SOLANO, Nueva Vizcaya—For the remaining World War II veterans here, who are now on their twilight years, their roles in the military combat duty may have already ended but the war still rages on. But instead of fighting the external enemies of the Filipino nation just like they had been doing some 65 years ago, the Novo Vizcayano veterans have pitched a new war - war against poverty and corruption - which they said were part and parcel of what they have been fighting all throughout. This new war was manifested by the members of the Veterans Federation of the Philippines (VFP)-Solano Post in yesterday’s commemoration here of the Araw ng Kagitingan, which was also the 30th (Pearl) founding anniversary of the VFP-Solano Post with its theme “Probity and Righteousness over Corruption.” “This year’s theme demonstrates another aspect of the concern for others which our war veterans had shown in the past,” said Councilor Regie Valino-Valdez, who authored a town resolution exhorting the gallant

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—Despite the controversies haunting their operations, the Australian mining firm tasked to implement the national government-sanctioned Didipio Gold-Copper Project, assured that the multibillion-peso venture would continue amid the series of protest actions it has been facing. Ramoncito Gozar, Oceana Gold Philippines’ vice president for communications and external affairs, said that their operations would continue as scheduled and be as peaceful as possible in compliance with the firm’s commitment with the government amid the recent shooting incident that took place in their project area involving one of their security guards and a villager, which again heightened protest actions against the project. If it pushes through, the Didipio project, located in the mountain boundary of this province and Quirino, would be the region’s first large-scale mining project. The national government is expecting to generate at least P30 billion in its 15-year operation, aside fr

CENTRAL TERMINAL. Housing all passenger vehicles covering provincial buses, vans and jeepneys plying the Cagayan Valley route, Santiago City’s newly opened integrated terminal has decongested the region’s premier city from mushrooming passenger terminals that used to clog its streets. CCL

BY CHARLIE C. LAGASCA ILAGAN, Isabela – Five more juvenile crocodiles reared at a breeding station in the province for years were released to the wild last week, bringing the total Philippine crocodile population here to 45 individuals compared to only 12 in 1999. The Crocodile Rehabilitation Observance and Conservation (CROC) project of the Mabuwaya Foundation yesterday (05 April) said that the crocodiles (Crocodylus mindorensi) that were released to the wilds of San Mariano town here were considered to be the most threatened species of crocodile endemic to Northern Luzon. Gov. Grace Padaca, board member Anna Cristina Go and San Mariano town councilor Jerome Miranda led other local and Foundation officials as well as representatives from the Conservation International and Isabela State University in the release of the crocodiles to the Sierra Madre’s Dunoy and Narra Lakes , where a number of crocodiles had been released over the past years. Samuel Telan of the Mabuwaya Foundation said

BY CHARLIE C. LAGASCA ILAGAN, Isabela – A black bug infestation reportedly hit hundreds of hectares of rice farms in neighboring Aurora, fearing this would significantly reduced the coastal province’s rice production amid apprehensions of continued rising of price of the country’s major staple food. According to reports, black bugs have already spread in some parts of Aurora , especially its known rice-producing areas, fearing that it would escalate to the entire province as well as to neighboring areas in Central Luzon and Cagayan Valley , two of the country’s major rice-producing regions. Reports from ABS-CBN-Cagayan Valley had it that at least five barangays in Aurora have already been infested with the said pest, an insect bug which thrives on the leaves of rice plants. Earlier, rice black bug infestations had hit various farming areas in this province’s Dinapigue town, destroying millions of pesos worth of rice crops. Isabela’s Dinapigue and Aurora province are adjacent area. Bot

BY TED M. BOEHNERT BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya--Contrary to earlier reports, the provincial police here admitted it has no official findings yet in connection with the shooting incident involving a security personnel of an Australian mining firm and a villager in a remote mining village here last month. Senior Superintendent Domingo Lucas, officer-in-charge of the provincial police office, yesterday (01 April) said that they filed the other day a case of frustrated murder before the prosecutor’s office here against Whitney Dongiahon of Sagittarius Security Agency, which the Oceana Gold Philippines contracted to provide security for its multibillion Didipio Gold-Copper Project in Barangay Didipio, Kasibu town here. But sources who had gotten possession of the complaint sheet filed by the police questioned the relative haste by which it had been made with some alleging that this was due to undue pressure being meted on the police by persons or sectors who are involved in the anti-mining cam

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—This landlocked province’s first-ever state-run university marked the fourth year of the enactment of the law creating it with series of activities highlighting the achievements of this agriculture-based institution of learning over the week. The Nueva Vizcaya State University was created four years ago out of the merger of two state colleges in the province – the then Nueva Vizcaya State Institute of Technology here and the then Nueva Vizcaya Polytechnic College in Bambang town. Their merger into the present university came about through a bill authored by Rep. Carlos Padilla of this province’s lone congressional district. Sen. Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate Committees on Agriculture and Food, was the guest of honor and speaker during last Friday’s anniversary celebrations of the university, which was also highlighted by the groundbreaking for a new million-peso disease indexing laboratory, which is set to be the first in the country, at the University

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya - Undoubtedly, this region’s most outspoken, and probably most influential Catholic cleric marked his 69th birthday On March 16 , but without the usual fanfare befitting a Presidential visit. Bayombong Bishop Ramon Villena, a high-ranking official of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines , celebrated his birthday, which also coincided with Palm Sunday, in the simplest manner, a stark contrast from previous years, wherein these were highlighted by visits of national government officials, political leaders and other influential individuals. This is the first time in almost 12 years that the President skipped the bishop’s natal day, which she usually graces since she was elected senator up to last year. However, the President would make up for her absence by visiting this landlocked province on March 24, on invitation of Villena, perceived to be one of the Catholic bishops closest to her. The President is expected to grace a Church-led humanitarian mi

SANTIAGO CITY – The police chief of this region’s premier city was relieved on March 17, almost two weeks after the kidnap-slay of an 11-year-old boy whose gruesome killing had generated a public outcry among all sectors here. However, Chief Superintendent Ameto Tolentino, Cagayan Valley police director, said the relief of Senior Superintendent Wilhelm Barlis as city police chief had nothing to do with the abduction and killing of Christian Jay Bulos, but was part of a normal police procedure. "There is no connection between Colonel Barlis’ relief and the (boy’s) killing or other incidents that happened recently. This is merely part of the regular police rotation of officers," Tolentino said. A resident of Barangay Rosario here, the victim, a grade 6 pupil from the Catholic-run La Sallette School, was kidnapped earlier this month. His tortured body was found stuffed inside a white grains sack floating in an irrigation canal here last March 7. Barlis was replaced in his post b

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—One of this province’s premier towns and Makati City , the country’s business center, are now exploring extended economic ties through a sisterhood agreement between the two local government units. Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, during a visit here, said that exploratory talks leading to sisterhood ties between his city and Bambang town, this province’s prime agricultural depot, were now in the works. Binay was in town also as part of his mission as the national president of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines. With sisterhood ties, Bambang town led by Mayor Benjamin Cuaresma III would expand further its business links nationally and globally through Makati City , the heart of the nation’s financial district, which, in return, would benefit more from the agricultural outputs, expertise and other related concerns of the province, also the region’s vegetable and citrus capital. "We intend to start at once in drafting a resolution for this sisterhood underta

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—The presence of mercury in certain Nueva Vizcaya rivers near known traditional small-scale mining sites, although quite alarming, is not yet enough to classify these rivers biologically dead, a recent study shows. According to a research study conducted by the Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU), the bodies of water in the areas of Runruno village in Quezon town and in Didipio, in Kasibu town could not yet be classified as dead rivers or streams since they were still capable of sustaining living organisms like plants, fishes and other aquatic resources. However, the aquatic lives, including fishes and shellfish, found in the Didipio and Runruno rivers and their nearby environs are no longer safe for human consumption as they were already accumulated with mercury as a result from the age-old small-scale mining operations in the two villages using the deadly substance. "If nothing is done in the future about the levels of mercury in the said rivers, maybe

SANTIAGO CITY– The government scored big in its continued drive against illegal drugs in Cagayan Valley with the arrest last week of one of the region’s top ten suspected drug pushers reportedly based here. Joint elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) nabbed suspected drug pusher Victorino Culang, also listed No. 2 in the drug watchlist of the Isabela provincial police office, in a drug buy-bust operation at Barangay Mabini here. Senior Superintendent Wilhelm Barlis, the city’s police director, said operatives from PDEA, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the city police posed as buyers and caught Culang red-handed having two sachets of what is believed to be shabu and P1,000 marked money. Culang was the latest catch in the police’s ongoing drive to rid the region of illegal drugs. His arrest also came as Mayor Amelita Navarro declared an all-out war on illegal drugs in the wake of reports that the city

CABARROGUIS, Quirino—Setting aside political stripes, local officials of this southern Cagayan Valley province rallied behind the administration of President Arroyo amid calls by some groups for her to step down due to allegations of widespread corruption involving her family and political allies. Representative Junie Cua of this landlocked province’s lone congressional district, and his son, Gov. Dakila Carlo Cua led other elective local officials expressing "unwavering and wholehearted" support for Mrs. Arroyo’s continued stay as President. In their manifesto passed at the height of last Friday’s so-called interfaith rally attended by thousands of anti-Arroyo protestors, the local officials here called for "an end to the agitations by detractors to unseat the President through unconstitutional means…" "We oppose all unconstitutional political gimmickry to destabilize the Arroyo administration and to stop political bickering for the sake of the country…and ins

Gov. Teddy Baguilat said Sunday this is because the province has not yet received its share of the national wealth tax from the operation of the Magat Dam, which is located along the Isabela-Ifugao border, where some of the local government units here derived their payment for their power consumptions. "It is ironic that (Ifugao hosts) one of the biggest hydroelectric plants in the region, yet we don’t get electricity from Magat. We have to tap (our electricity) from Isabela and Nueva Vizcaya which makes (the cost of) our electricity higher, yet the water comes from us," he said. He said that the electric cooperative here has already pending notice of disconnections to five towns here – Alfonso Lista, Mayaoyao, Aguinaldo, Lamut and Lagawe and some adjacent villages - which play host to the Magat Dam or part of the dam’s impact zone. Besides generating at least 350MW of power for the Luzon grid, the more than 25-year old Magat Hydroelectric and Irrigation Project, located alon

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) regional office in Tuguegarao City confirmed yesterday (8 March) a Nueva Vizcaya State University report last year that certain rivers in the province have been contaminated with mercury, in the process making all fishes and freshwater crustaceans caught there unfit for human consumption. Aljo Jacildo, MGB regional director, confirmed that his office had received reports of the mercury contamination of rivers and streams, especially in the vicinity of Runruno village in Quezon town which has been a known site for illegal small-scale mining for various metals going back decades. “Yes, we have received reports of mercury contamination in the said area,” Jacildo said in an interview with mediamen this week. Meanwhile, two more illegal small-scale miners were reported to have died in Runruno and neighboring Didipio in Kasibu town. The miner in Didipio was buried alive inside an illegally constructed tunnel last month while the

SAN MATEO, Isabela—This region’s topmost major rice-producing province has recently gained national prominence among the country’s local government units with its production of mungbean, dubbed here as "black gold." This is especially true in this formerly obscure town, whose administration has been recently recognized by the prestigious Galing Pook Award for initiating years of painstaking research in the development of the said leguminous crop, known as munggo or balatong in the vernacular, which is now a major protein source. Last week, this town’s "black gold," now a leading summer crop here, has been instrumental in the town’s being bestowed the most-sought-after local government honor by no less that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in a ceremony in Malacañang. Sponsored by Ford Foundation, Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Local Government Academy and the Galing Pook Foundation, the Galing Pook Awards this year had 141 entries, with 19 landing as fi