Wow! The art of letter writing really bloomed in this past elections, no? We’ve heard about letters being sent by Sagada politicians to each other (but which was also furnished to Sagada voters). We hope to eventually get copies of said letters and to publish them here if they are praiseworthy or “mockworthy”. There’s also an interesting letter sent to our iSabangan kailiyans and a response to said letter by some concerned iSabangans which you can read at the Northern Philippine Times blog.
Here’s a backgrounder for said Sabangan letters: Although he won in Mt. Province, re-electionist Congressman Victor Dominguez lost very badly in the town of Sabangan to his nephew Sabangan Mayor Jupiter Dominguez. Victor’s loss in said town obviously prompted his youth supporters (the Victor Dominguez Youth Brigade) to write a letter to iSabangans which could be summarized as: “Walang utang na loob! Pagkatapos kayong inaruga, binihisan, at pinakain. Ito ang igaganti ninyo kay Victor.”
When Mang Donald put up a restaurant and named it “Mang Donald’s”, he got sued by Mac Donald’s for trademark violation.
When a coffee company uses the name of our towns and provinces for its coffee products, shouldn’t we also be suing it for taking advantage of our place names? Surely it is not an accident that they are using our place names isn’t it? They are doing it because the names of our towns and provinces (in the pictures above from left: Ifugao Brew, Kalinga Brew, Sagada Brew, Benguet Brew) sound exotic and, in the coffee business, exotic sells. There is also some goodwill attached to our place names (in the same manner that there is some goodwill attached to the MacDonald’s brand) that the company wants to take advantage of.
Of course we all know that some people want to become Congressman/Congresswoman because they want to serve their constituents. And, of course, we also know that public service is not its own reward because congressional representatives have this thing called pork barrel (or Priority Development Assistance Fund) which they are allowed to disburse according to their heart’s content.
In Tagalog, bahala sila kung ano ang kanilang gagawin sa pera. We should bear in mind though that a Congressman’s or Congresswoman’s pork barrel is not really his/her own money but our money. So there should be no reason for us to be indebted to our congressional representatives mainly because they brought a project to our area. It’s not as if they used their own personal funds. Right?
Ha! And you thought we will no longer bore you with more election coverage. Well this one is too good to not blog about. It’s kind of like the case filed by Joe Molintas vs. Morris Domogan.
PPCRV denounces vote-buying in Mt. Province From the PIA
In case you are wondering how those hanging coffins in Sagada went up those really steep rocks, this video shows us how it is done. If iSagadas are really smart (as they claim themselves to be hehe), they should not just be contented with showing off the hanging coffins to tourists but should now be working for its preservation. Methinks Ifugaos are doing a better job in preserving their cultural heritage and in asking for help from agencies/organizations that could help them in this challenge. For one, they made attempts to have their cultural wealth recognized by agencies such as UNESCO, etc.
The iSagadas? We still have to see them do something. Kuntento lang yata sila to just talk about their tourist attractions which, from where we sit, are slowly deteriorating. We hope the incoming officials of the town will do something about this.
Wow! The art of letter writing really bloomed in this past elections, no? We’ve heard about letters being sent by Sagada politicians to each other (but which was also furnished to Sagada voters). We hope to eventually get copies of said letters and to publish them here if they are praiseworthy or “mockworthy”. There’s also an interesting letter sent to our iSabangan kailiyans and a response to said letter by some concerned iSabangans which you can read at the Northern Philippine Times blog.
