Former Army General Fortunato Abat, a warrior of the Mindanao
Campaign versus the Moro, died at 7 p.m of March 7, 2018 at the Veterans Memorial
Medical Center (VMMC).
“The Day We Nearly Lost Mindanao” was a book authored by then Army Commanding General Abat.
My father was assigned in Cotabato City
during this conflict in the middle of the 1970s and he narrated to me how they
called the Northrop F-5 combat jets from Mactan Air Base to drop napalm bombs
against the Libyan government backed Moro National Liberation Front
(MNLF) under the leadership of Nur Misuari, a former University of the
Philippines' professor, to deter them in conquering Cotabato City.
WARRIORS - Army Commanding General Fortunato Abat accepts the surrender of a Muslim rebel's commander and his battle scarred warriors. Photo Credit: General Allan Luga
According to the March 1973 issue of
the Far Eastern Economic Review, the first shipment of firearms, courtesy
of Libya’s Strongman Muammar Qaddafi and Sulu born Sabah State
Minister Tun Datu Haji Mustapha, landed in December 1972 at the town of
Lebak in Cotabato province. Boats, each powered with three Volvo-Penta 170
engines, brought in Belgian made Cal 7.62 rifles, anti-personnel mines,
grenades of the cylindrical unserrated type, plastic explosives, Cal 30 LMG,
Browning carbines, Cal 30 Mis and several thousand rounds of ammunition to
Cotabato and other landing sites regularly for the next fourteen months.
Do you know that a poor Filipino
nuclear family of seven, yes seven because the poor here ironically breed like
rabbit, as based on my conversation with some destitutes, contend themselves
with a kilo of rice that they mixed with patis (salted fish sauce) or bagoong (anchovies), HesusMariaHusef, to survive the daily grind?
Because of abject poverty many of them
forget what viand is all about. Their grown up children could not even spell
V-I-A-N-D because malnutrition sapped out their intellectual ability.
When then presidential candidate
Rodrigo Duterte stumped the provinces and cities, the great unwashed saw the
light of hope at the other end of the tunnel when the firebrand candidate
promised a P15 kilos of rice to the poor (manilatimes.net June 17, 2016).
When Duterte failed to make true his
promise, the poor put their trust on the P27 a kilo of the staple courtesy of
stocks from the government run National Food Authority.
But that price is still a pipe dream
son of a gun!
Despite the bumper harvest from the
farmers and the available funds from the National Food Authority to buy a kilo
of palay at P17, the P27 a kilo of rice in the market is still elusive, thanks
but no thanks to the miscreants at the NFA who conspired with the wheeler
dealing traders by mixing the cheap staple and sell it from P37 to P45 a kilo.
The impoverished who trembled
with starvation at corner could not comprehend what hit them.
LINGAYEN – With the audacity of the Department of Education not to allow the local government units in the country to lease the part of the lot owned by the latter, the mayor here uses usufruct to protect her town interest.
Mayor Josefina Castaneda said that before the DepEd can use the municipal land, her office requested the executives of the education department to have a usufruct contract with this Capital Town in Pangasinan.
MAYORS - Lingayen Mayor Josefina "Iday" Castaneda (left) and Binmaley Mayor Simplicio Rosario. Both mayors of Pangasinan have different experiences with the Department of Education in relation to their towns' lot where the DepEd used.
According to the Civil Code of the
Philippines, the contract gives a right to enjoy the property of
another with the obligation of preserving its form and substance, unless the
title constituting it or the law otherwise provides.
“We required them first to sign a usufruct before we allow them to
use our land,” Castaneda said.
The law cited that the owner of the
property can end the usufruct by grounds like prescription, termination of the
right of the person constituting the usufruct.
The statement of the mayor happened
after the DepEd through Region - 1 Director Ruby Torio rejected the request of
Binmaley Mayor Simplicio Rosario to allow him to use 2,
396 square meters (sqm) for the construction of a mall Primark Group of
Companies-LDC in the 8, 358.70 sq.m presently occupied by the Binmaley Central
School.
Q & A: Political columnist Mortz
Ortigoza interviewed recently Senator Grace Poe on the mocks of House of
Representatives Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez that the House of Senate was Mabagal
na Kapuluan (Slow Upper Chamber) in terms of passing, debating, and
concluding the bills there. Ortigoza posed also to Poe, a presidential
candidate in 2016 poll, about the procrastination of Congress in the amendment
of the Public Service Act (PSA) otherwise known as
Commonwealth Act No. 146 that should have avoided the tragic
incidents that befell Philippines’ Overseas Contract Workers (OFW) abroad
because they could not find gainful jobs in the Philippines. EXCERPTS:
MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA (MCO): Domestic
workers like Joana Demafiles and other female OFWs have been abused, raped, or
murdered by their masters in the Middle East Countries. Experts blamed the lack
of gainful jobs in the country thus the migration abroad of these people. Can
we blame Congress because its members did not act to open up the business
equities for foreign investors in the PSA so jobs come to the Philippines? Kung
ginawa ng Congress iyon 20 years ago we have probably avoided these Dimafiles
liked cases.
SENATOR GRACE POE: Kasi noon siyempre
the government has to take care of its own business assets, di ba? So ngayon we
are opening it kasi mas established na tayo. Kaya iyong Telco companies na
sinasabi ng ating pangulo na magkakaroon ng third telco player, puweding
fourth, fifth, mas may competition. Noon kasi kailangan nationalized, bago pa
lang tayo. The government had to invest and we saved the Filipinos would own it
but now I think there are more opportunities to everyone.
(Before, the government has to take care of its business, am I
right? Now, we are opening it because we are now established. That’s why the
telecommunication companies that the president wanted to have a third telco
player. We can even have fourth, fifth players so there would be more
competition. In the past we need to nationalize because our industries were in
infancy).
The government had to invest and we
saved the Filipinos would own it but now I think there are more opportunities
to everyone.
MCO: Speaker Alvarez ridiculed
incessantly in the past the Senate as the Mabagal na Kapulungan.
He said they have passed in the House of Representatives countless of bills
like the PSA in the third and final readings while the Senate only tackles now
the PSA?
POE: Alam mo iyon ang palagi niyang
sinasabi na ganoon, e. Ang importante sa amin sa Senado hinde namin basta basta
pinapasa ang isang bagay na hindi kami nag iingat. Hindi naman namin sinasabi
na hindi sila nagiingat basta kami malinis ang aming kunsensiya na nirerepaso
natin mabuti kasi lahat naman ng kailangan inuuna.
(You know that what he (Speaker) usually said. The important thing
for us in the Senate we don’t pass in haste the bill because we were careful.
We don’t say the members of the House of Representatives were not careful. Our
conscience is clear that we screen carefully what would be the priority bills
to be passed)
MCO: Was there a case where the House
of Senate passed a bill compared to its version at the House of Representative
where the congressmen there did not act on it?
POE: Tulad niyan noon inuna namin iyong
Freedom of Information na hindi naman napasa din sa Kongreso, pero ngayon mas
advance stage na kami ng Freedom of Information at ng ibang batas hindi naman
ito, ayaw ko ng magsalita, basta kortesiya na lang siguro sa isa’t isa.
(Just like before we prioritized the Freedom of Information (bill)
that the House of Representatives did not pass. Now, we are in the advance
stage of the Freedom of Information and other law unlike what he said, I don’t
want to discuss it, what we need is courtesy between the two chambers).
The reasons why some high officials of the Philippine National Police
and National Bureau of Investigation in Pangasinan were sacked and reassigned
to either a floating position or thrown into a far flung area, according to my
source, because they did not act in raiding and arresting those illegal bookies
of the number game of chance despite the presence of the government
sanctioned SpeedGame, Incorporation that was given the franchised as the
Authorized Agent Corporations (AAC) of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes to
operate in January this year in the 44 towns and 4 cities’ Pangasinan.
Son of a gun, lawyers called this actuation of the brass as "non
feasance" or failure to perform an act that is required by law.
He told me that as of this moment many towns in Pangasinan have bookies that
sneaked out to perpetuate their nefarious trades so they can siphon the
millions of pesos bet monies despite the heavy criminal penalties that await
them in case they are apprehended by the law enforcers.
The punishment clauses in Section 3 of RA 9287 or the Act
Increasing the Penalties for Illegal Number Games, Others say:
a) The penalty of imprisonment from thirty (30) days to ninety
(90) days, if such person acts as a bettor;
b) The penalty of imprisonment from six (6) years and one (1) day to
eight (8) years, if such person acts as a personnel or staff of an illegal
numbers game operation; The same penalty shall likewise be imposed to any
person who allows his vehicle, house, building or land to be used in the operation
of the illegal numbers games.
c) The penalty of imprisonment from eight (8) years and one (1) day to
ten (10) years, if such person acts as a collector or agent;
d) The penalty of imprisonment from ten (10) years and one (1) day to
twelve (12) years, if such person acts as a coordinator, controller or
supervisor;
Because there were not enough attractive paying jobs in the
Philippines, Joanna Demafelis, 29, took her chances as servant for
the family of a Lebanese and a Syrian couple in Kuwait – a country
notorious for abuses among foreign workers.
Demafelis had not only been looked down, but abused, harmed, and murdered by
her masters who hid her cadaver in a freezer in an abandoned apartment for a
year while they absconded to another country.
The Lebanese and Syrian couple, the alleged killers of Filipina maidJoanna Demafelis? A photo grab from the Facebook's community page.
The resident of Sara, Iloilo was only one of the countless Filipinas
who suffered those brazen inhuman abuses like wanton rapes because members of
the Congress – yes Virginia those publicity hungry senators and
congressmen you saw on TV in a circus called public hearings – did not act if
not procrastinate in amending the Public Safety Acts (PSA).
While
eating our sumptuous lunch treated by Dagupan City’s Mayor Belen T. Fernandez
at the Emerald Hall of the fully air-condition Stadia during the 3rd Youth
(Journalism) Summit, I asked Philippines Star Photo-Journalist Cesar Ramirez,
48, how his collection of old vinyl record long playing (LP) albums and his
phonograph fare.
Our
conversation led to Beatles where Cesar is a rabid fan.
“My first
encounter with the Beatles was when my military father brought me to Zamboanga
City when he was assigned at the Edwin Andrew Air Base, and where the famous
Barter Traders thrive,” I cited.
I was in
second year high school in the early 1980s when I kept hearing college students
led by a “Beatle maniac” and rock and roll freak the diminutive Elvis Bolivar
magnified to wide eyed and gullible school mates about music virtuosos’ John
Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.
Praise
Jesus Christ for the Rock Music He gave us mortals to enjoy.
John: We are bigger than Jesus now. Jesus: Can I join your band? I can play bass guitar.
John: You are in
Photo: John Lennon jamming "Come Together" with a Jesus Christ looked
alike.
“My music
standard then was based on Cascades (on their songs like Punch and Judy, Last
Leaf, others”.
“…and Bee
Gees,” Philippine Daily Inquirer's Correspondent Gabriel “Ging” Cardinoza,
who was in our table, butted in.
“..yes Bee
Gees with songs like Too Much Heaven, How Deep is Your Love, others being
played by the blaring loudspeaker of the American Protestants’ ran college
there whenever there was a lull in the occasions held outside the edifices,” I
added.
FM or
Frequency Modulation stations were still foreign during that time in
our rustic town M’lang, Cotabato and one needed to install a prohibitive priced
TV-liked antenna so one can enjoy non-stop music played by FM stations in Davao
City – a three hours bus ride then.
When I
asked the sales lady at the barter trade in Zamboanga that I want to buy a
Beatles' cassette tape, the sales lady asked me what kind of albums.
“Anak ng
baka, madami pala iyong albums ng Beatles na naka display doon sa shelves nila
(Geez, I just learned that Beatles have countless albums that were displayed at
the shelves there),” I told the duo who were amused by my naivety.
Because of
my ignorance, I randomly pinpointed to the blue covered tape with title’s A
Hard Day's Night.
“Veinticinco!” the
Tausog-Chinese sales lady quipped the twenty five pesos tape in the Spanish
sprinkled Chabacano vernacular.
When I
played it at my Japanese Sanyo’s cassette that my father bought too in
Zamboanga after I disembarked from the C-130 military cargo plane at Awang,
Dinaig Maguindanao’s airport, I squirmed as if I eaten a raw ampalaya (bitter
gourd) as my Cascades and Bee Gees honed eardrums were too culture shocked with
those yelling and fast paced singing style of the album’s Tell Me Why and Hard
Day's Night.
“Law-ay
man sang Beatles (Beatles suck),” I told those sons of peasants college
students who bought lines and sinkers the bravados and marvels of the baggy and
faked Levis lousily garbed Elvis to them.
Elvis, the
son of a vegetable vendor, side slapped the back of my Marine white sidewall
head and told his gullible and unsophisticated friends not to believe my
declaration.
“Ignore
him, he doesn’t know what he was talking,” Elvis vigorously warned his pals as
if I committed “blasphemy” to his fabulous four gods.
I told
Cesar and Ging that after two years, I stumbled with the flamboyant self-styled
Bimbo Solis, a soccer star in our town, who brought his powerful sounding U.S
made RCA boom box at an outdoor soccer game, where a Come Together song blared
its melody and lyrics where a "Shoot!” quipped from Lennon, as the
first word of the song, accompanied by his hand claps and McCartney's heavy
bass riff and Starr’s drum roll instantly enthralled me.
“Shoot!
Here come
old flat-top, he come grooving slowly
He got ju-ju eyeballs, he's one holy roller
He got hair down to his knees
Got to be a joker, he just do what he please…
(Chorus)
Come together, right now
Over me….”
“Geez, man
that was not only scintillating and psychedelic but sheer serendipity,” I told
myself.
I
felt I had my first orgasm and ejaculation brought by that great song composed
by Lennon to a requested political jingle of Timothy Leary when he ran against
Ronald Reagan in the governorship race of California in 1969.
“Who
sang that song?!” I cried to Bimbo who was enmeshed in deceiving with his
dribbling football skills the vaunted soccer funny man Elvis, yes, that
sonnafabitch who side slapped my almost shaved head that rocked my long chin,
who retorted in between his huffing and puffing: “Beatles!”.
“Beatles?” Those
guys with lousy songs like the Beach Boys in Hard Day’s Night?” I quipped.
Until I
saw the tape cover of the album titled Abbey Road (click
story here) sprawled at the Yanks funded well-manicured grass, just
like Camp John Hay in Baguio City, of the school field.
An album
where the Fab Four in a single file walked on the right side of the zebra
crossing at a street called Abbey Road in London with Lennon leading, followed
by Starr, a barefoot McCartney, and Harrison.
For me,
Abbey Road is the best album of the Beatles’ 11th album. Its
Side B's songs Polythene Pam, She Came Into the Bathroom Window, Golden
Slumbers, and Carry that Weight I could sing with my acoustic guitar with
feelings. I could shed a tear to the sad melody of the last song The End. It
was literally the end of the Fab Four as Abbey Road was their last album (not
Let It Be) before they separated with each other.
In
the early of 2000s I even bought a more than three feet by two- and- half feet
poster at Odyssey Record Bar at CSI Mall in Dagupan City and asked someone to
put it in a portrait so I can conspicuously display it at my room’s wall.
“Come
Together” was released as a double A-side with “Something” composed by George
Harrison and as the opening track of Abbey Road. The single was released on
October 6, 1969 in the US and was on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for
16 weeks, and reached No. 1, according to Wikipidea.
Rolling
Stone ranked "Come Together" at Number 202 on their list of “The 500
Greatest Songs of All Time and Number 9 on their list of the Beatles' 100
Greatest Songs.
Video: Gary Clark Jr - Come Together (Official Music Video) [From The Justice League Movie Soundtrack]
(You can
read my selected columns at mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and
articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at
totomortz@yahoo.com)
