But organizers called off the protest following a gentleman’s agreement with the clergy after a day. The clergy entered into a dialogue with the Buseco management on December 14, on the same day as that of the protest.

In the dialogue, Presidential Adviser on Rural Electrification Fr. Francisco Silva ordered Masongsong  to drop his libel charges against Bishop Honesto Pacana and 51 Bukidnon priests.

Masongsong obliged and also agreed to submit to a vote of confidence on December 21 among Buseco staff with Pacana around. 

Fr. Jonathan Tianero and Buseco Malaybalay branch Juancho Chiong said this could lead to a resolution of the ensuing conflict between the clergy and Buseco.

(WIB Photos)

Here are some amateur photos of the Christmas arches around Malaybalay City in time for Christmas 2009. From the top, at the entrance of Bukidnon National High School, from Valencia City near Old public cemetery, near the Bethel Baptist Hospital in Sumpong, at the Plaza Rizal from the San Isidro Catheral, and the third gate of Bukidnon State University.  (WIB PHotos)

“Malacañang wants the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to issue its position on the land dispute involving farmers from Sumilao, Bukidnon by the time the farmers reach Metro Manila next week, at the end of a month-long march from Mindanao.”

“DAR knows the marchers are coming in next week so they better act on it and better prepare for it,” he (presumably Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita) told reporters on Wednesday”.

Malacañang has granted the appeal of the Sumilao farmers to have the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) hear their petition to stop the conversion of their former farmland. Read the rest of the report here.

This is a welcome development. But it’s fantastic!

DAR still has to wait for the farmers to go as far as Manila before it responds to their appeal?

This is a classic case of a centralized government that is so Manila-egotistic. I think if this government really works, their appeal should be attended to even if these farmers just wrote a letter to Malacañang. And the tone of Ermita sounds like, as if the Office of the President has no direct line with DAR?

These farmers should be tilling their own lands to support their families, not walking to god knows where. If this government really works, farmers need not waste time walking their way to Manila. Right?

By the way, somebody asked who is funding the farmers journey. There’s got to be answers, too, somewhere. I believe they are transparent about it.

From what I have heard, certain non-government agencies are supporting, but a bulk of the expenses are born by the Sumilao farmers in solidarity with other farmers from around the country.

Its a big surprise to meet Nanay Julia Cacay or Nanay Juling to those who met her, on the internet.

I had opportunities talking to Nanay Juling in my visits to Dalwangan along the highway in the more rural part of Malaybalay City. She is a woman of wisdom.

She is a member of the Council of Elders of the Bukidnon tribe in Dalwangan, Malaybalay City. A traditional midwife and healer, she is known as Bae Mangunguyag. The name means a person with an extraordinary gift of healing.

Here’s MindaNews photo by H. Marcos C. Mordeno.

Although the demand for the products had been increasing, supply of woven abaca is going down, she said.

Her business, which started as a home-based cottage industry in the late 1980′s, is losing around P100,000 sales a month because of the supply problem, Valdez said.

“I have to turn down some of the orders because I don’t want to commit when I cannot deliver because I know the supply can’t catch up,” she said. The Department of Education in Bukidnon, for instance, ordered around 1,800 conference kits made of abaca but “I only accepted 800 pieces.” Read the rest of the report on MindaNews.com.

I think this is an interesting subject, the Philippine Eagle being a symbol of efforts to conserve, preserve and protect nature and the environment.

This also reminded me of my own visits to the beautiful and enchanting Cinchona from 2001 to 2004.

The name of the place refers to a kind of small tree of the same name that thrives in some places in Bukidnon, including in Kaatuaan, Lantapan near Mt. Kitanglad Range Natural Park (or within the park).

The area is home to a rich and diverse growth of plants (including Cinchona) and animals (including the Philippine Eagle). The range is also home to indigenous peoples, including the Talaandigs.

I hope I could return to Cinchona soon and bring home new images and stories to prove my claims in this post.

Truly, Bukidnon is bountiful.

But efforts in protecting the environment in the province needs to be doubled or tripled, too.

As of the November 7 (Day 29) update from Balaod Mindanao, the farmers are reportedly in Calbayog, Samar.

The Sumilao farmers started the march on October 10 from Impasug-ong municipality to Cagayan de Oro, 56 kilometers away, then walked across Northern Mindanao to Surigao City, take the ferry across Visayas and hike towards Manila, according to Raul Socrates Banzuela, national coordinator of the Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (PAKISAMA) in this initial report on MindaNews.com.

Here’s on how they started the “walk for land” in this more recent MindaNews report.

Why do they have to take the long walk?

According to the MindaNews report: “To recall, the Mapalad farmers staged a 28-day hunger strike before the DAR central office in Quezon City 10 years ago following a series of disappointments in their quest to get back their land.

The DAR, on November 14, 1994, put under compulsory coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law the 144-hectare property.

The Norberto Quisumbing Sr. Management and Development Corporation (NQSRMDC) had applied for conversion of the land from agricultural to agro-industrial. This was denied by the DAR but appealed before the Office of the President (OP). Then Executive Secretary Ruben Torres set aside DAR’s decision and approved the conversion on March 29, 1996.

The DAR moved for reconsideration which was denied on June 23, 1997. The OP also said the March 1996 decision had become final and executory.

The DAR filed a second motion for reconsideration. On November 7, 1997, the OP modified the March 1996 decision by allowing the conversion of approximately 44 hectares of the land adjacent to the highway and distributing the remaining approximately 100 hectares traversed by an irrigation canal and found suitable for agriculture to qualified beneficiaries.

Then President Fidel Ramos hailed the decision as a “win-win” solution.

But Penas said the “win-win” for Ramos was not “daug” (victory) for them. Instead, he said, “gi-daugdaug mi” (we were exploited).

“We never got the land,” he told MindaNews.

The NQSRMDC, the farmer-leaders said, sold the 144 hectares of land to Eduardo Cojuangco’s San Miguel Foods in 2002, for the latter’s piggery project.

“Piggery is also under agriculture,” Penas said. “Why are they making the land available for pigs and not for us?” he asked in Cebuano.

As it turned out, after the so-called “win-win” decision, the NQSRMDC filed a petition for “certiorari, prohibition and injunction with urgent prayer for a temporary restraining order and/or writ of preliminary injunction” before the Supreme Court which the Court granted on April 27, 18.

The high court set aside the November 7, 1997 “win-win” order of the Office of the President and denied the motions for reconsideration “with finality” on November 17, 1998.

On November 3, 2004, Mapalad filed before the DAR a “petition for cancellation and/or revocation with prayer for the issuance of a Cease and Desist Order” against the NQSRMDC and San Miguel Foods, Inc.

The DAR dismissed the petition on October 27, 2006 for lack of jurisdiction, saying the power is “lodged with the Office who issued the order of approval.”

Penas and Merida said there was a violation of the land conversion because the law provides that development must take place within one year on the land converted for non-agricultural use and must be completed within five years. In the case of the NQSRMDC, no such development was made on the land.

The NQSRMDC had cited as reason for conversion of the agricultural land to agro-industrial, its plan to set up the Bukidnon Agro-Industrial Development Association (BAIDA). The BAIDA was supposed to have included a Development Academy of Mindanao; Bukidnon Agro-Industrial Park; Forest Development; Support facilities, including a 360-hotel room, restaurants, dormitories, housing; a Mindanao Sports Development Complex and a commercial mall.

But even the DAR regional office in Cagayan de Oro, in a memorandum for Secretary Nasser Pangandaman last month, had proposed that a “notice of coverage” be issued on the 144-hectare land for immediate distribution.

Dated September 25 this year, the memorandum of DAR OIC regional director John Maruhom recommended that the DAR and the Office of the President should take note of the June 20, 2005 Memorandum from the regional office that “there has been no development in the NQSRMDC property that can be associated with the landowners’ conversion application; that San Miguel Foods, “assuming that it may be considered as successor-in-interest, be declared as to have violated the strict rules governing the approval and implementation of the Conversion Order by not limiting itself to the development proposal submitted by NQSRMDC;” and that a notice of coverage on the 144-hectare land “be immediately issued to place the said landholding for coverage under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program in pursuance of the DAR’s commitment to accelerate the completion of Land Acquisition and Distribution.”

A copy of Maruhom’s memorandum was furnished the Office of the President. The Office of the President dismissed the farmers’ appeal on October 3.

The farmers’ lawyers in Cagayan de Oro – the Balay Alternative Legal Advocates for the Development of Mindanaw (Balaod-Mindanaw) – is filing a motion for reconsideration on the October 3 decision.” (End of quote on the MindaNews report)

(Bukidnon Reporter: It is a pity I haven’t blogged about this much earlier. But I think it is never too late for me to post in this platform about updates, conditions and issues my kababayans, the Mapalad farmers from Bukidnon, have in this journey. At least in blogging about their walk, I will walk with them in my way own way. )

I have heard the service is not exactly 24/7. One night in September, I remembered passing by the restaurant around 1a.m. and I though it looked closed. Anyway, I will verify.

I have experienced dropping by, however, at 4a.m. after a tiresome six-hour drive from Davao City in my friend’s  10-wheeler truck.  They did not fail me, as the store was open.

I sipped a tasty cup of brewed coffee just to try their 24-hour offering.

I knew of course that coffee is available for about a fourth of the price from the “pamainit” tents that lined the highway. I often go there. But this time, I picked the Jollibee promise.
Of course, from time to time we have to test Bukidnon’s transformation(s).

A typical middle size farm scene in the town of Wao in Lanao del Sur province along the western side of Bukidnon. The border town in Bukidnon side is Kalilangan. MindaNews photo

The restaurant offers a fusion of Asian and Western cuisine. After successful runs  in Cagayan de Oro and Valencia, Bukidnon, Roadhouse Cafe brings to SM City Davao its good food and service.

The ambiance is of course homey, country-like and a unique experience. Now this is really a pride of Bukidnon.