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Here’s the latest updates on the killing of Mayor Cesar Rafael of Paracelis, Mt. Province. Read our first post here.

This could very well be the first politically-motivated killing in Mt. Province. It is, of course, shocking that it happened but that it happened in Paracelis is not that shocking. The town has a reputation as the province’s “wild east”; it’s kind of like Abra in terms of its brand of politics and in the possibility that violence, which brews unseen, could burst out to the surface.

Still, there is no excuse for murders like this. Our condolences to the mayor’s family and we hope that his killers are brought to justice.

Here’s an Inquirer story by Frank Cimatu and Desiree Caluza:

The killers of Mayor Cesar Rafael of Paracelis, Mt. Province, fired at least 60 bullets into his car that shattered parts of his body.

Residents who saw Rafael’s body at the Paracelis District Hospital in Barangay Poblacion in the town described what was done to the mayor as a “desecration.”

“His eyes and ears were blown off. His arm was almost torn off,” a Paracelis resident said through a text message. “This could only be done by an outsider. Anyone who truly knows the mayor would not have done this,” the resident said.

Rafael was driving his Toyota Hilux and had just left his farm in Barangay Palitod in Paracelis when he was attacked between 12 and 1 p.m. on Tuesday, police said.
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Apparently, it’s because of some misunderstanding. From Deped CAR:

According to a legend, Apayao is derived from the combination from the Ilocano word “Apay” meaning “Why” and Tagalog word “Ayaw” meaning “Don’t like”, the legend tells of an Ilocano and Tagalog who accidentally met in one forest of the province. The Ilocano ask, “Apay adaka ditoy?” to which the Tagalog answered,”Ayaw” thinking that Ilocano is offering food. Not understanding each other, they fought. Men from a nearby village the two men fighting and hearing the word “Apay” and “Ayaw”. The place was then referred as Apay-ayaw by the villagers thus came the name Apayao.

Photo credit: Travel-Philippines.com

Kind of nice, no? Video courtesy of angelgab. You can see the mannequin costume demo for the different Cordillera provinces here.

“No President has shown so much concern for the province [than Ms Arroyo].” – Mt. Province Governor Maximo Dalog

Read the Inquirer story here. Even though I really dislike Gloria Arroyo (here and here), I must admit that Governor Dalog is correct on this one. To her credit, Gloria must have visited Mt. Province more times than all the Presidents combined. For a province which has been ignored by past national administrations, such visits are a great deal. And one cannot make that many visits without getting a glimpse of and expressing concern for the problems confronted by the province and its people.

So she’s not all bad. But let’s not also forget that she cheated her way to the presidency, that her administration is corrupt, and that her human rights record is beyond terrible.

The Bigis guys, who we earlier blogged about here, are doing a great job producing songs and videos which are quite enjoyable.

I’m sure you’ll agree that the video above, “Tayattat”, is well made and really entertaining. But it might anger the ladies a bit because it kind of reinforces the woman = yackity yack stereotype. Hopefully the Bigis guys will make a video making fun of men stereotypes to balance things out.
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This is late but we only discovered the figures on how much your congressional representatives spent during the 2001 elections. We’d like to see their campaign spending report on the 2007 elections but we don’t have the data yet. So let’s settle for the 2001 figures for now.

Some observations:
If the figures are correct, then running for Congress is not that expensive. It should give hope to penniless people who dream of representing our congressional districts someday. If the figures are not correct, then our Representatives are lying. If they are in Grade 1, they deserve to be spanked for not telling the truth (pero bawal na yata itong gawin ng titser). :-)

If the figures are correct then our favorite Cordillera Congressman, Baguio Rep. Mauricio Domogan, is the biggest spender of them all. If this is the case, then maybe we should “boo” him for spending the most money. Eh ang liit pa naman ng Baguio so he need not spend much in terms of transportation. But if the figures are not correct, then we should give Rep. Domogan kudos for being the “most honest” in a group of dishonest men.

Lastly, cheers to those who submitted their 2001 campaign spending reports. No cheers for those who haven’t submitted (Apayao Rep. Elias Bulut and Mt. Province Rep. Victor Dominguez). Excited pa naman tayong malaman kung magkano ang ginastos ng ating Mt. Province Congressman.

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