By Anthony A. Araos

I was amused many times to see waterfalls in my travels in the Philippines, United States, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Mexico, Canada and many other countries.
When I see these waterfalls, it makes me realize how the Almighty Creator gave us the very best things in life.
After all, happiness is what the Lord desires.
Tu-ib Waterfalls in Aguinaldo town has the gift of being great without being grandiose. It’s God’s gift to mankind.
I have a childhood friend whose favorite destination is a waterfall in Antipolo City. I’m, of course, referring to the popular Hinulugang Taktak Falls. When we were kids, he said a lot of wonderful things about it. As we grew older, his likings for waterfalls began to change. He became less interested. Not me. I still have a lot of emotional strings.
This is why I’m recommending to local and foreign tourists a visit to the Tu-ib waterfalls. Today, it is regarded as one of the best places to see in the province. Anything less than a trip to this site in a reality check is a poor second best that will impact the long-term experience. The cost of that impact needs to be carefully studied. If you can’t do it now, you’re better off to just stay home.
That’s the essence of my recommendation. Does that build a resource of trust in my discourse with readers?
By the way, Aguinaldo is served by public transportation services from Mayoyao and Alfonso Lista towns. So why, again, visit the Tu-ib waterfalls? Interaction with water, air, wind and sunlight in this unexplored place could be significant.
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Various activities reportedly have been lined up for the Foundation Day and Town Fiesta programs of Aguinaldo on March 28 and April 6 of this year, respectively. Needless to stress, without a doubt, these programs will depict the blossoming of Aguinaldo as a fast-emerging town of Ifugao.
For the record, Aguinaldo is the only second class municipality of this upland Cordillera province. The other ten towns are either fourth or fifth-class towns.
It’s high time for Governor Pedro Mayam-o, Board Member Noli Maguiwe (who hails from this town) and all municipal officials to transform Aguinaldo as Ifugao’s first and possibly sole first-class municipality by 2019.
To realize this, they should earnestly work for economic growth, socio-cultural development and agriculture productivity of the populace.
The Foundation Day as well as Town Fiesta truly celebrates the successes that the town has enjoyed and proudly shares with the province. Aguinaldo residents surely are blessed with natural resources, culture and agriculture. One of the many factors that attributed to the “success story” of Aguinaldo as a bustling town is the excellent example of good governance and leadership of Vice Mayor Tony Chilagan. Other municipal officials of Ifugao should learn a lot from him.
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Now, I am just wondering how come there are two different versions of the Foundation Day of Aguinaldo. In February 11, 1981 the municipality of Aguinaldo was created by virtue of House Bill No. 963 otherwise known as Republic Act 86, according to the Ifugao Website- Angelfire. However, the DILG-CAR website says the following: “The municipality of Aguinaldo was formerly a part of Mayoyao. Created as a component municipality on September 20, 1980 by virtue of Batas Pambansa Bilang 86, it was ratified by the people through a plebiscite on December 6, 1980.”
Obviously, some bright boys and girls of the DILG and Ifugao are not on the same page. Worse, the website of Aguinaldo municipal government is a permanently dead link. In other words, it’s in-operational!
For heaven’s sake, it is the only second-class municipality in Ifugao, and yet, it has no access to the outside world? Attention: Governor Mayam-o.
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ZigZag Weekly Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Atty. Antonio Pekas is a man who truly loves challenges.
Mass media is a critical component in the socio-economic fabric of any nation. Efforts to upgrade operations of newspapers are evolving fast and furious. Look at the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the nation’s leading newspaper. In this part of the Philippines, this also holds true for ZigZag Weekly, the region’s leading newspaper.
Newspapers as well as magazines in the country must grapple with the challenges presented by the advent of the age of information technology. The desire for a quicker mode of communication and many other benefits derived from it, remain a basic societal objective in contemporary times.
Since this month (March), the Zigzag Weekly has revived its erstwhile very popular website. This move, to my mind, is considered the finest innovation of late of the ZigZag Weekly management.
The benefits of this development are many. On a practical level, usage of the ZigZag Weekly Website opens doors to new avenues of thoughts and ideas. As it is, the query, How to use your computer or laptop as a high-powered communications tool?, comes into the picture.
It’s endearing if one can have access to or get connected with the electronic media. It is simply inevitable. It is simply irresistible. Fact: the internet is the largest repository of knowledge on Planet Earth.
The most important thing to do for now is open the ZigZag Weekly Website. It can be your one-stop learning tool. Or what is the best way to understand the foregoing? Begin at the very beginning. Please read the Publisher’s Nook commentary on March 19, 2017 issue, bannered “The ZigZag Weekly website.” Understand and live through the time you can appreciate the ZigZag Weekly Website, it should be a treasured experience. Surf and enjoy!
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I certainly like the fact that Board Member Robert Humiwat always knows what he is talking about in and out in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and how he could provide the very much-needed intelligent perspective in this august body.
I’m commending him for his much-appreciated vision which contributed immensely to the growth of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
It is disheartening, however, to say the least that Resolution Number 2016-83 was enacted late last year by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan. The resolution sought for the suspension of emergency room fees and consultation fees during Saturdays, Sundays and holidays as provided in provincial Ordinance No. 2014-51, known as the 2014 Revised Revenue Code of the Province of Ifugao, pending its review.
With due respect, May I now interpose the following questions. First, what happens if a poor Ifugao resident gets sick on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday? Secondly, what if the same guy who was treated on a Saturday comes back due to a relapse on a Tuesday, will he already pay? Thirdly, what if a poor Ifugao woman who figures in an accident on a Wednesday enters the hospital, will she pay emergency room fees? Fourth, why are consultation fees being exacted by government doctors when they are being paid by the State? Fifth, above all, what is the business of a government hospital, in the first place, charging fees and consultation fees from the public? Sixth, what happens in an emergency situation and the poor Ifugao farmer has no money to pay emergency fees, will he be turned away or just let him die? Seventh, why is the officialdom enacting anti-poor measures as this one, when its avowed goal is to promote the welfare of the Filipino people, most especially the impoverished? Eight, whatever happened to the adage of the late President Ramon Magsaysay who said, “Those who have less in life should have more in law”? Ninth, more importantly, why didn’t Governor Mayam-o veto this measure as it is clearly inimical to the best interest of his beloved economically-disadvantaged constituents?
I have full trust and confidence that Board Member Humiwat shall work for the repeal of this resolution as a means of scrapping these unacceptable and unthinkable conditions imposed upon an already cash-starved people in difficult economic times.
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Governmental efforts to solve the homelessness problem in the Philippines are a dismal failure. Strategies proved highly ineffective. Demolition of shanties was never accompanied by the provision of a mass-housing program.
This explains the actions taken by members of the Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY).
It is important to see this problem as an issue of human rights. Housing is a basic need of the people.
The Philippine Constitution is the standard by which every law in the country is evaluated. It is the document President Duterte agreed to defend and support when he took his oath of office. It is the key criterion by which everything else is scrutinized and directed. The right to have a roof over one’s head is enshrined in the Charter.
I have a win-win solution to this longstanding problem and I’m willing to forward it no less than to President Duterte. Money and lands are not even a problem.
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Lagawe is beating Earth Hour (on March 25, intended to cut down the use of electricity) proponents. Here, there is no need to turn off the lights for an hour in the evening. Lights are turned off, four hours or more in the morning or afternoon when there is no typhoon or heavy downpour. Just wondering why the people are not complaining at all. Think about the staggering production losses of business owners and unwarranted damage to appliances owned by residents.
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Birthday greetings! President Rodrigo Duterte, on March 28, which happens to be the day after my birthday. Continued success in your endeavors and good health is in my prayers.
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Finally, some thoughts for our readers: “There is no real excellence in this entire world which can be separated from right living.” David Stair Jordan
“If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” John 7:32:38
“The press as an institution is analyzed, vocational opportunities are considered, historical development is recounted and each phrase of activity in the field is discussed expertly with examples.” Harold L. Roth of Library Journal, an American publication.**