Bago's 40th charter day

The Leyte landslide is one of the world's deadliest tragedies in terms of number of people killed. It is estimated that those killed and missing will reach 1,500.

This includes 246 pupils, 6 teachers, a principal, 2 social health workers, a British national married to a local girl, and the barangay head himself. The village was wiped out.

This is not an accident but a natural disaster that we have to accept. There is no human error as what happened in the Ultra stampede or the sinking of a ship. This is the work of Nature like volcanic eruption, typhoon, and flood.

A powerful country like the U.S. had to bear with the fury of hurricane Katrina. Many other countries have their own natural disasters.

What is important for all of us is to help the family of the victims start life anew. Aid is pouring heavily from many countries. Let us also do our share to help our fellow Filipinos.

Sunshine Cable 14 is accepting donations for the family of the landslide victims. Send your help to the office of Sunshine Cable 14 at MBL Bldg in front of ABS-CBN in Mandalagan. Or call tel. no. 433-0014.

Your help will be acknowledged in the Cablecast and given to the right recipients.

We need to make the family of these victims feel we care for them.

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We can't go against Nature. We have to adjust to it. And never must we tinker with Nature. Improper logging is tinkering with Nature, destroying the forest cover.

Using dynamite for fishing is tinkering with Nature. In the end we will pay for it. Our fishermen are already complaining of poor catch.

Towards the end of World War II, a big typhoon sank a number of U.S. warships and killed thousands of soldiers in the Pacific. The news was kept secret, not to embolden the Japanese.

There was a plan to "kill" typhoons by bombing it at its center, its eye. After a thorough study, the plan was scrapped.

Typhoons have an important purpose. They produce the monsoon or trade winds that bring rains to the Pacific islands. Without these trade winds and typhoons, we would be suffering year long drought.

We just have to learn how to live with Nature. People living in the sides of the mountains must be warned of landslide. But to be safe from landslides they must plant trees.

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Meanwhile, we were in Bago City last Sunday on its 40th charter anniversary. I was there in 1966 as correspondent of The Manila Times when Bago under then Mayor Manuel "Tutay" Y. Torres became a city.

Tutay Torres is gone but today, 40 years after Bago under his widow, Mayor Janet E. Torres has made strides that would have gladdened the heart of the late mayor and other former leaders. Last Sunday I was there at the table with the only surviving official at the time of the chartering, Arsenio "Buc-an" Yulo. All the rest were gone. Buc-an was the number one councilor at the time.

He does not look his 78 years.

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Now Mayor Janet Torres is ending her third term. And very possibly her vice-mayor Ramon "Monet" D. Torres will take over.

The strides Bago has made during the last 40 years have been impressive. Bago officials are very development oriented. I should know. I spend more hours in Bago than I do in Bacolod.

Somebody should make a study on cities and municipalities where leadership is disputed by members of a big family where the community is progressive.

To cite a few, Cebu is Osmeña country. In Talisay of Neg. Occ. leadership is always fought between the Lizares and Lacson families. Kabankalan has its Zaycos and the Alvarezes. And many more.

In Bago, it's the three ruling families, the Yulos, the Aranetas, and the Torreses. Mainly Yulo and Araneta. They are unbeatable. The four top officials in 1966 belonged to one family.

Manuel Y. Torres, Vice Mayor Juan Y. Araneta, and No. 1 Councilor Arsenio B .Yulo, Jr. were first cousins. Tutay's and Juaning's mothers were sisters of Arsenio Yulo Sr. Second top councilor was Romualdo Araneta, cousin of Juaning Araneta.

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The secret of the politically successful families I mentioned was that they have a passion for good government. They don't do hanky-panky or the other members of the family would scold them.

I was kidding Buc-an, he topped the city council because people thought it was his father who was running. The old man Arsenio Yulo was a highly-respected leader although low key compared to Jose and Marciano, his brothers.

Bago prides itself with many national leaders. Two executive secretaries Jorge B. Vargas under President Quezon and Rafael Salas under President Marcos.

Jose Yulo served in the Supreme Court and was Speaker. He could have been President. It also had Roberto S. Benedicto, a powerful man during Marcos time and a highly recognized leader. There was Edward Matti, and businessman J. Amado Araneta. They are all gone.

But the footprints they left are there for the people to see in the progress Bago has made.*

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