Saturday, July 26, 2008 Text brigade, Estong and ACQ By Jun Ledesma Sunbursts
SOME quarters cannot admit the truth and defeat. It should not really matter for ours is a free society but then even media persons are being harassed by these quarters for their refusal to continue burning even the ashes of a dead issue.
I enjoyed listening to the irrepressibly humorous but incisive commentator Estong Caballes of DXAB for he makes me laugh, which lightens my day, and makes me think when he digresses into controversial issues of the day. Estong is one of a kind in his afternoon program. At past twelve, the tendency of senior citizens like me is to surrender to the soporific time of the day but "Estong", I was told it is short for Nestor, can take you out of stupor and languish.
The other day, however, Estong sounded piqued when he kept on receiving sick text messages insinuating that he must have been paid for further commenting on the issue of the Dominador Diarog murder.
The ace anchorman had been doing quite an investigative effort on the controversial issue especially when the militant NGOs and then later some city councilors made a dramatic fund raising and political event out of the murder case.
Estong Caballes put a closure on his commentary on Diarog after tribal chieftain Datu Joel Unad came out with a revelation that the killing of Diarog stemmed from a deep family feud. Some sectors that were salivating to exploit this unfortunate incident and even went to the extent of dragging the name of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy were taken aback by the sudden turn of events. Unad succinctly described how the web of murder and family disputes in the past ended with the death of Dominador.
In the aftermath, the lumads, who had thought that lurking murderers might also catch up with them, returned quietly back into their mountain abodes. It is a sad story that should need some kind intervention to heal.
Presently, however, there are quarters that deviously want to keep the atmosphere of hate and divisiveness among the tribesmen to persist. As far as Estong Caballes is concerned, however, it is a case closed. To submit to the stoicism of the so-called militant NGOs would already go beyond the realms of broadcast journalism.
And so the text brigade continues with their vain effort to get just another audio clip and another media mileage. Who knows the donor foundations might just believe them still.
I revisit this issue because of some compelling reasons. I had a talk with Commissioner Dodong Masagnay of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples regarding the plight of our lumads.
He told me that there is a dire need for the hill tribesmen to be informed of the need to allow children to get formal education. He is not telling me but I personally know how little is the budget that Congress has given to a commission that looks after a community of people larger than the ARMM. It is a shame that because the lumads are a peaceful people should we just relegate them to the least of our priorities.
I think that the local governments must take over from where Congress failed. I saw neophyte City Councilor Paolo Duterte on TV yesterday and he just hit the nail right on the head when he talked about the abject state of our lumads.
Councilor Polong can initiate the move by setting aside part of his budget for information drive.
According to Commissioner Masagnay he will be happy to touch base with Councilor Duterte if his personal presence is needed.
I have not met Pastor Quiboloy since he came back from his pastoral mission abroad. If he commits the mistake of inviting me to watch his interview with Mayor Duterte I will gather enough strength and courage to propose to him to sponsor the scholarships of the lumad children in Kahusayan, Guianga. Or maybe put up a school there for the kids. I have watched he pastor up close. I know he lives and acts by the Bible and by his personal engagement with the Lord. That is why he is so blessed. In our material world, men like him are envied by ordinary mortals like us. You can hit him on the cheek and he can give you the other. His faith never waivers.
The prevaricators may succeed to plant the seed of hate among the innocent lumads in Kahusayan to the extent that those whose minds were poisoned even cut down hundreds of maturing pine trees planted by Pastor Quiboloy and even some of the lumads themselves. It was a crazy and devilish act, that one. Those trees were planted in the slopes to prevent erosions and it was done for and in behalf of the community.
From what I heard the good pastor had only pity for the lumads and nothing will prevent him from reaching out to them. If we go by his faith and preaching, he will tend back to life the pine trees, which were cut down, and plant more trees. There is parallelism here with what he does: preaching the word of God to strengthen the faith of those who are weak and awaken those with lethargic and token faith in the Almighty.
