The Double-Whammy Misfortune of Kidapawan City
Posted on Sunday, 10 April 2016
The
Double- Whammy Misfortune of
Kidapawan
City
By Apolinario Villalobos
THE CONFLAGRATION OF MT. APO…….
Kidapawan has been the traditional jump-off
point of trekkers who delight in scaling the slopes of Mt. Apo any time of the
year, but most especially, during summer. The attraction of the sacred mountain
has been enhanced by the various exotic fruits of the locality and the tribal
festival….all those have put the city in the map of adventurous tourists, both
local and foreign.
The village of Ilomavis that used to be
just pockmarked with huts of Lumads became the site of a thriving resort that
extended up to the hot springs of Lake Agko. Unfortunately, with the
conflagration that started at the camping area, halfway to the summit, and
which did not spare the “moss forest” where thrive indigenous orchids the
famous of which is the “waling-waling” (vanda sanderiana), patches of wild
strawberries, and the meadow carpeted with dwarf bamboos, the mountain has
become just an object of admiration from a distance, with all its sorry parched
state. Another hundred or more years are needed to develop another “moss
forest”, for the meadows to coax dwarf bamboos back to life, and for the
patches of wild strawberries to take root.
The cool slopes of the mountain have
provided exotic tropical fruits such as durian, rambutan, mangosteen, and that
of rattan vine’s, with a blissful haven. But this will now be just a thing of
the past. The Lumads and the various indigenous tribes that used to live
peacefully in the slopes and who used to eke a living from the fertile volcanic
soil are now left with no recourse but seek inhospitable nooks in the valleys
farther away from the convenience of Kidapawan City where their children go to
school and where hospitals are for their sick. Worst, if they will be helped by
the non-government organizations (NGOs) that are suspected by the government
military to belong to the “red side”, as the Department of Social Welfare
admits its difficulty in penetrating the inhospitable valleys, these peaceful
tribal Filipinos and Lumads will be accused of cuddling communists.
THE KIDAPAWAN MASSACRE……
Even while the conflagration of Mt. Apo is
going on, another misfortune has put Kidapawan in a bad light due to the
so-called “Kidapawan massacre” that resulted from the killing of farmers who
were just asking for the promised rice, to help them through the devastating
effect of the El Niἧo. Instead of a few kilos of rice, bullets were unscrupulously
sprayed to them that resulted to the death of some and the wounding of others.
The dilly-dallying of the provincial government has caused it all, despite the
calamity fund for the promised rice to have been approved in January 2016, yet.
People then began to ask where the calamity fund went. Unfortunately for the
North Cotabato provincial governor, because of the incident, her records were
checked which yielded an anomaly, forcing the Ombudsman to file a graft case
which could eventually land her in jail. The provincial governor is Emmylou
Taliἧo- Mendoza.
The anomaly is about governor Mendoza’s
direct and unauthorized purchase of diesel fuel from the gasoline station owned
by her mother…all without the pre-requisite approval of the Bidding Committee
that should have approved the qualified bidder/supplier. The Ombudsman found
her guilty of the graft amounting to more than Php2 million. The case made many
eyebrows rise and sarcastic comments that connect it to the calamity fund for
the purchase of rice intended for farmers who are suffering from the effect of
El Niἧo.
The “Kidapawan massacre” has greatly
tarnished the amiable and peaceful image of the city because of the provincial
government leadership’s irresponsibility. Reports are rife even about the
provincial leadership’s refusal to accept donated rice for the farmers, when
all that the Provincial Crisis Committee that Mendoza heads was suggest that
the donation be brought to custody of the Methodist Church that has been all
out in helping the farmers ever since, if she does not want her administration
to handle the distribution. The grossly despicable attitude of the provincial
administration is capped with the “massacre” of farmers…. a tarnish of a
lifetime in the image of Kidapawan City, though clearly, not of her own doing.
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