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04.05.08Interesting, Very Interesting
It’s not often that Cordi legislators land in the news for their legislative initiatives so this news report is interesting. Not sure what to say about it yet but we hope to get a copy of the bill to understand it more clearly hehe.
Based on the report below however, it seems like the bill is out to do a lot of things: sanction impersonators (does this include anti-Gloria impersonators?); prohibit religious or racial discrimination; prevent unnecessary, unjustified, illegal and degrading search because of his or her clothing, religion, color, creed and ethnic identity; discrimination of job applicants because of his or her name, religion or ethnic background; etc.
Quite a tall order. By the way, I heard some stories about our Muslim brothers and sisters having to change their names to non-Muslim sounding ones just so they can have a chance to get employed. Apparently, some employers/recruiters will reject a candidate’s resume simply because of his/her Muslim name.
How bad is that? Very bad. And we have the gall to call ourselves “the only Christian nation in Asia”. What a shame, no?
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03.29.08War of the Day: Mandapat vs. Fongwan
Cartoon source: Hindu BusinessOnline
Word war. Word war. We love us some word war between top government officials in the region hehe. The issue appears to be whether public utility vans (FX?) should be banned in Kennon Road. Mandapat has banned them. Fongwan objected to the ban.
We honestly don’t know who is right here. But shouldn’t the ban be based on how heavy or how big/bulky a vehicle is? Not whether it is public or private?
If we remember correctly, and we may be wrong, trucks and public buses were first banned in Kennon mainly because they’re either too big or too heavy and their size/weight will affect the “safeness” of Kennon Road.
Now, if public utility vehicles are really just like private vans in terms of size and weight, then what’s the rationale for banning them that doesn’t apply to private vehicles? But as we said, we haven’t really delved into this issue to know who got it right in this debate. Maybe some of you can enlighten us.
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03.08.08The Healing Guv
Here’s our next fake magazine cover featuring Cordillera officials. Kalinga Governor Floydelia Diasen is also a nurse by profession (and a college professor to boot) so we are calling her “The Healing Guv”. Who knows, maybe the skills she learned in the health care profession will prove to be useful in healing the political wounds inflicted during the past elections.
Canada based readers, it might interest you to know that Governor Diasen worked as a nurse in Saskatchewan from 1976 to 1978. You can read more professional info on the governor here. And in case you missed our post about her first 100 days in office, you can find it here.
PHOTO CREDIT: kalinga.gov.ph. RELATED POSTS: Governor Diasen’s First 100 Days; Covering Our Officials.
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03.07.08Rescue Me
We got to give props to Baguio Senior Fire Officer John Ullibac who wore his bahag and played the role of a disaster victim during this disaster consciousness training held last year. We give props too to Paeng Valencia who is “rescuing” Officer Ullibac because he looks much smaller than the “victim” and yet he was able to do his job. By the way, the officer must be the happiest “victim” ever. But then again, you should be happy when you are rescued from a burning building. :-)
You can find more photos of this event at Baguiogallery.com. Photo courtesy of Art Tibaldo.
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03.07.08Quote of the Day
“It is ironic that this administration is asking the governors to declare support yet it could not act on simple requests like the tax my province is entitled to. This administration appears to have a selective amnesia.”
“My support for [Ms Arroyo] is conditional. For the moment, I am for the rule of law. I, too, would like to know the truth. For most Ifugaos, the issue of supporting [Ms Arroyo] in this troubled times depended on Malacañang’s willingness to address my constituents’ concerns.”
– Ifugao Governor Teddy Baguilat. Read the Inquirer report here.
This is how you play the game, folks. If you support a president who never received the mandate of the people, at the very least, you should demand something in return that redounds to the benefit of your constituents. Hindi yung blind support lang na wala kang mapapala.
It’s a good thing that the Ifugao governor is using his support for Gloria as a card to ask for the taxes that should rightfully go to Ifugao. In an ideal world however, those taxes should have been given to Ifugao from the very beginning. And in an ideal world, Gloria should not be sitting in Malacañang.
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02.28.08They Serve Again in Tineg
Oops. This is a better late than never kind of post. It’s old news (reported weeks ago) but it’s interesting enough so we are going to blog about it hehe.
Apparently, the peace and order situation in the the town of Tineg, Abra has been bad during the past years so government officials held office in Bangued, the provincial capital. Thankfully, things have improved now so, for the first time in six years, Tineg’s public servants are back to where they should be serving. Good for the people of Tineg. We hope it continues that way.
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02.11.08Our Town: Kapangan, Benguet
This video shows the inauguration of the Kapangan Municipal Hall (probably the best-looking town hall in the Cordilleras) and the unveiling of the statue of former Benguet Governor Bado Dangwa.
Cheers to whoever thought of putting up the statue of the Governor. We need more statues of Cordillera leaders like that. [Question: Is it me or would the statue look better if the Guv’s pose was designed to be less stiff looking?]
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