(This is a repost from a friend’s Facebook notes. Some portions from the original were taken out for space considerations. Please share this information with & through your network/s, dear reader. Thank you.)
October 9, 2009 —The Cordillera Region in Northern Luzon, homeland of indigenous peoples collectively known as Igorots, is one of the areas hit (hardest by) Typhoon Pepeng, after Super-typhoon Ondoy. This mountainous region may not have been as victimized by the flood, but the very nature of the land and terrain has resulted in massive, disastrous landslides that claimed both properties and lives, especially in the mining-ravaged areas of Itogon and Mankayan in Benguet province.
As of 7 PM, the region’s death toll has mounted to 191, with 121 dead in Benguet, 54 in Baguio City with 5 still missing, and 23 in Mountain Province with 32 still missing. Cordillera Peoples Alliance’s chapters and affiliates in Ifugao, Abra, Kalinga and Apayao are still gathering concrete data, but have generally given feedback of massive agricultural damage in the towns of Conner, Apayao and Tabuk, Kalinga. Major roads, such as Kennon, Marcos and Halsema highways have been closed, threatening Baguio City of isolation, while Conner is now totally isolated. A total of 18 landslides were documented (11 in Baguio, 6 in Benguet, 1 in Mountain Province).
Although our Pinoy Rock godfathers and goddessmothers from the 70s and our New Wave/ Pinoi Punk brethren from the 80s do fall under the same general category, “old school” seems to have become a classification that today’s younger set more readily associates with “dekada nobenta” bands, albeit with a quaint naivete.
Please come and visit the TIENDESITAS MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL on May 16-17, 2009 (ngayong weekend na ito!)
MGA MAGTATANGHAL:
I never imagined I’d ever be thanking Martin Nievera for anything other than leaving Pops Fernandez. But after all the controversy generated in the wake of his interpretation of “Lupang Hinirang” during the Pacquiao-Hatton fight, I guess that at the very least, I should credit him for giving me the perfectly-timed moment to take this article out of the drafts bin (where it’s been languishing for over two months now, no thanks to a bogus writing job offer-scam perpetrated by a compulsive liar masquerading as…as…ok, that’ll just have to wait for another post.)
Partylist ng Datu’s, hehe) has now produced the first ever youth sector representative to the Philippine Congress. As of today, Mong Palatino is now the Hon. Congressman Raymond Palatino!
