Dinagyang’s real ‘problem’

“Paranoia is just another word for ignorance.”

—Hunter S. Thompson

By Alex P. Vidal

THERE’S nothing to worry actually.

The Dinagyang Festival 2020 is in the safe hands.

So far, it has been managed magnificently by the Iloilo City Festivals Foundation, Inc. (ICFFI), which was constituted under the Treñas administration last year.

The Department of Tourism (DoT), headed by Regional Director, Atty. Helen C. Catalbas in the regional office, and Iloilo City Hall Tourism Office headed by Junel Ann Divinagracia, have been on top of the situation in as far as promotion of the mammoth religious and cultural festival is concerned.

What is the problem? 

Nothing except the paranoia and over acting (OA) of some city officials and the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO).

Their “fear” of a terroristic attack during the street celebration was actually a copycat of the same weird reaction by the authorities who handled the security of Pope Francis’ visit in Manila in 2015 and the Black Nazarene procession in Quiapo.

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Iloilo City, historically, has never been a target of extremists or hardline terrorists.

Not even a disturbance or interference from the right and the left militants. 

Ditto for the Dinagyang Festival which is a non-political affair.

Ilonggos are religious and peaceful; no terrorist—real or imagined—will waste his time to terrorize the Ilonggos during this solemn but festive occasion for no reason at all.

Ilonggos neither harm nor incite violence and aggression against any group that is identified to be engaged in religious and political violence and terrorism.

It is their uncanny and thought-provoking reactions that make other people think from other regions that there’s a real and present danger and threat in the celebration of the Dinagyang Festival.

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The decision to jam the telecommunication lines during the highlight of the Dinagyang Festival on the final day was the combined handiwork of the paranoid ICPO and the City Council.

They swallowed hook, line, and sinker the police “intelligence” report that terrorists might sabotage the festival.

Which terrorist?

Who are these terrorists?

Its mere figment of their imagination.

Troublemakers like the drunken revelers, gang members, sex offenders, muggers, snatchers who mix the crowd aren’t terrorists.

They can be dealt with accordingly by manual police force.

These street rascals don’t operate time bombs and laser-laced gadgets that would totally disrupt and destroy the Dinagyang celebration.

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Meanwhile, heading the set of ICFFI interim officers that are doing a yeoman’s job for the success of Dinagyang Festival 2020 are businessman Rogelio Florete as chairperson; vice chairperson Felipe Uygongco; president Jobert Peñaflorida; vice president Ronald Raymond Sebastian; treasurer Roland Uy; PRO Judgee Peña.

ICFFI members are the following: John Alexander Que; Allan Ryan Tan; Phillip Chua; Joemarie Layson; Atty. Eugenio Hautea; Molly Grande; Ivy Gurrea; Angel de Leon, Jr.; and Honorato Espinosa.

Our Dinagyang Festival 2020 is penciled to mount unprecedented heights under the able and pro-active role these people have been doing for the occasion these past months.

No to jamming of phone signal during ‘Dinagyang’

“There is no country on Earth where Internet and telecommunications companies do not face at least some pressure from governments to do things that would potentially infringe on users' rights to free expression and privacy.”

—Rebecca MacKinnon

By Alex P. Vidal

NOW it’s the Iloilo City Council which approved the suggestion of the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) to shut down the telecommunication lines—but only for one day—during the main highlight of the “reinvigorated” and “repackaged” Dinagyang Festival 2020.

Three years ago, we spearheaded the opposition and criticism in the Iloilo media on the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) proposal to shut down for two days the telecommunication signal in Iloilo City during the Dinagyang Festival’s final days held in the third week of January.

Although we respect the authorities and their expertise in the handling of our security, we thought it was a veritable copycat of what the PNP did when Pope Francis visited Manila on January 15-19, 2015 and during the Black Nazarene procession.

It’s also a clear case of infringement on users' rights to free expression and privacy especially now that we live in the world of Internet and in golden age of social media.

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We insisted that when communication lines are shut down during important events like the Dinagyang Festival, the comfort and safety of visiting tourists and the residents who update their relatives in other regions and abroad on what’s going on in their locality are jeopardized.

We pointed out that drug addicts and drunken dolts don’t use high-tech communication gadgets to create a trouble.

We are glad and we congratulate Councilor Allan Zaldivar who cast the lone vote to oppose the same proposal this year. 

Police deployed in performance areas can always manually overpower any amok in the crowd.

We argued that no real terrorists from other regions–or even outside the country– will commit a “hara-kiri” or “kamikaze attack” by sneaking inside the well-guarded Iloilo City, surrounded by treacherous rivers, just to sabotage the Dinagyang.

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“If they only intend to extort cash, bringing an explosive device in Iloilo City is like holding a microphone in public and announcing that they would pee at the Plazoleta Gay,” I wrote in jest.

“If they intend to send a political message, they will not only be barking at the wrong tree, they will be in the wrong place of the planet. Malacanang and Imperial Manila are several islands and regions away.”

Here’s what I wrote about the controversial jamming of telecommunication lines during the historic festival: “I grew up in Iloilo City in the Philippines and witnessed how Dinagyang Festival started as a ramshackle religious and cultural activity until it blossomed into a behemoth international attraction.

Since the actual street dancing Dinagyang festivities romped off in the 70’s, the real problem was peace and order–drunken revelries, ill-behaved drug addicts and gangs composed of skinny but tattooed teenagers.

No invasion of the third kind. No rebellion. No earth-shaking tumult.

There were incidents of mugging, snatching, vandalism, acts of lasciviousness, street rumble, stabbing, among other street-level crimes. The police handled the situation and nipped the troublemakers in the bud.

It’s the proliferation of illegal drugs, especially shabu, and the sales of liquor in the streets that should be regulated if not stopped during the week-long festival in the month of January.

Not the “jamming” of cellular phone signals.”

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

Fake money a problem everywhere

"Too many people spend money they haven't earned to buy things they don't want to impress people they don't like."
--Will Rogers

By Alex P. Vidal

ILOILO City Police Office (ICPO) chief, Colonel Martin Defensor Jr.'s appeal for Ilonggos to be wary of fake peso bills being circulated for Yuletide Season is timely.
Fake money or its circulation is a problem anywhere.
And it has been in circulation even during normal seasons.
Anyone can be a victim: students, professionals, vendors, businessmen, government workers, and even those dealing with currency transaction.
Fraud fighter Sean Trundy has been exhorting us to learn to know how to spot fake money, for it is a skill that every cash handler should know.
Anywhere in the world today, creating counterfeit money is becoming easier and easier-and thus, more accessible to a larger number of people willing to risk jail for a few pesos or dollars now that we have advances in desktop publishing and laser printer technology.

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It was learned that the most common amateur counterfeits are usually 20s and 100s.
Trundy has warned that while "professional" counterfeiters use sophisticated counterfeiting techniques that can fool the naked eye upon examination, the majority of counterfeits we might encounter in circulation can be spotted if we know what to look for and are willing to make a close examination.
For dollar bills, here are some of the ways that money handlers should watch out, based on Trundy's tips:
There's the color shifting Ink. Modern bills are imprinted with overt (or visible) security features that help identify counterfeit money.
The most prominent is reportedly the color shifting ink used on bills produced after 2006. To identify the color shifting ink, Trundy suggests that we look at the lower-right hand corner of the bill's face.
Notice the printed numeral and tilt the bill back and forth. Depending on the angle at which you view the bill the color will shift from grey to green and back again. This is the first step in identifying fake money, he added.
Color shifting ink, Trundy said, is very difficult to replicate and usually cannot be done on a laser printer.

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Another thing is Intaglio Printing. This type of printing reportedly uses intricately carved plates and extremely heavy printing presses to "imprint" the currency. Imprinting means to physically alter the surface of the paper the money is printed on.
This creates a distinctive raised or ruff feeling to the currency that you won’t find on currency printed without intaglio printing. Look at the image of Benjamin Franklin on the $100 dollar bill.
The very fine detail along his eye and face as well as around the oval surrounding his face are nearly impossible for a laser printer to replicate.
"Of course, that is a good spot to rub your finger or thumb along the bill to feel the "raised ridges" that result from intaglio printing," said Trundy.
Let be wary of the counterfeit pen sold cheaply to many store owners.
This pen reportedly serves only one purpose and that is to determine the type of paper used to create the fake money. U.S. currency is printed on cotton based paper. Paper typically milled for use in copiers and laser printers and such is made from wood pulp.
The counterfeit pen is reportedly filled with iodine. The iodine reacts with the wood pulp and turns from brown to black.
If the pen does not turn brown the paper is made of cotton.
This pen will only tell us if the paper is not made from wood pulp. It will not tell us if the bill, printed on non-wood pulp paper, is fake.
Also the watermarks. Every modern U.S. currency reportedly contains a water mark security feature. By holding the bill up to the light we should be able to see a water mark next to the portrait of the president on the bill.
And the security thread. Look for a woven thread running from the top to the bottom of the bill. This thread is not printed "onto" the paper, rather it is woven into and part of the underlying paper the bill is printed on.
Trundy said this is very difficult for counterfeiters to replicate in fake money.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

Bizarre Dinagyang crime stories

“In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity.”

--Hunter S. Thompson

By Alex P. Vidal

NEWARK, New Jersey -- After witnessing the cold-blooded murder of a plainclothes cop from Arevalo district during the  1990 Dinagyang Festival final night in Iloilo City in the Philippines, I became convinced that there should be a gun ban when the Ilonggos celebrate the feast of Señor Santo Niño every year.

The cop (I can remember him only as “Ben”) was gunned down while answering the call of nature on the rear tire of an owner type jeep where I was sitting and parked on corner Valeria and Ledesma Streets in the City Proper, a stone throw away from our News Express editorial office.

“Ben” died on the spot from multiple gunshot wounds fired by an unknown assailant at past seven o’clock in the evening.

I was holding my friend Emmanuel “Boyet” Carillo’s state-of-the-art camera (which was burned in a fire that gutted their house in Kalibo, Aklan weeks later), thus I was able to take some photos as “Ben” sprawled on the pavement bathing in his own blood.  

The case has remained unsolved.

We also support the move of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) and the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) to prohibit glass bottles and cans during the revelries.

Glass bottles and beer or soft drink cans can become deadly if used by drunken revelers as weapons.

Senior Inspector Shella Mae Sangrines, ICPO spokesperson, said in a recent press conference they did not want revelers to carry illegal weapons, drugs and other harmful contraband, thus they would inspect all backpacks.

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The police may also check belt bags aside from backpacks.

Drug dealers and gang members carrying deadly weapons and illegal substances will eschew backpacks now that the police have announced what type of bag to be strictly perused during the festivities.

Some thugs who use backpacks are not really members of drug syndicates, terror groups and street-level fraternities engaged in riot.

Some of them are small time robbers or pickpockets.

One afternoon during the 1998 Dinagyang Festival, I “saved” a 17-year-old out-of-school teenager from being lynched by an angry mob near the Ledesma Street gate of Mary Mart Mall in Iloilo City.

“Randy” was being punched and kicked by male and female attackers while tightly embracing his backpack.

I intervened and was able to stop the carnage. When I checked the victim’s backpack, it contained several Nokia and Philips  analog cellular phones.

He was a “snatcher” cornered by some of his victims.

I negotiated with the maulers and helped them recover their cellular phones right away. I escorted the “snatcher” away from harm after he promised to go straight.

Since I was into sports, I encouraged him to train as amateur boxer in the YMCA gym. After a series of bouts in our weekly boxing tournament at the Iloilo City Freedom Grandstand, I introduced him to the late then City Administrator Angelo “Bebot” Geremias and brought him to Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu thereafter where he won a bronze medal in the inter-city youth slugfest.

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Drunkenness should also be regulated if not avoided during the Dinagyang revelry.

In the 1994 Dinagyang, the grandson of a prominent Filipino-Chinese tycoon hogged headlines when he was “drugged and molested” by two gay hairdressers who befriended him at the Freedom Grandstand, the main judging area for ati dance competitions.

“Anthony”, who once worked with former Sen. Joselito “Lito” Lapid as stuntman in an action film shot in Cebu, alleged that he passed out and wasn’t able to go home after a drinking session with the two hairdressers while waiting for announcement of winners Sunday evening.

He woke up the following morning in the sidewalk of J.M. Basa Street without a shirt. His other personal belongings went missing. He confessed to police he suffered a “swollen penis” and was treated in the hospital.

When one of the hairdressers was stabbed dead by an unknown suspect in Brgy. Tanza-Baybay in the City Proper weeks later, “Anthony” disappeared in Iloilo City.

“Anthony’s” cousin, “Jaguar”, who owns a resort in Boracay in Caticlan, Aklan, got mad when police coaxed him to cooperate and pinpoint his cousin’s whereabouts.

I accompanied the cop who went to the cousin’s office, a lending firm, in downtown, City Proper. The cop managed to enter and talk to “Jaguar” briefly before being rebuked.

I was left outside “Jaguar’s” office after being denied entry by “Jaguar’s” secretary.

“Anthony” hasn’t been seen again.