UP Baguio Instructor Poetry Lecturer

Junley Lazaga of the University of the Philippines in Baguio has accepted Timpuyog dagiti Mannurat iti Iluko iti Filipinas invitation to deliver the lecture on the daniw during the 4th TMI-Global International Iluko Literary Conference at the Philippine Ports Authority Convention Hall at Poro Point, San Fernando City on May 19-20. Participants will write their poems after the lecture and their pieces will be studied and evaluated. The best poems will receive prizes. TMIF has allocated at least 3 hours for the daniw. An Australian Filipino family, originally from Bacarra, Ilocos Norte, has donated money for the contest in the genre. It will be a yearly affair.I wish young Ilokano poets like Mighty Rising, Derick Yabes and MMSU and Divine Word College campus poets will participate in the Salip. For this year, poems published in Timpuyog Journal will be considered for the prizes. Kas maawatak, tallo laeng dagiti major prizes ti maited a gunggona.

QUOTATIONS

"The only way to deal with with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."--Albert Camus

"The serious revolutionary, like the serious artist can't afford to lead a sentimental life or self-deceiving life."--Adrienne Rich

     "There is no denying that Islamic extremism poses more threat than other types of religious fanaticism. There are complex historical, social and cultural reasons for this, including the greater prevalence of religious fundamentalism generally in the Islamic world. Islam has yet to have its Enlightenment, and support for a trule secular state remains a minority view in Islam."--Ronald Lindsay, atheist

Did the Laoag City cops keep the P10,000 cash of a drug pusher?

Minutes before the Laoag City policemen arrived on an owner-type jeep to arrest an alleged drug-pusher, the suspect was having halo-halo on a stall in front of the house that the lawmen illegally search. Victor Padayao, 44, who was eventually arrested in the next village, Barangay 7, had probably more than P10,000 in his possession, according to the stall-owner who lives across the street. He was counting his money--mostly P1,000 paper bills--and looking for loose change, but found none and promised to pay for what he has eaten later, according to the 50-year old informant. F0llowing Padayao's arrest, a local television news radio patrol interviewed some of the cops involved in the alleged buy-bust operation. One of them was presenting a P500 bill marked money taken from the pockets of Padayao.But Padayao told his sister, Nellie Montano, 48, that he never took hold of any marked money. Meaning that transaction between Padayao and the drug buyer was never consummated? Where is the more than P10,000 that Padayao was carrying at that time?

Will be sending today, April 10, 2012, my letter to General Nicanor Bartolome on an alleged buy-bust operation conducted by members if the Laoag City Police Station. They barged into the wrong house where they were supposed to arrest an alleged drug pusher, Victor Padayao, 44. The homeowners were not in the house at that time and only their children and their children's relatives were left in their abode. The head of the 4-men police team that raided the house was a certain SPO4 Rovimanuel V.

Balolong. Some people have filed complaints against Balolong with the PIAS in Camp Juan, Provincial PNP headquarters, and a decision or decisions were made against him. Copies of the PIAS' resolutions were forwarded to higher Ilocos PNP officials. But the PNP regional office, apparently did not discipline Balolong. And he has been doing things in his own abrasive ways.I am sending the Bartolome letter as a freelance journalist. I intend also to get the attention of the President of the Philippines regarding the matter.

Photo captions: A view of the Padsan river (top) from the dike, my ID as a correspondent of the Philippine's most influential newspaper, where I was a reporter since 1996; and the provincial capitol of Ilocos Norte.

ATTENTION: GENERAL NICANOR BARTOLOME PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE CHIEF CAMP CRAME, QUEZON CITY SUBJECT: Laoag City Cops Illegal Search On A Private Residential House April 4, 2012 I, Peter La. Julian, of legal age and a resident of Oscariz, Ramon, Isabela and Laoag City, hereby state the following: 1.At past five in the afternoon of March 21, 2012, a 4-men team of law enforcers in civvies barged into a house along Zacarias Flores Street, Laoag City, to arrest an alleged drug pusher, Victor Padayao, 44. At that time, the owners of the house were in the Laoag Public market buying provisions. Only their children and their children's cousins were left in the house watching an afternoon TV show. The kids were shocked and tongue-tied at the sight of the armed men, who entered the rooms allegedly with drawn guns. 2. One lawman with a drawn gun went up the stairs to the second floor of the house, kicked a door open and pointed his weapon at the children, who were then folding newly-laundered clothes, inside the room. One of them, Bea Coloma, 9, scampered out of the room and attempted to jump out of the window but restrained herself probably out of fear. 3. Not finding their quarry, the lawmen rushed out of the house, out of the gate, and proceeded to the house next door. In their hurry, one of them tripped a 5-year old boy who cried but was not even helped to his feet by the lawmen. 4. Nellie Montano, 48, a vegetable vendor, told the undersigned that the police arrived earlier on an owner-typed jeep with no plate number. She said that that the armed riders, one of them with a drawn gun, immediately jumped out of the vehicle, entered the gate of the house followed by his three companions, their hands on their hips, ready to pull out their guns. Montano said she was alarmed because she knew that only the children of the homeowners were inside the house. 5. A 54-year old informant, who refused to be identified, and whose house is located across the street from the house that have been searched by the lawmen, corroborated her neighbor's (Montano)statement. She added that she got nervous ("nagnerbiosak) at the sight of the lawmen, later identified as members of the Laoag City Police Station, who suddenly arrived in a vehicle that stopped in front of said house. She said she feared for the safety of the children inside the house. 6. There were many people--mostly from the neighborhood--who saw the lawmen and there was a commotion in the street. "It was as if there was a shooting of a "cloak and dagger" film, one of them said in Ilokano. 7. The police led by a certain SPO4 Rovimanuel V. Balolong of the Laoag City Police Station had acted on a tip from a supposed "asset" who earlier had allgedly purchased a sachet of "shabu" from Padayao on a path leading to his (Pa

dayao) on the same street. 8. The police arrested Padayao in the next village, Barangay 7, handcuffed him, took from his pockets money paper bills, and then escorted him to the owner type jeep, according to witnesses. 9. The policemen trespassed on a private home, causing undue panic and fear among the children, not to say the grave concern of the parents--their fear of what would have happened to their kids if there was a firefight between the suspect and the cops. 10. By their act and behavior, the police inflicted a sort of trauma on the innocent children that would be difficult for them to remove from their system throughout their separate lives. 11. As team leader who rose from the ranks, SPO4 Balolong undoubtedly knows his job as law enforcer and the responsibilities, respect for human rights, for one, that go with it. 12. For this apparent fiasco of the alleged buy-bust operation, SPO4 Balolong and his men should be investigated and, if found to have committed lapses in judgment, be meted the corresponding punishment. 13. Also, a certain SPO4 Wilfredo Calubaquib refused to take the statement of the homeowners regarding the illegal search made by the police in their home. Is this not a violation of the constitutional right of a citizen to report the act by the lawmen? Juvy Cherry had gone to the police station to have the incident recorded in the police blotter. 14. I further state that I have been a journalist for at least thirty years and have always been bounded by the journalist's code of ethics--to search for, speak and write the truth. I have interviewed my informants and checked and double checked the facts contained in this sort of an affidavit. 15. I further state that I am the father of Eugene C. Julian and the children mentioned herein are my grandchildren who have been emotionally and mentally affected by the incident.

At the ancestral home along V. Ligot street in Laoag City.It is the same story of an unproductive day. Lying on the bamboo bed, rising up and walking up the stairs to the third floor where the ASUS LAPTOP SITS on a wooden table owned by Rene who now lives with his family in Singapore.After graduating in ECE at the St. Louis University, he worked for several years at the Texas Instrument in Baguio before going to the the island-state.

Workers pour cement for the roof of the house being built in Oscariz, Ramon, Isabela.