Kaingeros raze 15-hectare forest to the ground?

I was tempted to write first about how First Gentleman Miguel Arroyo stirred a hornet’s nest with his speech at the induction of the Negros Press Club — and his controversial induction as a member of the press organization.

But my attention was caught instead by a report of Task Force Ilahas and the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) that 15 hectares of secondary forest growth was found razed to the ground in Barangay Canlusog, E. B. Magalona town yesterday.

The enforcement group reportedly discovered 500 lauan trees, with diameters ranging from 10 to 15 centimeters, scattered around the area. They were purportedly being readied for charcoal-burning.

What made it scandalous was that the razed kaingin area was only a few kilometers away from the Army detachment in Barangay San Isidro, according to Senior Superintendent William Seneron.

The principal suspect, according to the police, was one Danilo Naranja. Charges of violation of Presidential Decree 705, or the Forestry Code of the Philippines, are being readied against him.

Don Salvador Benedicto town has been rocked by the issuance of warrants of arrest for Mayor Cynthia de la Cruz, her husband, former mayor Nemesio de la Cruz, and 17 others. Five of them, including the De la Cruz couple, are out on bail, while the rest still have to post bail on charges of massive cutting of trees in the North Negros Forest Reserve.

Well, that only shows that the focus now shifts to the depredations by kaingeros on our dwindling forest reserves. For decades, illegal loggers have been blamed for this, but it turns out now that small kaingeros also share the blame for the disappearance of our forests.

Delayed Order

The problem was the order was issued to the press and publicized, but its actual transmittal remained on hold. So what happens? Everything grounds to a halt.

That was what happened when the order of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales for assistant prosecutor Arlene Catherine Dato to take over as acting head of the city prosecutor’s office was publicized although it has yet to be received. Everything now is in a "hiatus."

That was what happened. City prosecutor Augustos Rallos designated assistant prosecutor Jesus Ocdinaria as OIC while he attended a seminar on child abuse in Boracay.

Gonzales reportedly gave assurance that his order would be dispatched soon. And he directed regional state prosecutor Domingo Laures to give protection to assistant prosecutor Rosanna Saril-Toledano and to investigate the shooting up of her office last Wednesday.

Four security guards at the Hall of Justice will undergo paraffin tests and their guns will be subjected to ballistic examination to determine who among them fired the bullet that hit Toledano’s window.

Toledano, along with prosecutors Eduardo Sayson and Abraham Bayona, has filed a complaint against Rallos and Ocdinaria for allegedly mishandling drug cases. In his order, Gonzales also asked the two to go on 30-day leave. Prosecutor Rolando Yngson was not included in the complaint sent to the justice secretary.

Gonzales, when contacted by the local daily The Visayan Daily Star, said he has already issued the order appointing Dato as OIC and that he would determine why it was not still received.

Another administrative complaint was reportedly filed by a certain Oscar Villanueva questioning the undue delay in the resolution of a case. But Bacolod folk were surprised by the circulation of a "white paper" which contains a list of drug cases illegally dismissed and a list of suspects cleared by a group of city prosecutors purportedly in exchange for sums ranging from P100,000 to P400,000.

That is what happens when a case drags on unresolved — or when orders are not immediately followed up.

Surprise Palaro Welcome

Delegates to the Palarong Pambansa scheduled on May 8-14 in Iloilo City were surprised Wednesday when they were greeted by dancing porters of the Negros Navigation Co. and a local dance troupe during their stopover at Banago Port here.

The dancing porters regaled the stopover visitors with their prowess, and the local dancers later took up from the porters as they swayed their way to the applause of the surprised athletes.

Actually, the delegates from Region 2, the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao arrived earlier in Iloilo City.

The Region 2 delegation is housed at the Santa Barbara National Comprehensive High School.

The CAR delegates, on the other hand, are billeted at the Pavia National High School, and those from the ARMM at the Oton Central Elementary School.

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, meanwhile, said the city government is making sure that the Palarong Pambansa will be properly run.

He also ordered prompt collection of garbage in the billeting areas. He also gave assurances that there will be adequate supply of potable water and the availability of accommodations for the delegates from the country’s various regions.

The Department of Trade and Industry, Treñas added, will conduct random inspections of markets to make sure that prices of commodities won’t be jacked up during the national event.

Iloilo Gov. Niel Tupas, for his part, stressed that the Iloilo Sports Complex is now ready to accommodate 70 percent of the sports activities. The other 30 percent will be played in different venues in the city and selected out-of-town sports facilities.

The opening ceremonies will be held at 5 p.m. today. It will feature a cultural show which will include performances by the Tribu Kawilihan of Sta. Barbara, Pintados de Passi of Passi City, Banaag Hinirayan of Antique, Tultogan of Maasin, Bantayan of Cuimbal and the Masskara dancers of Bacolod City.

This is a time when Iloilo City is bursting with thousands of visitors, not only the athletes, but also their families and relatives and sports enthusiasts from all over Panay and Negros.

FG Stirs Controversy

First Gentleman Miguel Arroyo may have just wanted to flatter Negrense mediamen, but his speech at the induction of officers of the Negros Press Club at the L’Fisher Hotel Tuesday raised a lot of eyebrows.

He lavished praises on the competence and honesty of local media practitioners, pointing out that one reason why no local journalists have been killed was "because" they adhered to the Rotary Code’s "Is It The Truth?"

Forthwith, he also challenged the provincial journalists to tell their Manila colleagues to abide with that creed when writing stories about the First Family.

There were a lot of questioning glances from mediamen around. Later, questions were raised when the board of directors, according to Negros Press Club president Primo Esleyer, met and mostly approved Arroyo’s application for membership as a photojournalist.

That prompted Nimfa Leonardia, a former president of the press group, to question whether the NPC has amended its constitution and by-laws. The reason is simple: the NPC’s by-laws provide that an applicant must carry a certification from a media establishment or a broadcast station that he is a bonafide and regularly paid employee of that media entity.

Arroyo, however, dwelt lengthily on the controversial story about his stay at the Las Vegas MGM Hotel during the Manny Pacquiao-Morales bout and the latest barrage of attacks on the jueteng payola.

In the first place, there is no hotel that charges $20,000 a night in Las Vegas and all it takes is just a phone call to the MGM Hotel to check on that story. Second, Arroyo pointed out, "we are not fools" to get into the same problem that brought down former President Joseph Estrada.

Besides, he said, "I don’t play jueteng; monopoly, maybe." Well, as the saying goes: when one tries to correct a mistake, sometimes one succeeds only in creating more mistakes.