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Brought to you by

Philippine Information Agency Region 2and

Office of the Provincial Agriculturist-Cagayan

Victoria Hotel, Tuguegarao CityMarch 25, 2013

Awards Night

2013 Iddu Women Honor Role

“Kababaihan: Kabalikat sa Pagsulong ng Kanayunan”Theme:

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The AwardIt all started last year during the Women’s Month celebration when the Philippine Information Agency in Region 2 under the directorship of Purita S. Licas thought of ways and means to likewise honor women in its capacity as a government agency for information.

The plan of the staff to simply come up with a magazine where the stories of the women will be featured was approved by the Director. Ten women were selected representing various sectors. It should be remembered that the women did not undergo any criteria.

The selection was simple, bereft of the usual intricacies where voluminous documents are required, notwithstanding the long interviews from the board of judges. The selection was solely based on what the nominee been doing and what are her significant contributions to the improvement of their fellow women, be it in the urban or in the rural areas.

The modest magazine was distributed to the honorees and to those who cared to read and take a look during last year’s celebration held at the lobby of the Tuguegarao City hall.

And the rest they say, is awards history.

For consistency, the agency this year once again thought of honoring the second batch o 10 women for their accomplishments, as part of this year’s Women’s month celebration.

It may be providential for the honorees and the organizers themselves when PIA visited the office of Dr. Mildred Abella, Cagayan’s Provincial Agriculturist. PIA wanted OPA to provide a list of rural women under its wings who have been an icon in the attainment of progress and development.

As one of the awardees herself last year, and women being one of the priority sector of Governor Alvaro Antonio, Dr. Abella had no qualms to co-sponsor the affair with PIA.

The 2013 Iddu Women Honor Role Award was born. Iddu is an Ibanag word meaning love, care or affection. It is now seldom use by the Ibanags in Cagayan but is a very active word among the Ibanags of Isabela.

There was no selection on the categories when the women were selected. It just came out naturally and in place. Thus, from the 10 women came at 10 categories namely women empowerment, rural development, entrepreneurship, tourism promotions and marketing, local governance, social services, media/publishing, culture and arts, resources management and education.

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By Benjie S. De Yro

How would you say ‘ I do’ to the man you spent the last

50 years? Will the trembling still be the same? Will you close your eyes and savor the moment that finally, your knight in a shining armor finally arrived to save your imagined lady in distress? Or will you hold your breath and wait for a passionate kiss on the lips as if iwill be the most important thing to do in this world?

Such questions will be answered when the eternal Ilocano Corona Cabutaje Borja will once again renew her vow of marital bliss, ‘till death do them part’, with the man she decided to spent the rest of her life with; Dr. Edmundo Borja, May 1, 2013.

The thought of walking down the aisle in her glamorous wedding gown reveals a smile on her lips. The kind of smile one usually sees in girls about to reach the age of puberty.

Doc Edmund has always been the perfect husband and a gentleman to Manang Crown. This, she admitted, is the reason why up to now, she has remains healthy with a face that defies gravity.

It was the children who planned everything for the golden wedding anniversary of the celebrated couple. That would mean Earl Edmund, a medical doctor; Charissa, a doctor of tropical medicine at a DOH institute and Cheryl, a psychologist.

That’s her romantic side.For those people whose lives she

has touched, it would interest them to know that Manang Crown is still as active as when she was during her employment at the National Economic Development Authority Region 2.

She became the development life line of the region, so to speak.

But this gracious woman, a straight forward government servant, is one who doesn’t sit on problems especially when it comes to projects intended for the people.

And now it can be told. She marched straight into the Office of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and engaged the guy to an argument as to why telephone lines installed for the barangays should only be used by barangay officials. Enrile was the big

boss of the then Cagayan Integrated Agricultural Development Project based in Iguig, Cagayan.

As secretariat to the Regional Development Council, they have approved the project. A fuming Corona Borja demanded explanation from the Senator who only smiled at her. She can be feisty when the rights of the marginalized are trampled upon. She got what she wanted.

Once, she ‘attacked’ the office of the Highways Department Secretary Gregorio Vigilar, ala-Gabriela Silang, to find out why the then controversial Pateng bridge in Alcala took eons to be completed when the funds were already in place.

What she found out has been edited in this article. The important thing is, she exposed to the Secretary the problem and an investigation was effected. The bridge was finally opened to the public and the rest, they say, is another chapter in the professional history of this Ilocana from Narvacan, Ilocos Sur.

“I’ve been working with politicians for as long as I can remember. I know their priorities,” she said in her signature crispy Ilocano.

This is possibly the reason why politicians were too ashamed to voluntarily lavish her with material gifts.

“The only thing I accepted personally were two sets of majong , a gift from Mrs. Naty Dy,” she said.

She knew the inner secrets of government projects in the region. In fact, she claimed, it was the fund of Senator Enrile which caused the improvement and eventual concreting of the Dugo-Santa Ana road.

As to why she was the apple of the eye of most politicians, it’s because of her special skills.

“I’m very good at PR work,” she boasted.

Understandably, she has been a part of the development landscape of the Region that when she finally bid government service adieu, local politicians outsmarted themselves to include her in their politician line up o candidates. In Manang Crown, they knew, they have a winner.

With no money spent to fuel her

candidacy, she surprised herself when she landed on Top 6 the first time as City Councilor. She returned the favor during her incumbency when she initiated various programs and projects designed for the welfare of women in the city.

Looking back, this woman, who can be as meek as a lamb but a lioness the next moment depending on how she perceive things, has tremendously enjoyed her days at NEDA.

Just what can be a lasting legacy of government workers to their clients?

“You must know the problem and you must deliver,” she said.

Corona Borja, another woman leader in Cagayan definitely knew. She has been there all along.

Love and Service 101

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At the entrance of the Claveria municipal hall, her photo is prominently

displayed to show to all and sundry that she has been the pride of her community, having won a national award through her efforts and that of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist-Cagayan. She has provided rural development in her area if only to snatch rural women from the clutches of poverty.

Mayor Celia Layus is out somewhere and the staff of the Municipal Agricultural Office is likewise out, maybe conducting another technology training out there. We decided to look for the countryside heroine.

From a gas station coming from the town proper, we turned right. The road leads to a post card-perfect scenery only Cagayan can offer. The hills, drenched with the late afternoon drizzles, dwarfed the golden brown grains crisscrossed by murmuring irrigation water canals, remnants of the old zanjeras.

Philippine Information Agency photographer and IT man Alvin Delos Santos struggled to capture on his camera the irresistible beauty, possibly as cover photo to the endless One Luzon electronic magazine issues of the agency.

As in all the houses this writer passed by when to reach our farm heroine for this article, “An RIC lives here”, shouted a signboard as we approached her house.

The lady is out attending a graduation rites, her gracious mother Buenaventura Bumagat, said. It was a modest bungalow -type residence accentuated with full-bloom indigenous orchids and other high-grade ornamental varieties.

On the left is a wide fishpond surrounded by robust root crops forever trying to reach out to leaves of coconut groove. The place speaks of a modest and decent

living, the effort of a single woman who painstakingly struggled to give her family the kind of life she never experienced as a young girl.

To those who knew Anja, or 57 year old Alejandrina L. Correa of Sto. Nino, Claveria, Cagayan, it was refreshing news that her children, Leziel and Ronie graduated from management and civil engineering degrees, respectively.

Her story is simple but has all the makings of a tearjerker. As a woman, she gave her full trust to her husband when he decided to work overseas. For 13 long years, the husband failed to send financial support to the family.

With all the courage and understanding a woman like Anja can muster, she went on her daily routine of providing education to her children, come hell or high waters. She felt she was deserted.

In 2000, her husband came home, sick. The wrath of a woman, possibly scorned, was absent. She never questioned her husband. Instead, she took care of him the way a dedicated wife to her husband should. Six years after, the husband died, permanently leaving the responsibility of raising a family to Anja.

Our nominee personifies the power that rural women can do not only in their own development but to those they engaged themselves with everyday. In her younger days, she wanted to go to college to tuck a degree. Instead, she settled for a vocational diploma in tailoring, with poverty hovering over her head like a sword of Damocles.

But unknown to many, the countryside, like the urban areas, is likewise full of opportunities. It is how women see and discover such opportunities that make the difference.

As early as when she got married, Anja busied herself in the farm, taking every opportunity to earn a living. Thru the local

government unit and the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist-Cagayan, Anja started acquiring technologies which she used in her farm projects and diligently attended all of these trainings.

Slowly, her community started to look up to her as a leader as she began to represent her barangay in all the various activities in Claveria and elsewhere.

As a full time woman-farmer, Anja contributed to the food security of her community with an increased production of 32 percent in rice harvest last year. Like all rural women, she utilizes all spaces available within her backyard and in the farm.

These days, her farm is a show window to those rural folks who may want to replicate what she has done. For one, she has mustered the art of linkages for her community and lead the rural women to harness their full potentials.

It may sound hyperbolic but Anja can be attributed as the force behind the economic growth of her once-depressed barangay. She has somehow become the development torch which burns in the hearts and minds of people whose lives she has touched.

Looking at Anza these days, who would believe what she has gone through?

It’s time to harvest her own toil. (Benjie S. De Yro)

Power of One

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By Benjie S. De Yro

To be functional, the famous double-bladed weapon,

Veinte Nueve, needs constant sharpening. So does Josephine Decena of Laurel, Batangas who calls Barangay Maddarug, Enrile, Cagayan, her home for the last 30 years or so.

The silent worker behind the very successful family-owned Fresh Kanok chicken meat production industry

in Northern Luzon, Josie has been working all her life even as she was destined to be an entrepreneur. Unlike those born with the proverbial silver spoon, she virtually started younger than most.

She never wasted time. She sold anything that spelled money, did barong embroidery and menial jobs for relatives at a time when young girls her age would pass the time away, playing, flirting or day dreaming.

“All my younger years, we have been trained to be poor. It’s difficult to be one,” Jo said showing a pair of sturdy and callous hands seasoned by manual labor.

Today, she admits that even if people perceived them as financially-stable as a result of hard work, she has maintained an aura of humility and simplicity not often seen in people who recently found a breather from economic difficulties.

“My real wealth is my family. I’m working doubly hard for them,” she said.

For Josie, it has been a life full of unexpected twists and turns but a good pilot that she was, bounces back from where she has fallen.

When she decided to become a Cagayano by virtue of her marriage to husband Miguel Decena, it was the turning point. Head high and fueled by an intense love and affection to the family she was just starting, Josie began to put to good use her early trainings on entrepreneur while Miguel mastered

the art of mobile vending.She virtually went into 24/7

schedule providing the necessary moral and physical support to her husband who, equally, shares the same passion for labor like her. She went into retail business, raised animals, bought-and-sold and kept on discovering what the local market demands were in terms of food and other items.

These days, the family is into farming. Surprised and amused are the farm workers when Josie would teach them the proper way of distancing rice plants.

“I have been a farm hand in my younger years in Batangas,” she volunteered.

What she is as a woman was never a chance. It was the result of real hard work, business acumen, sacrifices, hits and misses and personal self-denials. Yet under all these circumstances, there is one thing she can be proud of; her being a very religious woman.

“I see to it that the family goes to Sunday mass. It humbled us and gave

us the chance to thank the Creator for all the goodness He has given us,” she added.

It is this same unshakeable faith in her Creator that continuously provided her the strength in her hours of challenges and uncertainties.

As a mother, she breastfed the children and never hired a nursing aide during the growing years. She has imparted in her children, namely: Mark Joseph, Bryan James, Eljohn Miguel and Maria Jamel the value of labor, respect to others and money management.

“Mababaw lang ang kaligayahan ko. A simple “I love you” from my kids can make my day. Pero moody ako. Huwag na huwag mo akong gugulatin or bibiglain,” she warns.

With a sigh, she says there will always be trials and when they come, one should never think of themselves but of the children. Under such circumstances, a mother should make sacrifices for the children.

A very simple woman, Jo gets peeved with people who boast a lot.

“Galit ako sa mga mayayabang. Lahat na yata ng uri ng kahirapan, naranasan ko. I know the situation and how one feels when thrown into such. Don’t tell me how it is to be poor for I’ve been there. As long as I can help, I would,” Jo declared.

A farm hand who requested not to be identified said the Decena family, Josie in particular, has always been like a big sister to the employees and house helps particularly during emergencies.

Ironically, the struggles and challenges have become her own adrenalin that perked her to do better and to outsmart herself in her daily routine.

She said that while poverty is a hindrance, it should be the power to propel one to succeed.

Despite the gains she has made in the field of business, Jo remains unfazed. At 50, she knew that the road leading to the kind of life she never had as a young Batanguena has been paved.

For Josie Decena, beautiful hands are those that work. (PSL/BSY)

Of leaps and bounds

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At 4’10”, Blessida Garcia-Diwa is a giant of a woman.

Today, the loss of the nursing profession is the gain of the business sector and tourism industry where our main woman shines brightly even in the midst of adversaries from both sectors.

Growing up in dusty yet proud Barangay Ugac Norte in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, Blessida has always been an empowered woman even when the word has yet to be invented.

Writing her story is like writing a book with a sequel. Her accomplishments as a career woman, a member of various socio-civic organizations, tourism regional director, business woman and on top of that, a mother to her children and wife to husband Roland, can spell the difference.

As a nurse, she has worked in Philadelphia, USA for five years yet her love for former boyfriend, Roland, an architect, beckons.

“He wanted me home and I did,” the Ibanag woman-leader said, eyes burning with passion for her husband.

She has considered the hunky Bulakeno the wind beneath her wings.

She told women cops during this year’s Women’s Day celebration that “behind every successful man stands a woman, convinced of her worth.”

“If there is any inspiration, source of strength and encouragement of every man, it is the unfailing love, the assuring and re-assuring encouragement of a woman who elevates everything to that Great Source beyond,” she said.

Her public service and civic works brought her to the shores of Spain, Indonesia, various states of America, South Korea, and Sabah where she prominently told to all and sundry that, yes, she is Filipina in beautiful Cagayan province.

Unheralded, until now of course, the woman at the helm of the Department of Tourism in Region 2, is actually a multi-awarded individual, topped by an international recognition during the 53rd Zonta International Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

She topped Zontians from more than a thousand clubs in the world in women’s health service in 1996.

She has lost count of the various awards she received and consider them as mere memories on the wall in her otherwise colorful and fruitful life as a woman.

As a tourism icon, she earned various recognitions for her office and the region in the various tourism-related activities in the country. In 1997 alone, her office was awarded for the Best Marketing Effort in that year’s Philippine Travel Mart with the region as the Best in Cultural Presentation award in 1999.

She considers her present position as the President of the University of Santo Tomas Alumni Association of the Philippines since

2010 as a culmination of her student years vis-à-vis her accomplishments.

Turning romantic and prayerful, the Tourism Director said that to whatever part of the globe “our men” may get assigned, women should accompany them with prayers, love and trust.

“We must strive to become the best that we can be so that we will continue to be the source of inspiration, encouragement and strength for the men of our lives,” the mother of two professionals, said.

Her long time household help, Jean, has been a witness to the early days of Ma’am Bless. It was those trying years that our honoree really went out of her way to become the best mother, wife and friend that she can be.

“As far as I am concerned, Ma’am Bless has been a very good Mom and a wife. I saw the children grow. This is the reason why I decided to spend the rest of my life with them. I will always be here for as long as they need me. They are my adopted family, “the eternally-serious Jean turned dramatic.

Like another awardee Edna Junio, Blessida Diwa will finally bid government service goodbye anytime this year. Her bowing out of public service will not be the end of her continuing service to the underprivileged, women especially.

Now who says, “nakakapuwing ang mga malalaki?” (PSL/ADS)

Powered by loveBy Alvin Delos Santos

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When I learned about the Iddu Women Honor Role project of the Philippine Information Agency, Region 2, I had no second thought that this is a project which will come a long way after it has been staged.

In fact, I feel a personal joy and pride as I was one of its first recipients when it was launched last year. I believe there are hundreds, if not, thousands of women out there deserving of recognition from their own peers.

As a woman, it has been my aspiration to maximize efforts for my total development as well as my family’s and our client we vowed to serve. While service is a simple word, its panorama is quite vast that it takes one to look at it a different way.

The award PIA and my office bestow on our honorees is hoped to start a movement for recognition to all women in Cagayan regardless of orientation, political beliefs and educational attainment.

To all our Iddu, accept my congratulations. Agbiag ti Cagayano!

MILDRED S. ABELLA, Ph.D Provincial Agriculturist

Congratulations, Iddu!

When we launched the same recognition awards last year as part of the Women’s Month Celebration, the response has been overwhelming that this year, we tried to outdo ourselves and we did.

Our agency, the Philippine Information Agency, is not an award-giving body. But this is not actually an award where the honor is taken based on qualification points, but rather, a simple recognition of the efforts of our honorees.

These are the women in Cagayan the PIA has covered all these years. The agency has been witness to some of their successes and failures in their quest for countryside development.

While they come from various fields of endeavor, they have one thing in common; the development of themselves, their families and their respective communities.

May the stories of these women in our midst become not only an inspiration to all of us, men included, but likewise a mirror to reflect upon ourselves how, in our own little way, we can contribute to the totality of progress and development in our ever-changing society.

We salute these women as we salute the women all over the country as we celebrate this year’s Women’s Month.

PURITA S. LICAS, LLB, MPA Regional Director

Message

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Her life has been one of the most heart-warming

stories the Holy Bible has ever told. As the scriptures go, her future husband asked her how far she can go to be with him. She answered, “wherever you go, I will go. Whoever are your people will be my people. Whoever is your God is my God.”

It was the famous story of Ruth.

For Lolita Dela Cruz- Garcia, certified public accountant and municipal mayor of Sta. Teresita, Cagayan, and wife to Board Member Atty. Romeo Garcia of the 1st district of Cagayan, she did ala- Ruth when she decided to join her husband to the province- for good, away from the comforts of her home province in Mindanao and place of work in Manila.

Earlier, she worked with the main office of the National Food Authority as a financial analyst and operations officer until she was employed as a legal assistant at the Regional Trial Court in Aparri upon arrival in the province.

The transfer of the family from the asphalt jungles of Manila to the serenity and freshness of Cagayan countryside proved providential.

“The children frequently get sick because of the environment. We could hardly save because of hospitalization bills, “ she said.

When she finally took the helm as local chief executive, thus,

making her eligible as the Executive President of the Women Federation of Sta. Teresita, the first thing she did was to empower the women.

“Poverty has always been a hindrance. It can be a hindrance, too, to bright ideas among women,” Garcia noted.

She knew that majority of women in a countryside setting like Sta. Teresita are less empowered, thus, they find difficulty in opening up and needed some pushing.

As an elected public servant, politicians like her virtually live in a fish bowl where every swim is closely guarded and monitored, every mistake magnified. Yet, she can always shrug her political shoulder believing in her heart that she meant well.

This year alone, with all the courage she can muster and on top of various challenges she has to face in her role as a public servant, she surprised not only her own people and the province but more so, the discriminating members of the fourth estate, when she hosted the 1st National Eco-Tourism Festival, an event hailed by the Department of Tourism as an activity of national significance.

To many, the decision was sudden. It came as a refreshing rain in an otherwise hot summer day.

Unlike the other municipalities where they have chosen agricultural products as their One Town One Product commodity, Garcia insisted on having another product: eco-tourism. Thus, she has written history as the first local chief executive to deviate from the usual OTOP offered by the majority.

Unknown to many, she has prepared her municipality for the event dismissing talks that it was a flash in the pan. Suddenly, her town, hibernating in the quagmire

of tourism ignorance for so many years, woke up to find foreigners and locals basking in the beauty and wealth of Sta. Teresita, exploring and discovering what has been suspected as a world class cave system.

However, behind these official roles is a doting mother to four children: Civil Engineer Allen Christopher, IT graduate Earl Justin, law student Desiree and Chelsea, a high school student.

Like any ordinary mother, bringing the children up has been one of her joys.

“I can only provide the best for them but I instilled in them the discipline we wanted. Saying sorry to anyone they may have hurt has been their culture,” the mother in her, said.

In the next few days, she will once again embark on yet another challenging, if not strenuous, activity as part of her being a politician, the mid-term election.

But that would be another story all throughout.

For one Lolita Garcia, happiness is where her heart is. (PSL/Benjie S. De Yro)

Ruth of Cagayan

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When multi-awarded Cagayano social

worker Edna T. Junio finally hangs her fiery red work uniform anytime this year, she knew it is time to serve herself. All these years, she has been thrown into the center of eerie howling winds and turbulent flood waters during calamities trying to save lives and serving the victims the best way she could.

A ray of sunshine in any gloomy day, she has perfected the art of compassion, understanding and rationalizing the various situations her clients are thrown into.

Nothing shocks her anymore. She has seen flies feasting on the wounds of a malnourished child, counted the black and blues on frail bodies of innocent female sex workers, allayed imagined or real fears of the elderlies, shared a tear or two of disadvantaged women and offered alternates for children in conflict with the law.

Today, neophytes and even seasoned social workers may turn green in envy towards her lifetime achievement, but to Ed, a term of endearment to most of her peers, she can’t imagine herself being away from the woes and cries of people she has served as soon as she placed 6th during the 1974 national social work licensure examination.

Admittedly, one of the aces of social work in the Philippines, Ed seems to have been born a social worker.

A very apolitical person whose main concern during

disasters is the stock room, this pride of the Cagayano will bring in her retirement home enviable achievements which can last her a lifetime.

She has been very innovative and resourceful as she devised ways and means to further her call to service. In her, the people see government at work.

Without batting an eyelash now, her establishment of the very popular LAV (Love a Victim) center for abused women and children, was selected as best practice by no less than the high-browed United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA).

She is behind the unusually zero casualty cases in Cagayan during calamities as a result of organizing the Rescue 29, the premier water, air and land rescue group in the province, the template of disaster groups in Northern Luzon these days.

In 2005, she presented to the country a paper on a case of an abused social worker in handling cases of Children-In-Conflict- with the Law (CICL). It shocked the Filipino social workers.

Cool as glamorous ‘Grizabella’ in the Broadway hit musical “Cats”, she has denied this writer of seeing her in a real bad mood since 1984 when he started covering the social welfare beat.

At most, she is in her worst day if you hear her exclaim, “Ano ba yan?,” with a smile.

Like all social workers, Ed’s laughter, her signature actually, reverberates even during rescue operations while on board a boat or up there on air.

Her crowning glory came when she was acknowledged by her own circle as the most outstanding Social Worker of the Philippines during its golden anniversary in 1998.

That eventually started for her

a winning streak.During the 102nd anniversary

of the Civil Service Commission in 2002, she was bestowed the Gawad Pag-Asa Award.

As an administrator, she has shared her experiences to her subordinates, some of them even duplicating her laurels to include Penablanca Municipal Social Welfare Officer Excelsis De Leon who was proclaimed the country’s Most Outstanding Social Worker a few years back and a semi-finalist in the CSC Pag-Asa award only recently.

On a nostalgic mode now, it hurt her badly that an equally work-driven and compassionate staff, the late Primitiva Cabrera, was mercilessly killed by her own passion for service. It will take her long to forget the woman.

Yet, on the lighter side of life, away from the forefront of community service, husband Pat, children Jason, Jesica and Jenifer; and grandchildren Chai, Tetet, Adrienne, Ma. Eliana and Marciano Luis await her for an embrace.

This time, it would be the most passionate she has ever received. (PSL/Benjie S. de Yro)

The Lady in Red

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Her name alone evokes serenity and goodwill, possibly culled from one of the world’s

greatest tableau ever, the Nativity. Her mother, came from one of Tuguegarao City’s famous clans whose women are known to be compassionate at the right place and feisty when provoked.

For Maria Belen Lingan Barias-Lim, family comes first. This was the reason why in the early 1980s, she exchanged a rather progressive and challenging career as a professor of the University of the Philippines to man today’s one of the most respected names in Northern Luzon’s publishing world, her world, the Golden Press.

A woman who thinks, speaks and acts like a true-blue Ibanag, Belen’s name reverberates in the four corners of Cagayan Valley and the Cordilleras. Not that she is the manager of the family-controlled business but rather, she has consistently managed to gain respect and admiration from all sectors, notwithstanding her profession as a certified public accountant and her full time career as a mother and a wife.

As the elder daughter and second child (retired General Geary Barias is eldest) in a brood of six, she is considered the second mother who patiently guided the siblings to where they are now.

In fact, the individual accomplishments of her siblings (brother Manny, a US-based doctor was the first winner of the prestigious National PopQuiz from Region 2 during his Cagayan National High School days as he was the Class Valedictorian, a feat he duplicated from Belen when

she graduated Valedictorian of St. Paul College of Tuguegarao) can be partly attributed to her.

It was no wonder then that in the 1990s, the family was adjudged as the Most Outstanding Family in Region 2, second only to the Nolasco’s of Gattaran.

But Belen can be as reserved as a hermit crab yet can easily transform herself into a progressive woman of the world the next. She shuns publicity, that’s her legend. Not that she hates interviews but that she values her privacy more.

She has played her role to the hilt as far as the local media is concerned. As publisher, she opened the pages of her Northern Forum to neophytes and struggling local journalists who continue to find their own place in the journalism sun through the pages of the newspaper.

Not that she doesn’t have problems of her own but Belen can be the best friend of many local journalists. She can easily be cajoled but can be tactful. She calls spade a spade and her business acumen helped in the development of local publishing in the region at a time when it was

needed most.As manager

of Golden Press, her relationship with her ever-growing staff borders between personal and professional. She disciplines her workers and urges them to improve on their performances

not only in the work place but outside of it. Most of her workers have been with her the last 30 years or so.

Now, it can be told. Belen gives unsolicited advice and the needed reprimands to individual staff during paydays. That possibly kept them on their toes.

As one of the surrogate mothers of the local media (the other half is PIA Director Purita Licas), she supports media organizations in all their activities and can be a familiar face during most of these.

But Belen, bless her upbringing from Mom Lydia, can be a shy woman. Unlike other women her stature, she knows when to open her mouth and when to shut up. But forget the seriousness of her face because to the uninitiated, Belen possesses the most contagious laughter in this part of the country. This, somehow, endeared her even more to most of her clients.

Truth to tell, this humble article is the writer’s way of expressing his profound gratitude to a woman-friend who saw him grow as a journalist and as a person.

While the Belen only comes out every Christmas time, our Belen is the Belen for all seasons. (PSL/BSY)

Publisher unedited

By Benjie S. De Yro

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True or false? You’re not a true-blue artist if you don’t have the so-called artist’s tantrum.

It’s false! Take it from Dr. Chita Cabrera-Ramos, Northern Luzon’s dance sport competition choreography queen of many years and a headache among trying hard pseudo-dance instructors.

Now the Cagayan State University Director for Culture and the Arts, the petite and beautifully-tanned Ramos raised an already arched brows when the question was asked.

“I just don’t have it. I am always relaxed. How can you create better ideas if you’re angry? Artistic juices will not flow. I only get moody when I can’t get perfection from my artists,” she said over turon and machine-brewed coffee at CSU.

The then very young Chita Ramos realized the economic and artistic significance of her talent when she was paid a hundred pesos by the Commission on Audit for a five-day terpsichorean work. It was her baptism of fire as one of the earliest student-dance instructors in the 1980s.

Since then, she never hanged her dancing shoes. After a degree in Physical Education, she made the then Science Laboratory High School of the Cagayan State University the undefeated champion for 10 straight years of the Tuguegarao City’s Pav-vurulun Fest, a feat unbroken by would-be dance coaches in the city.

Her name soon caught artistic fire. Suddenly, she was thrown into the local dance scenario she never imagined she could be plunged into. In 1997, the international break came.

She choreographed the first US tour of her university’s faculty choir and wowed a mixed audience of nostalgic Cagayanos and Fil-Americans with local dances she herself created.

That Ramos is into culture and arts is an understatement. It’s her breath, her life actually. The truth is, she has been into the preservation of the rich cultural heritage of her beloved Cagayan, particularly on the alleged dying Ibanag culture for as long as she can remember.

It is her lifetime passion to see Cagayan culture alive up to the next generation thru her choreography.

“Who will preserve our culture?,” has always been the question which hang like the sword of Damocles over her head.

Unlike other local choreographers who tend to distort culture, Ramos burns her midnight oil to do research and explore some more.

One of the notoriously undefeated choreographers in Cagayan during competitions outside of the region, the artist in her burns fiercely and continues to propel her to greater heights of her chosen field.

“Competitions are just part of the routine. If you win, thank you. If you don’t, it simply means you need to improve on your craft. It’s as simple as that,” she said.

Watching Chita at work is like watching a silent movie. There she was, consumed in her own world, undisturbed by any movement or sound except that of her creations. She seldom speaks to rehearsal observers as she is focused on what she is doing, a consummate artist at work.

She has brought the Ibanag culture to the various art frontlines during her overseas performances and within the country. She is rebelliously meticulous particularly on the movements and rhythm of the hands and the feet.

“The Ibanags are gentle people. Their movements in a dance should

capture that, too,” Chita said.During performances, she would

insist on using indigenous Ibanag musical instruments as live music and the response would always be very encouraging.

As board member of the National Association of Choreographers, she is a permanent fixture in street dancing competitions and cultural affairs. Once, during the science and technology week two years ago, her audience nearly dropped their jaws when, during a sequence of the Montanosa Suites, a dancer gracefully carried at least 12 earthen pots on her

head.Such is art

imitating life, she would argue.

In a country where artists like her are seldom appreciated for their worth, the dance diva admitted she is yet far from being fulfilled as an artist.

She said one should continue to discover and explore as there’s so much to be done in the field of arts.

What excites her these days is when a new project comes along. She can’t get herself to sleep unless it’s done. Fulfillment follows.

But how can she reconcile a dead issue like culture among today’s technology babies?

“You simply have to adjust how it looks from the point of view of the youth. Through the performances, you are likewise training them to become artists,” she added.

She now sees the Iddu Women Honor Role Award as a form of motivation so that people can get out from their respective comfort zones.

Now it can be said. Dr. Chita Ramos has been destined to be an artist and not as a nurse, her passion in her younger years until she discovered she can’t take the sight of blood.

In her early 40s,our Cagayano frontliner will continue to dance her way to the road she has chosen, the preservation of culture through the performing arts. (PSL/Benjie S. de Yro)

Cagayano artist, unmasked

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Credible, down-to-earth, honest, competent, compassionate, reputable and excellent leader--- this is how region 2’s chief of budget and management is described a public servant and a private individual by her subordinates.

Performance-wise, they say, one cannot complain for she has been serving the department with unparalleled reputation and integrity for 26 long years and counting. For almost 11 years as the regional director, she, along with the department, has gained the nod of many not only among her employees but more on the agency’s clients. In fact, virtually all agencies across the region look up to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) whose foundations she continued to strengthen with passion, honesty, wit and leadership prowess.

Before her installation as regional director of the DBM, this native of Solana, Cagayan had first experienced jumping from one position to another which contributed to the enrichment of her manifold experiences and prepared her for the responsibility that she shoulders and treasures at the moment.

At DBM alone, she rose from the ranks. She had 9 designations, namely: Cagayan Provincial Budget Officer, Budget Analyst, Budget Analyst I, Senior Budget Specialist,

Supervising Budget specialist, Chief Budget Specialist, OIC-Director III, Director III and now as Director IV or Regional Director.

This is apart from a profession which they say her “first love”---teaching. Only few individuals know that she was a part-time instructor at St. Paul University Philippines.

These vast experiences of hers, undoubtedly, led

her to acquire the highest post at the Regional Office.

According to her employees, the regional director, though on top, has always been too humble to remember where she started.

“She started at the bottom, that’s why she knows how to reach out. That makes her a true person.” Senior Budget Specialist Enrique C. Bugar said.

Also according to some staff who have been working with her for more than 20 years, the director, a certified public accountant, treats all employees with utmost impartiality.

“Walang mataas. Walang mababa. Walang palakasan. She helps and assists those who need assistance. She also knows the weaknesses and strengths of her constituents and that makes her a very effective leader,” Ludivina Potot, another senior budget specialist, said.

In terms of entertaining clients, the 53-year old regional director has been so helpful and considerate to put clients on top of her priority. She would even sit at the offices front desk to receive calls. This just exemplifies what kind of director she is, albeit the position she holds.

Because of the department’s “client first” culture, DBM was awarded the Public Service Delivery

Audit (PASADA) seal of front line service honor by the Civil Service Commission (CSC). Such award illustrated her greatness as the agency’s instrument in introducing to employees the concept of courtesy and client priority.

The legacies of the Regional Director, however, do not come in the form of tangible projects as opposed to officials of other agencies. Her legacies are beyond infrastructures, development projects and the like. Instead, her legacies come in the most abstract yet lucrative form.

First, she has encouraged people to become more productive. Second, she has instilled among her employees the love for work and finally, she has infused in their minds and hearts honesty in the performance of their duties and responsibilities.

She is someone who speaks the truth. A not-so-sociable person but has a wide perspective of life. An upright and a sound decision-maker. A teacher, a writer, an encourager, a leader, very humble and credible leader--- all these define who Regional Director Isabel C. Taguinod is. (OTB/PSL)

A humble and credible LeaderBy Oliver T. Baccay

13

By Benjie S. De Yro

The national hero could have engaged her in a fierce debate over a flickering

light of a lamparita under a full- bloomed Indian mango tree with flirting fireflies hovering. She could have argued her case, her disposition, actually, that the hero’s heroine, the epitome of Filipina

submissiveness, Maria Clara, does not exist anymore.

“Women then were timid, hesitant to speak their heart out. Not anymore,” said this mother of two and an academically-glamorous grandma of three.

When she said ‘no to women’s mediocrity’, she shares the same belief as Cagayan’s official father, the Governor.

If her career were a dissertation, it could have been the best paper.

For one unmasked Rosalinda PeBenito-Valdepenas, what you see is not necessarily what you get. For behind that façade of simplicity and eloquence lies a strong- willed woman who, without an arched eyebrow, gave up her greencard and came back to where her heart lies, her countrymen.

“What will I do in the States? This is my home and I want to give

back,” she said of her accepting her present position as Special Assistant to the University President on a consultancy basis, after her early retirement as University President of the University of Saint Louis Tuguegarao in April 2011.

She recalls her mother who has been too caring and generous to all her siblings until her death.

As a woman of famed intelligence, she is perfection personified.

Why, it was under her leadership as the first woman President that her beloved St. Louis College of Tuguegarao became a full-fledged university. It was not an easy climb as President. She virtually rose from the ranks, starting as just one of those nameless and faceless faculty members of the College of Engineering, she being an Engineer by profession. But she was made of sterner stuff.

These days, with mouth-watering academic credentials, it may come as a surprise that Linda come to the defense of single women-parents without really trying.

“I salute them. Society should not ostracize them as even under such situation, they are able to raise responsible citizens. Each should be given a chance to learn from past experiences to become a better person” she reasons out.

Admittedly, she is a perfectionist with a difference. She diligently encourages students to strive more and to excel in everything they do. As a true-blue Cagayana, she has always been fighting for the rights of women, unheralded of course.

As one of Cagayan’s most influential personality in the field of private education, she has never been wanting of awards and recognitions but single out one award which defined her totality as a woman of service.

It was this award bestowed by her own peers as Best Performing

Rotary Club President for Rotary Year 2011-2012 for District 3770, covering the provinces of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, Apayao, Isabela, Cagayan, Kalinga and Apayao.

She was ranked number one of the only two Club President awardees in the said district. As the first woman President of the Rotary Club of Tuguegarao- Citadel, her club was awarded Number 1 of the only two clubs recognized as the Best Performing Rotary Club for Rotary Year 2011-2012.

As if these were not enough, the Class 1972 valedictorian of the Cagayan National High School and a consistent academic scholar was cited by the Office of the President of the Philippines in 2002 ‘for nurturing an environment that best exemplified the honing of leadership skills among the students.’

It was an offshoot of the selection of one of the students in the University as a finalist in the prestigious search for Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines that year.

Truth to tell, she was surprised to be included in this year’s Philippine Information Agency-Office of the Provincial

Agriculturist-Cagayan’s “Iddu Women Honor Role Award”, a recognition of women in Cagayan who significantly have done so much without funfare.

For Engineer Rosalinda PeBenito Valdepenas, Ph.D., her being an academician is temporary but her being a staunch supporter for the rights of women is permanent. (PSL/BSY)

A Rose Like No Other

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Pioneer Awardees 2012

You can be the next honoree.

RIMANDO

DE LEON ABELLA ISABELA RICBALTAZAR MONTEJAR

AYSON TEJADA LICAS PASCUAL