DIASEN FINALLY PROCLAIMED

BAGUIO CITY—Kalinga gubernatorial bet Floydelia Diasen was finally proclaimed by the provincial board of canvassers Tuesday morning.

Although the petition of her rival, incumbent Rep. Laurence Wacnang, is still being heard by the provincial board of canvassers, Commission on Elections provincial director Ricardo Lampac said the votes from Tinglayan town will no longer affect the results of the elections in the gubernatorial race.

Lampac said that the canvassed votes from Tinglayan would only total to more than 9,000.

But the proclamation for the congressional and vice gubernatorial race was suspended as of press time.

Official results of the provincial board of canvassers showed that Diasen obtained 52,000 votes compared to Wacnang’s 34,000 votes.

Earlier, Diasen’s camp filed a petition to the provincial board of canvassers to immediately proclaim her as winner but Wacnang’s lawyers opposed it.

The same petition also claimed that Wacnang, who is running second in the gubernatorial race, was using dilatory tactics to prevent the proclamation of Diasen by posing impertinent, irrelevant, irrational and arbitrary motions or arguments before the provincial board of canvassers.

Manila Standard

Proclamation of the New Kalinga Governor Hangs

TRUE to what Commission on Elections (Comelec) regional director Velasco predicted that more violence might occur after the elections, especially among candidates who could not accept defeat, the political situation in Kalinga at the moment is getting more intense.

“The situation is tense,” was how Kalinga Election Officer Rufino Lampac described the province’s condition, in a text message to Sun.Star Sunday night. “Tulgao (incumbent Gov. Laurence Wacnang) wants to delay as much as possible,” he added.

As a result, Lampac said canvassing at Tinglayan, a known bailiwick of Wacnang, is currently on hold. Canvassing in the municipalities of Tabuk, Rizal, Pasil, Pinukpuk, Lubuagan and Balbalan were already completed.

Results of the canvassing in these municipalities showed the widow of slain Vice Governor Romel Diasen - Floydelia - leading by a wide margin against incumbent Wacnang and another candidate, lawyer Warren Luyaben.

Source:Sunstar Network

Mayor seeks revamp of ‘bodong’ council; policies

TABUK, Kalinga: Apparently disgusted with the claim that tribal conflict is behind the recent killing of vice-governor and gubernatorial bet Rommel Diasen, the town mayor here has proposed that the Matagoan Bodong Consultative Council be revamped and some of its policies be revised and enforced.

Mayor Camilo Lammawin Jr. said he is disgusted by the nonenforcement of some “bodong” policies, which has been allegedly taken for granted by some “mestizos” who took over the council.

“In the previous years, ‘bodong’ has been very effective because the people enforcing it are natives like us. Now, we have been invaded by mestizos or strangers,” he said.

Lammawin said he was also incensed by the failure of the “bodong” council officials to work for the filing of criminal charges against the killers after the civil liabilities of offenders were absolved by giving “papod”—a form of appeasement, such as money or carabao.

Manila Times
PHOTO BY ART TIBALDO

Kalinga local candidates forge peace covenant

TABUK, Kalinga — Local candidates in five municipalities this province forged recently peace covenants to work for and observe clean election process among other agreed provisions.

For the candidates of the towns of Lubuagan, Tanudan, Pinukpuk, Balbalan, and Tinglayan, they agreed to observe honest, orderly, credible, and peaceful election and to abide by the following: post campaign materials only on designated common poster areas; will not resort to vote buying; will not engage in violence, intimidation, and ballot snatching; will not employ the services of private armies; and will not pay campaign fees to the communist terrorists.

They will also respect each other and their opponents and not to apply black propaganda to gain advantage over their rivals.

The peace covenants were signed by mayoral candidates, vice mayoral bets and councilor-candidates.

The peace forum which resulted to the signing of the peace covenant was sponsored by Comelec and the Police.

In Tanudan, 29 out of the 41 candidates signed the agreement. In Pinukpuk, the covenant signing was witnessed by Fr. Lodovikus Mamu Koten, Catholic Parish Priest there.

It can be recalled that Provincial Election Supervisor Thomas Kalinga placed the towns of Tinglayan, Lubuagan, Pasil, Pinukpuk and Tanudan, all of Upper Kalinga, as areas of immediate concern for the May 14 election after evaluating the peace and order situation in the said areas with the police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Source:(PIA-Kalinga)

Just for laugh lang po

I want to explain myself ..unahan ko na yung mag iintriga... Nagustuhan ko lang po yung ginawa ng kababayan natin na taga cordillera sa you tube "Follow the leader"..Kilala nyo naman me i am a visual artist before and i find beauty with my own angle..I am not making fun of our culture but i am just trying to entertain people just like art...Nag-paalam po ako sa mga cast or yung mga tao na naipakita sa video and they all agree na just for laugh..I made a 30 min version pero baka magalit yung kababayan natin kung sakali makita nila mukha nila dancing with the tune of a disco..kaya cut off ko lang ng 3min..I don't mean to intimidate nor degrade,just like marc logan just for laugh lang po..eto yung video..the other video "follow the leader",i just adopted the concept from one of the video posted on you tube by our fellow cordilleran..

I shall Return

My first expedition to Mt. Binaratan is so very hard so i shall return to improve the trail and to establish a camp site for future climber..I am planning of bringing a "pala" i will dig that water source to make a basin para indi na mag-antay mga future hiker ng ilang oras para lang malagyan ang 250ml botle container for atleast 15 min..I promise gusto pa namin establish yung ibang mountains with the help of the Kalinga Mountaineering Club,such as sleeping Beuty Mountain etc..So for those who are interested for the climb join na! April 28 to May 1..di lang naman Mt. Binaratan pupuntahan natin pati Matabor falls etc....konting exercise lang mahirap ang daanan or should i say wala pa ring daan dun...

My Adventure to Tanudan

Tanudan has a lot of Tourist spot which is still unexplored, I spent my holy week climbing the rugged mountains of tanudan specially Mt. Binaratan and Matabor falls.I have only one day to prepare for the climb so i went unprepared.
From Tabuk we travel through the rugged road of Tanudan until we reached the end of the road which is the start of our adventure.From tattakkan Tanudan we decided to spent the night at Barangay Dacalan after a long hike and river crossing.We spent the night planning for our climb at Mt. Binaratan..We are being warned by the people that the place is infiltrated by the NPA (Mt. Binaratan is the boundary of Tanudan Kalinga and Mountain Province).So we even armed ourselves with automatic rifles just incase ,we will die engaging them.We hired people to guide us through our climb and to make a way for us because the place have never been explored for a long time.We are told that we are the 2nd team to attempt before this Group from UP although they didn't make it to the summit so we will try to attempt to be the first outsiders group to reach the summit..We are even surprised to know that 95% of the people of Dacalan didn't even went to what was called "The Silent Mountain" Mt. Binaratan..
I have a lot of hiking experience when i was still a cadet from PMA. We even climbed Sto. Thomas from PMA to Kennon to Mt. Sto Thomas..Our footmarch from Baguio to Poro Point La union, Our FTX at Ternate Cavite But i still consider Mt. Binaratan to be one of the challenging adventure. It is very hard to climb a mountain when there is no existing way,Just Like Mt. Binaratan..Maybe someday when the site will be promoted it will soon develop into a tourist spot and to be declared as protected area..
One of our cameras have been soaked in the middle of the river when one of our companion slip when we are crossing the river.The trail is so bad,The path is full of blood sucking leech (matek), Black ants, and it is very slippery.The land is always wet but you can't find a stream with in Mt. Binaratan(Silent Mountain)..We decided to established our camp atleast halfway to the summit because it is the only place where we can find water although we are still frustrated due to the facts that we can only get a drop of water at a time (Imagine filling a galoon with only a few drops of water)..Our main goal is to document and film the place but since the place is so foggy and the sun doesn't cooperate we decided to spent the night at our camp site hoping that tomorrow we could see the sun and the fogs will disappear inorder to take the perfect shots we want..The night is even disappointing although exciting because of the extreme cold much worst it is raining, majority of us doesn't have any tents,only hamoks..Our plan for the night to go hunting for deers and wild pigs didn't even pursue because of the rain, so our breakfast is "Pa-it" rattan and can goods, our cofee is from the leaf of this tree they call it "Itsa tree"..
We are even disappointed to wake up early in the morning only to see the same weather although we decided to pursue to the summit despite bad weather condition..We can't even have the perfect shots we want..All the scenery is covered with fogs, sweating in cold place hiking the rugged trail (I can't even tell if it is a trail) and atlast we reached the summit proud to be the first group regardless of the locals who go their but they are only few to name.We take some pictures and video despite the weather,we stayed their for atleast one hour.We leave the place going directly to Dacalan where we spent our first night.The people are hospitable, we eat for atleast five times for our dinner (House to House invitation) wild pigs,eels,small fishes etc...The night is memorable, I love to drink Gin while i hate it in Tabuk, we consumed 10 bottles of gin (Round) our pulutan is "Ugadiw" small fish..We wake up early the next day without feeling any hang-over..Our next target is Mt. Matabor where we can find the highEst water falls in Kalinga or the Cordillera i think or whatsoever because it was not even measured at all..The way to the waterfalls is the river itself so we decided to left our backpacks because even the river is so deep in some places..From Matabor we go directly to Lubo Tanudan to spent the night..same experience house to house invitation..They even butchered a pig for us, gave us some tokens like softbrooms,cofees etc..wake up early din after a long night of drinking (I think 3am ako nakatulog)...The only problem left for us is to climb again Mt. Tatakkan where we can find our service vehicle but not like binaratan it is a establish trail..someday when Mt. Binaratan will develop the climb would not be as hard as we did.It is an easy climb only when the place is develop..
Legends told that Mt. Binaratan "Silent Mountain" is the hunting ground of Kabunian,In one case ,he can't hear the barkings of his dogs so he ordered the birds to stay silent..long story to tell just read the books na lang hehe..