

Many local civic leaders and entrepreneurs here have pointed out to the present administration of incumbent Mayor Roy Sarmen on the need for a concerted push on the part of the present political leadership of the town to provide the policy and fiscal framework that will encourage business investments not only in the local tourism industry but in the whole range of other service industries that will encourage visitors to come and spend their money in Lianga. The Sangguniang Bayan or municipal council under Vice-Mayor Jun Lala is aware of these calls and has deliberated on these deficiencies but except for a lot of rhetoric little has actually been done to address them.

The sprouting all over the Lianga coastline, in the past year or so, of small beach resorts, eateries and visitor facilities is a testament to the slow and painful growth of what is an emerging yet potentially viable local industry yet the local government had played virtually no significant role in its development. One wonders exactly how far these new entrepreneurs amd investors (and how many more of them) could have already moved forward and pospered if their own municipal officials had been more supportive of their efforts.

No adquate street lighting system, poor public sanitation and waste disposal facilities, potholed and unpaved municipal streets, nonexistent visitor information or assistance services and a town economy in the doldrums. Add to that a local government mired in apathy and indifference. No wonder that in the race for the lion's share of potential revenue from the local tourist boom in Surigao del Sur, Lianga, as usual, is getting left behind.

Vantage Point: Bretania Islands

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 09:59:00 +0000

If anyone wants an example of how the slow yet promising growth in local and foreign tourism is helping transform the landscape in the Lianga area, one can be found right beside the national highway some 16 or so kilometers north of Lianga and just before entering Barangay Gata of San Agustin town. There on the side of a hill, the Department of Public Works and Highways has recently built a rest stop for motorists that offers, as a bonus, a view deck that allows visitors to enjoy a spectacular view of the Bretania Islands and the mangrove forests that line much of the coastal areas in this part of eastern Mindanao.

The islands, of course, have become in recent years a huge attraction for visitors drawn to its white sand beaches and pristine, blue waters. The Barangay Gata rest stop just happens to be located right by a portion of the national highway that snakes up a hill and curves around a natural cliff the overlooks the islands.The small, compact building near the entrance with toilet facilities for both sexes would obviously be a welcome first destination for the weary traveler but this particular pit stop has an even better and more welcome attraction for tourists and visitors.

Before the rest stop was constructed, motorists zipping along could usually catch, through tangled grass and thick shrubs, tantalizing glimpses of the island group floating like priceless jade pieces on the blue-gray waters below them. Nowadays they can gaze upon and relish the scenery without any obstruction hampering their view while parked on the view deck and safe from the constant road traffic or (better yet) by getting out to stretch their legs and standing just behind a protective yet decorative wooden barrier.

On a lower level of the view deck are several Pinoy-style, thatched roof cabanas which visitors who have time to kill can freely use to seek protection from the elements. Whoever designed the whole complex did reasonably well in blending the man-made structures with the majestic scenery and created something that rightly complements rather than out-stages the majestic display of natural beauty.

There is talk from the municipal government of San Agustin which has territorial jurisdiction over the Bretania Islands that hints of plans to put up a zip line or aerial rope slide attraction that would have the present view deck in Gata as a starting point and culminating at some point near the seashore several hundred meters below. This could mean that the area surrounding the present DPWH rest stop could become a visitor destination in itself and the economic benefits to the nearby barangay and the town could be considerable.

Several days ago, I drove into the view deck's parking area and got out of the car to sample the view. It was almost late afternoon yet the islands in the near distance were still brightly and vividly lit by the sunlight beneath an almost cloudless, azure sky. There was a fresh yet slight breeze coming in from the sea and the light from the fading sun was no longer harsh and glaring but softer,gentler and even refreshing.

The first thing that came to my mind when I stood at the cliff's edge that afternoon was the singular thought that when God created these islands and the sea stretching below and beyond me, He must have stepped back after that very act of creation, took the time to stand where I stood and for a while gazed upon the results of His mighty labors. Even the Creator himself, I know, would have been exceedingly and immeasurably pleased at what He had wrought.

Mining In Caraga

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:26:00 +0000

Last Monday, New People's Army rebels made simultaneous raids on the compounds and facilities of three large mining firms located in Claver, Surigao del Norte. The targeted mining companies, Taganito Mining Corporation (TMC), Taganito HPAL Corporation and Platinum Group Metals Corporation (PGMC), are among the country's largest nickel ore exporters to Japan, China and Australia.

Before retreating, the rebels held some mining employees as hostages (released later in the same day) then burned down valuable mining equipment, dozens of dump trucks and even warehouse and office facilities. They also carted away a sizable cache of firearms and radio equipment belonging to the three companies and their security forces.

Jorge Madlos also known as Ka Oris, spokesman for the National Democratic Front in Mindanao, has justified the twin attacks as part of the revolutionary movement's goal to penalize "environmentally exploitative and destructive large-scale mining companies in the Caraga region". The Caraga region, which comprises the provinces of Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur, has been seeing in the past few years a dramatic increase in the number of investments in both large-scale and small scale mining activities.

The government in Manila, on the other hand, as well as the military and police forces, have condemned the rebel raids as merely a form of economic sabotage and a ploy by the rebels to extort money from vulnerable mining firms under the guise of "revolutionary taxes". There is talk of investigating "security and intelligence lapses" that led to the local military and police forces being caught unaware by the attacks and promises of "improving future security" for mining firms operating in the affected area. Blah blah blah. And so on and so forth. We have all heard it before.

I am very much dismayed that the Aquino administration only seems to see the recent NPA attacks as an embarrassing "security lapse" for the government which has been going all out in promoting this part of the country as a prime location for mineral mining investments particularly by foreign investors. The truth is, as far as the Claver incidents last Monday are concerned, there are other and more important things to focus on and not just the attacks themselves and running after those responsible for them.

I do not have much sympathy any more for the New People's Army, Jorge Madlos and the discredited ideology they all profess to continue to fight for but it appears that as far as the mining controversy in the Caraga region is concerned, Madlos and the NPA may have become the most effective organized force articulating and ventilating the worries and frustrations of most the people here who are fearful that their own communities may already be suffering the negative effects of the environmental destruction that is the inevitable consequence of uncontrolled and irresponsible mining and mineral exploration.

In recent years, concerned citizen groups and non-governmental organizations, some of them affiliated with the Catholic Church and other religious groups, have been organized in Surigao del Sur and the adjoining provinces in order to oppose what is seen here by many residents as the unregulated proliferation of both large-scale and small-scale mining ventures in the region. These groups have condemned the national government and local officials for allowing mining firms to operate without making sure that proper environmental safeguards are being observed and that responsible mining practices are being strictly followed. They have also observed that the rights and welfare of residents of affected communities particularly in the case of the indigenous people and ethnic minorities (who have ancestral domain claims that include many mineral-rich areas) may have, in many cases, been ignored and set aside in the race to quickly exploit mining claims.

It is also clear that many of these unscrupulous mining operators particularly those categorized as small-scale enterprises whose operations are supposed to come under the purview of provincial governments are often the worst violators of mining laws and regulations instituted to protect the environment. Many anti-mining advocates point to senior local government officials as either partners or investors in many of these small or even large scale mining ventures and it is these same officials they say who turn a blind eye at what may be vicious crimes being committed against the natural patrimony of their very own constituents.

To put the Claver attacks in proper context, mining operations there as well as elsewhere all over the region have not been exactly free from controversy and conflict. Tribal and indigenous people's groups through the Tribal Coalition of Mindanao Inc. (Tricom) have petitioned the Supreme Court in May of this year to cancel the mining permits of TMC, PGMC and other mining companies which they accused of a variety of offenses such as the acquisition of mining permits by spurious means, the forced displacements of lumad or indigenous peoples' communities and the flagrant use by these firms of environmentally destructive mining practices.

These same groups together with many mainstream NGO's have also alleged that the steep environmental cost exacted by the mining industry today, as far as they are concerned, far outweigh the employment and economic benefits their communities may have received as a result of the entry of the mining industry into their areas. This is a view shared by many people in Surigao del Sur and all over the Caraga area who feel they have not been properly consulted or allowed to participate in formulating government policy regarding mining activities in their region.

No one here, except those involved in the communist insurgency, supports or condones the NPA attacks in Claver. Similar actions conducted by the rebels in the recent past against the Surigao Development Company (SUDECOR) in northern Surigao del Sur and against banana plantations owned by the Dole Company in Tago and Tagbina towns also in the same province are contemptible crimes to say the least even if they were indeed in pursuit of the revolutionary movement's goals of protecting the rights and welfare of the rural poor instead of merely "enforcing the collection of revolutionary taxes".

If the NPA and the NDF has been able to paint themselves active and vocal champions for the movement against unrestricted and destructive mining activities in this part of the country as well as being an advocate for the rights of the indigenous peoples and the rural masses, then they have merely been able to successfully do so because the GOVERNMENT has failed to do justice to these same very basic responsibilities. Instead of a knee-jerk response to the Claver attacks, it should instead examine more closely why the communist insurgency (supposedly on the verge of extinction and defeat) has managed to reinvent itself and gain strength and impetus by latching on to an issue that resonates not only among the impoverished masses of the countryside but also among all sectors of society here.

Nobody here can stand against progress and economic prosperity. To do so would be impractical foolhardiness. One cannot also be realistic and be completely against the mining industry per se. Mining ventures or business investments of whatever nature for that matter that are respectful and protective of the environment and those that take into serious account the welfare of the people and communities that may be affected by such potentially intrusive undertakings are welcome partners to economic progress.

By all means, the government must insure the security of business investments, whether foreign or local in origin, even in the mining industry not only in the Caraga region but all over the country. By all means, it must run after those who harass investors and extort money from legitimate businesses. But its first and primary obligation must be to its own people, its land, its mountains, rivers, forests, mountains and seas and to see to it that all are always protected from oppression, abuse and exploitation for the sake of dubious progress and unscrupulous profit,.

Kamayo

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 02:59:00 +0000

Whenever I travel far away from Lianga these days, it is always a pleasant surprise for me to suddenly catch by ear, even from a distance and in the midst of the babble of languages and dialects that are spoken in the many crowded places all over this country, that peculiar yet familiar cadence of spoken words, that specific pattern and style of vocalization that immediately tells me that someone in the vicinity is speaking Kamayo.

Kamayo, of course, is the the language spoken by the residents of a clearly defined geographical area in eastern Mindanao which includes parts of the provinces of Surigao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental and the Agusan provinces. Only about one and a half million people are said to use it but even this number is misleading since the language has its variations in the way it is spoken depending on the specific location within this general area.

The Kamayo used in in Lianga, for example, has marked differences in vocabulary, accentuation and intonation from the version used farther south in Lingig and the Davao provinces. But both clearly belong to the same language classification and share the same linguistic roots.

Language experts usually classify Kamayo as belonging to the Malayan-Polynesian sub-group of languages and the Austronesian language family to which most Malay languages are grouped. It is closely linked to Surigaonon and Butuanon as well as Cebuano and has been heavily influenced by these other languages as well as Tagalog and even English in more contemporary times.

Many linguistic experts also link it to the so called Mandaya or Kamayo people, a non-Islamic, non-Christian ethnic group in eastern Mindanao particularly in the Davao and Surigao provinces which retain many of its own traditional customs and traditions as well as religious beliefs. But modern Kamayo is mostly spoken today by the descendants of the many waves of immigrants from the Visayas and Luzon who settled in that part of Mindanao in the last century.

I have always been dismayed at the fact that there is no known recorded body of native literature in the Kamayo language, Perhaps the very people who first used it never had the inclination to record their experiences in either prose or poetry. Perhaps it may have originated as a wholly oral language and no written form ever evolved. It may also have been discredited in the past as a marginal dialect and even today suffers in comparison to Bisaya which is considered to be more "refined" and less provincial.

I can, of course, speak only about the Kamayo I know but it is clear that the nature of the language itself is reflective of the character of the people who use it in their daily lives. It is loud, intensely sparse and utilitarian, seemingly disdainful of the lyrical frills, bells and whistles that passes for what is beautiful and pleasing to the ear and, in written form, to the eye in other tongues. Yet it is, at the same time, a deeply emotional language that can more than adequately express the emotions of love, tenderness, anger and hate most succinctly if not sublimely.

It is when used as a weapon that Kamayo brings out the best of the combative, warlike qualities of its speakers. In the Lianga area, hearing two people angrily going at each other verbally can be a fascinating experience. Kamayo natives use the language not just to make their point clear or justify their anger but wield it figuratively like slashing broadswords to symbolically wound and kill their opponents.

When used to effectively hurl contempt, disdain or overpowering rage, it can rise to heights few languages can reach. Which is perhaps why many here prefer to use it for verbal combat and retreat to using Bisaya for wooing, courtship and for expressing the softer emotions of love, tenderness and longing.

This is not, of course, to say that the Kamayo (if we are to call the those who speak the language that) are a bloodthirsty and quarrelsome lot but they are a deeply emotional and proud people who are deeply protective of what they see as their own and instantly suspicious if not resentful of those who may seek to exploit them and their land.

Many native Kamayo speakers fear for the future survival of the language. Many Lianga residents, for example, especially those who have children studying or working in other parts of the country are aware that many of the next generation of their descendants either do not know Kamayo anymore or have virtually stop using it. In our family in particular, not one of my mother's grandchildren is a Kamayo speaker. They do understand the language yet are more comfortable using Bisaya or Cebuano at home and among themselves.

Much of the old Kamayo that I use to know as a child is already gone or evolving. The sometimes loud and jarring yet often lilting, musical intonation I was used to as a child I seldom hear today except when talking with the older generation in the remote barrios and villages around Lianga and San Agustin towns. Modern Kamayo is now heavily borrowing words and phrases from Bisaya and even Tagalog.

Since Kamayo use is practically confined to a specific geographical area, most native Kamayo speakers are essentially multilingual and are able to converse easily not only in Kamayo and Bisaya but also in Tagalog and English. This exposes the original tongue to a multitude of influences that does not bode well for any attempts towards the preservation of the original language.

My hope is that a distinct Kamayo tongue will continue to exist if not flourish in the future. After all, nothing identifies a people and a culture more than the language that binds them together.

This is why I relish the rare cases where I do encounter Kamayo being spoken in places far from its birthplace. It reminds me that the world may be so big and the universe so vast yet there is always that small yet tangible chance, remote and minuscule it may be, that even in faraway places and distant shores there is always that possibility of finding a kindred soul, a kababayan if you will, and the surprise discovery of a totally unexpected, sentimental link to home.

Mail Call

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 13:30:00 +0000

It has been some time since I posted on this blog and for that lapse I must apologize. I have been having trouble with my internet connection for some time now and trying desperately to remain regularly online while your network connectivity is constantly giving up on you can wreck havoc on one's appetite for blogging.

Smart Bro, the wireless broadband service affiliated with Smart Communications, has been the only ISP in Lianga since it introduced the brand some 5 years ago. As expected, this virtual monopoly and the lack of any competition has led to such a deterioration in the quality of its online service that it has earned it the unflattering moniker of "Smart Broken" among frustrated local customers and subscribers.

It had come to the point when I was practically on the phone talking to their customer service representatives almost on a daily basis complaining about intermittent connectivity, cripplingly slow connections and network disruptions. Yet for all the company CSR's profuse apologies and promises of "network upgrades" and faster service, nothing really changed.

In the end, I had the service disconnected for a while and only recently have I decided to try using it again. Hope does spring eternal in the human breast and I am hoping against hope that, by a miracle of miracles, Smart Bro does finally manage to do justice to my newly restored optimism, misguided and naive though it may be.

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Charles while commenting on the blog post, "Revisiting Paradise", is asking about tourist accommodations for visitors who may be interested to visit not only the Bretania Islands in San Agustin but also the Cabgan and Turtle islands in Barobo. I have been to all three destinations and they are simply fantastic places to visit for those in love with white sand beaches, crystal-blue waters and tropical island hopping. Unlike in the past, there are readily available resort accommodations in Barobo and San Agustin towns. Lianga which is between these two towns also has good tourist and visitor facilities. I suggest the Kansilad Beach Resort which conveniently has a website for those interested to inquire about room rates and available amenities.

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In a comment to the blog post, "Palay On The Road", Bomalabs is asking about the peculiar practice of many local farmers who dry their palay on the concrete surfaces of roads and highways to the consternation of drivers and motorists. Dr. Flavier is right. The drying of the play under the heat of the sun helps separate the husk from the grain and aids the milling process where the rice grain is finally freed of the surrounding husk and made ready for comsumption. No farmer who has invested so much of his time, labor and money in palay will certainly be, in any way, pleased at a motorist running over his precious, drying produce. Discretion is, as they say, the better part of valor so a quick getaway would be advisable.

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I have great empathy for Andrea whose comments on two blog posts I have written about toog trees and magkono wood reflect the concern of many Filipinos about the rapid exploitation of the few remaining virgin forests in the country. I always had a thing about toog trees, those often solitary giants that still tower over ricefields and plains here. They remind me of sentinels, towering guardians of the once dense forests that used to cover this part of the country that are now almost all gone. My late maternal grandmother used tell me that a toog tree standing tall in the middle of rice paddies was a sign that the soil was fertile and suited for rice planting. I have never been able to verify if this observation was actually true but if it was not accurate, I would be sorely disappointed indeed.

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I will try to answer more e-mails and questions from comments regularly. And I will be posting again very soon. Please feel free to write me for suggestions on topics to write about and do keep those comments on the blog posts coming.

Timeless

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 02:25:00 +0000

It did, at first, seemed, when you think logically about it, a rather extravagant purchase made by my mother but when the matched set of two chairs and a coffee table was delivered to our family home here in Lianga, I had to admit to myself that there is indeed something about the mysterious, dark mystique and aura of precious, durable beauty attached to Magkono wood products that can mark any one excessively engaged in hardfisted haggling about how much they should or really cost as downright cheap and insufferably stingy.

Even when still rough and unfinished, the table and chairs already exude a sense of primitive yet subdued strength and toughness, as if the patina of weathered and roughened skin covering the robust, metal-hard wood beneath it can somehow bear witness to countless years of stubborn and defiant resistance to the destructive effects of time and the unfriendly elements. There are, in fact, more than a few furniture fanciers who prefer to get their Magkono items unsanded and unpolished since much of this very quality and the unique beauty and symmetry of the hardwood's natural grain patterns are often lost in the final cleaning and varnishing process.

Most, however, prefer them completely smoothened all over and polished to a glossy sheen, the flat surfaces gleaming like dark mirrors. The color of Magkono wood in its natural state varies from a darkish cream to almost black with the younger wood often lighter in hue. When cut down and buried in the ground, it generally darkens with time. Old, time-seasoned wood is best for making top quality furniture and is so tough and hard that it is impervious to termites and other wood-boring pests.

The best furniture designs for this increasingly rare and precious hardwood are often those that accentuate rather than obscure its natural form and coloring. Thus the "deformed" style is heavily favored nowadays since it allows local craftsmen to utilize wood from tree parts like the thick branches and roots which would otherwise be discarded as waste if more classical and "refined" designs were followed.

The coffee table set and several other pieces of Magkono furniture now, of course, occupy places of honor in our family home here in Lianga. They may be completely functional home furnishings but they are also veritable works of art whose sheer durability and toughness insure that they will continue to be appreciated and treasured even many decades from now.

A Discrepancy Of Sorts

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Tue, 24 May 2011 13:40:00 +0000

In the aftermath of the failed April 28, 2011 assault by New People's Army rebels on the Lianga police station, there were more than a few residents here in Lianga (myself included) who were having quite a difficulty getting a direct and categorical answer to one important question. How many policemen and soldiers were actually inside the station when the attack occurred in the early dawn of that fateful Thursday morning?

I was there shortly after guns had ceased firing and the insurgents, numbering at least 30 or so, had already withdrawn and fled back up the hilly terrain at the back of the municipal hall beside the police station. In minutes they were nowhere to be seen but had left behind one of their comrades (later identified by the military authorities as a ranking vice-commander of the local guerrilla front unit)who was eventually captured by government troops.

What was clear from insider reports in the aftermath of the botched dawn raid was that only eight policemen and two army troopers were involved in the actual defense of the police station. Eleven if we include the utility worker, Rodel Aquilam, who became an instant local celebrity because his decision to remain at his post and help the policemen and soldiers repulse the NPA attackers.

Yet a few days later, fifteen policemen plus the two soldiers and the utility worker were all awarded medals for bravery and gallantry by no less than Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and Philippine National Police Director General Raul Bacalso. The award included cash awards and the promise of eventual spot promotions.

Obviously, the discrepancy in the number and identity of the policemen who actually fought in the April 28 dawn siege in comparison to those who were later formally cited and recognized for their successful defense of the Lianga police station cannot be just the result of some odious clerical error or careless reporting by the PNP or the DILG. The only logical conclusion that can be made is that there must be at least five lawmen in that honor lineup that did not deserve to be there.

A close acquaintance of mine with whom I discussed this matter gently chided me for placing what he considered "too much importance" on what he considered a minor issue. If, he stressed, the ten policemen and soldiers who did merit the medals and the cash awards did not object to five of their comrades getting undeserved credit for a successful action that could result in accelerated promotion and some badly needed financial help then who am I to question the "arrangement". No harm has actually been done he stressed. It's simply a case of "all for one and one for all" he added.

This "who cares?" attitude seems to be the norm here since nobody especially from among the head honchos at the municipal hall has been willing (or brave enough?)to discuss or voice a categorical opinion on this issue. If that is indeed the case then why should I be writing about the matter at all?

The siege of April 28 was significant, in my view, not only because it was an unqualified tactical success on the part of the local security forces but more so because of the sympathy and admiration the embattled policemen and soldiers generated from among much of the local population. In the general euphoria that followed the event, it cannot be denied that the police and military forces here have gained an uncommon propaganda victory. This is in sharp contrast to the typical news reports of successful NPA ambuscades and raids constantly being reported in the national media.

That our local lawmen and soldiers can be real life heroes was proven in that botched dawn raid and the medals of valor and bravery these stalwart men later received were an affirmation of that very fact. To give the same recognition to those who may not deserve it (whether anyone objects or not) debases and dishonors not only what the medals and awards have always stood for but that very act also demeans and trivializes the actual feats of uncommon valor and heroism that were accomplished in that early morning of April 28.

So if I have to rock the boat a little and bring up a "delicate" subject that has been, for all intents and purposes, swept under the rug then please excuse my temerity in doing so. It is not something I like doing just for the sheer pleasure of being contrary.

It is clear that the so called "culture of corruption" that continues to plague the local and national government machinery is partly rooted in the same misguided and corrupted mindset of "pakikisama" or mutual back-scratching that is considered as the norm within the government service. This gross distortion and abuse of the admirable Filipino trait of being considerate and being extremely sensitive to the needs and the welfare of others cannot be allowed to flourish.

That is why the official record of who really deserved to be recognized and lauded in the wake of the April 28 attack must be set straight once and for all. That is if the awarding ceremonies held at the Lianga town hall last April 30 barely two days after the NPA raid cannot be seen as just another zarzuela, a dog and pony show staged only for the benefit of the press, the onlookers and bystanders yet actually signifying or meaning nothing in itself except to trumpet what may have been, at its best, a doctored version of the truth.

Calloused

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Sun, 01 May 2011 13:00:00 +0000

There is probably nothing more disconcerting to an ordinary person than waking up suddenly in the darkness of early dawn to the thunder of gunfire and the loud explosions of what can only be an honest to goodness, full fledged war going on just a short distance from his home. But that is what exactly happened to me early Thursday morning.

As I tried to shake off then the lingering effects of an interrupted sleep, it became immediately clear to me that Lianga was again being attacked by New People Army rebel forces and that for the fourth time in its long and colorful history, the police station beside the town hall in the center of the poblacion was once more bearing the brunt of what could only be a determined assault by guerrilla insurgents.

I quickly joined many of the townspeople who were anxiously peering out of their windows and even huddled with the more fearless folk who had the guts to go out into the streets and peer around street corners in order to find out what was really going on. The din of the fierce fighting lasted for at least an hour. It has just past 5 o' clock when the first shots were fired and by 6 AM the town center was still echoing from the rhythmic thumping and loud cracking of rifle and machine gun fire as a small group of some nine policemen and army soldiers fought off some thirty rebels who had launched their attack from the hills on the western side of Lianga.

It was almost 7 AM when final confirmation came that the rebel forces had withdrawn back to where they came from leaving behind one wounded comrade who was eventually captured by government forces and immediately brought to the local hospital for treatment. He is now under military custody and has been supposedly identified as a vice-commander of the local guerrilla front involved in the Lianga dawn attack.

Worthy of note were several things both directly and indirectly related to the attack itself.

First, the bravery and presence of mind of the policemen and soldiers defending the police station cannot, in this particular action, be denied. Faced with an enemy superior to them in numbers and firepower, they were not only able to hold their own and successfully repulse the dawn raid but their effective return fire led to the capture of one of their attackers as well. All these they had accomplished with no casualties on their own side.

Second, the aftermath of the Lianga attack was also be seen as a serious and embarrassing setback for the local communist movement who may have planned for the success of the dawn raid as its way of demonstrating its capability to still effectively wage war against the government. This is in the wake of recent statements by the top military leadership of the armed forces that the communist insurgency all over the country is already a spent force and on the verge of total defeat.

Whether the failure of their assault in Lianga was the result of poor tactical planning, a botched execution of carefully laid plans or plain and simple bad luck, there is a lot of speculation here that the existing local guerrilla front units may no longer be the feared, combat-hardened and battle-savvy forces they were in the past. Many residents of the town who had been witnesses to all or some of the previous three rebel offensive operations in Lianga point out to a common impression that last Thursday's attack seemed tentatively as well as haphazardly carried out.

Even then, they also agree that that local military forces need to greatly improve their logistical and operational capability to respond quickly and effectively to rebel attacks on government facilities within the area. A brigade-size army unit is headquartered is only some 9 kilometers away in Barangay St. Christine yet the Lianga police station defenders had to hold out for almost an hour before reinforcements could be safely sent to assist them.

Government troops are acutely aware of how vulnerable they are to ambuscades if they were to move quickly along the national highway to immediately respond to security threats away from camp hence the wait and see attitude. In the meantime, besieged police and military units have to fend for themselves. This not exactly a recipe for maintaining good morale among soldiers and policemen manning front line or isolated outposts.

Air assets such as helicopter gunships or sea craft capable of transporting troop reinforcements by sea could have quickly spoiled the dawn attack in Lianga by giving government forces the power to project its presence quickly where it is needed without necessarily exposing troops to the danger of ambuscades and harassment attacks by enemy forces hidden along land routes. The capability of the government to rapidly deploy forces and equipment would also discourage rebel attacks on vulnerable government targets since the success of such operations must ultimately depend on the element of surprise and the ability by insurgents to successfully complete such assaults quickly before the military react.

Third, despite the avowed efforts of the NPA guerrilla forces in the past to supposedly utilize all measures to insulate the civilian population from becoming harassed, injured or killed as a result of their offensive operations against government forces and installations, last Thursday's attack did have civilian casualties although minimal in nature. A civilian vehicle was strafed with rifle fire by rebels manning a blocking force in the north of Lianga after the driver, who was unaware of the ongoing rebel operation, failed to heed the blockade. A woman passenger was reported wounded in the leg in the course of that incident.

One house located right across the town hall and the police station suffered considerable damage as stray bullets rained on it in the course of the firefight. A mother and child inside had to dive for cover and crawl their way to safety. Luckily no civilians in the vicinity were injured in the course of the almost hour long battle.

In my view, however, the most notable thing about this morning's drama of sorts was the callous fatalism and almost voyeuristic glee with which most Lianga residents faced what for most other people in a similar setting would have been a traumatic and psychologically numbing experience.

Even when the clash at the town hall was at its most intense and volume of gunfire from both the rebels and the government troops was at its peak, curious bystanders were not only crouching and hiding behind street corners at a distance but many were actually positioned just meters away from the action. As the guns would quiet down a bit, there would be a surge of the mob to inch closer to the battle zone and then like startled chickens, the crowd would sudden scatter and scamper back to safety as the guns would start firing again.

I personally saw this ebb and flow of the curious throng happen many times during the course of the almost hour long battle. It would probably boggle the mind of a Lianga outsider to witness how so many people would so callously risk getting killed in the crossfire of an actual shooting war just so they can satisfy what can be seen as an unhealthy curiosity or an insane quest for the excitement of being able to get close enough to dodge flying bullets or smell the cordite and stench of battle.

Perhaps there are many of us here in Lianga who have seen to much and experienced an excess of the sights, sounds and scents of the never-ending war that has plagued this country for decades now. We have become inured, desensitized and calloused to the horrors of a conflict we now consider as normal and an integral part of our very existence.

It is a war that no longer horrifies or sickens us but perversely provides us (when we are directly touched by it) with the excitement, the spectacle and the sensual gratification of a big budgeted war movie blockbuster spectacular played out in real life before our every eyes instead of being confined to the sterile confines of some movie theater or on the television screen of our own living rooms.

Dodging The Bullet

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 14:21:00 +0000

In the Lianga area, the period covering the Christmas week until the first week of January has always been historically characterized by cloudy and rainy weather. As far as I can remember during my childhood days in this town and even to this very day, wet and cold weather has always accompanied the local Yuletide and New Year celebrations.

Not that the people here ever felt unduly oppressed or gravely inconvenienced by the frequent showers and the often bitterly cold mornings that seem to always herald the dying of the old year and the birth of the new. Instead, the local folk, as a consequence perhaps of the town's deep rural and agricultural roots, have always looked upon the year-ender rains as perennial proof of Mother Nature's benevolence, a watery benediction or blessing of sorts which, as part of the regular and cyclical passing of the seasons, ushers in the start of the coming year and, more importantly, the next rice planting season.

Occasionally however, the rains can get out of hand as they did more than a week ago. New Year's Day had been only a little damp and mildly wet but on the day after the celebrations ended, the rain started pouring down in torrents for hours on end. The heavy downpour continued throughout the night and much of next day. When January 3 dawned, many areas of Lianga were already threatened by rising water levels.

News that portions of the national highway linking Lianga to the other towns have been rendered impassable by flooding and landslides came filtering in. Anxious to see what the real situation was, I braved the driving rain and gusty winds and took out the family car for a brief circuit around the town's main streets. What greeted me were the sobering and frightening sights of what I feared then could possibly be an emerging catastrophe.

The national highway, most of it anyway, that cut through the heart of the town was already a virtual river of swiftly flowing, muddy brown water as the overflow from swollen creeks and rivers overwhelmed drainage canals and rushed out and over into the streets and entered houses. The inundation was still only knee deep at its worst and the highway and town streets were all still mostly passable by both vehicular and pedestrian traffic (if you chose to risk going out on foot) but as the downpour persisted it became alarmingly clear that unless the rains stopped soon, the town and its surrounding communities were in imminent danger of suffering a grave environmental disaster similar to that already being experienced by other areas in the country particularly in the Bicol region up north.

Already many town residents in houses located in the low-lying areas were watching helplessly as the flood waters continued to rise as the hours passed. In the central business district, one rice merchant could only wring his hands in despair as a large portion of his stored rice stocks was quickly inundated and ruined.

Luckily the relentless rain broke and faltered the next day. As the dark clouds thinned and allowed the sun to occasionally and hesitantly peek out, the people of Lianga heaved a huge sigh of relief even as they surveyed the debris and damage left by the retreating waters. It was clear that they had been spared from the horrors of what could have been a more widespread natural disaster.

It is, of course, the angry consensus here that the blame for what is clearly this region's growing vulnerability to excessive flooding and landslides during periods of constant and intense precipitation can be laid upon the rapid denudation and destruction of what used to be heavily forested mountains and watershed areas. Almost all point out to uncontrolled large-scale logging and mineral mining operations as the proximate cause. This is clearly, in my view, belaboring what is clearly and glaring the obvious.

As proof, locals point out to the sudden, flash flood-like nature of the raging waters and the reddish hued mud and silt-like deposits the waters had left behind. They also lament the fact that a day or so of constant and heavy rain a decade or so ago would not have been enough to cause the recent flooding. It would have taken, they say, at least a week of so of heavy, torrential downpour in the past to trigger such a phenomenon. The speed, therefore, at which the flood waters had risen after just a day or so of heavy rain is, for many of them, a worrisome sign, a clear warning of how close last week they were to a real calamitous situation had the wet weather not changed for the better.

A day or so after the sun hesitantly came out, the streets had been quickly cleared and life in Lianga regained some semblance of normality. I took the time once again to go around and check how things were.

Surprisingly, the town had managed to recover more or less quickly from what could have been a potential environmental tragedy. The streets had been cleared of most of the debris and much of the visible water damage to the streets and houses have been quickly patched up and repaired.

But in the midst of the frenetic activity and the sense of general relief it cannot be denied that the people of this town have been shaken by what happened in those first few days of 2011. Now, of course, secure in the comfort of their homes, they all can safely watch on the screens of their television sets the new reports about the harrowing tales of misery and loss in the Southern Leyte and the Bicol provinces where many of their fellow Filipinos were not as lucky as them. They can also see video footage of the rampaging waters sweeping away houses and people in Australia, Brazil and Sri Lanka and elsewhere around the world and then congratulate themselves on their good fortune.

But many of them cannot seen to shake off the feeling of dread tinged with a sense of foreboding resulting from the sudden insight that, for all extent and purposes, where it not for the luck of the dice and the vagrancies of climate and the weather, they could have also suffered a similar if not a more grievous fate. Then they are ultimately faced with the sudden and chilling realization that, if that had been the case, the faces of the unfortunate victims they were seeing on TV could have been very well their very own.

Revisiting Paradise

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 01:02:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance with my family to go back to the Bretania Islands in San Agustin town for a whole day of enjoying to the fullest the sun-drenched pleasures of what is fast becoming one of the premier tourist destinations in the province of Surigao del Sur.

Now, I must confess that, as someone who has grown up with an intimate familiarity with white sand beaches, pounding and frothy-white surf as well as crystal-clear, blue-green coastal waters, I have always felt that I have become more than a bit jaded as far as the attractions of coconut palm-shrouded, tropical island beaches are concerned.

My recent revisit to Bretania has disabused me of such a misconception.

Some natural wonders are so spectacularly unique and breathtakingly beautiful in themselves that returning again and again to visit them once more is like seeing a truly and exquisitely lovely woman up close from a different angle each time. Each visit is a special experience in itself, each one triggering memories that will last a lifetime.

I'll let these pictures taken by friends speak for themselves.

Bantay Salakay

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 01:16:00 +0000

In a newly created Facebook page for the Philippine Business Investor Protectorate (see the page), Mark Borders, a fellow blogger and a Lianga resident for some time now, has recently fired a written broadside against grafters in the local government service that is shaking up the local establishment and ruffling up the feathers of some civil servants here, The Protectorate, as described in its webpage, was formed to fight corruption in government primarily by exposing actual cases and instances of such official misdeeds to public knowledge and scrutiny.

In the tradition of the great whistle-blowers of recent Philippine history like retired Lingayen Archbishop Oscar Cruz, whose on-going and unrelenting crusade against jueteng or the illegal numbers game in Luzon, has made him a household name, Mark has not only revealed instances of his alleged personal experiences and encounters with corrupt local government officials and functionaries but has even gone further by actually naming names and specifically identifying these individuals.

Mark, of course, for those new to this blog, is an American national who is married to a local girl and who has made the decision to live here and do whatever he can to help improve the poor living conditions and desperate economic situation in what has become his adopted community. He has been for some two years or so been trying to set up some business investments in Barangay St. Christine some 8 or so kilometers north of Lianga which he felt would not only generate much needed employment but could also provide the economic stimulus that could help jumpstart what remains largely a moribund local economy. He writes passionately about his experiences in his own blog (see Barangay St. Christine blog).

These investments include a mini-sawmill, a gasoline station and a mini-ice plant among other things. It was in the process of acquiring clear title for the land needed for a location for these enterprises that Mark began to describe his encounters with the bureaucratic red tape and government inefficiency that seems to be endemic in all levels of the government. Then he revealed that money was extorted from him primarily by officials from the local offices of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in return for the swift and speedy processing of his documents.

He has implicated Romeo Luengas, the OIC-CENRO (Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer) for DENR-Lianga in the extortion scheme and Benilda Amoguis, the LMO (Land Management Officer) also for DENR-Lianga for issuing fake documents to a rival claimant to the property he is applying for final title. Henry Villarina, the local municipal assessor, has also been accused of being instrumental in the issuance of fake tax declaration certificates to the same rival claimant which had led to the stalling of the land titling process.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), of course, and its officials and personnel here are not exactly new to accusations of extortion and other forms of bureaucratic corruption. As the primary government agency tasked to regulate land use and the exploitation of the country's natural resources through commercial and industrial activities such as mineral mining and timber logging, it has not been spared criticism here of not only being remiss in its duties to safeguard this area's rich natural wealth and diverse mountain, forest and coastal environments but has been plagued by charges that its personnel have profited from kickbacks coming from unscrupulous individuals here engaged in illegal logging, illegal mining and the supposedly unlawful harvesting of a variety of protected species of animal, plant and marine life.

The recent controversy involving the alleged mis-declaration of timber shipments (supposedly under strict monitoring by the DENR) by the SAMMILIA community forest management cooperative in Barangay Diatagon and the obvious fact that illegal logging and the harvesting of banned tree and timber species continues in the Lianga area to this day merely highlights the credibility problems that this particular agency and its personnel have as far as convincing the local population here that it is doing its job the best that it can and in accordance with the highest standards of the public service.

I have talked personally with Mark and am convinced beyond doubt that he has literally been put through the wringer as far as his tussle with the DENR is concerned. He has lost a lot of money and have seen much of his plans delayed or set aside momentarily because of the land titling problem. The negative economic cost to the community which could have benefited from his projects had they come to fruition on schedule could not even be quantified. No one, especially a foreign national who seeks to invest his hard earned money in this country and its people should not be allowed to go through the same bitter and frustrating experience.

Nothing has been heard yet from the camp of Luengas and Amoguis regarding the accusations that have been thrown against them but I did have the opportunity to confer with Henry Villarina on the issues raised against him by Mark. He has categorically denied that he has ever issued fake tax declaration certificates in his present stint at the municipal hall and particularly in relation to the Borders land titling case. He said that he even tried to assist Mark and his wife, Merejen, in obtaining other much needed documentation for their application for land title but never extorted money from the couple, issued any fake documents or profited in any way from that transaction.

Mark, of course, stands by what he has alleged in the Facebook page and is unfazed by threats of possible legal action that may be taken against him by the very persons he has accused so publicly of abusing their public offices for personal profit. He has affirmed that he has the documentation that will prove his revelations and that he has no intention of giving up the fight to see his dreams for Lianga and St. Christine come true. The Facebook page for the Philippine Business Investor Protectorate, he said, was proof of his commitment and his willingness to "fight all the corrupt practices and crab mentality that is preventing the economic recovery that could exist here."

In order to resolve his differences with the DENR and the municipal hall before the situation rapidly deteriorates and results in costly litigation or legal action, I have suggested to Mark and Henry Villarina separately that a mediation meeting between the former and all of the other personalities involved in the controversy should be initiated through the auspices of any of the senior local municipal officials. Perhaps what is needed to clear the conflict is arbitration by a disinterested third party who can assist not only in clarifying all of the issues relevant to the case but, more importantly, one who determine if wrongdoing has been committed in this case and recommend the proper course of action that may be warranted.

Without passing judgement on the truth or veracity of Mark's accusations against Luengas, Amoguis or Villarina, I am still filled with disbelief and disgust at the ordeal Mark had to go through in the two years he spent trying to put up his businesses in St. Christine and the fact that to this day much of the enterprises he had envisioned to be up and running by this time remains, in actuality, still plans and dreams on paper. We cannot, as a people or as a community, treat individuals, foreigner or native Filipino he may be, who only seek to invest in our economic future with such indifference and expect to prosper and grow as a nation and country.

We should instead welcome them not only with gladness and open arms but do our utmost to insure that they given the proper assistance and guidance they may need to properly lay the foundations of whatever lawful livelihoods and business activities they wish to engage in while at the same time making sure that their assimilation into our society is made as painless and problem-free as possible. This does not mean special treatment but simply an extension of the same courtesy we extend to valued guests and friends who visit our homes or who desire to live in our own neighborhoods and communities.

We do not victimize them, extort money from them or abuse them in any way. To do so would be a rejection of the very qualities that make us special and unique as a people; our innate hospitality and concern for the welfare of others, our generosity towards those who need our help and friendship and our willingness to welcome to our fold those who seek only our friendship and camaraderie irregardless of their race, creed or politics as long as they abide by our laws and respect our culture and traditions.

The problems Mark has encountered here, in the ultimate sense, are not only a consequence of the culture of corruption that has permeated all levels of the government even at its lowest levels. It is also, from a broader perspective, an indictment of the attitude of indifference and abject apathy which we, as a people, have adopted over the years and decades in the face of the such moral perversion not only in our government but even more so in our very own society. Essentially, we have become a complacent, uncaring, selfish and indifferent people. Our civil servants, our government bureaucracy and our political leaders are, in truth, merely mirrors reflecting the monsters we have become.

It has been said before and I do not hesitate to say it again. In this particular sense, unless we take immediate action now to reexamine ourselves dispassionately and objectively and find the strength to move forward and change what needs to be changed in ourselves as a people and become the real engine of a healthy, vibrant and prosperous democracy, we remain our own worst and most formidable enemy.

Note:

The term "bantay salakay" is difficult to translate literally from Tagalog to English. It can be taken to refer to someone who attacks or steals something he is charged with guarding in the first place.

Reality Check

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 12:20:00 +0000

I was several days ago in Tandag, the capital of the province of Surigao del Sur,and while there was eager to try to gauge the prevailing sentiments of the local population with regards to the recent Supreme Court ruling that, with finality, stripped it of its classification as a new city of the province and which forced it to revert to its old status as a municipality.

The final high court ruling was a reversal of an earlier December 21, 2009 judgment which had declared the constitutionality of the 16 laws creating Tandag City and 15 other new cities all over the country. It also served to reinstate an even earlier November 18, 2008 ruling that had originally struck down (as unconstitutional)) the same city-hood laws upon the petition of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) which had elevated the case originally to the Supreme Court. In a rare and stunning legal reversal, the same court had overturned that particular decision (as already mentioned in 2009) upon a submitted motion for reconsideration by the then 16 supposedly new cities including Tandag. The LCP then asked for a reversal again of the 2009 ruling which the high court granted with finality just weeks ago.

Setting aside the legal calisthenics and uncharacteristic flip flopping from the Supreme Court, most Tandag residents I talked to seemed resigned if not perplexed at the rather unusual if not embarrassing turn of events their town (or city if you must) had to recently go through. And most of them cannot seem to understand or fathom the reasons why their political leaders had put them through the roller-coaster ride that saw them rejoicing, celebrating and reveling in the euphoria of believing that their town's long sought after dream of city-hood was finally theirs only to be brought down crashing to earth with the embarrassing news that they had just been taken for a fool's ride.

On some dark street corners there are whispered talks of hundreds of millions of pesos changing hands at the Supreme Court and how a better funded "bid" for the favor of certain high court justices from the LCP led to the recent decision that favored its motion for reconsideration and trashed Tandag's bid for the much coveted city status. Such allegations can, of course, be considered classical sour graping except for the obvious fact that the high court's unusual case of reversing itself twice in this case is providing enough fuel for such dark allegations and speculations to persist. That the highest legal authority in the land did not acquit itself well in resolving this particular issue is beyond doubt.

The legalities and technicalities aside, it is obvious to any frequent visitor to the provincial capital like me that Tandag may be a town on the up and up, a municipality that has seen respectable growth and progress over the years but certainly it is not yet the city it so desperately wants to be. It may get there in time with the right political leadership and the implementation of sound economic and development policies. I, personally, am confident it will become a true city in time but it has much growing and expansion to do first.

Foisting the status of city-hood on this town through legislative fiat is not enough and clearly not the same as truly achieving the level of growth and economic momentum that defines the distinction between trying-hard, would-be cities and true cities in the making. The legal requirements outlined in the local government code are clear and unequivocal aside from merely formally codifying what is obvious legal and economic common sense.

That same common sense tells us that as a city, Tandag is clearly not, at present, really there yet and no amount of legal hocus-pocus or well orchestrated hype will change that, at least for the present.

Muddled

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:16:00 +0000

Police Inspector Christopher Mazo, Lianga's newly installed chief of police, was supposedly warned by some friends not to accompany a team of DENR (Department of the Environment and Natural Resources) personnel who were set to verify allegations of illegal logging operations in the hinterlands of Barangay Diatagon north of the Lianga town proper last August 21. The group was set to conduct an ocular inspection of a quantity of newly cut timber as part of an ongoing probe into the timber cutting operations of SAMMILIA (see previous post), a local cooperative granted a community based forest management agreement by the government.

The DENR inspection activity became necessary after a earlier group composed of local DENR personnel, Lianga local officials and non-governmental representatives had recommended that the cooperative be formally investigated for possible violations of the conditions of its forest management agreement. A shipment of its cut timber at the Diatagon wharf had also been found to have been possibly mis-declared in terms of actual volume and had been earmarked for seizure pending the result of a more thorough probe.

Mazo had been only on the job as chief of the Lianga municipal police station for a couple of days and would probably have been excused for not going but perhaps he was a conscientious man and only wanted to make a good impression on the people of the town. He eventually decided to help escort the DENR team. That decision he paid for with his life.

At about midday on that Saturday, Mazo and several others were on-board an open truck on the way back to Lianga after the inspection sortie. The truck which was part of a convoy of several vehicles ferrying the DENR team and their security escorts back to the town was near Sitio Danao some 21 kilometers from Barangay Diatagon when it was fired upon by a group of armed men. The sniping ambush killed Mazo and wounded at least two other DENR personnel.

The New People's Army through Maria Malaya, National Democratic Front spokesperson for the northeastern Mindanao region, quickly claimed responsibility for the ambush and blamed Insp. Mazo and the DENR team for being part of a massive deployment of government troops in the area. Malaya also accused the DENR team of using the pretext of the illegal logging investigation to extort money from small-scale loggers within the SAMMILIA forest concession area.

Personally I, like so many concerned residents here in Lianga, had welcomed the DENR investigation into SAMMILIA's timber cutting operations. This is despite the running joke among many observers here that likens the task of asking the DENR to investigate SAMMILIA's operations as akin to sending a totally blind and deaf man to see and critique a new movie showing in the city.

After all, if indeed SAMMILIA had been not complying with the legal restrictions on its timber cutting operations in the past years then the DENR should have been the first to sound the alarm. It is supposed to be the main government agency monitoring that cooperative's operations and DENR personnel are supposed to be keeping a tight leash on its logging activities. That local DENR officials may be turning a blind eye to SAMMILIA's illegal logging activities can only be logically assumed, if such over-cutting and mis-declaration of timber stocks can be proven. Otherwise, the same officials should all be fired for gross incompetence and negligence of duty.

The ambush killing of Lianga's police chief by purportedly NPA guerrillas has also complicated what is already a tense and tenuous situation. I would have thought that the NPA with its avowed pro-poor and pro-environment sympathies should have bucked all forms of illegal logging and should have allowed the DENR to finish its probe on the SAMMILIA logging controversy. At the very least, that government agency with the prodding of non-governmental organizations and environmental protection groups would have the chance, slim though it may be, to redeem itself by come out with a definitive finding on the allegations levied against the logging cooperative.

As of now, the heightened tensions between government security forces and the local communist insurgents have made the quick and expedient completion of the DENR probe difficult if not outright impossible to achieve. What has started out to be a seemingly uncomplicated case of allegations of illegal logging has become entangled and mired in the larger issue of peace and order in the midst of an ongoing rural insurgency.

One can almost be forgiven if, in the final analysis, one has the temerity here to speculate that this might exactly be what certain parties and interests may have intended to happen in the first place. If that is indeed the case then Insp. Mazo's killing will serve no more useful purpose than becoming another insignificant and soon forgotten footnote (like so many other similar killings in the past) in the decades old insurgency war that continues to rage in this small corner of the world. And in the meantime, the people of Lianga may be waiting in vain for a clear and authoritative result to the DENR probe into SAMMILIA operations or even for some result to come out any time soon.

But then one can be completely wrong for even harboring such speculation. In this case, I certainly hope so.

Hot Cargo

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:23:00 +0000

Lianga was again in the news on national television a couple of days ago and as usual the bulletin did little to discredit the observation made some years ago to me by an old buddy (also from Lianga but who now resides outside of the country) that every time the town's name gets into the news it is usually about something or some event that paints it and its people in a bad light.

It seems that a investigation team composed of officials from the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the local government of the town and representatives of the Caraga Conference for Peace and Development has recommended that the government block the shipment of a shipload of cut timber in the port of Barangay Diatagon some nine kilometers or so to the north of the town proper. The shipment belonged to the SAMMILIA Federation of Peoples's Forest Development Cooperative which has for some time now taken over part of what was once the vast timber concession area of the defunct Lianga Bay Logging Company.

The team has determined in its surprise inspection of the timber cargo that there are what appears to be serious discrepancies between the record of the official tally and inventory of the said shipment submitted to the government in comparison to the actual volume and measurements of the logs being loaded for shipment. The implication, of course, is that SAMMILIA may have knowingly misrepresented the volume in order to escape legal restrictions on the maximum "allowable cut" it was allowed to make under the law and in order to defraud the local government of its rightful share in the form of taxes and levies.

SAMMILIA (named for the towns of San Agustin, San Miguel, Marihatag and Lianga whose territorial jurisdictions skirt the boundaries of the cooperative's forest concession area) has for many years been granted by the DENR the right to cut timber under a community-based forest management agreement. But its operations have always been plagued by accusations time and time again from environmental protection groups and non-governmental organizations that it has has not been complying with the volume limits on the amount of timber is has been allowed to harvest from its area but so far no serious investigation has been conducted by the government particularly the DENR to verify the truth about the persistent allegations.

Rumors have also been rife in the past that DENR personnel as well as local government officials have always been persuaded to look the other way every time SAMMILIA shipped its timber cargos from Diatagon in return for substantial bribes. Certain well-placed and well-connected political kingpins in the province have also been pointed out to be behind the regular mis-declaration of the timber shipments.

What is clear is that, in the case of the recent discovery of the so called "hot logs" in Diatagon, there appears to be at least, according to reliable sources, probable cause to assume that something fishy is indeed going on as far as SAMMILIA's timber cutting operations are concerned and that a full, thorough and exhaustive formal inquiry into the matter is justified if not essential. "It is our obligation to determine if there is indeed excess loading and if the cooperative is complying the the legal restrictions placed upon it in accordance with its community forest management agreement," said Lianga Vice-Mayor Jun Lala who was part of the investigating team.

But even then there many here who are pessimistic that something concrete will come out of any formal investigation into the "hot timber" fiasco in Diatagon or even that a formal investigation will ever take place. The prevailing opinion is that there are far too many fingers in the SAMMILIA pie and that some of these may belong to shadowy but politically powerful figures in the province. In fact, some local government officials who have initially backed the findings of the above mentioned investigation team may have, according to some sources, already decided to keep quiet and refrain from becoming further involved in the issue.

Inevitably, the final outcome of the unfortunate incident in Diatagon will be seen as a test of how serious the DENR (as the government agency tasked with safeguarding the already threatened virgin forest reserves of the province) and the local government of Lianga (as the government authority representing the interests of the affected local communities) is in determining if SAMMILIA is indeed complying with law in the conduct of its logging operations. It will also, in the larger sense, be a chance for both government institutions to prove to the people here that the new era of transparency and public accountability in government operations recently proclaimed by President Noynoy Aquino in his inaugural speech is more than just words and not mere lip service.

In the meantime the people of Lianga are watching the situation intently and hoping that both government agencies will have the resolve and the will to resolve, once and for all, the many questions related to the timber shipment controversy. It is a great thing to have the courage to grasp the proverbial tiger by the tail but an even greater feat to have the gumption to follow through, face it squarely in the face, subdue it and then pin it to the ground.

As I Was Saying

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 14:44:00 +0000

After two months of a forced vacation from this blog, I was more than eager to check where I left off after a series of computer hardware and network problems cut off my regular access to the internet right here in Lianga. For a time I toyed with the idea of updating this blog from other locations or by using other means of going online but I have. over the years, become essentially an old fashoned creature of habit and working online by flitting from one internet shop to another in guerrilla fashion or relying on laptops and other portable devices has never been my kind of thing.

I am and have always been a plodder of sorts even in my blogging. As a result, I have always favored spending a leisurely hour or two pondering on and composing my blog posts directly on the internet and simply tossing off a hurried blog entry on a portable computer or mobile phone was simply something I was never entirely comfortable with doing. I tried blogging that way and it never felt right.

In fact, I miss my old and trusty desktop computer and and the new one that has replaced it while certainly is a lot more faster as well as more reliable (it blazes through while the old one was just content to simply stagger and trot along), it does not have the cantankerous yet whimsical and rather eccentric personality of my old setup which made it seem like more like a collaborator and partner to me than just another sophisticated piece of electronic equipment.

My last blog post on the aftermath of the May 10 national and local elections generated more than the usual number of comments. But sad to say very little of what was said in most of them had actually little value at all at expanding the intelligent discussion of the problem of the numerous incidents of vote buying and other forms of electoral malfeasance that was the subject of that particular post. It was clearly apparent that more than a few individuals may have felt alluded to in the post and the same or their friends did respond rather vociferously in return albeit with remarks notable more for their emotion and obfuscation rather than actual substance.

It was Mark's comment, as usual, that saved the day.

Mark, of course, is an American national who got married to a local girl and who has basically become a local fixture here. He regularly comments on the posts to this blog (see comments section) and his views on the many issues raised here have the balanced yet penetrating perspective of one who, despite his being a foreigner, has experienced, on a first hand basis, the local culture and has directly and personally participated himself, for some time now in the community life of this area.

On the issue of how vote-buying in has become a regular fixture in elections specially in the countryside, he has pointed out that politicians, by force of necessity, often have to resort to offering money and consumer goods for people's votes because the practice has become so widespread that no serious contender for local elective positions would have a fighting chance at winning unless he sets aside his scruples and actively bribe voters when he can.

It has gotten to the point that much of a local political candidate's resources and electoral machinery (especially in the latter stages of the election period) have to be devoted to insuring that voters and voting blocks in crucial areas receive their money and non-monetary "incentives" efficiently and with the minimum of fuss and delay. Family members, close relative and trusted individuals are usually put in-charge of this rather sensitive and critical task which may be more important to electoral victory than the actual village sorties and political speeches candidates actually and legitimately make as part of the official campaign period.

The last local polls has also been marred by allegations that certain powerful politicians here have used rigged PCOS machines with tampered CF memory cards to manipulate the local vote on an unprecedented scale. That remains to be proven beyond doubt but even if the allegations are true it is also clear that despite the technical sophistication of this form of electoral fraud, it was, as such criminal acts are, done in the shadows and beyond the awareness of the general public. Such schemes are planned in secret, executed covertly and the whole process hidden from public knowledge by unscrupulous individuals who know that the society and the electorate will never countenance or tolerate such cheating.

Vote buying is, on the other hand and in one sense, more insidious because it requires the consent and cooperation, if not grudging approval, of many voters. It lulls many into believing in the misconception that they are really profiting from their sale of their vote when in truth they are merely destroying the very democracy that they are supposed to safeguard and protect.

Both forms of electoral deceit are, beyond any doubt, despicable in themselves but, in my view, the latter is more than despicable. Being cheated unknowingly of your vote is a tragedy of enormous consequence but even more tragic is participating knowingly and willingly in the bastardization of the very individual right on which the very survival of our struggling democracy depends on - the very same individual right which must remain free, principled and unrestrained if we in this community and country will have a fighting chance of finally having a government and society we can truly call our own.

Aftermath

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Thu, 27 May 2010 02:01:00 +0000

I was one of the thousands of Lianga residents who trooped to the Lianga Central Elementary grounds last May 10 and who were eagerly waiting for the chance to vote in this country's first automated elections. Sad to say it was not the exciting or uplifting experience I had anticipated.

First, the weather had been rainy since the previous day and as can be expected whenever that happens the area around the polling precincts was already flooded up to almost knee deep in some spots when I got there at about 10 pm in the morning. Nothing dampens the spirit more than getting sopping wet in the chilling rain and sloshing through dirty flood waters only to find out that when you get to your destination that you have to stand in line for hours and get soaked a little more before you can accomplish what you expected you could breeze through in just a couple of minutes.

Despite the issuance of priority numbers in order to impose some order into the crush of humanity that had descended on the voting precincts, the board of election inspectors in my voting precinct could simply not efficiently accommodate the large turnout of voters eager to try out the new PCOS machines. The fact that the old number of voting precincts have been reduced and "clustered" into fewer units with several hundred voters assigned to it instead of the traditional hundred fifty or so also taxed the capabilities of the new voting system.

As it turned out, I had to return in the afternoon and battle once more the rain, floods and long queues in order to finally get in and vote. In what was a anticlimactic end to a half day ordeal, I got my ballot, made the proper marks on it, fed it to the PCOS machine (which accepted and tallied it with coldblooded efficiency) and got my right forefinger marked with indelible ink in a whole process that just took ten minutes.

I left my voting precinct and the long queues of impatient voters with no small degree of guilt at the fact that I was finished and that those in line would have to wait amidst the rain and inclement weather before they too could get in and vote. Thankfully however, I learned later from one of the teachers manning the polling center that they did manage to process the last voters before 7 PM which was the closing time set by the Commission on Elections.

What was made clear now from hindsight since May 10 is the fact that motivating the electorate in Lianga and all over the country to go to the polling centers and vote, at least in the last elections, was not a problem. Turnout was relatively high (in many precincts up to more than 70 percent) and the long lines at the polling places even in the midst of the uncooperative weather proved that fact. Motivating most of them to vote for the right reasons, on the other hand, is a different matter altogether.

Even I who thought I was already a jaded witness to incidents of vote buying and other forms of electoral fraud in previous elections was taken aback by the alacrity and openness with which many local candidates distributed money and consumer goods in return for the votes of many of their constituents. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, many of these politicians and their supporters went about this town and the outlying villages like mendicant peddlers in vehicles (marked conspicuously with campaign streamers and banners) and trading money and goods for votes in the full light of day and right under the noses of election officials.

Far more than the reports of voter intimidation and even unconfirmed allegations of electoral cheating (through tampered compact flash cards for the PCOS machines), it is the apparent institutionalization of overt vote buying in the last elections as a major component of the corrupt political culture that predominates among the electorate in this country that really worries me. That together with the predominance of political dynasties and powerful political clans that precisely use these unscrupulous methods to win and hold on to political power.

The results of the last elections have pointed out to the fact that these local politicos guilty of massive vote buying were precisely those who ultimately won in the ballot count. This means that many of the voters here have been more than willing to sell and prostitute their right to suffrage and that they have done so with little or no regret or great degree of remorse except for those who have complained that they have not been paid enough for the votes they had delivered.

This does not bode well for the future of democratic elections and democratic institutions in this country. Together with a national constituency who does not care much about their civic responsibilities and who prefer to stand idly by while their country goes to the dogs, there is no greater and more serious danger to democracy than a citizenry who themselves knowingly connive in the very process that subverts and undermines the very institutions on which their fragile democracy depends for its very survival.

When people began thinking and considering their votes as commodities to sell and bargain for in return for money and goods and not as the primary means by which they can effect political change and exercise their fundamental power as the source of all government authority and accountability then this country's hope hope for a truly democratic and representative government in the future will be truly and irreparably lost.

Shameful

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:03:00 +0000

Altogether, the haul by local standards was not unimpressive. Two bars of laundry soap, four packs of instant noodles, two packs of embutido or steamed meatloaf and some three hundred pesos in cash.

The cash and and other items were all received by the household help in our house in Lianga over the past couple of days from various candidates running for local positions in the May 10 general elections. The local term for the "gifts" is "pahalipay" which in Bisaya is derived from the word "lipay" meaning to be happy. In reality, they are electoral bribes or money and consumer goods used to brazenly buy votes in what is clearly becoming an increasingly overt and disturbing upsurge of this type of electoral misconduct at least in this part of the country.

In past elections, vote-buying was already rampant but even then it was always done covertly and clandestinely in perverse acknowledgement, perhaps by those who have always done it, of its clearly illegal and immoral nature. Thus the monies used to buy votes were usually delivered a day or so before polling day and often in the dead of night by trusted couriers who would stealthily knock on doors and windows like cat burglars to wake up voters and their families. If goods were used to solicit votes, they were often inconspicuously wrapped and handed over to their intended recipients as surreptitiously as possible.

Yet in the days leading up to the May 10 elections, many candidates running for municipal and provincial posts have become more brazen in their vote-buying activities to the point that many of them had openly gone house to house in vehicles conspicuously displaying their campaign banners and streamers and openly distributing money and consumer items marked with their names or clipped to sample ballots and campaign handbills.

Aside from laundry soap, noodles and processed foods, other candidates distributed canned goods, containers of purified water and rice packs, all clearly labelled with the names of the candidates voters are supposed to vote for in return for the goodies. People began gathering along the highways and major roads waiting for the next caravan bearing gifts to arrive like predatory fish drawn from one feeding frenzy to another.

With the voting over yesterday and the canvassing of votes in the final stages, it has become clear that those that had engaged in extensive vote-buying activities have either won or are winning their bids for public office. This, in the view of many political observers here, indicates that paying for votes here remains an effective and necessary winning strategy for local political candidates despite admonitions from both church based and secular election monitoring groups for voters to accept all money and goods offered for their votes and yet continue to still cast their ballots according to conscience.

Clearly, many of the electorate in the more rural and isolated areas in the countryside hold themselves duty bound to cast their votes for those politicians who have paid for them. If there can indeed be honor among thieves then perversely there is also a misguided sense of honor among those who, by ignorance or force of circumstance, have prostituted their democratic right to suffrage.

A vote bought, therefore, is a vote precisely delivered and delivered they were in the hundreds and thousands all over the province while officials of the Commission on Elections tasked with keeping the polls clean and honest feign ignorance of what is going on. "Where's the evidence?," they would ask. "Where is the complainant?"

One can only wonder and shake one's head in disbelief at the gall and simulated play at ignorance by these bureaucrats and their feeble attempts to hide and obfuscate their guilt at helping subvert election laws they have been sworn to protect while in the streets and highways all over the province the elections is being stolen from right under their very noses.

Homestretch

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Fri, 07 May 2010 12:31:00 +0000

If there is one thing that marked the recent final campaign rally of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD administration party in Lianga which was held the other night at the community stage inside the municipal park, it was the surprising level of vituperation and invective that emanated from the lips of one of the party stalwarts that spoke onstage. And all of it was directed at the leading lights of the Liberal Party which is mounting the only viable opposition to the Lakas party's iron grip on political power in the province of Surigao del Sur.

Lakas which, as a national political machine, has kept President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in power for more than half a decade now has also been the means by which the powerful Pimentel-Ty clan have dominated provincial politics here for the past nine years. It has elected and returned to power Gov. Vicente Pimentel Jr. since 2001 and now his brother, Johnny Pimentel, the current provincial administrator, is eyeing to inherit the office that the current governor is prohibited by law from occupying for more than three consecutive terms.

The Pimentel-Ty clan is closely allied with Rep. Philip Pichay who represents the province's first district in Congress. Philip is the brother of Prospero "Butch" Pichay, the Malacañang confidant, former congressman, 2007 senatorial candidate and incumbent presidential adviser on political affairs who is also currently chairman of the Local Water Utilities Administration. The political partnership between the Pichays and the Pimentel-Ty clan had been the engine that originally powered that clan to power in the province and the Pichays are counting on the Pimentel-Ty political machine to insure a second term for the re-electionist Philip whose congressional district happens to include Lianga.

Lakas is endorsing in Lianga the re-election bids of incumbent Mayor Roy Sarmen and Vice-Mayor Jun Lala. Its rally the other night was intended to be a show of strength and a flexing of the political muscles for the ruling party which has always considered this town as opposition country. Lianga used to be a political bailiwick of the once dominant Murillo political clan in the 1990's when Dr. Primo Murillo trampled all political opposition to become provincial governor for three terms. Gov. Vicente Pimentel did win in Lianga in the 2007 local polls but Philip Pichay lost here and only managed to win a seat in Congress by garnering a majority in the other parts of his district.

The Liberal Party whose presidential candidate Sen. Benigno S. Aquino III together with vice-presidential candidate Sen. Mar Roxas are dominating the public opinion polls in the national elections is fielding Percito "Boylo" Lozada, a former customs official and businessman as a gubernatorial candidate against Johnny Pimentel in what many see here as a David and Goliath contest. Running with Lozada is Glen Plaza, a young neophyte politician who paradoxically is related to the Pichays by blood and yet has joined the opposition. Plaza is pitted against Manuel Alameda, the municipal mayor of San Agustin town and several other veteran politicos.

The opposition, however, is counting on Dr. Greg Murillo who is running for Congress against Philip Pichay to give them a fighting chance at wresting power in the province from the Pimentels and Pichays. Murillo is the younger brother of former Gov. Primo Murillo and himself a former mayor of Tago town. Both Primo and Greg are sons of the late Dr. Gregorio Murillo Sr. who had served as congressman and provincial governor in the 1960's until the early 1980's. The Liberal Party is counting on the lingering appeal of the Murillo name and legacy to persuade voters here to vote for a change in the political dispensation in the province.

The Liberal Party is supporting the mayoralty bid of Felino Pantaleon Jr., a veteran politician who has served a couple of terms as municipal mayor of Lianga several times already in the past. He and Sarmen are locked in a close electoral contest and many here are saying that the fight may go either way. Both are also well connected by blood and affinity to many of the town's leading families which makes predicting a probable winner rather difficult in a culture where many voters consider voting for politicians who are relatives as a matter of duty.

The opposition party had earlier held its own rally at the same venue over a week ago. In that affair, opposition candidates had lambasted Gov. Pimentel, Rep. Pichay and the other provincial officials for what they say is rampant and widespread graft and corruption at the provincial capitol in Tandag, for the environmental degradation brought about by uncontrolled mining operations in the north of the province and for the long string of extra-judicial killings happening mostly in the provincal capital area. Lozada, Plaza and Murillo have placed the blame squarely on the Pimentels, Ty's and the Pichays.

If the Lakas rally the other night was intended to answer the issues raised in the earlier Liberal Party gathering then it clearly did not fullfill that very purpose. Instead Gov. Pimentel used his time onstage to rave and rant about his political enemies and badmouth them in a diatribe spiced with expletives and ungentlemanly language. In accomplishment of what apparently was his role as the "hitman" for the evening, the governor lambasted Murillo and Lozada in a speech laced with personal attacks and non sequiturs that caught many here, even loyal party supporters, by surprise who had expected a sober refutation of the issues raised against him and his brother, Johnny.

In fairness, most of the other Lakas candidates like Pichay and Alameda did not follow the governor's example and restricted themselves to their standard campaign spiels. Their restraint, however, merely highlighted what in my view was a rather stark example of the new lows to which political rhetoric here have fallen and how the calm and sane discussion of political issues that should be the norm in political forums in supposedly civilized democratic societies have been set aside in favor of foul language, traditional mudslinging and character assassination.

It has been my belief that in politics, as well as in life in general, a person's accomplishments as a ordinary person or as a public official will always speak for themselves. Propaganda can accentuate or even exaggerate them but it cannot create something that does not exist. Nor can one's successes or failures in public life be highlighted or mitigated, as the case may be, by resorting to the conscious and wilful attempt to muddle the real issues through demagoguery and unfounded personal attacks on one's detractors or political opponents.

I would have loved to hear the good governor explain his take on the issues and controversies raised against him and his party in the course of the campaign. After all, he is the incumbent chief executive of this province and he and his allies possessed the strategic as well as the tactical high ground, if you will, as far as the campaign for local posts in the coming elections is concerned.

He could have campaigned solely on the issues and platforms of his party. He could have also soberly refuted point by point whatever issues were hurled against him by his opponents. It would have marked him as a man to be respected and admired even from across the vast chasm that spans the political divide among the contending political forces here.

Yet he did not do so and debased not only himself but even more so the office he has held on so firmly the past nine years. It also reflected negatively, to some extent, on the party he leads, political personalities whose candidacies he has endorsed and party faithful who have gathered to support his candidates under his banner.

Whether his conduct in the other night's rally would have any effect on his brother Johnny's candidacy is debatable but it certainly disappointed many of the Lianga electorate who attended the affair and who expected much from the supposed father of their province but have to leave for home after his antics with a bad taste in the mouth .

Stand-In

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 12:51:00 +0000

I was more than a bit surprised at the spate of comments sent to this blog concerning the person, reputation and even the supposed airplane antics of the Hon. Philip Pichay, the incumbent congressional representative for the first district of Surigao del Sur (which includes the town of Lianga). Pichay happens, at present, to be gunning for re-election to a second term in the coming May 2010 general elections.

The truth of the matter is I do not know Rep. Pichay personally. Few of his constituents really do. What I am aware of is the public face of the man, the persona he has presented to his constituency in the three years he has served as our man in Congress. Even then it is a face that is enigmatic as it is confusing.

It is perhaps to his eternal misfortune that Philip must always be seen by the people here in contrast to his brother, Prospero "Butch" Pichay, the erstwhile 2007 senatorial candidate and Malacañang confidant who is currently chairman of the Local Water Utilities Administration before before serving three terms in the same position Philip is presently occupying. Butch Pichay's shadow in both local and national politics continues to loom large and much of Philip's PR problems has to do with having to live up to the expectations of many of his constituents who see him as his brother's alter ego and not his own man.

Those who know him and have worked with him say that Philip is more the gruff, hard-nosed and work driven businessman than the folksy, backslapping and socially adroit politician that his brother is. They say he is results oriented, works hard at what he does and has little appetite for the PR side of politics. As a consequence, they say, he is perceived to be cold and inaccessible by the many of the local folks who are not comfortable by public personalities not deemed, in the local parlance, "politico" enough.

He is also saddled with much of the ill-will generated by his brother's meteoric rise to power and political influence. Many of those who have clashed unwisely with his more prominent sibling in the past and have come away battered and bruised often see him as a vulnerable and convenient target for their frustrations and, in many ways, he has received more than his share of negative publicity. Determining which he truly deserves and which he does not is however a contentious matter best left to the electorate to decide upon.

At best, one can say that Philip Pichay has tried to carry his brother's torch the best way he can and if many here feel at this point that he has not done well with that rather difficult task then they are entitled to that opinion in the same manner that there are also others who hold opposing views on the matter. This is a democracy after all and public officials like him are (rightly so) subject to the scrutiny and judgement of the public on all matters related to their public and private lives. Such is the price and burden of political power and public office.

I prefer to judge public officials by their accomplishments in office, the political ideology they have consistently espoused throughout their political career and the example they have set in their lives. Philip Pichay like the many others whose names will appear on my ballot on May 10 will be judge squarely on those merits.

In Philip's case, however, whether he likes it or not and because of the peculiar situation he is in and who he is, he will also have to continue to stand by and bank his political future on his brother's reputation and record of public service. That may be in one sense unfair but he did choose freely to hitch his political career to that of his brother in 2007 and continues to be seen as his man.

That means that as far as the electorate here is concerned, until he steps out from his brother's shadow and be seen for what he really is and what he can do on his own merits, he will have to continue to answer and pay for the sins of his brother, real or imagined they may be.

Running Start

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 14:00:00 +0000

The start of the official campaign period for politicians gunning for local positions in the May 2010 general elections started Friday two weeks ago with a whimper in Lianga. Unlike the histrionics and pseudo-showbiz antics with which national candidates inaugurated the start of their own campaign period earlier, what characterized the first days of electioneering here, at least for local candidates, was an atmosphere of frantic calm, a sudden quickening of tension amidst what, at first glance, would pass for just another regular day in the boondocks.

In the old days, local politicians would vie for the honor and prestige of being the first to greet the first day of the campaign with huge, elaborate rallies and meetings de avance. The idea, of course, was to intimidate the opposition with a show of financial and logistical strength calculated to cow them into some form of surrender and abject submission.

Nowadays, it would seem that local politicians have decided to change tactics. The strategy, it now seems, is to maximize the limited financial resources they have in this hard economic times and the get the biggest bang for every buck they have to spend. So, expensive rallies and meetings are discouraged while smaller and more intimate caucuses with community leaders, voting blocs and ordinary voters are in now favor.

House to house sorties are suddenly back in vogue with candidates going the rounds of even the remotest barangays or villages to press the flesh and shake the calloused and dirty hands of the rural electorate. Local community leaders are personally sought out and courted with outright cash incentives and promises of future favors. If the elections were a basketball game, this was "man to man" offence and defence of the first order.

To advertise their candidacies, local candidates flood public spaces with computer printed, full-colored tarpaulin posters and banners which nowadays have become the favourite medium for political advertising. From walls, fences, billboards and even electric posts the perfectly coiffed faces stare out brazenly selling everything from the possible to the impossible and the mundane to the extraordinary.

In the meantime, pick-up trucks and vans criss-cross the local streets and alleyways, their sides festooned with campaign posters while from mounted bullhorn speakers blare forth political jingles based on popular songs and passionate exhortations exulting the virtues of their candidates. On the roads linking the towns and barangays, other vehicles with dark tinted wind shields and windows rush back and forth ferrying the politicians themselves with their security escorts and staff to scheduled meetings and sorties.

There are many here who are hoping that this back to the basics style of political campaigning that harks back to the days of old when the art of wooing votes was more personal and direct than virtual would eventually lead to some form of positive reform in local politics specifically a change towards more direct and periodic consultation with the electorate by both would-be politicians and those who would actually be able to assume public office after the May elections.

But even then one is hoping against hope for the basic rotten core that lies at the heart of the way politics here is being waged remains. What does give me a lift, however, is that there indeed seems to be a small, nascent yet emerging and growing consensus among voters that they should be demanding for more public accountability for government officials and reforms in the political system that would make it more sensitive and responsive to the needs and wishes of the electorate. Many here are also becoming aware of how important and crucial the coming elections are to the continued survival of democratic politics in this country.

Whether this new awareness and the growing sense of civic consciousness is enough to make a significant difference in the coming polls sadly, however, remains to be seen.

Young Love

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 14:58:00 +0000

My nephew is just 16 years old yet he is madly in love and in the midst of a serious relationship with a girl. At least, that is what I have been told some time ago.

His parents are worried because his school work has been spotty and poor the past few years. This romantic entanglement is exactly the kind of distraction that would erode what little focus he has managed to put on his studies. Unless he shapes up and get his priorities straight, they fear that his future may be in jeopardy.

"In love?" A close relative of mine snorted out the words in disgust. "What do the young people today know about love?," he asked me. "It's just television, the movies and the Internet that is putting this foolish ideas in their heads. Why can't they just finish school first, get a good job and when that happens then that is the time they can think about about really falling in love."

It is a point, of course, I can fully sympathize with. Love and relationships based on it require emotional maturity and the capacity for serious commitment - two things the young are notoriously deficient in. Without them, how long can such a romance last?

Then I got the chance to see my young nephew and meet his girl several times. I became entranced. Their love is truly the love of the innocent, one that is infinitely sweet and tender, one that tugs at the heartstrings and makes the spirit soar.

That they believe that their love for each is sincere is clear. I see it in their eyes when they look at each other. I see it when they are close to each other, physically separate yet entwined, their hands clasped together and one head on the other's shoulder.

I feel overjoyed yet also sick to my stomach with trepidation. Who indeed has the effrontery to judge and say whether this is love or not. Often it is the arrogance of age that misleads the old in believing that only they can know real love when they see it. Is not love, even in its most nascent form, too universal an emotion to be restricted only to the old and mature or to any particular age bracket?

I fear for them because the odds stacked against their relationship are great. They face opposition not only from people who are around them but from life itself. The maelstrom of change that is life's most constant companion will not just stand idly by. It will test and challenge them both constantly now and in the months and years ahead. Only time will tell if they can survive it together.

How will I know if this is true love?", the young man asked me recently. I told him the precious little that I know.

I said to him that I believe that love is always a positive thing. It enriches your life and sanctifies it. It brings you great joy but also asks great things in return. It expressed itself most often in personal sacrifice such as the repudiation of what is petty, selfish and immediate for the ultimate good in life. It brings out the best in us and even inspires us to become better than ourselves.

"That sounds hard," he said thoughtfully after a while.

Love, I answered him, is hard in the same way that life itself is hard. One either takes it whole or leaves it alone. One cannot have all the good parts and leave the bad behind. That is the nature of the beast that he has dared to grasp by the horns.

One thing though I am sure of. Whatever happens to this young love will mark my nephew for the rest of his life. My hope is that if it will not work out in the end, as many here who care for him fear, he will be able to put all the emotional hurt and bruising behind him and emerge much wiser and stronger despite it all. Otherwise, I wish him and his inamorata the best that life and love can offer.

In the meantime, I told him to hold on to the love he now feels and use it well. It may ultimately be short-lived and temporary. But while it lasts, it will be the most beautiful thing in this world that he will ever hold in the palm of his hands, a magnificent treasure beyond any price which will bring forth memories which he will always treasure the rest of his life.

Paying One's Dues

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:03:00 +0000

The issue of local and national candidates running for public office in the coming May 2010 elections paying considerable sums of money to the New People's Army in return for for permission to enter and campaign unmolested in areas heavily controlled or influenced by the communist revolutionary movement is a hot topic for discussion nowadays. The armed forces has sent its representatives to do the rounds of the talk shows and news programs on both national television and radio specifically to warn politicians not to pay permit to campaign fees to the NPA and has even threatened to file disqualification cases with the Commission on Elections against candidates who the military can prove to have given in to rebel extortion demands.

The military leadership has pointed out that a large part of the millions of pesos rebel insurgents have supposedly been able to amass from permit-to-campaign fees have been used in the past to purchase arms, ammunition and logistical support for the revolutionary movement's almost four decade war with the government. The rest, according to military sources, go into the pockets of the top leadership of the movement who live in relative luxury and comfort in their urban safe houses here and abroad in stark contrast to the miserable living conditions their armed partisans have to endure in their mountain and jungle lairs in the Philippine countryside.

Forced to address the issue, the Communist Party of the Philippines, in its website, has managed to ingeniously sidestep the extortion issue by simply affirming the fact that, as a "nascent political power", the revolutionary forces have the right to define "policies and issues guidelines on the conduct of reactionary elections within the revolutionary areas". The statement on the site specifically fails to address the permit to campaign fees issue head on and simply elaborates rather lengthily on the need for NPA forces to exercise control and supervision over electoral activities by the "reactionary government" within their controlled areas and making sure that such activities will not violate the rights of the people and that of the "peasant masses" and, in the end, will "benefit them one way or the other."

I get the sense that the CPP/NPA leadership is basically uncomfortable with discussing further anything specific about the collection of permit to campaign and permit to win fees (if there ever is such a thing) and whether it has a specific policy allowing or disallowing such practices by local guerilla fronts all over the country. The absence of a categorical statement either supporting or condemning PTC and PTW fee collection can only be understood to mean that the revolutionary leadership tacitly supports the practice or, at the very least, tolerates it.

In the Lianga area, local officials and political candidates have not been willing to comment in public on the issue for obvious reasons. The few who have talked to me have said that the practice does exist although local NPA forces have not been "overly strict" in the collection of such fees in the past. The fees are also, according to them, often subject to much haggling and negotiation. Some candidates have paid in kind or in instalments. Those deemed "friendly" or "cooperative" with the revolutionary forces or those who have done the insurgents favors from time to time have been charged less or not assessed fees at all. The relative affluence or social background of the candidate can also determine how much he pays or whether he pays anything at all.

Despite the statement by some local government officials in the news that the payment of such fees have been purely voluntary on their part, the truth of the matter is that for candidates, especially those gunning for local government posts, the votes coming from insurgent controlled areas can mean the difference between electoral victory or defeat. In Lianga where electoral victories are often won on margins of a dozen votes or less, every vote counts. So a candidate who wants to win and win convincingly eventually has to cough up the money or negotiate for better terms of payment whether he likes it or not.

In one sense, political candidates and even incumbent local officials here see little difference between their courting of the favor and good graces of the local NPA leadership in comparison to the efforts they must exert to get the blessing and support of leaders and followers of religious, sectarian and sectoral organizations in Lianga. Granting that the CPP/NPA is an illegal and subversive movement, it, like the other organizations, legal and above board they may be, is an equally important and potential source of political power and influence.

A little organizational support given here and there, and an occasional payment of cash or goods from time to time can go a long way in maintaining one's "connections" with such organizations which can, when needed, be converted to political influence during elections. Such contributions are simply part and parcel of the total cost one must pay to keep a tight hold on the levers of power in local politics.

So the military leadership and high government officials can threaten with dire penalties both national and local politicians who they may suspect of contributing monies to the coffers of the CPP/NPA but that will not, in a significant way, make a lot of difference in their effort to discourage and stop this form of extortive activities by the revolutionary movement. The corrupt and dysfunctional nature of the way traditional politics operates at all levels of Filipino society nowadays simply makes that task nearly impossible to accomplish.

A local leader put it to me quite succinctly just a few days ago. "The NPA and their mass base," he said, "are a separate political constituency of their own. They are a loose voting bloc, a power base to control and I would rather have them on my side than allied with my political opponents. So I will do what I can to make sure that they are with me especially during elections."

In politics it seems, like in everything else in life, in order to get ahead, one must have to pay one's dues.

Tsunami Scare

noreply@blogger.com (Benjie Otagan) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:18:00 +0000

There were not a few people here in Lianga who were of the opinion that many residents of the town and the many other coastal communities along the Pacific coast of Surigao del Sur province had overreacted and panicked unnecessarily in response to the general tsunami alert issued as a result of the magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck the South American country of Chile on February 27. I was one of them.

Of course, I was fortunate to have access to the latest internet and cable television news updates on a regular basis and thus was aware that the tsunami alert was just that, a warning and not necessarily a confirmation of the actual existence of "killer" waves created by the Chilean seismic event supposedly speeding across the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean and on their way to the shorelines of many Asian countries like the Philippines. I was also aware that the alert was eventually rescinded and lifted through trusted and reliable contacts.

Many people living, however, in the eastern portions of the country deemed specially vulnerable to a major tsunami event and directly in possible harm's way were not so lucky. And all they had to depend on were mostly wild rumors, exaggerated reports and outright false warnings coming from dubious sources.

So if many residents of Lianga, therefore, and its surrounding towns did panic and flee their homes during the height of the tsunami scare then they can now be, upon hindsight, be excused for acting precipitously. After all, they are people who have an intimate appreciation of the destructive power of what was, in the not so distant past, used to be called "tidal" waves or surges. Many of them, in fact, have first hand recollections of incidents in the past when the sea with which they have to live with had manifested its awesome potential for causing massive damage to their lives and property.

There is somewhat of a dichotomy by which Lianga folks, like most people who live by the sea and other huge bodies of water, regard their coastal waters. On one hand, the sea is often the very reason why their communities came to be and why they continue to exist at all. It is the source of bountiful food for their tables and many of the raw materials essential to their local economies. It is also an indestructible open highway that connects them to other communities and distant places for trade and commerce. Its very existence, its many moods and states, often defines the cycles and rhythm of their lives.

Yet the sea is not always a benign friend and provider, it has its fickle, arbitrary and destructive moods. And when it chooses to do so, it can be deadly and massively malignant, capable of using its almost limitless power to wreck havoc and mayhem, relentlessly venting its wanton fury on man and his creations, the communities he has built upon its shores and the boats and ships that he uses to sail its waters.

No wonder the ancients worship the sea and the ocean, personifying them as powerful beings and deities with awesome powers yet burdened with human traits, imperious and regal yet also capricious, moody and jealous entities who were as quick to severely punish humans who displeased them in the same manner that they can be abundantly generous to those who honor them.

The older generations in Lianga do not have a local equivalent of Poseidon, the ancient Greek's (also a seafaring people) god of the sea, but the older folk and the local fishermen always grudgingly speak of the sea as akin to a capricious personification of one aspect of Mother Nature and how this somewhat sanguinary quasi-deity needs to appeased periodically with the sacrifice of the lives of innocent victims in order to tame its basically savage nature.

When I was a young lad in the early 1980's, I once witnessed a tsunami like wave hit Lianga one cloudy, rainy morning. From the far horizon the huge wave, some 3 meters or so high (puny by true tsunami standards) first looked like a dark line of speeding mist. The line gradually grew into a wall of water that stretched the whole breadth of the sea and seemed to silently race towards the town's sea wall and reclamation area just beyond the main street and the old public market.

The many bystanders perched on top of the concrete dike, myself included, watched mesmerized as the wave swept closer only realizing at the last moment the grave danger we were all in. We all turned and ran frantically for the safety of the old public market desperately trying to outrun the massive hump of storm-tossed waters.

The wave hit the sea wall with a thundering crash of tons of swirling surf that covered the more than 100 meters of empty ground between the concrete walls of the sea dike and old market building. The water then quickly receded sucking back to the sea everything within its grasp. It was a miracle that no one was seriously injured or lost in that incident.

A similar wave later on pummeled the reinforced concrete wall my father had put up to protect the backyard of the house from the sea and easily knocked it down, reducing it to a broken mass of stone and twisted steel. The explosive force of the wave sent shock waves that ripped through and shook the family house to its very foundations.

A real tsunami would have been more than many times as destructive and could have come without warning even in apparently good weather and calm, sunny skies. But experiences like the ones above tend to burn deep into the collective memories of the local folks. They do not easily forget such things.

Of course, a week after the tsunami scare people like me can run out of air telling others "I told you so" countless of times. We can even laugh a bit at the expense of those who must have spent at least one harrowing night and a whole anxious day in the evacuation centers endlessly wondering when the calamity they so feared would strike and what would happen to the homes and belongings they have left hurriedly behind if and when it does.

A bit gullible and more easily misled these poor folks may be but they did what was, from their prespective, the only sane thing to do under the circumstances - to run quickly as fast as they could with all their loved ones and valuables to the safety of higher and safer ground, frantically seeking refuge where it can be found; certain as hell that not do do so would be to foolishly challenge the might and power of the ocean and nature gone temporarily mad and hellbent on bringing total destruction and annihilation to those foolish enough to stand either idly or stubbornly on their way.