Death in the Science High

UNLIKEsmokers, betel nut chewers can still do their thing in public places up here in Baguio, so says an amendatory ordinance the city council passed February, 2011.

The day of passage (Valentine’s) apparently had nothing to do with the color of the product of the habit or practice among a growing number of munchers no longer limited to Ifugaos and traditionally tribal users. . The catch, emphasized by then city councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda, lies on the provision for a portable receptacle for the chewer’s red spittle. It’s a necessity the city won’t provide, even if it did for years provide stationary receptacles at the “Ifugao Station” beside the stone market building that gave way to the Maharlika Building .

The council mandated “betel nut (nganga) aficionados to discreetly spit into receptacles or containers, which shall be provided by themselves, to ensure the sanitation of public places and to safeguard the health of all citizens and persons in the City of Baguio ”.

No receptacle, no chew. Or chew but no spit – which is an act hard to follow. Expectoration is part of the process, the absence of which makes the habit as incomplete as a chew without one of the three basic ingredients - the nut, the betel leaf and the catalytic lime that triggers the crimson color and “high” of the mix.

Spitting “moma” outside a corresponding receptacle is punishable by a P400 fine or 30 to 60 days imprisonment, according to the ordinance. It’s in the same penalty class for simple spitting, discharging mucus from the nose, urinating and littering in public places.

“Tilmunen dan a (They should swallow it),” city mayor Mauricio Domogan offered. It’s the same advice he would tell smokers who carelessly flick their cigarette butts for lack of ash trays.

Years back in Bontoc, Mt. Province , a wag pleaded for an ordinance requiring inveterate beetle nut users to hang, like a pendant or medal from their necks, spitting receptacles of recycled sardine cans or water bottles.

The city’s ordinance was the latest among similar adoptions by local government units in the Cordillera in the name of public health and sanitation. It’s also for the visual sanity of having walls, alleys, streets and other portions of public or private property free of the unsightly evidence that beetle nut chewing has transcended tribal bounds.

The problem here is not as serious as in Taiwan where betel nut production is quite extensive, being

Iam certain that the FB pages of all UB Science High School classes have been busy with news of the death of Vaughn Carl Dicang, a Senior of said high school.

In the PM section of UBSHS class 1974, to which this column proudly belongs, a classmate asks what the “5 Ws” are. To answer her, Sunstar news reports have it that Vaughn asked for permission to go out on Baguio Day, September 1, last week. GMA News has it that Vaughn was with friends in the afternoon of that day in Balacbac. All reports state that Vaughn was next found dead in its creek on Thursday of the following week, his body in an advanced state of decomposition. Beyond these, we are advised to wait for the results of an autopsy, the results of which are not anywhere online as this column goes to bed. So Classmates, the Why remains unanswered.

As an alumna of the UB Science High, I am positive that I share not just with my classmates but with all its other graduates a deep sense of sadness. We have many a tradition in the Science High, one of the most enduring being that we are Family. Everyone and anyone from and of that Family is either of three things: a Classmate, an Ading, or a Manong/Manang. With the death of Vaughn, there is a death in the family.

My classmates and I were seniors for the latter half of 1973 and till March of 1974. It was a busy academic year. We had grades to keep up, college entrance exams to pass, a prom, an annual second only to rice farming. The issue there was on motorist safety, threatened by the sales strategy of the so-called “betel nut girls” who ply the nut in scanty clothing, distracting drivers along highways. It prompted passage of a law banning the skimpy-dressed girls from turning into visual distractions and hazards for drivers passing by.

During his incumbency in the House of Representatives, then Ifugao congressman Benjamin Cappleman admitted it was to his comfort that his to produce, fund raising activities, sports, competitions with other high schools, etc. Seniors are also tasked with passing over familial responsibilities to the lower years. It saddens me as I am sure it saddens all of the Science High family that Vaughn will not be around to finish up his senior year and all the stuff that goes with it. Because while such a year is a busy one, it is also packed with making the stories that become the precious memories we look back to as life rolls along.

Rappler reports that Baguio police chief Ramil Saculles urges the public to avoid accusing the police of Vaughn’s death, as the details of the case remain unclear. It seems a reasonable request, but we cannot help but consider that this teen death could be linked to three others that have been hugging our news lately, those of Kian de los Santos, Carl Arnaiz, and Reynaldo de Guzman. Let us pray this is not so.

It is weirdly interesting that the inquirer.net story about Vaughn, titled “Missing Baguio teen found dead in creek” is link coded as follows: http:// newsinfo.inquirer.net/928716/philippine-news-updates-war-on-drugs-oplan-double-barrel-universityof-baguio-science-high-school. Philstar, Sunstar, and Rappler have their stories coded with less judgment. Sunstar, for example, for its story titled “Baguio high school student found dead” has its link coded as follows: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/baguio/localnews/2017/09/08/baguio-high-school-studentfound-dead-562949.

Amid all the other noise, our condolences to the Dicang family.