The top of Mt. Asog was on fire last week.

It was reported that the fire on the Santiago-Sta. Elena side of Asog in Iriga City was caused by slash and burn method (kaingin).

On the other hand, the Santiago-Sta. Elena portion of the Buhi-Iriga road still has a lot of potholes. Grabe alpog sa biyahe. Maray gaye’d nyadi giboon dayaday yo banta’ nyadtong mga taga Sta. Justina kaso nyo di pa natitinampo sa atubang nya Sta. Justina West. E’da’ tinampo e’da’ boto. E’da nakukong boto si Boboy Alfelor.  Nga’min nagboto ki Luis Villafuerte. Pero adi dapat aksyonan nya mga taga Santiago-Sta.Elena man.

The market in Sta. Elena will be transferred alledgedly to Sagrada in the vicinity of the Buhi-Malinao-road crossing. The project is on hold because of election ban.

Also, a new Shell gasoline station is now operational. The Caltex one in Sagrada Crossing is now closed.

Mga tinampo sa poblacion na project pa nyadtong depontong si ex-mayor JYM, ang’gang ngowan ampaw pa man dayaday. Di’ nae’e'rakan na dawa’ aspaltoon tanganing ana mga niparada ag niprusisyon magayagaya ana pag agi.

There is an on-going basketball tournament sa centro. Mga nagiyame’n mga tanod ag mga barangay officials.

A new church will rise in Sagrada beside the Sagrada cemetery. The hilly portion is now being flattened by heavy equipment.

The flagstone quarrying is still unabated in Burocbusoc. Mas lalong grabe na ading paglapastangan sa saton na environment.

***

During our Katon years, we were akin to cherubs in many ways.  Our very young lives were fairytale-like then, I would say, not because of our Maestra’s magic wand but because of our innate childhood innocence.

When I was a Grade-2 pupil at the Buhi Elementary School, the Riprap behind the school campus became my arena and short-time-day spa or resort of sort.

To escape from the manual chore of grass cutting in our assigned patch in the school ‘bull-ground’ my newfound-truant friends and I would surreptitiously ‘escape’.  ‘Mageskip kita sa Riprap’ (Let’s play truant at the Riprap.).

Through a secret hole in the thick-bamboo-twig (kagingking) fence we’d cross the forlorn dirt-road shored up by a high-concrete-riprap embankment spanning perhaps 40-meter long.  Down the Riprap wall’s low portion we would go down to the then pristine part of the Rinaga’ river for a cool-river dip amidst the fast-setting sun.

The Riprap was to boys mainly a trying place of their budding manliness.  A classroom dare from another boy – ‘Sa Riprap kita! Eskwir sana.’ (See you at the Riprap mano-a-mano!).  Thus for many of a boy like me, our ‘manly’ initiation at the Riprap in settling disputes with brute force and violence came to be.

Lately, a new Riprap has wormed into our community sensibilities.  This time no one seems to be able to make sense of it!

While there obviously is a riffraff of corrupt government officials, functionaries or private contractors who obviously botched up the Rinaga River riprap project our extant concerned local government officials and functionaries are obviously unwilling to do something about this.

This is in spite of massive evidence some links of which were posted in Buhi Online Facebook and You Tube by concerned citizens such as:

HOW COULD A 45 MILLION WORTH OF FLOOD CONTROL STRUCTURE AT RINAGA RIVER (POPULARLY KNOWN AS RINAGBA RIVER) RAVAGED AND DESTROYED BY A FLOOD COURTESY OF TYPHOON REMING?

TESS DE LIMA’S PERIODICO SA RADYO COMMENTED ON MAYOR LACOSTE’S FATE AND THE 45 M RINAGA RIVER PROJECT ANOMALIES…

When I posted the link several months ago for the Philippine Commission on Audit’s (COA) Fraud Report site and asked at least for information on the project name and other details so BOL can itself file the COA report, the twits stopped all of a sudden.

Surprisingly or perhaps not so surprisingly, the blog I wrote with the same title last year in October got merely a lukewarm reaction with  one comment to date coming from Tagasi’rip who obviously uses only a pen-name.

But again last week when the BOL Facebook posts became alive with election issues, the Rinaga’ River riprap scam once again became an active issue in the discussions.  New accusations surfaced on BOL Facebook though from an anonymous person using the pen-name Anthony Francisco.

Though Anthony Francisco’s earlier posts were taken out or deleted already by BOL, his persistence coupled with the lack of BOL Facebook FAN ‘reporting’ his posts as inappropriate, BOL decided to let his succeeding posts remain.  BOL feels that it cannot justly block his posts permanently until it gets sufficient feedback or ‘reports’ that would warrant it to do so.

The nagging question though is: will we ever get a response or positive action from our local public officials to look into this obvious issue of public-project mismanagement and even the corruption of public officials or what mudslinging candidates of earlier elections refer to as KICKBACK!

The least that I personally could ask from the only openly-identified currently-serving public official of Buhi LGU active in BOL Facebook the Honorable Councilman Edwin Salvamante is his indulgence to bring the clamor of many in BOL Facebook particularly to get the official stand of the incumbent elected officials of Buhi in this issue including the Municipal Council of which he is a member of.

My previous blog with the same title TE’EM NA way back in October last year raised many questions on the Rinaga’ River project and floated suggeted action particularly for the Municipal Council.

Will we ever get answers to these?

Kin indi’ mageskip n asana ako sa Riprap, maray pa… Ay inda baga?

MABALOS,

Al Claveria

(Mits Sanjose has been a consistent supporter of BOL from the very start.  He is an octogenarian who lives now in the West Coast of the U.S.  BOL looks at his insights and reminiscings as invaluable legacies that will remain hopefully forever in the pages of BOL.  Hoping too that many more especially Boie’nens themselves will see and appreciate the value of what he is doing. THANK YOU MITS!, we have not personally met and if we will never, I know that you are more than what MEETS the eyes.  MABALOS MITS…)

CLICK HERE for the late Stephen Fabul Sergio’s Ancestry Chart

I felt a hollowness in my heart when I read in the latest issue of Bicol Mail that Atty. Stephen Fabul Sergio died last June 27 at age 71. His passing marks a loss to his friends and to his hometown of Buhi, Camarines Sur.

Last time I saw him was in February 1998 while he was strolling on the UNC campus with Atty. Hiram Mendoza, both of them awardees during the 50th UNC foundation anniversary.  All three of us were former editors-in-chief of the UNC college organ, “The Nueva Caceres.”

Together with Fred Cledera, who was then the dean of the UNC college of law, we reminisced our student days.

As UNC PRO I had a lot of dealings with Steve while he was Bicol Mail editor. BM was owned and published by Tio Iyon Aureus, a Liberal party stalwart, and I thought Steve was Liberal too, Imagine my surprise when a few years later as a Malacanang employee he came to my office as an advance party of the then exeucutive secretary Rafael Salas who had a speaking engagement at the university. Steve laughingly told me that actually he was the Nacionalista undercover “eyes-and-ears” in the whole Bicol region.

While a Malacanang executive Steve, as mentioned in the BM obituary, was indeed a go-to guy for Bicolanos who needed some help. Me, for example. Steve facilitated my obtaining a Malacanang permission to get a US visa in 1973. That was in the early days of martial law when you had to have clearances from all sorts of offices in order to leave the country for abroad.

Then I read in Steve’s recent column that it was he who suggested the name of Ramoning Felipe to be appointed as Comelec chairman.  As everybody knows Ramoning held his Comelec tenure with flying colors.

(Yes, I will miss Steve’s BM column “On the House” which I looked forward to every issue.)

Condolences to his friends, relatives, and especally to his immediate family.

MITS SAN JOSE
Los Angeles

by Unodaw

Recently a relative and a close friend were fatalities of accidents in Buhi.

Their untimely demise focus on the longtime lack of an equipped emergency transport unit as well as trained emergency caregivers in our hometown.

Buhi, a remote town, is almost two hours away from tertiary health facilities. Therefore, the need for such service is imperative and is a gauge of the priorities of the municipal administrators.

Health care is a necessity for progress.  Investors favor areas with pro- active governance that promote enterprise in a safe and healthy environment.

We hope that this urgent need will be addressed promptly by the mayor in time for face lifting during the coming election.

***

Eng. Wilfredo Ibarlin grew up in Sitio Pito, Penafrancia and Sta. Clara of Buhi.  He graduated from Buhi Elementary School in 1966 and in 1970 from St. Joseph’s Academy.

He started college in Saint Anthony College and finished Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from NAMEI Polytechnic Institute.

After his bachelors degree he worked for one year in the Philippines and moved to Saudi Arabia where he pursued his dream of applying his professional skills and knowledge from 1985 to date. Eng. Ibarlin worked as well in the far away desert of Libya between 1988 to 1991.

He is currently a Site Electromechanical Engineer with one of the engineering consulting firms in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  But most of all he is a proud Boie’nen.

His professional achievements includes professional work in the following projects: Al Huwalylat Mall among others in the Eastern Province of Riyadh and Western Province of Jubail. And currently is involved in the renovation of Al Azizia Mall in Olaya, Riyadh.

BOL welcomes and thanks Eng. Wilfredo Ibarlin as one of its BOL-Middle East Contributor.

MABALOS.

(check out his latest comment on the Save Lake Buhi Cause)

Buhi Online encourages everyone to join this worthy cause for the protection and rehabilitation of Lake Buhi now and for future generations.

To join this commendable cause on Facebook CLICK HERE.

This cause’s POSITION SUMMARY:

• Each and every Buhinon should put it upon himself/herself not to contribute further to the sorry state of Lake Buhi.
• It is imperative that every environmentally inclined Buhinon convinces at least one degradation contributor to mend his/her ways now.
• Individually and/or collectively, Buhinons in or out of town have the moral duty to put some pressure on concerned agencies for proper actions.

Your help would be highly appreciated.

Mrs. Trini Dautil Watkins sent the email below to BOL several months ago. Trini has a very simple but equally brilliant idea. I share a related story postscript to her email below.

From: Trinidad Watkins
Date: Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 1:32 AM
Subject: Re: Pili Nut Tree Preservation
To: webmaster@buhi.com

To: Mayor Rey Lacoste and Other Elected Officials:

I am Trini (Ining) Dautil-Watkins. I live in Savannah, Georgia with my family. I would like you as Mayor of our town to tell the farmers and for those who own land to preserve the Pili Nut Trees. It has unique taste compared to other kinds of nuts in the world. I believe it only grows in the Bicol Region. If all the land owners will be interested in planting more pili nut trees; in 15-25 years we will have an abundance of pili nuts. This can create jobs in our very own town. Farmers can export the raw peeled products or make them into different kinds of sweets/delicacies for sale in tourist areas, etc.

I believe that all of you are working very hard to develop Buhi and become one of the famous tourism areas in the Bicol Region.

Kumusta and maray na aldaw sa ngamin!

Trini (Ining) Dautil-Watkins

P.S. by Al Claveria

In the early ‘70s, Cody Best, a Boie-based U.S. Peace Corps volunteer, and I had a meeting with an American World Bank ‘environment/agricultural-development expert’ in one of the hotels in Naga City.

This expert’s suggestion: the ‘air-seeding of pili-nut’ seedlings all over the mountains primarily of the Bikol region.

It was the same brilliant idea as Trini has in her email above.

The only thing different between their suggestions: Trini has a very practical idea of encouraging people, particularly manga Boienen, to start and keep propagating pili-nut trees for environmental and economic gains.

The American-expert’s idea is similar to Trini’s. Except that he wanted to use a C-130 or Hercules plane to air-seed the mountains of the Bikol region with pili-nut ‘bomblets’.

Just imagine if a to’nas pili coming from several-hundred meters from the sky hit one on the ground! It could be worse than being hit by a bullet from a gun! I told that expert so. To Cody’s amusement, I’d say.

So if they have a JOHNNY APPLESEED in America, we have in Boie a TRINI TO’NAS PILI that every one of us could be proud of someday.

Go figure! Give your SPIN on this topic.

Worth Getting Information for BOL Publication:

- the Pili-nut Alley in U.P. Los Banyos which is planted with rows of pili tree on both sides;

- WIKIPEDIA on Pili Nut CLICK HERE

- pictures, illustrations and videos.

LINK: Boienen-English Dictionary CLICK HERE:

New Words: to’nas – whole pili-nut shell without the husk or ‘obak’; with the pili-nut ‘elog’ still inside the shell; opened pili-nut shell without the nut or any shard or sliver of it is called, pine’ne’