Manic Mondays

LAST week has been a very long week, perhaps, not just here in Northern Mindanao but in the whole country as well. We were greeted with a bad weather causing Metro Manila to flood in the height of what could be a critical decision-making for Congress on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill.

Amidst these national issues, the renegade faction of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM), who were former members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), ran amok in some parts of Maguindanao and North Cotabato provinces, as the Government of the Republic Philippines (GRP) and the MILF resumed its peace talks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. All these talks were at the expense of the new “bakwits” or displaced families due to BIFM’s attacks.

We were also struck and saddened by the attacks inside Mindanao State University in Marawi City by some armed groups, taking the life of an innocent six-year-old girl due to a stray bullet. We were saddened, especially in the Islamic world, when this month is supposed to be the Holy Month of Ramadhan, a time where every Muslim should overcome the evils and temptations around, let alone the random violence.

And of course, within just our backyard, the alarming rise of dengue fever not just in the city but throughout the region, along with the declining supply of platelets for the patients.

And yet, that awkward silence around us, that no one seems to be concerned except those in the health sector and those who are directly affected.

And the highlight of all -- the operation of one of six “barge-like-quarrying” vessels floating at the Iponan River was put to a halt as members of the Philippine National Police in Opol, Misamis Oriental and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in Region X chained it.

Secretary Jesse Robredo of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) earlier issued a memo to DILG Director Rene K. Burdeos to assist in the investigation of “alleged unabated illegal mining operations.” Which means to say that the barge could have gone beyond its primary purpose other than “quarrying sand and gravel” along the river, and which every Kagay-anon knew, that gold deposits near the river ecosystem is very rich.

This issue has become an epic of its own right. Its tale goes a long way, and this can be passed on from one generation to the other. No one really could tell who’s telling the truth or not, or no one could really believe the statements made by our chosen leaders whether they will uphold to their stand or simply do the Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago way -- “I lied.”

That, my friends, are something we should anticipate in the next months to come prior to the 2013 elections. Because in a January report by this paper this year, “two city councilors are reportedly busy trading barbs against each other as one of them issued a challenge against the other to resign if found to be ‘wrong’.”

And this councilor was quoted as saying that he would resign if this one opposition councilor “can show proof that he has ‘interests and business directly or indirectly in mining. But if he cannot prove it, he will also resign.’”

And here we are, trying to negate from these issues in an attempt to make our Mondays the new “first” day of the week for almost all of us, fresh and full of optimism for the rest of the week ahead.

(Nef Luczon is a communications instructor, a journalist and arts and film enthusiast. He will write regularly for this paper starting today. His column will see print every Monday and Wednesday. Comments may be emailed at nefluczon@gmail.com)