iBOONDOCK

Bayyo. Bontoc. Mt. Province. Photo: Gloria Tuazon.

What do you do during Easter? I used to attend an ecumenical Easter sunrise service but my lazy bones are cranky and are not willing to be hauled early in the morning to attend the service held in the other edge of town. But I should be going to church to fellowship with other Igorots in the city. Happy Easter to all of us. Have fun hunting those Easter eggs. Thanks for all your support.

Found this via the BSU Blog. What is it? It is a two day concert scheduled 25-27 April as a tribute to Overseas Filipino Workers. Cool, eh? Proceeds of the concert will be used for the renovation of the San Jose Parish Church in La-Trinidad.

The concert is being organized by the Baguio Market Network in cooperation with The Benguet State University, The Province of Benguet, The Municipality of La Trinidad, and The San Jose Parish Community.

I mistakenly thought that the Baguio Market Network is a network of vendors/stall renters of the Baguio City market but it turns out that it is a company that “deploys wireless infrastructures and provides IT technology”.

Is it me or is that an uncool name (maybe unfortunate even) for an IT company? Really, the image that comes to mind — to me at least — when you say “Baguio Market” is the crowded (and in some parts smelly) Baguio City market. Hehe.

Anyways, this company has a website here. And it promises to do a live broadcast of the Strawberry Woodstock so that OFWs will be able to watch it.

UPDATE: The schedule has been changed from 25-27 April to 29-31 May. It will be held at the same venue. You can read the list of artists who are performing at the Strawberry Woodstock here.

So Gloria is spending time in the Cordilleras again. Today she will be visiting the strawberry farms of La-Trinidad to look into “plight of upland farmers whose produce have been affected by blight due to temperature fluctuations”.

Hah. Truth be told, the weather can be blamed only to a limited extent when it comes to the plight of upland farmers. The greater disaster would be Gloria’s policy of uncritically embracing and advocating for globalization. She opened up the local vegetable market without putting in place any sufficient safety nets that could help our farmers compete against imported vegetables.

In addition, aside from the legal importation going on, there’s a much bigger volume of illegally imported vegetables that is making it impossible for farmers to earn a decent living. Cabbages being sold at P3/kilo? Or carrots at P3.50? This is a scandal. At the center of this scandal would be Gloria’s husband profiting from the illegal importation going on.

Cordillera leaders should be asking Gloria about these things.
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* Want to travel the Southeast Asian seas? The BSU Blog has the details on how you can apply to the Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Program (SSEAYP). Application ends 11 April 08, so you still have time to prepare whatever requirements they will ask from you.

* Know more about the betrothal practice in Kalinga by visiting The Mountains of Kalinga blog.

* The Baguio City 2008 Yearbook is out according to Jack Cariño. Among others, the yearbook features the Ibaloi beauty queen, Chainus Guirrey. More at Chi from the Cool Clouds.

* Rex Pe blogs about myths regarding Igorots and presents the facts to debunk said myths. Read it here.

* Maurice has interesting reads on our culture of uprightness and honesty and our view on heavenly bodies.

* Remember the song that goes, “Small circle, small circle, big circle” which you sing while drawing circles? Page 101 has a post about it here. Join our discussion :-)

* Padma has a must read piece on the music of our lives a.k.a indigenous music. I was planning to steal it but I think it’s best if you read it at the PCIJ website.

From the Philippine Information Agency

A memorial peace shrine built by the Kalinga Peace Makers Movement at the Tabuk Pastoral Center (TPC) here was unveiled on March 15 with Governor Floydelia Diasen and City Mayor Camilo Lammawin Jr. leading the wreath laying at the foot of the marker.

It was dedicated to those who sacrificed their lives in the name of service for the people of Kalinga, particularly the four Catholic priests killed in recent years and those victims of violence.

The inscription at the peace shrine reads: “In memory of Rev. Fathers Conrado Aquino, Elias Bareng, Leo Vande Winkel, all CICM priests and Franciscus Madhu, SVD and all those who sacrificed their lives due to tribal or criminal violence. May the blood they shed be the seed of lasting peace in Kalinga.”
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We keep “stealing” from the Inquirer but we can’t help it, it’s in our naycha. Or that seems to be the nature of blogging. Anyways, here’s a report from Vincent Cabreza about a study which found out that OFWs are a new power bloc in their communities. I’m sure you kinda know that already but it’s good to have your anecdotal evidence established by members of the academe. From the Inquirer:

Ngoddo’s study looked at how indigenous communities in Sadanga, Mt. Province, coped with modern life and a cash economy that “eroded” traditional community partnerships.

Villagers often cooperated in the annual cleaning of communal irrigation canals, but have been hiring contractors to do the task because money, some traced back to OFWs, was available, she said.

Ngoddo said OFWs were being counted among the villages’ more influential people to whom residents turn to solve community problems.

So is it a sad development when people no longer work together as a community because there’s money to pay contractors who’ll do the work anyway? We think it is. Maybe Marcos, for all his faults, had a good idea when he organized those Sanggunian this, Sanggunian that, community patrols, barangay brigades, etc. etc. ano?

Image from Sunstar Baguio

Benguet Governor Maximo Dalog? Well, that’s according to Sunstar Baguio. We’re kinda tired pointing out to people that Banaue is not in Mt. Province, that Sagada is not in Ifugao, that Tabuk is in Kalinga, etc, etc but people committing those mistakes don’t know any better and are thus forgivable.

But Sunstar Baguio should know better because it IS Sunstar Baguio. Okay, it may be a typographical error which sometimes happen but still….

Anyways, the Sunstar article is about the Dominguez clan’s opposition to Domogan’s appointment as the caretaker of Mt. Province. As we said here and here we should have an election to reflect the choice of the people.