YEARENDER: Roller-coaster ride for Aurora in 2009

BALER, Aurora, Philippines – The year 2009 was literally the Year of Baler and generally, of the whole Aurora itself.

In December 2008, President Arroyo signed Presidential Proclamation 1696 declaring 2009 as the “Year of Baler” and ordering a year-round celebration of the Quadricentennial (400 years) of this capital town.

Prior to 2009, this town – birthplace of the late Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon – was already making a lot of noise in the national and international scene.

“Baler,” the blockbuster film which chronicles the saga of 57 Spanish soldiers who waged war for almost a year inside the stone church at the turn of the 19th century not knowing the war had ended, swept 10 of 14 awards in the Metro Manila Film Festival.

The film caught the imagination of foreign and domestic tourists, triggering a tourism boom unprecedented in its history, according to Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo. The movie was a brainchild of Angara-Castillo’s elder brother, Sen. Edgardo Angara and Viva Films’ big boss Vic del Rosario who reportedly invested P100 million for the top-grosser.

On Aug. 9, 2009 the province hosted the grand coronation night of the Mutya ng Pilipinas 2009 at the spanking Dr. Juan Angara Sports Complex. A dusky 20-year-old Bicolana nurse, Jane Bañares stunned everyone by getting crowned Mutya ng Pilipinas International 2009, besting crowd favorite Jacqueline Shubert and a bevy of other beauties.

Athena Mae Imperial made the host province proud by landing in the top 12.  

Historical marker

A week later, President Arroyo fled to the province and led the unveiling of the historical marker for Aurora’s 400th year. She also led the ribbon-cutting for the flora and fauna exhibit at the Museo de Baler and viewed the vintage presidential car of Quezon at the memorial park bearing his name. She also turned over P381,000 worth of cash incentives to 157 coconut farmers.

On March 16, Karl Winston Cacanindin of Barangay Mucdol, Dipaculao made his provincemates proud by graduating as class valedictorian of the Philippine Military Academy’s 2009 Mandirigmang Sigaw ng Lahi (Masiglahi) graduating class. The son of an engineer and a teacher, Cacanandin was handed the Presidential Saber Award by the President.   

Angara-Castillo also had her share of glory when she was elevated to the Hall of Fame by the Association of Local Social Welfare and Development Officers of the Philippines, Inc. during its 13th National Social Welfare and Development Forum at the Fiesta Pavilion of the Manila Hotel. The ALSWDOPI, the country’s biggest social welfare group, cited Angara-Castillo for advancing innovative program strategies, initiating management plans, delivering various institutionalized services to beneficiaries and providing adequate resources for program implementation.        

In June, the entire province celebrated the 110th anniversary of the “Siege of Baler” and seventh anniversary of Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day.

Construction boom

An infrastructure boom hit northern Aurora with the concreting of the P2.2-billion Baler-Casiguran Road, the construction of the P157-million Casiguran airport and the seaport, preparatory to the commercial operation of the Aurora Special Economic Zone in 2010.

In July, Angara-Castillo slapped a 59-day preventive suspension against San Luis Vice Mayor Teddy Macatiag and five town councilors on the recommendation of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for abuse of authority, gross negligence and dereliction of duty for passing in November 2008 several pieces of legislation without any quorum. The six are close allies of the governor’s former-ally-turned-rival, Mayor Annabelle Tangson. They were later slapped with a subsequent six-month punitive suspension.           

Illegal logging continues to pose a problem in the province, with tree-cutters invading part of the 5,000-hectare Aurora Memorial National Park and in Dingalan. Some of the illegal loggers even reportedly come from Quirino and Isabela provinces.

In July, 11 illegal loggers were arrested, detained and charged after they were caught in possession of illegally cut lumber in Dilasag.

This prompted Angara-Castillo to order the dismantling of checkpoints and replaced them with a task force. Joselito Blanco, DENR community official for Dingalan was later relieved and replaced by Raul Batang.

A pro-environmentalist group, the Noble Blue Falcons International Environmentalists, led by professor Joseph Usita, later mobilized 3,000 green armies against illegal logging in tandem with Angara-Castillo.

In the counter-insurgency front, the military won big in the province following the surrender of at least 30 communist regulars and the arrest of ranking officials, including Delfin Pimentel who was captured with his wife Imelda in Dingalan in September by Army and police teams.

Pimentel, alias Ka Medy, a member of the executive committee of the Central Luzon Regional Party Committee of the CPP-NPA and the secretary of the Aurora Provincial Committee, was tagged as a berdugo (butcher) for allegedly being behind the ambuscades of government troops and former rebels since 1990.