Son of Cordillera is PMA topnotcher

By: Arthur L. Allad-iw, Northern Dispatch (special to InterAksyon.com)
March 10, 2015 2:29 PM

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BAGUIO CITY, Philippines -- An Igorot, son of a Kankanaey father and Ibaloi mother, is the topnotcher of the 171-strong Philippine Military Academy’s “Sinaglahi” Class of 2015.

Cadet First Class Arwi Chiday Martinez, who graduates cum laude, will receive the Presidential Saber and Philippine Army Saber, and is also the JUSMAG (Joint US Military Assistance Group) Awardee and Tactics Group Awardee.

The topnotcher CFC Martinez. Photo by Mau Victa

He will be joining the Philippine Army.

His father Darcio, a forester from Buguias, Benguet, said he and his wife, an Ibaloi from the Chiday clan of Loakan in this city, fully support their son’s decision and whatever plans he has for the future.
Martinez’s uncle, Jackson Chiday, the elder brother of his mother, was literally speechless when called for an interview.

When he got his voice back, Chiday said Arwi’s achievement is an honor not only for him and his family but for all Ibaloi and Igorots, the term used for the various ethnoliguistic groups of the Cordillera region.
“I” or “Y” means “from” and “golot” means mountain, thus the word literally means “people from the mountain.”

“I hope that he (Arwi) will serve as an inspiration for the ipusan (referring to Igorots who use g-strings) youth; for them to work hard in their studies and achieve their aspirations,” Chiday said.

A “thanksgiving ritual” will be performed by their clan after Arwi’s graduation, said Chiday, who is president of the Onjon ni Ivadoi, a union of Ibaloi residents in this city that spearheaded the celebration of Ibaloi Day on February 23.

HS teachers recall ‘intelligent’ yet ‘humble’ student

Faculty and students of the Baguio City National High School annex in Loakan also welcomed the news of their alumnus’ achievement.

Martinez graduate from the high school in 2010 as first honorable mention, with awards for excellence in science and math.

“He was intelligent yet humble,” his math teacher Mary Leah Duka Abad said in an interview.
She said they had encouraged him to take up engineering but he went into the PMA promising they would be proud of him someday. 

“He always updated us of his (PMA) scholastic standing. We expected him to be in the Top 5 but it is a bonus that he ended up first,” Abad said.

The Baguio City government also hailed Martinez’s achievement.

Martinez is one of two Cordillerans to land in the Top 10 of this year’s graduating PMA class. Cadet First Class Jan Klyde Danganan, from Irisan, is ranked No. 7.

The top ten with PMA officials. Photo by Mau Victa

The other top 10 graduates are:

• Genesis Dizon of Zamboanga City (2)
• John Paul Bacsain of Pili, Camarines Sur (3)
• Paolo Dominis Regis of Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro (4)
• Caroline Jhoy Nacional of Maitum, Sarangani, and the only female (5)
• John Denver Bambico of Naguilian, La Union (6)
• Steven Tali of Zamboanga City (8)
• Brian Villanueva of General Santos City (9)
• Regoric Fuentes of North Cotabato (10)

Sixteen of the graduates are women.

Ninety-two of them are joining the Army, 45 will be in the Navy, and 34 in the Air Force.                              

Indigenous people join calls for PNoy to quit

By: Arthur L. Allad-iw, Northern Dispatch (special to InterAksyon.com)
February 28, 2015 10:03 AM

Rice farming in an indigenous people's community in the Cordillera (photo by Arthur L. Allad-iw)

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines -- A national federation of indigenous people’s groups has joined calls for the resignation of President Benigno Aquino III, citing a “dangerous incompetence” they said can be clearly seen in an economic program that revolves around the plunder of resources in IP communities.

Large-scale mining and energy projects -- coupled with militarization – have enveloped and threatened to destroy IP communities, the Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP) said in a statement.

The group singled out Aquino’s centerpiece Public-Private Partnership program, which KAMP spokesperson Piya Macliing Malayao said, “sold out our lands to private business.”

Malayao blasted Aquino’s Executive Order 79, which she said propped up the Mining Act of 1995 that is causing the most turmoil in indigenous communities nationwide.

While EO 79 ostensibly sets a the moratorium on all mining applications, KAMP said it excluded 712 mine applications approved prior to its issuance.

These applications cover 967,531 hectares, 532,368 hectares of which lie in indigenous communities.
An estimated 100,000 people from 39 tribal groups nationwide will be dislocated or stand to lose their livelihood due to liberalization of mining, KAMP documents said.

Igorots from the provinces of the Cordillera expressed their opposition to the large-scale mining as they heightened their call for repeal of RA 7942 or the Mining Act of 1995. Photo by Arthur Allad-iw

Indigenous people are estimated to make up 12-15 percent of the country’s population of 100 million.
Aside from mines, KAMP said 149 hydropower projects and 16 geothermal projects have been built, are under construction, or are in the pipeline to being built in IP lands.

And wherever mining, energy and other corporate projects are located, KAMP said government forces are also deployed to contain any opposition and paving the way for human rights violations.

“He (Aquino) does not recognize and respect the IPs rights over their lands and self-determination,” Malayao said.

Since 2010, KAMP said that 50 indigenous peoples, 6 of them were women and six were children, had been victims of extrajudicial killings.

The human rights situation of IPs has also worsened under the administration’s counterinsurgency campaign Oplan Bayanihan.

“There is no let-up in human rights violations as BS Aquino revels in impunity … We have every reason to call for his removal in Malacanang,” Malayao ended.

Photo by Arthur Allad-iw