Private First Class Manuel Tayaban is one of our recent heroes who lost his life because of the ongoing conflict in Basilan. He is reportedly from Asin in Tuba, Benguet. His sacrifice and heroism will hopefully help our country find the peace that it deserves.
Our condolences to PFC Tayaban’s family.
UPDATE: Mining really is a risky job. A day after two miners died in Tuba, two more miners suffocated to death inside a private mine in Mankayan. Here’s the report from GMANews.tv:
Two more miners in Benguet died after being trapped inside a private mining site last Tuesday afternoon, police said Thursday.
We hope you already read our post about “those gallant Igorots” during World War II. And that you also watched the video documentary about some of these Igorot heroes. We plead guilty to prematurely judging the video but we don’t feel too bad (maybe just a bit hehe) because our critique prompted its producers to come to its defense and so we got to learn that the documentary is really more about the 66th Infantry Battalion.
Now, why are we digging back those old posts? Well it’s because they are related to this story about Major Dennis Molintas, Sr. — an Igorot World War II hero and the man who headed the 66th Infantry Battalion. Thanks to our good friend, Danilova Molintas for sharing this article with us.
So we were preparing to diss Baguio Congressman Mauricio Domogan with words like, “Boo, he does everything GMA bids him to do but he is not rewarded at all with an important position in Congress.” It turns out that our imagined reason for dissing him is no longer valid.
Why? Well, he just got himself an important position in Congress. Domogan now heads the congressional component of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal, the body which decides the election protests filed against members of the Lower House. No doubt he will continue to do GMA’s bidding there but at least he got some reward for his loyalty to GMA.
Congratulations to you sir. We will eat our words for now. We still don’t like your being such a GMA rah-rah boy but at least you got something from being one.
Continue reading Congress Watch: Domogan Gets Important Post
Here’s a video with a timely (and timeless) message. It is fun to watch and it helps that the singer is also having fun. The song is in Kankanaey but, to be honest, I don’t know what the following words mean: bigis (worm/pest?), kipkipita’m (close one’s eyes?), pina-ugam (impregnated?), manmisa (go to church?). The song is in Benguet Kankanaey so I’m not familiar with some of the words.
Anyway, I’m going to follow Wil’s example and ask for your help in translating the song. A translation attempt for non-Kankanaey speakers is found below:
Continue reading Are You a Worm: Ay Bigis Ka?