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SUNDAY, APRIL 2, 2017
Jimbo Gulle, Editor
Roger Garcia, Issue Editor
LGUs
Local Gov’t Units
mslocalgov@gmail.com
P550-M US PROJECT TO FIGHT EXTREMISM By Nash B. Maulana
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ESCOLTA'S HERITAGE. Student Len Micua looks at the drawing of the century-old El Hogar building and other iconic structures in Manila's Escolta District at a booth that aims to revive interest in the historic area and to promote it as a heritage hub during the Anthology Architecture and Design Festival in Puerta Del Parian, Intramuros, Manila. The threeday festival aims to show how architecture matters in Filipinos' daily lives. Norman Cruz
THE WANING ART OF ‘KOMEDIA’IN THE NORTH
By Honor Blanco Cabie
P
INILI, Ilocos Norte—Komedia, for scores the high point of many town fiestas in Northern Philippines, has lost its sound and colors with the last sound of the wind instruments accompanying the staged battle between the brightly robed notch performers.
Komedia had been undoubtedly the greatest and most popular theater during the last 100 years—1798-1898—of the Spanish rule, which began in 1521. That was the year Portuguese navigator Fernando Magallanes discovered the islands—later to be called Las Islas Filipinas in honor of King Philip II—for Europe, 141 years after an Arab sheikh established the first Muslim mosque in the country’s far southern island of Simunul in the province of Tawi Tawi. Known among Ilocanos as the “Moro-moro,” from the common Spanish identification
for Muslim, the stage drama had reference to Moors who once invaded Spain. Abruptly interrupted during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in the 1940s, komedia resurfaced in the 1950s and used to be staged at the center of each largely agricultural town. Hundreds, even thousands, trooped to the improvised theater soon before sundown so they would not miss a line from the performers from the time the curtains were raised. There they waited for the stage prompter and his performing artists, all garbed in colorful costumes. Near the performance site, the well-heeled and better dressed members of the town’s social class, many returning students from the metropolis, attended formal programs at the amphitheater or open air auditorium. For three or four nights in those bubble gum years, young Ilocanos—and surprisingly even adults and those in their senior years—enjoyed listening to the stories that usually revolved around tales of love and conquest between Christians and Muslims during the medieval period in Europe. The ear of listeners in those years could compete with the tympanic membrane of today’s
patrons of telenovelas, mostly imported from overseas. For nights on end during the town fiesta, the “Muslims” at the performance site were always beaten and ended up embracing the Christian faith. Unlike in better off towns of the archipelago, the duels between the two sides were not choreographed. But the lighting—from a 350-candle power Coleman or Petromax gas lamps at the time— was sufficient to sustain the enthusiasm and energy of the crowd who preferred the theater to the plaza or the Ferris wheels nearby. The dialogues—thanks to the indefatigable prompter who hid very discreetly behind the plywood wall near the hat wearing-musicians—were delivered in rhyming verses. That, while the participants leisurely strutted across the elevated stage as though digging their brains for an appropriate line of response. It is not clear when the first komedia was staged in the different towns of northern Philippines. Debate has been going on about the first such performance in the country. But many historians agreed that the first Turn to D2
WOMEN CO-OPS HELP BOOST FAMILY INCOMES
By Brenda Jocson
SAN AGUSTIN, Isabela—Women-based cooperatives here have launched their annual celebration to encourage the thriving women entrepreneurs, mostly local farmers’ wives who are land tillers themselves, aiming to create additional income for the rising needs of their families. According to Lilia Castillo of the Provincial Development Authority, these women cooperatives were financially supported in collaboration with the Department of Labor and Employment and the provincial government of Isabela. Castillo said they continually encourage women cooperatives by creating ways to have them trained in the different skills and courses offered by the Technical Education and Skills Develop-
ment Authority. “We want women to be financially independent and because of the growing needs of their respective families, women should rightfully have other income while waiting for the harvest or while the husband is out in the fields,” Castillo said. “Through these cooperatives, a woman could attain a great degree of self-reliance, make them productive and perhaps lessen those women who seek employment overseas as domestic helpers where some unlucky ones suffered grave mental and physical abuses,” she added. Mayor Cesar A. Mondala said women cooperatives in the municipality had grown in number and productiveness in terms of food production, waste recycling business and dairy aside from being a dominant workforce in agriculture since its organi-
zation in the 1990s. Mondala said these cooperatives are composed of more than 1,000 members from the 23 barangays of this town funded through a lending scheme with an individual initial loan of P5,000. “We offer the loan with a minimal interest of one percent annually under a memorandum of agreement with the provincial cooperative development authority and to double the amount of the initial loan upon full payment of the member without any collateral requirement,” Mondala explained. He said farming is a predominantly male work because of the back-breaking labor, but due to farm mechanization, a female could now do it as good as his male counterpart.
COTABATO CITY—It’s fighting terrorism on all fronts. The United States government is spending P550 million into a five-year program in the Philippines “to foster an environment that protects youth from extremism and radicalization,” a statement from the US Embassy said. On Friday, more than 100 young Filipino beneficiaries here finished vocational technical courses, under programs supported by the US Agency for International Development. USAID Mission Director Dr. Susan Brems said the US government funds the job training course programs under the Mindanao Youth for Development (MyDev) program of the agency. Dr. Brems said MyDev is being implemented in partnership with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, the Department of Education’s Alternative Learning System, and the Education Development Center. City Mayor Cynthia GuianiSayadi and Dr. Brems presented the graduates with certificates of completion. Rizza Mae Farafil, who completed her training course on bread and pastry-making, joins more than 2,600 other graduates from this city under the MyDev program. “Each of you has the power to promote peace and advance growth in your community. I urge you to take advantage of every opportunity to do so,” Dr. Brems told the graduates, adding: “Your local government, your local business owners, other local organizations, and the USAID are here to help.” Through the MyDev program, the US government has earmarked P550 million for a five-year program to engage 19,000 Filipino youth in eight conflict-affected areas in Mindanao, she said in a statement. Farafil said: “As an out-of-school youth, I could not have imagined myself participating in a graduation event like this. Life’s challenges [of] learning something new didn’t come to me early. But because of USAID, opportunities came my way.”
NOVELETA HOSPITAL BREAKS GROUND NOVELETA, Cavite—The local government led by Mayor Dino Reyes Chua and other officials will inaugurate on Monday, April 3, the construction of the Hospital of Noveleta. It’s a new two-story building to be erected on 370 square meters of land in Barangay San Jose 1 owned by Mayor Chua, which will be the first public hospital in the municipality. It is located behind the municipal government center here, across the river Ilang-Ilang. According to Chua, the hospital needs to be constructed immediately to serve the needs of constituents who don’t need to go farther for free hospital services. The mayor recently made his Deed of Donation for the vacant lot where the hospital will stand. Chua, along with Vice Mayor Donnie Torres, top Councilor Davey Chua, and local partners will lead the time-capsule ceremony of the program at 9 a.m. after the flag ceremony at the municipal hall.
SMFI GIVES SCOUT RANGERS A HELPING HAND
SM Corporate Communications Head Chito Macapagal, SMFI Executive Director for Health and Wellness Connie Angeles, and First Scout Ranger Regiment Commander Col. Rene Glen Paje unveil the official marker of the joint venture. Inset shows Regiment Surgeon Major Cesar Candelaria inside the refurbished health center.
SAN MIGUEL, Bulacan—With the rigorous training that would-be Scout Rangers are subjected to—under the scorching sun and heavy downpour—it is but natural that they collapse, get dehydrated or suffer heat stroke, stomach upsets and numerous other treatable ailments. But without a modern facility and lacking in medical supplies, the soldiers are forced to resort to natural medication— using grass and medicinal plants they can find in the 50-hectare Camp Tecson, headquarters of the 1stScout Ranger Regiment here. SM Foundation saw this predicament in the Army training camp and worked on the rehabilitation of the medical and dental dispensary. The newly-rehabilitated dispensa-
ry was inaugurated and turned over to the soldiers, headed by regiment commander, Col. Rene Glen O. Paje. The new dispensary—the first aid diagnostic and treatment center for soldiers, trainees and communities surrounding the camp—occupies 223.09 square meters of land within the camp and has the following services: dental, emergency and treatment area; observation room; consultation room; ward; operating room; supply room and administrative office. The dispensary has a doctor-surgeon, Maj. Cesar Candelaria; a dentist, Capt. Angelo Sarruca—both civilian practitioners who volunteered for military training and practice -- and nurse, Lt. Maria Pa-It. Col. Rene Glen Paje said the dispen-
sary operates 24 hours for seven days a week,“as we never know when an emergency would arise among the soldiers.” Paje expressed the gratitude of the soldiers for civilian organizations like SM Foundation for showing their care and sympathy to the soldiers’ needs and assured the civilian population that “they would sleep better as we would double our security efforts for the country.” SMFI Executive Director for Health and Medical Programs Connie Angeles assured the soldiers that the foundation’s help does not stop with the turnover of the completely new medical and dental dispensary but would also take care of maintaining the facility so that it would always be in tiptop shape.