E D I T O R I A L
“H a p p y N e w Y e a r, A s i n g a n!”
Asingan NewsLine isn’t inclined to dampen the upbeat mood of the new year nor to spoil the spirit of the year of the dragon that is 2012. Neither shall ANL would bite hook and sinker the gloomy predictions for this year even as the doomsayers call a dragon always a dragon. “Nasa tao ‘yan” [it’s all in us, people] retorts the more sober in us.
But for some unsettling events faced by Asinganians in 2011, let the dragon claw its way on to the new year while we pore back more seriously into the past year’s “unsavory news”.
A couple of major events never before experienced in the annals of Asingan shocked the town last year. One, the so-called “wirewolves”. These are robbers engaged in stealing TV and Phone lines even in broad day light along highways and streets. This syndicate was reported to have started attacking towns in Region 1 [Ilocos Region] as early as mid-2010 at times paralyzing communication, TV viewing and internet use. Asingan town of Pangasinan province that is well within the Ilocos Region was not spared in the attack feeling the pinch beginning May last year.Two, the bunch of robbers called “boltcutters”. Wee hours of December 11, 2011 when this modus operandi group struck a computer shop right at the heart of Asingan town [Poblacion West] using a boltcutter to force their way in and ransacked the place carting away computer units and equipment installed at the shop.
Though prevalent in big metropolitan areas of the country like Metro-Manila, these “wirewolves” and “boltcutters” are vague and unlikely occurrences for Asinganians. Though it looks like these events are purely police matter, vigilance of local barangay officials and residents are needed to secure rural communities. The audacity of these robbers signals the obvious syndication of these groups with backers and financiers coddling these criminals.
No less than a serious quadripartite effort by and among municipal and barangay officials, the police and the citizenry at large is needed to counter such a disturbing crime with the end in view of protecting local economic activity and enhancing peace and order so everybody can sleep soundly and dream for a peaceful, prosperous and blessed year of the dragon.. rmb . anl
F E A T U R E
The year that was, the year that comes…
by: wena agaton-balino
Year 2011 was a year of the rabbit. Rabbit is associated with the color white. A rabbit runs rather fast and jumps when agitated. Comes 2012, a year of the dragon. Dragon comes to mind as the fire-spitting beast. For this year, uncomely predictions of more disasters—social, economic and environmental alike—abound to scare us to-the-bone.
The past year was punctuated with the usual naive P-Noy trying hard to mimic a Ninoy, or a Cory, to no avail [Ninoy was not tested as president and Cory was a tested lame duck chief executive of the land]. Second, P-Noy focused on nailing down his political foe Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her ilk Chief Justice Renato Corona instead of zeroing in on the social and economic well-being of the grassroots.
Third, 2011 ended tragically with typhoon “Sendong” sending northern Mindanao and southern Visayas to the gutter with floods and landslides. More than 3,000 victims were either killed, injured or missing and several billions of pesos worth of crops, animals and properties stashed away courtesy of nature’s wrath aggravated by human sins and excesses.
Now comes 2012, a year of the beastly dragon. Doomsayers say it would be a disastrous year as personified by the dragon. But the dragon is now an imaginary character just like the dinosaur of million years past. The “dragon” actually dwells in us humans in the person of our corrupt politicians and political dynasties, police and military generals, the profit-hungry loggers both legal and illegal, the oil cartels that bleed the public with weekly price hike, the smugglers and all sort of criminal syndicates, and the likes.Year 2012 will go down the drain as more disastrous not as per predictions but because the social infrastructure refuses to change even as the forgetful and forgiving Filipinos are wont to espouse radical change. Years to come will be just bad—if not worse—because the system will just be bred by the same culture of passivity and divisiveness, of rigged elections and politics of patronage. Government will just be there as coffer for the corrupt and poker-faced.
And the doomsayers will just be true and faithful as ever to their profession. wab . anl
P U N C H L I N E
Commentary: Which is which?
By: Ruben M. Balino
Some sectors are playing pundits in saying that there is no conclusive scientific study so far proving a direct link between flooding and deforestation. Furthering such theory, they cite excessive rainfall as the main culprit together with climate change.
A native son of the Kankannaey tribe of the Cordilleras, this writer upholds the practical knowledge derived from the indigenous people’s direct communion with and keen observance of nature’s attributes and behavioral pattern. Notwithstanding a masteral course on environmental science, this former logging supervisor recognizes even more such time-tested indigenous learning and practices as better barometer than any “pundit’s theory” espoused by elite academicians, armchair scientists and paid researchers.
In light of the killer typhoon Sendong that sends off year 2011 to a tragic end for thousands of victims in northern Mindanao, some good reading may validate practical knowledge on the indigenous people’s close interaction with nature being their immediate physical environment and abode—the forest and the land.
“TREES cool and moisten the air and fill it with oxygen. They calm the winds and shade the land from sunlight. They shelter various species, anchor the soil, and slow the movement of water. They provide food, fuel, medicine, and building materials for human activity…They also help balance Earth’s carbon budget.” —Michael Carlowicz, NASA Earth Observatory, 9 Jan 2011 [underscoring mine].
If we may add, trees not just slow the movement of water but do absorb a certain quantity [no matter small] and store it in their system thus reducing the volume of water cascading down the plains on rainy days but otherwise help beef up supply during lean days.
As to excessive rainfall and the prevalent climate change now felt by planet earth, these “pundits” seem not to consider the totality of the forest flora and fauna as one of the major actors in the all-too important natural process called hydrologic cycle, or the making of the intervening wet and dry spells and their respective “efficacies” on the socio-physical environment. The whole forest ecosystem likewise play a major balancing role on climate change in that it serves as one of the major agents in carbon sequestration and heat absorption above land. Diminishing forest and other vegetative cover on a wide scale such as in various continents of the globe drastically aggravates the world’s weather and climate pattern [climate change] as exemplified by severe flooding and drought and the overall heating up of global temperature, or global warming.
As per experience of the indigenous communities in the many regions of the country, many if not most are victims of dislocation from, or obliteration of their abode due to logging and/or
mining operations which entails massive cutting of trees and excessive movement of earth unduly depleting biodiversity, forest and mineral resources while exacting huge profit for big business on the one hand; and bringing about pollution and disasters like landslides and flooding aggravated by excessive surface run-off cascading from critically logged-over and mined areas, on the other.
To the nitpicking “pundits”: Deforestation by way of logging—both legal and illegal—and mining too, have a definitive and undeniable link to flooding, directly or indirectly.
[ Nota Bene: The conclusion of this discourse—Which is which?—will appear in the upcoming February 2012 Issue of Asingan NewsLine with the title, Who is who? ]. rmb . anl
L I T E R A R Y
“Noah in Modern Times”
From: GodVine [Sent by Silver Casilla & Merly Mayo: U.S. Correspondents]
[ Here’s a funny modern day take on Noah’s Ark. It’s just for a laugh, so please don’t take it too seriously.]
And the Lord spoke to Noah and said: “In six months I’m going to make it rain until the whole earth is covered with water and all the evil people are destroyed. But I want to save a few good people, and two of every kind of living thing on the planet. I am ordering you to build Me an Ark.
And in a flash of lightning He delivered the specifications for the Ark.
“OK,” said Noah, trembling in fear and fumbling with the blueprints.
“Six months and it starts to rain,” thundered the Lord. “You better have my Ark completed, or better learn how to swim for a very long time!”And six months passed. The skies began to cloud up and rain began to fall. The Lord saw that Noah was sitting in his front yard, weeping. And there was no Ark.
“Noah,” shouted the Lord, “where is my Ark?” A lightning bolt crashed to the ground next to Noah.
“Lord, please forgive me!” begged Noah. “I did my best but there were big problems.”
First, I had to get a building permit for the Ark’s construction, and Your plans didn’t meet code. So I had to hire an engineer to redraw the plans.
Then I got a big fight over whether or not the Ark needed a fire sprinkler system.
My neighbors objected, claiming I was violating zoning by building the Ark in my front yard, so I had to get a variance from the city planning commission.
Then I had a big problem getting enough wood for the Ark because there was a ban on cutting trees to save the Spotted Owl. I had to convince the U.S. Fish and Wildlife that I needed wood to save the owls. But they wouldn’t let me catch any owls. So no owls.
Then the carpenters formed a union and went out on strike. I had to negotiate a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board before anyone would pick up a saw or hammer. Now we have 16 carpenters going on the boat and still no owls.
Then I started gathering up animals, and got sued by an animal rights group. They objected to me taking only two of each kind.
Just when I got the suit dismissed, EPA notified me that I couldn’t complete the Ark without filing an environmental impact assessment on Your proposed flood. They didn’t take kindly to the idea that they had no jurisdiction over the conduct of a Supreme Being.
Then the Army Corps of Engineers wanted a map of the proposed new flood plain. I sent them a globe.
Right now I’m still trying to resolve a complaint from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over how many Croatians I’m supposed to hire, with the IRS seizing all my assets claiming I’m trying to avoid paying taxes by leaving the country. And I just got a notice from the state about owing some kind of use tax.
“I really don’t think I can finish Your Ark for at least another five years,” wailed Noah.
The sky began to clear. The sun began to shine. A rainbow arched across the sky.
Noah looked up and smiled. “You mean You’re not going to destroy the earth?” Noah asked, hopefully.
“NO,” said the Lord sadly. “The government already has!” gv
E D I T O R I A L B O A R D
MEMBERS: Rudy D. Antonio & Arno A. Bautista [Canada Correspondents]; Engr. Silver Casilla & RN Merly Grospe-Mayo [U.S. Correspondents]; Engr. Joe L. Sevilla [Asingan Correspondent]; Col. Lalin Layos-Pascual; Ross C. Diaz; Engr. Lorie dG. Estrada; CPA Rod A. Layco; Wena A. Balino [Photo & Lay-out Artist]; Ruben “Bencio” Balino [Managing Editor].
