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Tuesday, November 18, 2003
1,936 villagers to bolt from Mountain Province
BONTOC, Mountain Province -- More than 1,000 natives of Buringal threatened to join a nearby town if government will continue to ignore their plea for the construction of a 30-kilometer farm-to-market road to link the isolated barangay to the rest of the province.
Buringal is a far-flung barangay of Paracelis town in Mountain Province. One thousand nine hundred and thirty-six of its natives felt neglected with the government's apparent inaction over their request for a farm-to-market road and threatened to secede the town of Tabuk in Kalinga province.
This brewing issue on secession was brought directly to the attention of the GRP-NDF peace negotiating panel by Paracelis Vice Mayor Antonio Kayyog during the November 5-6 Mountain Province peace consultation at the Teng-ab Vicariate Center attended by delegates from 10 municipalities of this province.
Kayyog, who led the Paracelis delegation, cited the lack of funds for the construction of urgently need farm-to-market roads, additional irrigation system and post harvest facilities as the main root causes of widespread poverty affecting the greater majority of the rural folks, particularly the 1,936 residents of Barangay Buringal who felt neglected.
The absence of access road linking Barangay Buringal to the town proper has forced the local farmers to manually transport their heavy farm products, hiking a distance of 30 kilometers, he stressed.
If there are no ready buyers at the Poblacion, Paracelis, these farmers are also constrained to transport their agricultural products to the Santiago City trade center in Region 2, a distance of 80 kilometers.
Kayyog further confirmed that Buringal leaders started talking of secession since 1993.
They described the sufferings of the people of Buringal as worst than calvary.
Sensing that elective officials of Mountain Province could not offer immediate solutions to their community problems, affected villagers have no other choice but renew their threat to secede and be part of Tabuk, Kalinga because of its proximity.
Laughter filled the Teng-ab Vicariate Convention Center when Kayyog dropped another bombshell, confirming persistent reports that illegal carabao logging activities remained unabated in the municipality of Paracelis, known as the last frontier in the eastern part of the Cordillera region.
The town official explained that narra trees are being surreptitiously cut into logs. Illegal loggers use carabaos in pulling away the hot lumber out of Mountain Province, he said.
If this form of environmental destruction continues and with the remaining forest cover gone, residents of Paracelis will be sure victims of future flash-floods, Kayyog warned.Sun.Star Baguio
(November 18, 2003 issue)
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