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Power play bedevils power plant
(appeared in The Manila Times, July 17 and July 24, 2002)
First of two parts
By HERBIE S. GOMEZ
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY--The most vocal endorser of the controversial plan to build a German coal-fired power plant in Villanueva town, Misamis Oriental, has admitted that the controversial project went through an "unusual" process of getting a government green light.
"The approvals came from top to bottom," said Misamis Oriental Vice Governor Miguel de Jesus, adding that the national government gave the multimillion-dollar project the go-ahead even before local officials--and their people--could be consulted. "It was unusual but not irregular," said de Jesus in an interview a day after his first local television appearance since the controversy on his free trip to Germany broke out.
Not viable?
Normally, de Jesus said, proposed projects pass local government muster first. But the coal-fired power plant project was big enough that the national government gave the proponent, State Power Development Corp. (SPDC), the go-ahead even before local governments and the region's development council could look into it.
De Jesus' admission is corroborated by the June 17 evaluation report of the technical secretariat of the Regional Development Council's infrastructure committee: "This project has been controversial since the early stage of its processing at the national level."
Reason: The National Power Corp. (Napocor) awarded the contract in 1996 despite reports on the "non-viability of the project."
Worst, the project proponent did not have an environmental clearance and an endorsement from the northern Mindanao RDC.
"Nevertheless, (Napocor) proceeded awarding the project," notes the technical secretariat. "Since the project was already contracted out... it became one of the committed projects of the (Napocor)."
No ECC
The contractor, SPDC and its German partner Steag Ag, has yet to get an environmental clearance certificate (ECC) from the Environment Management Bureau (EMB) in Manila. Its RDC clearance was only given on July 2 during the council's Tubod, Lanao del Norte meeting, despite strong objections.
De Jesus' admission, according to the environmental watchdog Task Force Macajalar, bolsters suspicion that the planned US-million power plant project "is a done deal."
Macajalar spokesperson Bencyrus Ellorin said local governments should have protested because, based on de Jesus' pronouncement, they were bypassed at the start.
But instead of questioning the process, Ellorin said de Jesus and company "have been acting like spokespersons of SPDC-Steag Ag instead of doing their job as public servants."
Energy woes
De Jesus said the 200-mw coal-fired power plant project was originally intended to serve the now aborted Jacinto Steel Mill project. The steel mill, planned during the Ramos administration, was supposed to stand on a property of the Philippine Veterans Industrial and Development Estate Corp. (Phividec) in western Misamis Oriental. Due to financial problems, plans to carry out the steel mill project miscarried even before it could take off.
Now, SPDC and Steag Ag are banking on a dramatic increase in the demand for energy in Mindanao by 2006 as projected by Napocor.
A press statement released by the local Napocor office quoted SPDC director Augusto Lopez-Dee as saying the planned thermal plant would meet Mindanao's energy demand, which is projected to shoot up between 2005 to 2006.
By that time, Lopez-Dee forecast, the "hydroelectric power supply in Mindanao would then be deficient."
The statement also said SPDC and its German partner Steag Ag have revised their power-demand projections based on official figures from Napocor and the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).
The projection, he said, is that the demand for energy in Mindanao would dramatically increase given that the island is the fastest growing region in the country.
Junket
As critics and supporters debated the merits of the power plant project, a sponsored trip for local government officials further fanned the controversy.
Organized environmentalists have threatened to bring endorsers of the coal-fired power plant project to court, as they called members of a delegation who toured Germany for free as "junketeers" and "traitors."
Misamis Occidental Gov. Loreto Ocampos and Tangub city Mayor Jennifer Tan did not join the trip but also faced intense fire for giving the controversial project a push in the Regional Development Council (RDC).
It was Ocampos, chairman of the northern Mindanao RDC, who pushed for the approval of controversial project in the council despite "reservations," showed a statement released by the Neda in Cagayan de Oro. And it was Mayor Tan, chair of the RDC's Infrastructure Committee, who presented Ocampos and council members a memorandum that sought an endorsement of the 200-mw Mindanao Coal-Fired Thermal Power Plant project.
A copy of an official RDC document secured by The Times showed that Mayor Tan had sought a "discussion/endorsement" of the power plant project, despite a negative evaluation report by her committee's technical secretariat.
The evaluation report said that "the project is not economically and financially viable, at least from the point of view of the national government."
Local environmentalists also said De Jesus and other officials in the province and Cagayan de Oro should have declined the free trip offer.
De Jesus admitted that the SPDC and its German counterpart, Steag Ag, shelled out US,000 or over P100,000 for the travel and other expenses of every member of the delegation.
De Jesus, who led the delegation, said those who availed of the free five-day trip to Germany were Mayors Bambi Emano of Tagoloan, Julio Uy of Villanueva, and provincial board member Norris Babiera, all of Misamis Oriental; Councilor Michelle Tagarda of Cagayan de Oro and a local trade and industry representative, Elisa Pabillore.
De Jesus, Emano, Uy and Tagarda have openly come out with statements endorsing the project after their May trip while Babiera authored a provincial board resolution in support of the construction and operation of the coal-fired plant.
'Traitors'
Misamis Oriental Gov. Antonio Calingin, another endorser of the controversial project, has defended those who went to Germany, explaining that the trip was necessary in order for the local officials to see for themselves how the German-owned Steag Ag was addressing pollution problems arising from coal combustion. Calingin said de Jesus and other members of the delegation were satisfied with what they saw.
But Task Force Macajalar spokesperson Bencyrus Ellorin questioned the motives: "Why should they go to Germany to inspect the facilities of the proponent? Why, are they experts?"
Macajalar activists said they were convinced that the free trip to Germany affected the judgment of the officials.
"Now it can be told that the (local government officials and the RDC) swallowed--hook, line and sinker--the juicy promises of the proponents," the group said. "De Jesus and his company of junketeers have shamelessly accepted the offer for (a) free ride to Germany courtesy of the foreign investors."
Macajalar Secretary General Sustines Magallanes accused SPDC and Steag Ag of resorting to "insidious maneuverings."
Magallanes said those who succumbed to pressures "along with Napocor... have clearly betrayed the interest of the government and the public."
"To say the least, they were not faithful and vigilant guardians of public interest," said Magallanes. "They are traitors."
Done Deal?
Ellorin said his group was contemplating on suing the officials because it was convinced there were serious ethical violations on the part of those who toured Germany.
The activists have called on the Arroyo administration to rescind the contract between the SPDC and Napocor with regard to the controversial project.
Early this month, the government's Inter-Agency Independent Power Producer (IPP) Review Committee released a list of questionable IPP contracts.
Of the 35 IPP contracts reviewed, only six passed the committee test. The controversial SPDC-Napocor contract was listed as among the defective deals because of financial issues.
Environmentalists have also questioned the legality of the inclusion of the controversial project in the RDC's agenda during its meeting in Tubod, Lanao del Norte, on July 2.
Macajalar claimed Mayor Tan's committee made it clear that it would endorse the project to the RDC only if the project proponent presented an environmental clearance certificate (ECC).
Despite this, the controversial project was included in the Tubod meeting agenda and was subsequently given the go-ahead by the council, on condition that an ECC be secured by the proponent from the Environment Management Bureau (EMB) in Manila.
Macajalar's Magallanes said the RDC decision to conditionally endorse the project "is absurd, unwise and tantamount to betrayal of the welfare of the people and the environment."
"It was a done deal," Magallanes said. To be continued
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2002/jul/17/business/20020717bus5.html
Power deal has new tag for PPA
Conclusion
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY--Regional Development Council (RDC) Chairman and Misamis Occidental Gov. Loreto Ocampos says the group waited for the Misamis Oriental provincial government's endorsement of a US-million coal-fired plant in Villanueva town before giving it the green light.
State Power Development Corp. (SPDC), a Filipino-owned company and the partner of the Germany-based Steag AG, has also denied reports of a P530-million annual subsidy from Napocor--which critics warn taxpayers would eventually shoulder.
"It's not true," said SPDC community development officer Ma. Teresa Alegrio. She claimed the US-million project would become operational under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme.
But the subsidy was spelt out in a June 17 project evaluation report of the northern Mindanao Regional Development Council's infrastructure development committee.
Extension seen
"Based on the results of [the] financial analysis, (Napocor) shall subsidize (perhaps from its corporate fund or from the national goÂvernment or borrow from domestic or foreign fund sources), as suggested by the negative net revenues, the operation of the plant in order for the (Napocor) to meet its contractual obligations," reads a portion of the evaluation report.
The subsidy, according to the RDC document, could be at least P530-million annually for 25 years.
Melburgo Chiu, a Napocor vice president, said a subsidy would mean higher electric bills.
"Common sense tells us that if we add another commitment, we'll have to pay for it," said Chiu in a phone interview.
Chiu said Napocor could opt to extend its commitment--say, 50 years--to thinly spread the payments. An extension, he said, might have to be resorted to so as not to make the charges onerous.
A burden by any name
But Chiu said payment for the electricity generated by the planned coal-fired plant could be sourced from a fixed "universal levy."
Just the same, like the controversial power purchased adjustment (PPA) charges, the "universal levy" would be reflected in the electric bills of power consumers.
One of the endorsers of the controversial project, Vice Gov. Miguel de Jesus of Misamis Oriental, questioned the RDC technical experts' evaluation report.
De Jesus said, "How can there be a subsidy when this is a BOT project?"
"I asked them (RDC's technical evaluators) how they were able to come up with the figures and they could not answer," said de Jesus. "My guess is that they used a wrong formula based on presumptions."
SPDC's Alegrio said the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) office in Manila approved the project after it passed a separate evaluation made by the Investment Coordinating Council-Technical Board (ICC-TB).
When this writer asked for a copy of the ICC-TB's evaluation report, Alegrio said she would need a clearance from Manila before she could release documents. She promised to provide this writer documents if she gets a go-ahead.
'Take or pay'
Unlike other independent power producers (IPPs), Alegrio said the SPDC would only bill Napocor for used power.
"We're really taking a risk here," said Alegrio even as she stressed that the deal SPDC struck with Napocor is not a "take or pay" contract.
She said even the costs of importing coal from Indonesia would be shouldered by SPDC and its German partner, Steag Ag, and not passed on to power consumers.
"We're negotiating for a 15-year contract [for a supply of coal] in Indonesia."
SPDC and Steag Ag are banking on a significant increase in the demand for power in Mindanao by 2006 as projected by the Napocor and the Neda.
Alegrio said her company is also eyeing to directly sell electricity to existing and future industrial firms.
Soaring needs
Environmental activists here charge that an all-expense-paid junket to Germany transformed local officials here from critics to cheer leaders.
De Jesus, who says his conscience is "clear," said they became believers after seeing the expensive anti-pollution devices at six German power plants.
He said the power plant proponent is merely taking flak that should be directed at irresponsible power producers.
Officials also point out the dire need for new sources of energy, ciÂting a Napocor study indicating Mindanao's demand for power would shoot up by 2006.
Ocampos said Napocor has justified the need for establishing the coal-fired plant.
He said Napocor's Agus System, including the Maria Cristina plant in Iligan city, would not be able to meet the energy requirements by 2006 because of unpredictable weather.
Napocor claims the water level of Lake Lanao, the primary source of hydroelectric power in the Mindanao grid, has receded to an alarming level.
"The fast economic development within the area of Mindanao, specifically in Misamis Oriental, will be the cause of power shortage in the future," said Ocampos. "With this problem presented to us (in the RDC), we find this German-backed group capable in solving this problem (sic)."
Review needed
Misamis Oriental Rep. Oscar Moreno (1st District) said the House's energy committee would look into the SPDC-Napocor contract "very carefully."
"We'll do this at the energy committee... and I hope that every House member from northern Mindanao (at least) will get himself involved in this process," wrote Moreno in an e-mail he sent as a reply to a query made by this paper.
Moreno added: "There may be no 'take or pay' provisions in the contract executed or envisioned with Napocor but it would be incorrect and deceiving for the proponents to deny that they are convinced that they will make the desired yield of return from the project."
After all the mess the country has been put into on account of arrangements with IPPs, Moreno said it would be foolish for a project proponent to ask for "take or pay" provisions.
He said the yield isn't derived from the takeout provisions alone and that there are many ways of doing that. "For instance, Napocor may be made to commit that SPDC's power will have priority (over those produced by other power plants, even if cheaper) in Napocor's power purchases."
This would mean, according to Moreno, higher costs to Napocor "which it will certainly pass on to the consumers and/or the taxpaÂyers."
A subsidy may be in lieu of the takeout provision. This, according to Moreno, likely explains SPDC's assertion that the project has no "take or pay" contract.
As in the case of Napocor's mounting liabilities under the existing "take or pay" contracts, Napocor's obligation with regard to the projected subsidy would be recoverable from the consumers and, to the extent of the differential, from the taxpayers, he said.
Under the present set-up, Napocor's obligations are assumed totally by the government.
"Whether via a 'take or pay' contract or through a 'subsidy' or by any other means of recourse against Napocor, the bottom line is the same--the project proponent would be relying on a legally demandable obligation of Napocor (and government) to cover [SPDC's] investment and yield risks," said Moreno.
SPDC holds a contract with the Napocor, a deal that has been questioned by the government's inter-agency review committee because of "financial issues."
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2002/jul/24/business/20020724bus8.html
The Ecleos and their kingdom
(This three-part series appeared in The Manila Times, June 8, 9 and 10, 2002)
By HERBIE S. GOMEZ
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY--Former Mayor Ruben Ecleo Jr. of San Jose, Surigao del Norte, is a wanted man. He is accused of killing his own wife Alona in Cebu last January and has been ordered arrested so he could be tried in court on the charge of parricide.
But he is not merely a politician or a son of Surigao del Norte Rep. Glenda Ecleo. He is the "supreme president" of a Mindanao-based cult with members who are willing to die for their "master".
Such zealotry could be attributed to Ecleo's late father Ruben Sr. from whom the ex-mayor inherited the cult's mantle of leadership.
For 37 years, the Surigao del Norte-based Ecleo cult, Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA), has been preaching a doctrine lifted from the teachings of Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism mixed with occultism and astrology.
It was the late Ruben Ecleo Sr. who started it all.
In 1965, the "divine master" and a handful of his followers formally organized the PBMA in Ozamiz City.
Its incorporators were Ecleo, Arsenio Nazareno of Calbayog, Francisco Enerio of Misamis Oriental, Floro Caboverde of Zamboanga City, Carlos Lomanta of Ozamiz, Maximo Ravelo of Davao Oriental;
Pedro Montives of Leyte, Dionisio Cui of Davao del Norte, Victoriano Rafols of Lanao del Norte, and Eusebio Bandivas, Casiano Gorrea and Maximo Caboverde of Zamboanga del Norte.
The elder Ecleo's "missionary work", however, started much earlier than 1965.
Between 1958 and 1963, the years Ecleo supposedly immersed himself in his "missionary work", emerged the "divine master's" apostles who were referred to as the "First Thirteen".
Two PBMA incorporators, Nazareno and Enerio, were among the Ecleo apostles. The others were Cipriano Otero of Gingoog City, his wife's brother Ruben Buray of Misamis Oriental, cousins George and Cupertino Edera of Basilisa and Martin Laturnas of Bohol, Ignacio Sombrado of Bohol, Teodoro Regacion of Leyte, Pedro Toquib of Bukidnon and Benjamin Ratonil of Cebu.
The "First Thirteen", like the early New Testament apostles, were sent out by Ecleo to preach, "heal" the sick and recruit followers.
The PBMA claims Ecleo started his "mission" as early as 1941 when the PBMA founder was still a boy. At eight, it said the boy Ruben had "reached far places on mission" and that he had received "dictations from the spiritual realm" in the mountains of northern Leyte at the age of 11. He began his "full mission" a year later, when he was already 12.
The "dictations", according to the PBMA, came in the form of a voice from Devachan while Ecleo was meditating, surrounded by "pythons, deadly insects, venomous vipers and reptiles".
Devachan, in Indian language, is the equivalent of the word "paradise" to Christians, a second heaven for the soul and a place of rest to Buddhists.
The PBMA also claims Ecleo was guided by the Arhat and taught by the Avatar.
Arhat is a Buddhist term for "worthy one" or "destroyer of the foe (ignorance)", a title given to those who have achieved "Nirvana" which is the state wherein a man is believed to have been freed from suffering or from the cycle of birth and death. In Hindu usage, Avatar refers to any incarnation of the god Vishnu. Used generally, it refers to any descent of a god into the world in human form.
The "voices", adds the PBMA, trained Ecleo in reading and writing in Arabic, Hebrew, Sanskrit and Aramaic so he could "interpret the ancient mysteries" and make predictions based on "Akashic Records" or, in Hindu mysticism, "cosmic consciousness".
Cult leaders say Ecleo had possessed the powers to be omnipresent like the "Master Jesus [Christ] who had been in the Americas, Egypt, India and in his native Judea simultaneously, aside from being in the monastery in the Essenean School, near Mount Serbal, overlooking the Black Sea". Mainstream Christian sects have rejected such teaching.
The cultists claim Ecleo "could do almost anything" by reciting the Mantra which, in Hinduism and Buddhism, refers to a sacred word or syllable repeated in prayer and meditation.
And like the biblical Jesus Christ, the PBMA leader can also transfigure himself and can even resurrect the dead, according to the cult.
"Master Ruben can materialize anywhere at will," claims the PBMA. It said Ecleo, on numerous occasions since his childhood, had been present in various places at the same time. "While performing his missionary work in Agusan, he was also physically travelling somewhere in Davao, Bukidnon, Leyte and Samar, using different names (and) perhaps different faces, some of whom are old or young identities..."
The cult said "all manifested personalities"--with nicknames such as Ben, Obing, Fred, Freddie, Ruben, Tony and Dr. Laway--had cured the sick like the "Lord Jesus who first applied these powers in Judea..."
PBMA leaders say Ecleo's "healing powers" directly come from "our Divine Father by virtue of the sacred or divine prayers which are called in Occultism as Mantras".
'Ecleo Kingdom'
RUBEN Ecleo Sr. built for himself and his family a "kingdom" on impoverished Dinagat, a small, irregular and typhoon-prone island mass off the northeastern tip of Mindanao.
Since it was chartered in 1965, the late cult leader's Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) virtually turned the entire island into an "Ecleo Country".
The cult also became a political machinery that it created, wittingly or unwittingly, a political dynasty for the Ecleos.
Ecleo's elder brother, Moises, became a governor of Surigao del Norte. His wife, the former Glenda Oliveros Buray of Gitagum, Misamis Oriental, is now a representative of Surigao del Norte to the Lower House while his son Ruben Jr. was one-time mayor of San Jose town. Another Ecleo son, Allan II, is presently mayor of the same town where the PBMA solidified its base.
On San Jose now stand four multimillion-peso PBMA landmarks--the "Divine Master's Shrine", "Master's Mansion", "Comet House" and the cult's administration building.
The San Jose edifices are indications that the PBMA has grown into a multimillion-peso, if not a billionaire establishment.
It is estimated that the PBMA has already raised at least P35 million in entrance fees from its members since 1965. The figure is insignificant if one considered the estimated P70-million annual revenue the PBMA generates by imposing annual dues on its members in the country.
The PBMA charter obliges each new member to pay P10 as "entrance fee". Every year, each PBMA member is expected to pay a P20-annual fee.
The PBMA boasts of having 3.5 million members in the country alone. It claims it also has members in Jordan, Canada, Australia, Palau, Hong Kong, Guam, Singapore, Malaysia, London, Italy, Monaco, Germany, Hawaii, New York and Scotland, among others. The group claims it is also organizing more PBMA chapters abroad.
Aside from its fixed entrance- and annual-fee incomes, the PBMA charter also encourages members to voluntarily give money "when the Board of Directors or the Supreme President... may desire to plead to the general members for the good or the betterment of the association".
The association's constitution and by-laws is silent on the sale of PBMA rings but a Surigao city-based source said all its members are expected to wear one for identification.
Each PBMA ring, according to the source, costs somewhere "between P50 to P100, more or less".
With all the money the PBMA rakes in, not to mention the influence it wields over Dinagat, nearby towns and neighboring Surigao City, it has virtually become a little government in its own right with a well-greased "private army", ironically, on the impoverished Surigao del Norte island.
"Many of the PBMA members living in Dinagat are armed," said a Surigao-based source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The source said the armed PBMA members have made an oath to protect the "master", referring to Ecleo's son and successor Ruben Jr. who is facing a lawsuit in connection with the grisly murder of his wife, the former Alona Bacolod. Alona, who died by strangulation, was found inside a garbage bag dumped in a secluded area in Cebu last January.
Agents of the National Police's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) who were sent to Dinagat island last week complained they failed to serve an arrest warrant against the parricide suspect because residents have been protecting the PBMA "master".
The Cebu-based CIDG team also accused the entire San Jose police force of coddling Ruben Jr. who is believed hiding inside the Ecleo mansion in San Jose town.
"That's the extent of the influence of the Ecleos in Dinagat. They even control the police," another source said.
Not a cult?
PHILIPPINE Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) "Divine Master" Ruben Ecleo Sr.'s namesake and other leaders of the group resent being called "cultists".
They maintain that the PBMA is not a cult and that the group is "neither a religion nor a sect".
Its primer says the PBMA is merely an association for brotherhood and charity and does not interfere with religious faiths. "Members have been constantly urged to strengthen their faith and relations with the religion where they respectively belong."
The PBMA defines a cult as a "system of religious worship" and a group "devoted to a person, principle, etc."--therefore, according to them, the association does not fall under such category because "it does not practice any form of religious worship".
None of the Ecleos is being worshipped as a god although the PBMA admits its followers give their late founder and his successor Ruben Jr. a "particular regard".
The father and son, says the PBMA, have become their "rallying point in translating the aspirations of promoting world brotherhood, through benevolent practices, into actuality".
That PBMA policies are being formulated by a board of directors, and not just by one person, "squarely negates the unwarranted accusation that (the PBMA) is a cult", reads a portion of the group's primer.
And that PBMA members call the elder Ecleo "divine master" and his successor-son "supreme president" and "master" does not mean they are considered as religious leaders, much more as gods, the primer adds.
"As the title of 'Grandmaster' is accorded to an international chess champion (and) 'Most Worshipful Master' or 'Very Worshipful Master' is given to the top leadership of the order of Masonry, so is the title of distinction bestowed to the successor (Ruben Jr.) of a leader who single-handedly organized such an internationally renowned organization as the PBMA... by calling him 'Master'."
But the PBMA admits that its members regard its founder as "one (who) is devoted to God", "supremely great", "holy" and "good", not to mention "miracle worker".
Aside from the elder Ecleo's "transfigurations", "healing powers", "ability to raise the dead", "accurately predict" and be "omnipresent", the PBMA also teaches that, like the biblical Jesus Christ, their late founder was resurrected from the dead and appeared to nearly "half a million of his followers and friends" on two occassions, specifically in the evenings of Dec. 24 and Dec. 31, 1987.
The PBMA claims Ruben Sr. had predicted the day of his death, his supposed resurrection and re-appearance.
It said the PBMA founder "re-appeared" four days after his death. The exact reason for Ecleo's death remains unclear to this day.
Although it was not clear where Ruben Sr. "re-appeared", the PBMA claims to have recorded the supposedly resurrected group founder "discoursing, admonishing, singing, and embracing close relatives and friends" on tape.
"And (how) do you call a person who, despite his humble origins and unknown beginnings, proved to have sucessfully cured (the) ailments of millions of people?" asks the PBMA.
The PBMA primer did not give a categorical answer to that question but the group admitted in a separate account that their late leader and founder "gave an impression to the people... that (Ruben Sr.) was no less than (a) misguided psychophant (sic) or a crazy charlatan, bent on working with invisible denizens from whose powers he made manifest his psychic influence."
Kuratong Baleleng: Revered
gangsters, vigilantes
(this feature appeared in The Manila Times, May 18, 2002)
By HERBIE S. GOMEZ
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- The front-page photo of a Mindanao daily shows a handcuffed young man in a white sleeveless undergarment crying as he points to a friend. His name is Jhunjon Aldemita, 22 years old, robbery suspect.
On Aldemita's left is a stout, tough-looking man clad in a baby pink office polo barong. His index finger also points to Aldemita's 25-year-old friend Joseph Anore, another suspected robber.
Three other fingers are curled back towards him, holding firm a pistol, still in its leather holster.
The pistol-wielding man is Reynaldo "Aldong" Parojinog Sr., the mayor of Ozamiz, who is earning a moniker for himself as the city's "Dirty Harry". He is also the titular head of the Kuratong Baleleng. The group earned notoriety as a kidnap-for-ransom syndicate. But it is also popular in Mindanao, where impoverished villages continue to provide support to various local versions of Robin Hood.
Parojinog led policemen in arresting Aldemita and Anore, suspects in last Friday's Barangay Lam-an robbery. The two were the latest in a long list of suspected petty criminals arrested in Ozamiz raids led by Parojinog. The suspects' crimes range from thievery to illegal drug use and small-time drug pushing.
Parajinog believes these small victories would usher in a new era of peace and order.
Shortly before taking up his post in 2001, Parojinog vowed an "all-out war" against criminals in Ozamiz. It was the same phrase used by deposed president Joseph Estrada in his campaign against separatist rebels.
A coincidence perhaps, but Parojinog is a known ally of Estrada, even if seven years ago, 11 Kuratong Baleleng members were killed in what human rights crusaders insist was a massacre carried out by Estrada's top aides in the now defunct Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC).
Panfilo Lacson, former PACC chief and now senator, says the men were killed in a shootout. Police officers are hoping the Supreme Court could allow the trial of the case, which many believe was whitewashed under the Estrada administration.
Like his friend Estrada, Parojinog has been linked to crime as much as law enforcement activities.
Police have tagged the Kuratong Baleleng in assassinations, robberies, drug trafficking, and high-level smuggling operations in Mindanao and elsewhere in the country.
A government agent working under the Office of the President leaked to this writer a 2000 intelligence report that linked the Kuratong Baleleng to a plan to smuggle flat televisions and other appliances into the country in time for that year's Yuletide season.
The intelligence report said a meeting took place between then president Estrada's crony, Charlie "Atong" Ang and a leader of the Kuratong Baleleng at the Jai Alai Fronton in Manila, where they allegedly finalized the plan.
The intelligence report was leaked weeks after a military task force linked the Kuratong Baleleng to the illegal shipment of imported rice and sugar at the port of Ozamiz.
Military officials at that time alleged that the Kuratong Baleleng was collecting from smugglers a fixed fee for every sack of sugar and rice.
In an inter-office memorandum, a customs official claimed authorities had difficulties in carrying out anti-smuggling operations in Ozamiz because the city, at that time, was a haven of a mafia-like crime group.
All these accusations were strongly denied by the Kuratong Baleleng leadership.
Ironically, the Kuratong Baleleng is well-loved and revered in Ozamiz City and Misamis Occidental.
Asked in 1999 how many members Kuratong Baleleng has, Parojinog replied: "Almost everybody here in Ozamiz."
Mayor Parojinog inherited the leadership of the Kuratong Baleleng from his father Octavio alias "Ongkoy", who founded and turned the organization into a vigilante group. Also called "Kuya" (Big Brother) by residents of Ozamiz and Misamis provinces, Octavio was assassinated while attending a cock derby in 1990.
Octavio's other son, Renato, another revered Kuratong Baleleng leader, met a similar fate when he was shot dead in Manila early this year. At the time, Renato was a member of the Misamis Occidental provincial board.
If Davao City and its neighboring provinces in southern Mindanao had its Marcos-era Alsa Masa fighting the New People's Army (NPA), northern Mindanao, particularly Ozamiz and Misamis Occidental, had the Kuratong Baleleng as an anti-communist vigilante group.
In a January 1999 interview, Mayor Parojinog, then the representative of Ozamiz's Association of Barangay Councils to the city council, admitted that his father organized the Kuratong Baleleng with the support of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos' military intelligence network.
He claimed there were many occasions when intelligence operatives joined Kuratong Baleleng fighters in raiding suspected NPA hideouts and other anti-communist operations.
Parojinog said the vigilante group was a brainchild of a certain Gen. Tapia and a Maj. Calanog who saw his father as a potential leader.
Other sources said Marcos defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile, also a close Estrada ally, gave Kuratong Baleleng his "blessings".
Octavio was a feared yet respected man in Ozamiz, according to a weekly newspaper publisher who claimed to have known the Parojinog patriarch. The source also claimed to be a former member of the Kuratong Baleleng. "The people of Ozamiz loved Ongkoy," he said. "He was a local Robin Hood."
While many residents complained about rebel "revolutionary taxes", Parojinog boasted that his group distributed food to impoverished Ozamiz and Misamis residents.
In return, Parojinog said people gave the Kuratotong Baleleng necessary information on the NPA.
Even the caves tell tales
By HERBIE S. GOMEZ
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY--People were already living -- and most likely trading -- in Cagayan de Oro many centuries before the history of Rome began (753 BC), before the completion of the 1,900-kilometer Great Wall of China during the reign of Emperor Shih Huang Ti of the Ch'in Dynasty (204 BC), before the birth of Buddha (563 BC) and even before Moses led his people out of Egypt (around 1200 BC).
There is strong evidence that Cagayan de Oro or a settlement in what is now northern Mindanao's richest city existed long before these great episodes in man's history.
"Until quite recently, all that we knew about the beginnings of Cagayan de Oro was contained in the few and brief notices in the chronicles of the early Spanish missionaries. And these writings go no further back than the early 17th century, to be exact, 1622," reads a portion of The Huluga Caves and the Prehistory of Cagayan de Oro by the late Jesuit priest Francisco Demetrio. "Yet we know that before the coming of the Spaniards, and even before the coming of Islam, there were people already dwelling along the riverbanks of Cagayan de Oro."
The Demetrio paper says there are tales about Cagayan de Oro that differ in a number of points but all agree that the present city is only "the second settlement."
There was an earlier sitio (a small village), according to the Demetrio account, that was situated somewhere up a river, "eight kilometers towards the south." Demetrio had referred to Himologan or Nahulugan, now known as Huluga, a small village in Barangay Indahag this city that is situated along the Cagayan de Oro River.
The legends, "though embroidered with fancy and imagination... carry a kernel of truth," writes Demetrio.
Huluga which is part of Taguanao, Barangay Indahag, is the location of an archaeological site where the oldest historical find so far in Mindanao was dug up.
DISCOVERY
In the early '70s, a cave found in the brow of a cliff by the river yielded skeletal remains mixed with shards of pottery that had either been buried along with the dead or used as burial jars. Glass beads, a native spoon, a pendant, a bracelet, stone tools, an ax tip and pieces of iron were also unearthed inside the cave.
Another cave adjacent to the first yielded ancient metal tools and household utensils.
The absence of human bones and the presence of animal bones in the second cave, according to Demetrio, lend credence to the opinion that it "might have been a habitation site, and that the people buried their dead next door."
Experts from the National Museum were convinced that these caves were used by the early Cagayanons from the late Neolithic to the Iron Age.
"Man is ancient in Cagayan de Oro; we are not a race of upstarts," writes Demetrio.
TWO LEGENDS
The first two tales in Illustrated Folktales, a Xavier University publication edited by Demetrio, share contrasting versions on how northern Mindanao's most highly urbanized city supposedly got its name.
Originally, Cagayan de Oro was called Kalambagohan, a name derived from Lambago, a tree species that abundantly grew along the riverbanks.
According to the first legend, the place and the river, both called Kalambagohan, were later renamed by the villagers after their princess, Cagayha-an, who was "taken" by one of her many "silent admirers" in reference to the now Cagayan de Oro River.
The princess was named Cagayha-an, a Bukidnon word for shame, because all the men who asked for her hand were unable to pay the dowry set by her father "and went home with heavy heart."
The second tale tells about a wealthy tribal chieftain named Datu Bagunsaribo who accepted the challenge of the Sultan of Lanao for them to throw a month-long feast to determine who was richer.
After two weeks, the sultan's provisions, despite contributions from his people, began to give way while those of Bagunsaribo remained as though untouched. Since then, Datu Bagunsaribo's place was called "Cagayha-an sa mga Maranaw" or the place where the people of Lanao were deeply embarrassed.
OTHER TALES
Another tale, though not included in Illustrated Folktales, claims that the aborigines of Kalambagohan were Bukidnons who evacuated to safer grounds after Maguindanaoans, a rival tribe from Lanao, stormed their village some time in the late 16th century.
Later, Rajah Moda Samporna, the leader of the Maguindanaoans, fell for the Bukidnon datu's daughter and became her "prisoner of love". The Maguindanao warriors felt so ashamed of their defeat that they changed the name Kalambagohan to Caayahan, a Moro word for shame.
(Historically, the Sampornas who became the ruling families in Cagayha-an were given the family name of Neri around 1779 when Rev. Pedro de Santa Barbara baptized his Filipino converts.)
There is another tale, a Maranao legend, according to the Demetrio account, that claims the city's name was derived from the word kaga-qi-an or "the place of yesterday".
"In other words, the Maranaos, according to this oral tradition, look back with nostalgia to the region of Cagayan de Oro as the place of their yesterday, that is, of their ancient glory," writes Demetrio.
The local government's Historical Commission has rejected Demetrio's accounts on the origin of the city's name which the priest had based on the legends, citing a study on the proto-Filipino language by another Jesuit priest, Miguel Bernad. According to Bernad, Cagayan was derived from the word "kagay" which simply means river or a place by the river.
ANCIENT CIVILIZATION
Contrary to oral tradition, there existed a civilization in Cagayan de Oro long before Islam reached Mindanao's shores.
The introduction of Islam in the Philippines dates no further back than 1380 when the Arabian scholar Mudum arrived in Sulu from the Malay Peninsula to preach the doctrines of Mohammed. But there is compelling evidence that people, much more ancient than the characters in the legends, have been in Cagayan de Oro longer than what has been written in the history books.
The 1962 discovery of a skull cap and a portion of a jaw in a Palawan cave shows positive proof that man was in the Philippines at least as early as 21,000 or 22,000 years ago. However, the skeletal remains found in one of the Huluga caves show that Cagayan de Oro was already a home to man long before the birth of Mohammed or even before that of Jesus Christ's.
No story tells of Cagayan de Oro's primeval past the way the caves of Huluga do.
A Xavier University team discovered this some three decades ago when the group unearthed skeletal remains, pottery vessels, ornaments and tools inside the caves of Huluga. The group immediately organized the exploration after residents reported they discovered artifacts inside one of the caves.
The diggings and examination, reportedly lasting for about three years, could have resulted in more discoveries had residents informed experts earlier about the caves' existence.
"Much damage has been done to the stratigraphy because pot-hunters had been at work there before... the existence of the caves (was brought) to our attention," writes Demetrio.
AGE-DATING
Antonio "Nono" Montalvan who used to serve in the local government's Historical Commission, said the artifacts have been traced back to the late Neolithic to the Metal Age periods, suggesting a very long duration of usage of the Huluga caves.
Careful examination, according to Montalvan, revealed the skeletal remains unearthed inside one of the caves belonged to an aborigine who lived in Cagayan de Oro around 1600 BC.
This was confirmed by Dr. Erlinda Burton, director of Xavier University's Research Institute, who sent bone samples for acid racemization to the Scripps Institute at Jolla, San Diego, California, in 1977.
Explorers also found a skull on a niche along the inside wall of one of the caves' chambers.
Anthropologist Jess Peralta of the National Museum said the skull belonged to a woman in her early '30s. The skull has been on exhibit at the Museo de Oro since the mid-'80s.
CAVES' TALES
Montalvan said experts were looking into the possibility there was trading in Cagayan de Oro as early as 1600 BC since the vessels unearthed together with the skeletal remains "are not Filipino in origin".
"There are vestiges of probable Annamese and Thai potteries," reads a caption in one of Museo's guidebooks. "In other words: extensive existence of trade ware."
There is also a belief that the cave where the skeletal remains were found was used as a burial site by Cagayan de Oro's early dwellers and the potteries that were buried with the dead were mortuary offerings. Oral tradition has it that ancient Cagayanons provided their dead with ornaments, potteries or metal tools to be used as "bribe" for the "guardians of Hades" or the underworld.
Also unearthed inside the cave were a bronze ax tip, pieces of badly rusted iron, five stone tools of which two were well-polished while two others were semi-polished, a roughly fashioned jasper stone, a broken shell bracelet, glass beads, a boar-tooth pendant, and a native shell spoon.
Not much has been yielded by the second cave aside from metal tools, household utensils and animal bones but the discovery bolstered the theory that it was a place for habitation while the other cave was merely used as a burial ground by the early dwellers of Cagayan de Oro.
A third cave has yet to yield an artifact, said Montalvan.
TIME DEPTH
An assemblage of artifacts from the Huluga Caves are currently on display at the ground floor of the museum. These include two cooking pots, a water container, a water pot, two bowls, a pot lid, a boar-tusk pendant, broken shell bracelets, an adze, flake tools, a tip and a fragment of bronze tools, and an iron tool.
Experts said they were convinced the pottery vessels were products of the Philippine Iron Age while the adze and flake tools were made during the late Neolithic period.
Using the method of cultural comparison, "it is not far from the truth when one asserts that this area was occupied as early as 2,000 years ago. It's probable that this date could be pushed back into greater time depth," reads a portion of one of the museum's exhibit guidebooks.
OPEN SITE
Montalvan said Huluga's open site continues to yield evidence that ancient people inhabited the area.
The open site is situated some seven feet above the river and directly north of the hill on the higher elevation and the caves.
"Until now, one could find fragments of pottery and obsidian flakes on the surface," said Montalvan.
Demetrio had reported that a National Museum archaeologist recovered a lot of pottery shards and about 70 pieces of obsidian after digging three pits at the open site.
The porcelain shards were believed to be of the Sung and Ming dynasties, meaning between 960 to 1279 and 1368 to 1644.
However, the artifacts became so fragmentary that reconstruction was unachievable. But archaeologists, after initial inspection, were convinced some of the artifacts "had been definitely shaped by human hands".
Experts have yet to establish whether there was a link between those who lived and buried their dead in the caves and the people who dwelled in the Huluga open site.
Even the caves tell tales
By HERBIE S. GOMEZ
CAGAYAN de Oro City, Philippines -- People were already living -- and most likely trading -- in Cagayan de Oro many centuries before the history of Rome began (753 BC), before the completion of the 1,900-kilometer Great Wall of China during the reign of Emperor Shih Huang Ti of the Ch'in Dynasty (204 BC), before the birth of Buddha (563 BC) and even before Moses led his people out of Egypt (around 1200 BC).
There is strong evidence that Cagayan de Oro or a settlement in what is now northern Mindanao's richest city existed long before these great episodes in man's history.
"Until quite recently, all that we knew about the beginnings of Cagayan de Oro was contained in the few and brief notices in the chronicles of the early Spanish missionaries. And these writings go no further back than the early 17th century, to be exact, 1622," reads a portion of The Huluga Caves and the Prehistory of Cagayan de Oro by the late Jesuit priest Francisco Demetrio. "Yet we know that before the coming of the Spaniards, and even before the coming of Islam, there were people already dwelling along the riverbanks of Cagayan de Oro."
The Demetrio paper says there are tales about Cagayan de Oro that differ in a number of points but all agree that the present city is only "the second settlement."
There was an earlier sitio (a small village), according to the Demetrio account, that was situated somewhere up a river, "eight kilometers towards the south." Demetrio had referred to Himologan or Nahulugan, now known as Huluga, a small village in Barangay Indahag this city that is situated along the Cagayan de Oro River.
The legends, "though embroidered with fancy and imagination... carry a kernel of truth," writes Demetrio.
Huluga which is part of Taguanao, Barangay Indahag, is the location of an archaeological site where the oldest historical find so far in Mindanao was dug up.
DISCOVERY
In the early '70s, a cave found in the brow of a cliff by the river yielded skeletal remains mixed with shards of pottery that had either been buried along with the dead or used as burial jars. Glass beads, a native spoon, a pendant, a bracelet, stone tools, an ax tip and pieces of iron were also unearthed inside the cave.
Another cave adjacent to the first yielded ancient metal tools and household utensils.
The absence of human bones and the presence of animal bones in the second cave, according to Demetrio, lend credence to the opinion that it "might have been a habitation site, and that the people buried their dead next door."
Experts from the National Museum were convinced that these caves were used by the early Cagayanons from the late Neolithic to the Iron Age.
"Man is ancient in Cagayan de Oro; we are not a race of upstarts," writes Demetrio.
TWO LEGENDS
The first two tales in Illustrated Folktales, a Xavier University publication edited by Demetrio, share contrasting versions on how northern Mindanao's most highly urbanized city supposedly got its name.
Originally, Cagayan de Oro was called Kalambagohan, a name derived from Lambago, a tree species that abundantly grew along the riverbanks.
According to the first legend, the place and the river, both called Kalambagohan, were later renamed by the villagers after their princess, Cagayha-an, who was "taken" by one of her many "silent admirers" in reference to the now Cagayan de Oro River.
The princess was named Cagayha-an, a Bukidnon word for shame, because all the men who asked for her hand were unable to pay the dowry set by her father "and went home with heavy heart."
The second tale tells about a wealthy tribal chieftain named Datu Bagunsaribo who accepted the challenge of the Sultan of Lanao for them to throw a month-long feast to determine who was richer.
After two weeks, the sultan's provisions, despite contributions from his people, began to give way while those of Bagunsaribo remained as though untouched. Since then, Datu Bagunsaribo's place was called "Cagayha-an sa mga Maranaw" or the place where the people of Lanao were deeply embarrassed.
OTHER TALES
Another tale, though not included in Illustrated Folktales, claims that the aborigines of Kalambagohan were Bukidnons who evacuated to safer grounds after Maguindanaoans, a rival tribe from Lanao, stormed their village some time in the late 16th century.
Later, Rajah Moda Samporna, the leader of the Maguindanaoans, fell for the Bukidnon datu's daughter and became her "prisoner of love". The Maguindanao warriors felt so ashamed of their defeat that they changed the name Kalambagohan to Caayahan, a Moro word for shame.
(Historically, the Sampornas who became the ruling families in Cagayha-an were given the family name of Neri around 1779 when Rev. Pedro de Santa Barbara baptized his Filipino converts.)
There is another tale, a Maranao legend, according to the Demetrio account, that claims the city's name was derived from the word kaga-qi-an or "the place of yesterday".
"In other words, the Maranaos, according to this oral tradition, look back with nostalgia to the region of Cagayan de Oro as the place of their yesterday, that is, of their ancient glory," writes Demetrio.
The local government's Historical Commission has rejected Demetrio's accounts on the origin of the city's name which the priest had based on the legends, citing a study on the proto-Filipino language by another Jesuit priest, Miguel Bernad. According to Bernad, Cagayan was derived from the word "kagay" which simply means river or a place by the river.
ANCIENT CIVILIZATION
Contrary to oral tradition, there existed a civilization in Cagayan de Oro long before Islam reached Mindanao's shores.
The introduction of Islam in the Philippines dates no further back than 1380 when the Arabian scholar Mudum arrived in Sulu from the Malay Peninsula to preach the doctrines of Mohammed. But there is compelling evidence that people, much more ancient than the characters in the legends, have been in Cagayan de Oro longer than what has been written in the history books.
The 1962 discovery of a skull cap and a portion of a jaw in a Palawan cave shows positive proof that man was in the Philippines at least as early as 21,000 or 22,000 years ago. However, the skeletal remains found in one of the Huluga caves show that Cagayan de Oro was already a home to man long before the birth of Mohammed or even before that of Jesus Christ's.
No story tells of Cagayan de Oro's primeval past the way the caves of Huluga do.
A Xavier University team discovered this some three decades ago when the group unearthed skeletal remains, pottery vessels, ornaments and tools inside the caves of Huluga. The group immediately organized the exploration after residents reported they discovered artifacts inside one of the caves.
The diggings and examination, reportedly lasting for about three years, could have resulted in more discoveries had residents informed experts earlier about the caves' existence.
"Much damage has been done to the stratigraphy because pot-hunters had been at work there before... the existence of the caves (was brought) to our attention," writes Demetrio.
AGE-DATING
Antonio "Nono" Montalvan who used to serve in the local government's Historical Commission, said the artifacts have been traced back to the late Neolithic to the Metal Age periods, suggesting a very long duration of usage of the Huluga caves.
Careful examination, according to Montalvan, revealed the skeletal remains unearthed inside one of the caves belonged to an aborigine who lived in Cagayan de Oro around 1600 BC.
This was confirmed by Dr. Erlinda Burton, director of Xavier University's Research Institute, who sent bone samples for acid racemization to the Scripps Institute at Jolla, San Diego, California, in 1977.
Explorers also found a skull on a niche along the inside wall of one of the caves' chambers.
Anthropologist Jess Peralta of the National Museum said the skull belonged to a woman in her early '30s. The skull has been on exhibit at the Museo de Oro since the mid-'80s.
CAVES' TALES
Montalvan said experts were looking into the possibility there was trading in Cagayan de Oro as early as 1600 BC since the vessels unearthed together with the skeletal remains "are not Filipino in origin".
"There are vestiges of probable Annamese and Thai potteries," reads a caption in one of Museo's guidebooks. "In other words: extensive existence of trade ware."
There is also a belief that the cave where the skeletal remains were found was used as a burial site by Cagayan de Oro's early dwellers and the potteries that were buried with the dead were mortuary offerings. Oral tradition has it that ancient Cagayanons provided their dead with ornaments, potteries or metal tools to be used as "bribe" for the "guardians of Hades" or the underworld.
Also unearthed inside the cave were a bronze ax tip, pieces of badly rusted iron, five stone tools of which two were well-polished while two others were semi-polished, a roughly fashioned jasper stone, a broken shell bracelet, glass beads, a boar-tooth pendant, and a native shell spoon.
Not much has been yielded by the second cave aside from metal tools, household utensils and animal bones but the discovery bolstered the theory that it was a place for habitation while the other cave was merely used as a burial ground by the early dwellers of Cagayan de Oro.
A third cave has yet to yield an artifact, said Montalvan.
TIME DEPTH
An assemblage of artifacts from the Huluga Caves are currently on display at the ground floor of the museum. These include two cooking pots, a water container, a water pot, two bowls, a pot lid, a boar-tusk pendant, broken shell bracelets, an adze, flake tools, a tip and a fragment of bronze tools, and an iron tool.
Experts said they were convinced the pottery vessels were products of the Philippine Iron Age while the adze and flake tools were made during the late Neolithic period.
Using the method of cultural comparison, "it is not far from the truth when one asserts that this area was occupied as early as 2,000 years ago. It's probable that this date could be pushed back into greater time depth," reads a portion of one of the museum's exhibit guidebooks.
OPEN SITE
Montalvan said Huluga's open site continues to yield evidence that ancient people inhabited the area.
The open site is situated some seven feet above the river and directly north of the hill on the higher elevation and the caves.
"Until now, one could find fragments of pottery and obsidian flakes on the surface," said Montalvan.
Demetrio had reported that a National Museum archaeologist recovered a lot of pottery shards and about 70 pieces of obsidian after digging three pits at the open site.
The porcelain shards were believed to be of the Sung and Ming dynasties, meaning between 960 to 1279 and 1368 to 1644.
However, the artifacts became so fragmentary that reconstruction was unachievable. But archaeologists, after initial inspection, were convinced some of the artifacts "had been definitely shaped by human hands".
Experts have yet to establish whether there was a link between those who lived and buried their dead in the caves and the people who dwelled in the Huluga open site.
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