Save your fingers tonight

Save your fingers tonight


Updated 04:46am (Mla time) Dec 31, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A12 of the December 31, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


HAPPY New Year to everybody. May all your fingers remain intact after the revelry.

On the eve of the New Year, when the whole Philippines erupts in a paroxysm of explosions and most Filipinos lose their common sense (and some their fingers), the Philippine National Police again issued a press release, as it always does at this time of the year, warning that those who manufacture, sell and explode illegal firecrackers would not escape prosecution. Another press release said the PNP would set up "pyrotechnic zones" in Metro Manila to prevent injuries and death and fires during the revelry. Residents are supposed to fire and explode their pyrotechnic devices only inside these "pyrotechnic zones" and not in front of their homes or anywhere else.

As with most PNP warnings before New Year's Eve, nobody will pay attention to them, and people will continue to buy and explode illegal firecrackers in front of their homes. Nobody will bother to use the "pyrotechnic zones," but the PNP will not be able to arrest and prosecute persons who violate the rules. Moreover, many guntoters, including policemen and soldiers, will fire their guns into the air (and put innocent people in danger; a few will actually be hit and injured and even die) but almost nobody will be arrested, prosecuted and jailed. Tomorrow, everything will be forgotten-until next New Year's Eve.

A third press release, this time from the pyrotechnics manufacturers of Bulacan, complained that imported firecrackers were killing the Philippine pyrotechnic industry. All these are inter-related.

All the casualties, and all the PNP warnings (which are never enforced anyway) would be unnecessary if the police and the local government units (specifically, of the municipality of Bocaue and of the province of Bulacan) would monitor the manufacture of pyrotechnics to make sure only the legal and safe ones are made. If the manufacturers would only limit themselves to the smaller and safe devices, they could manufacture all the firecrackers they want, even export them, and nobody would be hurt.

But the makers think that if they produce the powerful pla-pla, super lolo, thunder and other miniature bombs, they would be able to sell more. So they defy the law and put their customers in danger because of greed. And customers will foolishly continue to buy them as long as they are available.

The key, therefore, is to watch the manufacturers while they are still manufacturing their pyrotechnics, not later when they are already finished and are being sold. When the illegal firecrackers are already finished, the makers will try to sell them, even on the sly, because they will lose money if they don't.

And local manufacturers are losing out to the importers because imported firecrackers are safer. Our process of making pyrotechnics is still primitive compared to those of other countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. If we would only send our own workers to these countries to study how they make theirs, we would be able to compete with them and develop our own industry.

It is to their own benefit if the manufacturers obey the law and limit their business to the making of safe firecrackers. But they are greedy and stubborn and don't see the light. It is the duty of the government to see to it that they do.


* * *

The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) will greet the New Year with a free service for pet owners and to curb the population explosion of dogs and cats.

PAWS will hold its first "Spay-Day at PARC," a monthly free neutering program for dogs and cats. Pet owners who wish to avoid unwanted kittens or puppies are invited to bring their pets on Jan. 30, Sunday, to the PARC shelter on Aurora Boulevard, near Barangka, Marikina. For more information, call PARC at 475-1688. A PARC location map can be found in www.paws.org.ph

On March 20, Sunday, PAWS will join the Philippine Canine Club Inc. and other groups, in the biggest "Dog Walk for a Cause." The main objective of the activity is to protest the indiscriminate killing of dogs. The event, which will be participated in by various groups holding simultaneous walks in different parts of the country, will attempt to break the record in the Guinness Book of Records for the largest number of participating dogs and their humans, and the longest walk (approximately 5 km). Interested parties may call 475-1688, for additional information on the dog walk and how to join. Free rabies vaccinations will be given to all dog-participants joining the PAWS group, on Jan. 8, 2005.

Let's all help make a statement in defense of man's best friend and be part of Guinness history.

Finally, a reminder for tonight's revelry. Dogs are terrified by firecracker explosions. Their hearing is 10 times more sensitive than that of humans. So what sounds like ordinary explosions to us are terrifying to dogs. Put wads of cotton in their ears to deaden the sounds and take them inside the house, stay with them, pat and stroke them to reassure them at the height of the revelry.


* * *

TODAY'S JOKE: FPJ's electoral protest before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal will take very long to resolve and cost a lot of money. But there is a faster and cheaper way. To determine once and for all who really won, GMA should have her own funeral to see who between the two of them, FPJ or GMA, will have the bigger number of mourners and marchers.

Don't blame us, says former logger

Don't blame us, says former logger


Updated 11:42pm (Mla time) Dec 26, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the December 27, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.


LAST Dec. 8, in the wake of the floods and landslides that wiped out entire villages and killed hundreds of people in Aurora, Quezon and Nueva Ecija, I wrote a column advocating a total log ban. In the course of the discussion, I mentioned some prominent logging families in Mindanao who are now among the super-rich with family members in Congress, who, in the last analysis, will be the ones to craft and pass a total log ban bill. Among the families mentioned were the Plazas of Agusan.

Before Christmas, we received a letter from a member of the Plaza family, Rodolfo G. Plaza, reacting to that column. In brief, he was washing the hands of the Plaza family for the denudation of Mindanao's forests.

"The loggers of the '50s and '60s," (to which the Plaza family belonged) "is different from today's loggers," he said. Meaning to say, "Don't blame us, the old loggers. Blame the new loggers." He said they cut only mature trees and hired forest guards to protect the forests-what's left of them anyway.

It's the old song and dance and game of "finger-pointing." "Who, me? I didn't do nothing. They did." Loggers, old and new, point to the kaingineros, the latter point to the charcoal-makers, and the last point to Mother Nature.

But in the interest of fair play, let us read Mr. Plaza's letter in toto. Here's his letter, after which I have a few more comments:

"I read with interest Neal Cruz's column titled 'Stop the debate, ban all logging' (PDI, 12/8/04) and as a member of one of the logging families he identified, I felt it my duty to the public to disclose circumstances that Cruz apparently is not aware of, but would be able to share with other unenlightened individuals-for a clearer, more accurate perspective.

"Let the axe fall where it may but for the information of Cruz and the reading public, logging as an economic activity in the '50s and '60s was a totally different business from what it has become in the last two decades. Back then, logging was a major source of RP's dollar earnings. The Plaza family was engaged only in the exportation of timber to foreign markets which dictated certain standards for the same. This means that we only cut trees of really huge diameters. In fact, we had these forest lands guarded to discourage indiscriminate logging and incursions by rural folk who troop to the forest for their immediate needs.

"The Philippine government during that time did not and never required loggers to reforest. There was no law to that effect. Instead, under Forest Administration Order No. 64, we were required to pay the government certain amounts so that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of old will have the funds to reforest or replant trees; and we did pay our dues. Plus, we also replanted and allowed to grow trees that are not of export quality.

"When the Plaza family sold its logging concession in 1976, it was a well-known fact in the province that the forest lands we harvested timber from were not bald. We should not be held accountable if, because of the absence of forest guards, 'kaingineros' or indiscriminate loggers and nomadic forest dwellers suddenly had a field day after we left the logging business.

"Loggers in the '50s and '60s are much like the OFWs of today who are hailed as heroes for keeping our dollar reserves well-stashed. While it is not our intent to be remembered as one-time heroes of the Philippine economy, we do believe some perspective by well-meaning individuals as
Cruz is due us.

"At a time in our history when Mindanao was neglected by the central government, we, Mindanaoans, showed self-reliance and even contributed to the national economy. Now, we are being blamed for our industry, out of which the whole population benefited.

"I am not ashamed to be a member of a logging family-because our old business operated under a legal and transparent framework, in compliance with all existing laws then. Thus, I appeal to the sense of fairness and wisdom of all. If we are to truly hunt down the enemies of the environment, let us be prudent in this mission. Let us probe the status of those reforestation funds paid to the environment/forestry officials in the '60s and '70s. The accumulated amount overtime has amounted to hundreds of millions and even today, the amount can be considered staggering. Let us send inspection teams to areas held by the few remaining timber license holders and check how these forested areas are doing; and let us compare these with areas under canceled Timber License Agreements which should be well-preserved. Rather than finger-pointing the 'usual suspects' who are visible, we may be able to find relief in considering 'invisible forces' for a change."

As the saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. If the loggers of the '50s and '60s were really that good, why are the mountains of Mindanao bald? Not only of Mindanao but every mountain that had been subject of a logging concession?

The concessionaires blame the kaingineros who come after them. But isn't it the loggers who cut roads through the forest, through which the kaingineros gain access to the logged-over areas that they burn and cultivate? No roads, no kaingineros, right?

Don't provoke mourners at FPJ funeral

Don't provoke mourners at FPJ funeral


Updated 00:41am (Mla time) Dec 22, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the December 22, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


Good night, sweet prince, (princess),

May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

-Hamlet by Shakespeare

AT SUNRISE today will begin the funeral march that will take Fernando Poe Jr. to his final resting place at the North Cemetery. By coincidence, the funeral for Ma. Kristina Casimira or "KC," beloved l6-year-old daughter of Speaker Jose and Gina de Venecia, will also take place a little later this morning.

High-ranking administration officials, the elite, will attend KC's funeral but the more numerous masa will be at the last rites for FPJ. Two persons, both beloved by their families and friends, struck down by tragedies the reasons for which only God can explain. A man and a young woman, belonging to feuding factions, called by God at the same time, a coincidence that reminds us of another Shakespearean tragedy.

Many people are skittish about the FPJ funeral. Although his family wants it to be solemn and dignified, and wishes that it not be used by anybody for politics, it could break out into violence. The police has prepared for groups which want to destabilize the administration. And opposition leaders have appealed to their followers not to use FPJ's funeral for political purposes. At last Monday's Kapihan sa Manila, opposition Senators Nene Pimentel Jr. and Alfredo Lim and former Rep. Mike Romero repeatedly called on FPJ's supporters to refrain from violence as he would not have wanted it that way.

Not that FPJ's supporters are planning to do just that. Still violence can break out spontaneously, without anybody planning it, if the police don't handle it right. The PNP has fielded 1,400 policemen for any eventuality. The danger is that with thousands upon thousands of mourners jostling to get a last glimpse of their idol, there is bound to be some pushing and shoving and the police will certainly try to keep order. If a policeman so much as pushes somebody back in line, it could provoke a crowd--already angry at the death of their hero, made worse by the impression that his death was caused by his depression at being cheated in the elections, and whose patience is worn thin by the long walk under the hot sun from the Sto. Domingo Church and by the crush of people--to retaliate.

The first impulse of the police is to push a crowd back and, when it becomes unruly, to hose it with water cannons or use tear gas. If that happens, all hell can break loose. Once a riot starts, it is hard to control. Hotheads can provoke the crowd, and groups can rampage and even try to storm Malacañang as they tried to do during Erap's presidency.

So it would be well for policemen not to lose their tempers. Keep cool, don't be provoked, use maximum tolerance. And FPJ's supporters should watch out for provocateurs in their ranks.

In his movies, FPJ played many characters with different names and different backgrounds, but they were all basically the same peaceful men. They reacted only toward the end to right a wrong and when they were pushed back against the wall by the villains. FPJ was such a peaceful man in real life. Don't sully his memory by fomenting violence on his last day on earth.

* * *

The talk now is what will happen to FPJ's electoral protest now that he is dead. There are two schools of thought. Pimentel told the Kapihan that he believes it died with FPJ. But Lim and Romero said the protest can, and should be, pushed to its logical conclusion. The people want to know who really won the election, Romero said. And it was the people who were cheated, not FPJ alone, Lim added. They were cheated out of their president.

As for its legality, some lawyers say there is a precedent. A losing mayoralty candidate and his teammate had filed an election protest against the winners. The protesting candidate died before the case was finished. Can his vice mayoralty candidate continue with the protest and take over the mayor's seat? Yes, said the Supreme Court, provided both of them won in the recount.

That is exactly the situation with FPJ and his vice-presidential team mate, Loren Legarda. FPJ is dead but Legarda can continue with the poll protest. If the recount shows that both FPJ and Legarda had won, the latter will become president.

But what if FPJ wins but not Legarda? In that case, Vice President Noli de Castro takes over as president.

Pimentel texted me as this column was being written to say that the sentiment in the opposition camp is to continue with the protest. The problem is now financial, he said.

* * *

Myther Bunag is reminding members of the Thursday Club that its Christmas party will be held tomorrow.

Meanwhile, there will be no Kapihan sa Manila on Dec. 27, 2004 and Jan. 3, 2005. The first Kapihan of 2005 will be on Jan. 10.

The Kapihan sa Manila's 20th anniversary show starring Willie Nepomuceno and his troupe will be held in February 2005. Tickets for the hilarious show at the Manila Hotel's Fiesta Pavilion will be on sale soon.

* * *

Today's jokes:

Vice President Noli de Castro is praying: "Dear Lord, ang dasal ko po sa inyo ay kunin nyo na ang nanalong presidente. Bakit si FPJ ang kinuha nyo? Bakit Lord, sino ba talaga ang nanalo?" [Dear Lord, my prayer to you is please take the winning president. Why did you take FPJ? Why Lord? Who really won?]

* * *

A friend sees Sen. Ping Lacson banging his head against the wall.

"Bakit? [Why] What is he doing?" the friend asks Lacson's aide who is standing by.

"He has been like that since FPJ died," replies the aide. "If he had accepted the offer to be FPJ's running mate, he would be president now."

People's hope may have died with FPJ

People's hope may have died with FPJ

Updated 11:53pm (Mla time) Dec 19, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the December 20, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.


LIKE Macbeth who was terrified by the ghost of Banquo, the administration of President Macapagal-Arroyo is terrified by the dead Fernando Poe Jr. So terrified that it is contradicting itself by dangling so many consuelos de bobo to appease his grieving, angry family and supporters. First, it offered to make Poe a National Artist for the movies. Then it offered to bury him in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, which is reserved only for national heroes. When the offers were not accepted, it proposed flying the Philippine flag at half-mast, and when told that this cannot be done legally, it proposed giving Poe a Presidential Medal of Merit to make it legal.

The administration is contradicting itself. The National Artist award is limited only to true-blue Filipinos, that is why the award is called "National." Likewise, the Libingan ng mga Bayani is reserved only for Filipino heroes. But has the administration forgotten that it claims FPJ is not a Filipino?

That was its argument in the disqualification case against FPJ, and that was also its argument against FPJ's poll protest in the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

Which leads us to repeat the question of FPJ's widow, Susan Roces: What happened to the bureau director who falsified FPJ's birth papers to make it appear that he was not a Filipino? The fellow has been charged with perjury and falsification of public documents a long time ago, but what happened to these cases? Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño says he doesn't have them, and nobody else in the Department of Justice knows where they are. The accused himself cannot be located. Is it any wonder that Susan is angry?

An indication of the anger of FPJ's fans is when they tore to pieces the wreaths sent by the President and by Speaker Jose de Venecia to Sto. Domingo Church. The President has also sent feelers to the family that she would like to pay her last respects to her fallen presidential rival, but they were rebuffed. Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye was earlier sent to the Arlington funeral parlor in Pasig to feel the pulse of the family and crowd, and he was disappointed. I felt so sorry for him as I watched him on television bravely walking through the hostile crowd, face set in a grim smile, knowing he was in enemy territory.

Everybody expects emotions and tempers to flare up during the funeral on Dec. 22. The parallelism between the assassination of Ninoy Aquino and the sudden death of Poe is not lost on the administration. It was the death of Ninoy that sparked Edsa I, that led to the people chasing the Marcoses out of Malacañang. It is possible that FPJ's funeral, if not handled right, could lead to the same end. Maybe not immediately, but it could fuel a smoldering anger that could explode like a volcano in a popular uprising later against the already very unpopular President Arroyo.

The parallelism does not end there. Although not yet proven, the people suspected that the Marcos administration was behind Ninoy's assassination. This time, people believe that FPJ was cheated out of the presidency, although that still has to be proven in the PET.

Indeed, judging from the millions of people flocking to FPJ's wake, and the national outpouring of grief and sorrow at his sudden death, one wonders how he could have lost the elections. The antics of the pro-administration members of Congress blocking all attempts to look deeper into the certificates of canvass, and the extreme slowness of the PET in acting on FPJ's electoral protest, only strengthened the belief that he was cheated.

Pour one hurt after another on an already suffering people and it is like playing with fire beside a pile of dynamite sticks.

It is said that the Filipinos are a patient people. Because they always cling to hope-even the poorest of the poor and the desperate among them-to pull them through. FPJ was a beacon of hope. Just as he was hope personified in the movies where he was the hero who always came to the rescue and triumphed in the end against villains. And he was a hero to them not only in the movies but also in real life. With his death, the people's hope of deliverance from oppression, injustice and poverty also died. Without hope, people resort to reckless and dangerous means, like the amoks who try to take with them to hell as many of their perceived tormentors as they can.

All these cannot be lost on the administration. I am sure they are discussing this in Malacañang. Which explains all the efforts at appeasement.

The FPJ crowds know the government is trying to appease them but they are not biting. Appeasement is not the same as sincerity. In the same way that a sinner cannot be forgiven unless he confesses his sins and sincerely repents. A prisoner cannot be given amnesty unless he admits his crime. People want sincerity from the administration.

* * *

If you still have not finished your Christmas shopping, here is a fast and easy way to do it. You still have a few days to do it.

Give the "gift of life" to your friends by donating, in their names, to the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS). By donating a minimum of P100 to PAWS, it will send a "Gift of Life" card to your friend announcing that you have donated, in his name, that amount to care for abandoned dogs, cats, and other animals, which will be kept in animal shelters. You can visit PAWS' Animal Rehabilitation Center (PARC) on Aurora Blvd., Katipunan Valley, Loyola Heights, Quezon City, at the foot of the flyover going to Marikina.

For inquiries on this unique Christmas gift, you can call PARC at 475-1688.

Mercy missions without fanfare

Mercy missions without fanfare

Updated 01:11am (Mla time) Dec 17, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the December 17, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


(Continued from last Wednesday)

IN THE PREVIOUS column, I wrote that even with a total log ban, illegal cutting of trees from public forests would continue if demand for forest products doesn't ease and people are provided with other means of livelihood. In the villages in Real, Infanta, Nakar and Dingalan, for example, the residents, hardest hit by the landslides and floods admitted that they had illegally cut trees for lumber, firewood and charcoal because that was "their only means of livelihood."

I said the Philippine construction industry is very wasteful in the use of wood and that the government should have a policy like those of other countries, such as the United States, now already using wood substitutes that are cheaper and more durable.

As for the big demand for charcoal and firewood, this can be satisfied with tree farming. But the trouble with government policy on tree farming is that it encourages the planting only of fruit trees and the more expensive hardwood trees, such as narra and mahogany, which take decades to mature. So why not plant, in between, the hardwoods and fruit trees, fast-growing and easy-to-grow trees like giant ipil-ipil and kakawati for firewood and charcoal? They will be big enough to harvest within one year. The farmers will earn some income while waiting for the fruit trees and hardwoods to mature.

Cut only the branches in summer and the trunks will sprout new branches when the rains fall. What's more, these two trees are self-propagating. Leave a few branches to bear pods; when ripe, these pods will pop open and scatter their seeds to grow with the first drops of rain. Even better, these trees are legumes whose fallen leaves fix nitrogen in the soil, fertilizing it for the hardwoods and fruit trees.

Tree farming for firewood is already being done in some villages of Laguna. You see bundles of ipil-ipil firewood for sale stacked along the highways.

As for charcoal, we now have the technology and machines to make charcoal out of farm wastes such as rice hull, coconut coir, twigs and leaves. They are compressed into charcoal bricks that are now being sold, even exported, though still in a very small volume. Right now, the rice hulls, coconut coir, twigs and leaves are just burned in the farms. That's like burning money. The government should help and encourage farmers and hill people to make charcoal bricks.

The coconut plantations are a rich source of charcoal and firewood. Coconut shells make very good charcoal; coconut coir can be compressed into charcoal bricks along with other farm wastes; and palm fronds, when chopped into two-foot-long pieces and dried in the sun, make good firewood.

Strangely, these are already known to farm folk but they don't do it in commercial volumes because nobody encourages them to do so. The government should encourage them by lending farmers money to buy the machines to compress farm wastes into charcoal bricks that hundreds of thousands of sidewalk barbecue and “lechon manok” [roasted chicken] stands and “ihaw-ihaw” [grilled food] restaurants can use.

The Ilocos hills and mountains, as well as the backyards, are now bereft of trees because of the big demand for firewood to feed the Virginia tobacco flue-curing barns. Even fruit-bearing trees were cut down because the owners were tempted with big sums of money for the firewood.

The same thing will happen to the hills and mountains near poverty-stricken villages if the government doesn't do something.

* * *

Several kind-hearted groups are getting widespread publicity for relief missions to flood-ravaged areas, but I would like to congratulate another group that has been helping flood victims quietly and without fanfare. This is the SM Foundation, which has been distributing relief goods and bringing volunteer doctors and medicines to provinces affected by tropical depression “Winnie” and typhoon “Yoyong.”

Using the private helicopter of the Sy family and an Air Force Huey chopper, the foundation has been sending relief goods and medical missions to Camarines Sur, Quezon, Nueva Ecija and parts of Bulacan. Five bridges have collapsed in Quezon, making the stricken barangays inaccessible by land. Supplies can be brought in only by helicopter. Weeks after the typhoons, hungry residents are still fearful when the next supplies would come as the collapsed bridges have isolated them.

So far, 10,000 families have been benefited and P1.85 million spent to purchase relief goods and medicines. The relief goods, contained in plastic pails, consist of rice, noodles, cans of sardines, laundry soap and blankets. Medicines for cough, fever, diarrhea, hypertension, parasitism, typhoid fever and topical ointments for skin diseases are also included.

In all its relief missions, the governors of the affected provinces are actively involved, as well as the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the National Disaster Coordinating Council and the Army Reserve Command.

That's not the only thing the foundation is doing. Through its Health and Medical Programs under former Quezon City Vice Mayor Connie Angeles, it will start the renovation of and donate equipment to the pediatric ward of the Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital where the Cervantes twins died due to the lack of equipment and facilities.

* * *

Although not yet formally inaugurated, the Front Page piano bar on Teodoro M. Kalaw Street in Manila is now open for business. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been invited to be the guest of honor during its inauguration as well as of the clubhouse of Samahang Plaridel, the association of veteran journalists. The lounge is their watering hole but it is open to the public.

Angara defends self, total log ban

Angara defends self, total log ban



Updated 06:37am (Mla time) Dec 15, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service


Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the December 15, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


I BELIEVE there is a concerted effort to put down Sen. Edgardo Angara by his enemies, and the recent floods and landslides in his home province of Aurora and neighboring Quezon presented an opportunity to do that. Every day I receive text messages from unknown sources attacking Angara, blaming him for the tragedy that befell the two provinces because his family, so the messages said, is either into logging or coddling loggers. My media colleagues received similar messages.

Angara, who was the lone guest in last Monday's Kapihan sa Manila (Hotel), said he knew who his attackers were but declined, out of “delicadeza,” to name them. He denied being a logger or sponsoring any logging company. He admitted that he knew one of the logging concessionaires in Aurora but that was because they were fraternity brothers in the University of the Philippines. But he never sponsored nor coddled the logger, he said.

Neither did a priest say Angara was benefiting from the logging business nor did Ka Roger say that he was behind the logging operations in Aurora, he said. He related how the stories to that effect came out in the media.

He said the priest wrote him a letter denying the things attributed to him by the media. A reporter had asked the priest if he thought somebody was benefiting from the illegal logging operations in Aurora, and the priest's answer was, "It's possible."

This was interpreted in media that the Angara family, because it is the political kingpin in Aurora, was benefiting from the logging operations. As for Ka Roger, he said he only got his information from what that priest said.

That part of the misunderstanding has been clarified several times, but why do the text messages repeating the wrong accusations continue?

Angara told the Kapihan that 70 percent of Aurora and Quezon are still covered with forests. The landslides occurred in only one town in Aurora (Dingalan) and three in adjacent Quezon (Real, Infanta and Nakar). It was the extremely huge amount of rainfall that soaked the mountainsides and loosened the soil which triggered the floods and landslides. Many of those who perished had erected their houses on a dry riverbed. When torrents filled the river, the homes and the people sleeping in them were washed away.

Contrary to what the propaganda against him claims, Angara said, he is not a logger coddler. He is in favor of a total log ban. Records will show that during the two times that a total log ban was voted upon in the Senate, he voted for it. Had the House of Representatives not reject its own log ban bill, we would have had a total log ban now, he said. He would again vote for a total ban when a new bill comes along.

The opposition senator said he had not asked the administration for a Cabinet position. While admitting that he and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo indeed had a meeting, he denied accepting membership in her Cabinet. He said he would rather stay in the Senate. He wants to finish his third term and be the longest-serving senator.

* * *

Angara criticized government forest policies. Private tree plantations are good, he said, but placing them beside public forests is bad. The plantation owners illegally poach on the public forests so they have an income while waiting for their own trees to mature.

Another faulty forest policy is the so-called "community-based forest management," which leaves it to the community to manage the forest near it, on the theory that it knows best what to do with its forest. This has been proven disastrous in Real, Infanta, Nakar and Dingalan. Their residents admitted that they had illegally cut trees for lumber, for firewood and charcoal, and for selling to gardeners for landscaping purposes. That is their only means of livelihood, they said. But many of them and their neighbors lost their lives because of it. They should have known better but did not.

Even with a total log ban, the illegal cutting of trees will continue as long as there is a big demand for the forest products. Like I said in a previous column, the Philippine construction industry is very wasteful in the use of wood. A policy that would wean the industry away from wood should be put in place. Many other countries, like the United States, are already doing that, using substitutes that are cheaper and more durable in place of wood.

With the rising cost of liquefied petroleum gas, many people are going back to firewood even in the urban areas. And the hundreds of thousands of barbecue stands and “ihaw-ihaw” restaurants all over the country have created a big demand for charcoal.

All these demands can be satisfied without denuding our forests, however. In the first place, we will earn more money if we preserve our forests rather than cut them. Because of dwindling wild places in the world, tourists troop to countries that still have them.

The provinces of Quezon and Aurora, although named after the first president of the Philippine Commonwealth and his first lady, are among the most undeveloped in the country because of their remoteness. But they are also among the most beautiful, with a narrow plain sandwiched between the Sierra Madre Mountains and wide sand beaches and the sea. There are many waterfalls and lakes in the mountains and islets and magnificent coral reefs in the blue sea. These are what tourists are looking for, since there are pitifully few of them left in the world.

Instead of cutting the forests for livelihood, the residents will get jobs from tourists attracted by the standing forests.

(To be continued)

Use pork barrel for rehab, forest protection

Use pork barrel for rehab, forest protection

Updated 10:41pm (Mla time) Dec 09, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the December 10, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


THERE were three significant stories the other day: 1. the Pulse Asia survey showing 84 percent of Filipinos in favor of either cutting or abolishing the pork barrel; 2. the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has run out of funds for relief operations; and 3. the continuing debate on a logging ban and forest protection.

The survey also showed that "79 percent of respondents believe more than half or more of the budget of a project (funded by the pork barrel) goes to corruption." In short, you can't fool the people. They know where the money is going. Each congressman will get P70 million in pork next year, and each senator will get P200 million.

Malacañang had submitted a budget proposal with the pork funds cut by 40 percent (to only P40 million per congressman) to save P10 billion because of the fiscal crisis, but the lawmakers defied the President and restored the full P70 million. In contrast, the House of Representatives appropriated only P69 million for forest protection for one year. Repeat: the annual budget to protect millions of hectares of forests throughout the Philippines is even less than the pork of one congressman. Isn't that a crying shame? Meanwhile, the DSWD can no longer provide enough relief goods to the storm victims because it has run out of funds.

The Inquirer headline said: "Poll shames solons on pork." But Davao del Sur Rep. Douglas Cagas said the "pork barrel was nothing to be ashamed of."

Congressmen are already too thick-skinned to be ashamed of anything. But isn't it timely, because of the tragedy that the storms have wrought and the lack of funds to help and rehabilitate the victims, to totally abolish the pork barrel now and use the money for forest protection and for rehabilitation of the people and places hit hard by the floods and landslides?

Anyway, congressmen claim that the pork is for the people, so let's use the funds intended for the pork barrel to really help the people and protect the forests so the tragedy that befell Real, Nakar and Infanta won't happen again. The lawmakers can't object to that (unless they're selfish), and the people will applaud that.

The Senate can still realign the appropriations, and if it doesn't, the President can veto the allocation for the pork. That will show who is the boss.

Come to think of it, who really is the boss? President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered the suspension of all logging operations, but two of her Cabinet members are defying her. Environment Secretary Michael Defensor is defending the loggers and Trade and Industry Secretary Cesar Purisima is opposing a total log ban, saying it would be bad for the economy. If Cabinet members don't agree with the President and can't obey her orders, shouldn't they resign?

Defensor even relaxed, on his own, the presidential ban by allowing the mass cutting and transport of timber from "private plantations." These are different from public lands: private firms planted the trees there and it seems only fair that they should be allowed to harvest them. But the trouble with this arrangement is that it leaves the door open for private plantation operators to poach on public forests and then claim that the timber came from their own plantations.

This was what the licensed loggers (whom Defensor is defending) have been doing. They hired poachers to cut timber from public forests and then claimed that these came from their concessions.

For his part, Purisima said that with a total log ban, we would have to import lumber for our needs. But do you know that we still export logs and lumber even if we are already running out of forests to cut?

And what's wrong with importing? We are importing almost everything else anyway. Other countries like Japan import most of their wood needs while preserving their own forests. Even the wood for their chopsticks is imported.

Besides, our construction industry is very wasteful in the use of wood. Builders should learn to use less wood. The wood used for scaffolding of any one project, for example, is enough to lay to waste one whole forest. After the construction is finished, this wood is not good for anything else but firewood. At this rate of wastage, even our coconut plantations, now that coco lumber is being used for scaffolding, will be gone soon.

Modern construction methods use steel for scaffolding. They can be used again and again. But many contractors still use wood because it is still relatively cheap. If wood is expensive because of scarcity, they will learn to use steel instead.

In the United States, tropical hardwoods are so expensive that they are used only as accents in furniture. They are never used for flooring or walls or posts like we do here.

In fact, our builders should study the new technology in construction in the United States. Instead of wood, they use substitutes made of plastics, vinyl and other petrochemical products.

Homes with clapboard walls in the New England states use plastic. They look like wood, complete with grains and whorls, but they're not. Indoor walling can look like wood, marble, granite, brick, or tiles, but they're really plastic. Whole bathrooms come in one piece, complete with toilets, bathtubs, washbowl, floor and walls.

These construction materials would be ideal for the Philippines. They're cheap, light, don't rot like wood does, termite and fungus-proof, plus you don't have to paint them. They come in different colors.

What's more, it will help save our forests. And, Secretary Purisima, saving our forests is more important than our balance of payments. Once the forests are gone, they're gone. But the economy rises and falls regularly.

End the debate, ban all logging

End the debate, ban all logging

Updated 00:53am (Mla time) Dec 08, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the December 8, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


THE DEBATE has started again: to ban or not to ban all logging, both legal and illegal. As usual the debaters are divided between those who argue for a total log ban to save what remains of the fast dwindling forests, and those who argue that licensed loggers are good because they protect the forests from illegal loggers who would otherwise denude them. Curiously, among the latter are Michael Defensor, the new chief of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), whose primary concern should be to preserve the environment.

The legal loggers, so goes the latter argument parroted by the DENR, cut only mature trees, employ forest rangers who guard the residual forests and replant the denuded areas. Without them guarding the forests, illegal loggers would cut everything and leave the forests destroyed. After them would come the charcoal-makers who would cut whatever is left, including the seedlings which are easier to turn into charcoal, and after them would come the slash-and-burn farmers, the “kaingineros.”

The trouble with this argument is that we have had licensed loggers and concessionaires and the so-called "sustainable development" for decades, but our virgin forests keep getting raped at an alarming rate. If licensed concessionaires are protecting the forests, where are they? How come the forests they are supposed to protect keep dwindling? And if they are replanting and reforesting, where are these reforested areas? How come denuded forest areas are spreading?

The only "sustainable development" people see is the continued growth of the wealth of logging families. The well-known names in Mindanao are the Almendrases, Antoninos and Plazas, all of whom have members of the younger generation elected to Congress. But the mountains of Mindanao are as bald as the head of Pugo. What did they do when they still had the logging concessions? Did they do any reforestation? Where are these reforested areas?

In short, the theory of "sustainable development" is just that, a theory, and not a practical solution. I suspect that it was an idea thought up and fed by the loggers to the DENR. The government likes the idea because it relieves them of the job of guarding and reforesting the mountains.

In fact, I think that is one reason Defensor is defending the legal loggers: He knows his department alone cannot do the job it is supposed to do. There is never enough money or personnel for that. And there are always loggers to use as convenient scapegoats whenever anything goes wrong, such as the recent landslides and floods that killed hundreds of people and destroyed hundreds of millions of pesos worth of crops and property.

The DENR is among the most coveted Cabinet positions in the government. So many officials, environmentalists and non-environmentalists alike, have taken turns running it, but nobody has been able to make a difference. Forest denudation continues at an alarming rate.

If they cannot do anything to save the forests, why do they covet the job? Is it because the loggers who make a lot of money from the forests are generous to those who cooperate with them? And not only loggers but also miners, quarry operators, commercial fishermen and land-grabbers?

Should we have a total or selective ban on logging? The answer seems simple: we have had selective logging for decades and it is obviously a failure. Isn't it time we tried the other method?

With a total log ban, we would know that any log or lumber we see is illegal. Right now, we cannot tell the difference between a legally cut log and one that has been illegally cut. We have to take the word of the owner that it was legally acquired.

In fact, it is common practice now for logging concessionaires to cut timber illegally outside their concessions and then claim they came from their own concessions. The DENR's forest rangers cannot prove otherwise. And anyway they are so poorly paid that it is easy for the loggers to convince them that they have not done anything wrong. With a total log ban, this ploy will no longer work. A log is illegally cut wherever it comes from.

But where will we get wood for construction and furniture-making? Do what other countries without virgin forests do: import from countries foolish enough to cut their own forests. Japan imported most of our logs during the heyday of the logging tycoons.

Or go into tree farming. The conventional wisdom in tree farming in the Philippines is to plant either fruit trees or the higher-priced hardwood trees for their wood, such as narra, kamagong, mahogany, or molave. But these are slow-growing trees and take decades to grow big enough to be harvested. Before that, the farmer's family starves.

But why not plant fast-growing trees along with the hardwoods so they can be harvested earlier for the farmer to live on while waiting for the more costly hardwood to mature? The acacia and giant ipil-ipil can be harvested in five years. What's more, they are self-propagating. The pods pop when ripe and spread their seeds, which germinate quickly.

The same is true with the lowly kakawati, or madre cacao, which is so easy to propagate. Stick a twig into the soil and it grows. That is why we see kakawati trees growing in rows along property lines. Their branches were used as posts for fencing and then grew into trees. Leave a kakawati tree alone in a forest for a few years and there would soon be a whole forest of them. What's more, the kakawati bears in great profusion beautiful pink blossoms that can compare to the more famous cherry blossoms of Japan.

Nobody listened

Nobody listened

Updated 11:04pm (Mla time) Dec 05, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the December 6, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.


WHAT the people of Rodriguez (Montalban) feared and warned about has become a reality. For more than six years, they have repeatedly been warning of flash floods and landslides because of rampant quarrying in their municipality and in the neighboring town of San Mateo. But nobody listened to them. Now they have been proven correct. But at what cost? A number of people died, hundreds of homes were destroyed, swamped by the floods brought by the storms.

While the floods and landslides in Aurora, Quezon, and Nueva Ecija were caused by illegal logging, those in Rodriguez and Marikina were caused by quarrying.

The people of Rodriguez, led by Dr. Pastor Cruz, have been urging for years to stop the quarrying. They were guests a few times at the Kapihan sa Manila where they repeated their urgent calls. But national and local officials, from the President down, didn't listen.

In the Aug. 16, 1998 issue of the Inquirer, this column commented that while President Estrada sent Environment Secretary Antonio Cerilles to far-off Siquijor in the Visayas to investigate complaints of quarrying there, his administration was not doing anything to stop the quarrying in Rodriguez and San Mateo, both of which are only an hour's drive from the central office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Metro Manila.

I wrote then: "Experts have reported that the quarrying of gravel from the foot of the mountains has triggered soil erosion and that during heavy rains, the communities below them would be swamped with mud and water.

"A report by the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) said: 'When the rainy season comes, massive siltation of rivers and other tributaries are expected. Worst, these ensuing phenomena are expected to create a damming effect on the upstream areas which will eventually lead to flash floods that will devastate lives and properties in the low-lying areas.' The report specifically pointed to residents of Montalban, Marikina and Pasig as potential casualties.

"The residents of Montalban have complained against the quarrying for years to many government officials and agencies, but it is as if they (the officials) are deaf and blind. According to documents I got, they sought the attention of then President Corazon C. Aquino during her incumbency. 'They have gone through the proper channels, that is: from the office of Gov. Yto Ynares. They have sought the intercession of Sen. Orlando Mercado in his capacity as chair of the Senate committee on environment. They have touched base with practically all of those who served as environment secretary, all the way to the incumbent.'...

"All for naught; no definitive action has been taken."

President Macapagal-Arroyo, reacting to the recent tragedy that left hundreds of people dead and millions of pesos worth of crops and properties lost, has now suspended all logging operations in the country. What about quarrying? It is doing as much harm to the environment as logging.

This is what happens because of quarrying: Rocks and whole hillsides are blasted and ground into gravel which are sold for use in construction projects in Metro Manila. During the blasting, soil, stones and rocks are loosened. The rock-crushing sends soil and dust into the streams and rivers. The ensuing siltation makes these waterways shallower and narrower, reducing their holding capacity for water. Thus, during heavy rains, they overflow and inundate the surrounding areas. Worse, siltation has a "damming" effect on the water. When that "dam" breaks, a wall of water rushes down and swamps the communities below. That was what happened during the storms.

When will our officials open their eyes? Are they waiting for another Ormoc-type tragedy-where thousands perished-to happen?

Ironically, the local officials of the towns of Rodriguez and San Mateo, and of Rizal province, as well as of the DENR and Malacañang, are not sympathetic to the pleas of Dr. Cruz and his group. The LGUs collect fees from the quarry operators. Even their neighbors do not appreciate what Dr. Cruz's group is espousing. Many of them work for the quarry operators. Now, perhaps, they will finally listen.

* * *

In a sense, the people of Aurora, Quezon and Nueva Ecija-who were the worst hit by the landslides and floods-were in the same boat as the residents of Rodriguez and San Mateo. In interviews with media people who managed to reach their stricken barangays, many residents there admitted that they worked for the illegal loggers. Several even admitted they did their own cutting, justifying their actions as "the only way they can feed their families." So it is, as if they are being punished by nature for their sins.

Indeed, the photographs and video footage of millions of cut logs littering the beaches, rivers and plains of the three provinces, with the bald Sierra Madre Mountains in the background, prove that the people went on a massive tree-cutting spree. As if an "open season" had been declared against any standing tree there.

Even young tree seedlings, no stouter than a man's arm, are cut; and their roots, which hold the soil and water together, are dug up. They are sold to landscape architects and garden suppliers in Metro Manila. Television showed stacks of them beside the damaged houses.

The TV footage also showed children putting charcoal into sacks. For charcoal-making-which is even more harmful to the forests-is a common occupation in the hilly areas to supply the needs of sidewalk barbecue vendors, lechon-manok-liempo stands, and ihaw-ihaw restaurants in urban areas.

Illegal loggers are mass murderers

Illegal loggers are mass murderers

Updated 10:56pm (Mla time) Dec 02, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the December 3, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


AS still photographs and video footage of flood-ravaged areas clearly show, illegal logging is the culprit behind the landslides and flash floods. The pictures show millions of cut logs everywhere -- on the beaches, in the rivers, in the fields and villages -- deposited there by rampaging floodwaters from the mountains where they had been cut. Logging is supposed to be totally banned in Aurora, which was among the worst hit by the landslides and had a lot of fatalities. So where did all those logs that now litter it come from?

It is clear that nobody paid attention to the logging ban and that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has been remiss in enforcing forest laws. As usual, the excuse is that there are not enough forest rangers and funds. But even if there were enough of both, if the quality of forest rangers remained the same, illegal logging would continue. For some rangers are in cahoots with the loggers. Some local government officials are into illegal logging themselves and even have their own sawmills. And some soldiers finance and sell the charcoal made by forest poachers.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has formed an "anti-illegal logging unit" -- after many “barangay” [villages] have been wiped off the map by landslides and more than 500 persons perished. Big deal. That is like closing the barn after the horses have escaped.

There was the same reaction after the Ormoc flood and landslide where 5,000 people died. There were the same gnashing of teeth and finger-pointing after similar tragedies caused by storms. But after the dead were buried and the waters receded, everything was forgotten.

Until we make illegal logging a capital offense punishable by lethal injection, we will never be able to stop it. For there is so much money in logging, so much corruption and very little risk (have you ever heard of an illegal logger sent to jail?) that they serve as incentives to the greedy. Considering the number of fatalities caused by illegal loggers, their crime is mass murder and they should therefore be punished as mass murderers.

* * *

(Continued from last Wednesday)

With all the sorrow around us, we need some good news. Here's one: The Philippine National Railways (PNR) announced that its South Line, the 480-kilometer railroad from Makati to Legazpi, Albay, will be rehabilitated beginning next year at a cost of $1 billion. The money will come from a $50-million loan from the South Korean Export-Import Bank and another $900 million from the Chinese government.

Now for the bad news: Squatters living along the railroad tracks in Bulacan and Pampanga have formed a "caravan" to block the government from ejecting them to give way to the NorthRail, to whom the rail tracks belong in the first place. The NorthRail will revive railroad service from Caloocan to Malolos, then to Clark and Subic, and eventually to San Fernando, La Union. The squatters want the government to abandon the project so they won't be disturbed from the railroad tracks that they have appropriated for themselves.

Only in the Philippines will you find lawbreakers telling the government what to do. Only in the Philippines will you find the government paying a fortune to squatters who don't pay any taxes at all. And only in the Philippines will you find politicians who coddle lawbreakers.

What these squatters don't realize is that the NorthRail -- as well as the South Line -- is the best thing that can happen to them. For the railroad will provide them fast and cheap transportation to and from where they will be relocated to wherever they want to go. Even if they are relocated in Pampanga or Bulacan, they can go to Metro Manila or to wherever in Luzon in a matter of minutes, at a fraction of what they would pay in bus and jeepney fares.

They can live in well-planned housing projects in the countryside where there is plenty of space and fresh air and still commute quickly to their places of work. No more "home along the riles" where they live in squalor and are exposed to danger at all times. In the relocation sites, they will own their lots and homes and nobody can drive them away from there.

These squatters also don't realize that under existing laws, they don't have to be relocated or given P50,000 each as disturbance fee. The law mandates that squatters in the right of way of government infrastructure projects, such as streets and railroads, are not entitled to relocation. The government can throw them out anytime. So the government is really bending over backward by offering to relocate them.

* * *

Politicians opposing the NorthRail say it is too expensive, that it would cost P1 billion per kilometer.

Wrong. Since the total project cost is $503.04 million, the distance from Caloocan to Malolos is 32.2 km, and the exchange rate is P56 to $1, they took out their calculators and came out with a cost of P875 million (almost P1 billion) per kilometer.

Wrong again. This is a double-track railroad, so the rail length is actually double -- 64.4 km -- and thus its cost is really only P248.39 million per kilometer of track.

Besides, the total cost includes the rolling stock (the locomotives and coaches: $87.79 million for 21 units), whereas highway projects do not include the cost of the vehicles that use them. Highway construction also does not include maintenance facilities for the vehicles, whereas a railways system requires a depot and maintenance yard ($14.53 million). Also, the capacity of a highway in terms of moving people and goods is very much less than that of a railroad.

Full speed ahead for railroad, north and south

Full speed ahead for railroad, north and south

Updated 01:56am (Mla time) Dec 01, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the December 1, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


SOME opposition senators have got their priorities screwed up. They are opposing the NorthRail because the project, they say, would displace the squatters along the railroad tracks. They give more importance to law violators than to the railroad that will benefit the whole country by making the transport of cargo and passengers faster and cheaper while decongesting the highways and roads of Luzon. The reason for their strange behavior, of course, is politics. By pretending to fight for the squatters, they are already courting their votes even if the next election is still more than two years away.

In the first place, the squatters will not just be ejected. On the contrary, they will be relocated to several housing projects from the squalid, congested and dangerous squatter colonies where they live only inches away from the railroad tracks and death. This, even if there is a law that says squatters on the right of way of government infrastructure projects (such as railroads) are not entitled to relocation or assistance. But the squatters along the tracks of the NorthRail can choose from relocation sites in Towerville, San Jose del Monte, Barangay Bignay, Valenzuela, both in Bulacan, or Rodriguez in Rizal.

The latter is just next door to Metro Manila and much bigger. It is a 2,500-hectare site for a mass housing project only 15 percent of which is occupied. It can accommodate 20,000 more families. And unlike other municipalities that don't want to be relocation sites for squatters, Rodriguez Mayor Pedro Cuerpo is inviting them to settle there.

Those who would like to go back to their provinces will each be given a P50,000 financial assistance under the "Balik-Probinsiya" program. They can use the money for transportation home, to buy a home lot, build a modest house, or as capital for a livelihood project.

Relocation is always the best choice for squatters. Those who were relocated to Pagasa in Quezon City, Sapang Palay in Bulacan, and other relocation sites are now glad they were relocated although they resisted it initially. These squatters are now modestly wealthy as the lots awarded to them are now worth many times what they paid for them. Many of them have flourishing businesses there.

On the other hand, those who resisted relocation are still living in the same squalid and unhealthy conditions. So if politicians try to prevent the relocation of squatters, they are not really after the welfare of the squatters. They are only after the votes of the squatters.

* * *

I think reviving and improving the railroad in the whole island of Luzon, along with the "nautical highway" to link the islands of the Philippines from Luzon to Mindanao, is the best project of President Macapagal-Arroyo. They have very high social and economic returns. They will drastically reduce the cost of transporting goods and people all over the archipelago. For instance, the rail fare from Caloocan to Malolos is P43 as against P70 in bus fare, not including the additional fee for the toll on the expressway. For the first year of full operation, it is projected that there will be 164,745 passengers using the NorthRail daily. On the 10th year of operation, the projection is that the system will transport 363,193 passengers daily, plus thousands of tons of cargo.

All the world's progressive countries, developed and Third World (Europe, the United States, Russia, Japan, Australia, China, India, the Indo-Chinese countries, etc.), do not only have good railroads but are still improving them. We used to have a good enough railroad from Damortis, La Union, to Legazpi, Albay, until the administration of President Diosdado Macapagal. GMA's father used to take the train from Tutuban to Damortis when going to Baguio, so he had enough time and elbow room to work on official papers. The night train to Legazpi, the Bicol Express, was a relaxing way to travel such a long distance, what with air-conditioned, first-class coaches and dining cars. You could sleep comfortably on board and wake up refreshed the next morning in Legazpi.

After Macapagal, however, the Philippine National Railways was allowed to deteriorate, some say because of the lobby by American automotive makers promoting the use of buses, trucks and cars. After 35 years of neglect, the rail service to Damortis is no more, the tracks invaded by squatters. Tutuban, the main depot, was leased and converted into a shopping mall. The south line to Legazpi, while still running, has so deteriorated that derailment has become common, the latest of which happened in Quezon where scores were killed.

Since the NorthRail is already being funded by China, I think we should negotiate with another country like Japan, which has one of the most advanced technologies on railroads, to improve and finance the SouthRail. In fact, I think the NorthRail should be extended not only to San Fernando, La Union, (the fourth phase) but all the way to Laoag, Ilocos Norte, and eventually around the tip of Luzon to Aparri, Cagayan, down to Cagayan Valley and back to Pangasinan.

The SouthRail, on the other hand, should be extended to Sorsogon, from where the nautical highway to the Visayas can begin. The New People's Army is strong in Sorsogon because it is largely undeveloped and the people feel they are neglected. The railroad will help in the development of the province and banish poverty and subversion there. For one, it would make it easy for trainloads of dollar-laden tourists who want to watch whale sharks and sun themselves on remote beaches to go to Sorsogon.

(To be continued)