From the mail bag

Media

Part of Forestry Leaves

Title: From the mail bag
Language: English
Year: 1951
Rights
Fulltext: 1~~1UNITED STATES ECONOMIC COOPERATION ADMINISTRATION Special Technical and Economic Mission Manila, Philippines August 28, 1951 Mr. Florencio Tamesis Dept. of Agriculture and Natural Resources Bureau of Forestry Manila Dear Mr. Tamesis: Our Wood Products Designer, Mr. Risley tells me that his trip to· Los Banos and Paete, Laguna, August 23 to 24 was most rewarding. Professor de la Cruz was exceptionally hospitable in offering the facilities of the School of Forestry, and the expert guidance of Mr. Marcelo enabled Mr. Risley to complete his Paete survey quickly and efficiently. It was kind of you to offer Mr. and Mrs. Risley your house at the School of Forestry; it made their stay convenient and most pleasant. * Sincerely yours, * ( Sgd.) R. R. RENNE Chief of Mission * * UNITED STATES ECONOMIC COOP~RATION ADMINISTRATION Special Technical and Economic Mission Manila, Philippines August 28, 1951 Professor Eugenio de la Cruz School of Forestry Los Banos, Laguna Dear Professor de la Cruz: It was gratifying to hear that one of our cottage industry technicians, John Risley, and his wife, enjoyed your hospitality at the School of Forestry last Thursday and Friday. He states that you, Mr. Marcelo, and other members of your staff proffered such excellent help that his survey was greatly facilitated. Please accept my warm thanks for your kind offices. Page 60 Sincerely yours, ( Sgd.) R. R. RENNE Chief of Mission REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES CITY OF BUTUAN OFFICE OF THE MAYOR June 8, 1951 Dear Mr. & Mrs. Mallonga: It is with pleasure that I take this occasion to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude for what you have so unselfishly done to help the Management make our Butuan City Fair and Inauguration a success. Without the cooperation which you have so willingly extended, what little success we achieved during the City Fair and Fiesta celebration would not have been made possible. I know pretty well that you have sacrificed your time and effort just to favor us with your help. It is my firm belief that you have a deep and abiding sense of loyalty to the cause and welfare o( our City. This letter is a humble attempt on my part to make you know and feel that we deeply appreciate your attitude, that your efforts have not been in vain. The City needs ctiizens of your mould and stature to fall back on in times of dire necessity. In closing, allow me to reiterate my deepest appreciation and thanks foi; your benevolent assistance during our City Fair and Inauguration. Very sincerely, (Sgd.) RODOLFO D. CALO City Mayor Mr. & Mrs. Angel Mallonga Butuan City * * * * University of the Philippine• COLLEGE OF LAW Quezon City Office of the Dean :May 18, 1951 The Editor-in-Chief of Forestry Leaves School of Forestry, University of the Philippines College, Laguna Dear Sir: I have just received a copy of the graduation issue, 1951, of the "Forestry Leaves". I wish to thank you and thru you the other members of the Editorial Board for having sent me this complimentary copy. I wish to congratulate the faculty and student body of the School of Forestry for turning out such as good a pubHcation as the Forestry Leaves. Very truly yours, ( Sgd.) JOSE A. ESPIRITU Dean FORESTRY LEAVES The Honorable Forest Station Bacuit, Palawan June 8, 1951 The Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources Manila Dear Sir: I am prompted to write you this letter due to a radio broadcast about the proposed Standardization of Salaries of Employees of the Government to be considered by the CABINET, of which you are a member. Being a forest officer (Ranger) in the service of our Government, whose well-beinl,l will be affected by said standardization, I wish to respectfully present here some facts for your information and consideration. It is a known fact that among the technical employees of the Government, only the forest officers, especially the Forest Rangers, WHO DO MOST OF THE DIRTY JOB, as the saying goes, are given starvation salary, or very much lesser than the salary given to other employees doing technical and non-technical work. To make my points clearer, I am forced to make the following comparisons: 1. A Ranger upon entering the government service is given an entrance salary of Pll0.00 a month. Before b"coming a ranger, he has to finish a 2 year course in the College of Forestry, after finishing High School. Now, a Ranger, aside from performing work, wholly forestry in nature, has to shoulder the burden of running after smugglers of forest products, and being an Ex-officio Internal Revenue Officer by law, he has to measure and invoice forest products, making his job a REVENUE producing job. And revenue or money is what our Government now need~ to run its activities. In other words, Rangers have a hand in producing revenue for our Government. The big income of the Bureau of Forestry for the past 5 years was realized, not by sitting down and waiting for the tax payers to come and pay, but thru inspections of forest officers, mostly RANGERS. These inspections were accompanied by sweat, tears and the flow of Elementary School Teachers. A Normal graduate, upon entering the government service as an Elementary School Teacher, is given an entrance salary of i"l40.00 a month. The Normal School Course is also a two-year course after High School, like the Ranger Course, but the Normal Graduates are given higher salary than the Ranger Graduates. I can not for the life of me understand such discrimination. My dear Secretary, we (all the Rangers and I) ask nothing but parity in the standardization of salaries, and no more. Either give us our DUE or bring down all salaries to the level of the salaries of the Rangers of the Bureau of Forestry, so that no injustice be done. I hope you would be kind enough to inform me of your opinion on this matter, I respectfully remain. Yours very truly, (Sgd.) ARISTOTELES VINOYA Ranger, B.F. * * * Forest Station * July 5, 1951 Bacuit, Palawan Mr. Edgardo Mabesa Managing Editor FORESTRY LEAVES Dear Sir: Please find enclosed a copy of my letter to the Honorable, the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, which is self-explanatory. I am giving you a copy for publication in the FORESTRY LEAVES, if, in your opinion, it is fitted and alright for publication. Well, best regards and hoping the Ranger's plight will be heard ·and consi<,\ered. Very truly yours, (Sgd.) ARISTOTELES VINOYA Ranger Officer in Charge * * * * Australian Forestry School Canberra, A.C.T. 3 March 1951 blood (this sometimes occur) of forest officers. The Editor 2. As a comparison, please allow me to cite the subordinate employees of the Division of Soil Survey, also a technical Bureau. Subordinate employees in said Bureau, without going to any school for the proper training, are given, upon appointment as Assistant Soil Inspector, the entrance salary of 1'150.00 a month. And their nature of work does not produce REVENUE for the Government. Please note the big difference in salary and bulk of work. 3. Another comparison worth mentioning is the Normal School Graduates, who end eventually as SEPTEMBER, 1951 Forestry Leaves College of Forestry, U.P. Sir: At this instance, I received the December issue of the Forestry Leaves which reminds me that a year ago I stepped on the portals of the Australian Forestry School. It is this organ which has kept me abreast with the happenings, activities and forestry trends in our beloved Alma Mater as well as in the forest service. The invaluable information and figures in the articles have been handy references for me whenever I was called upon to answer questions Page 61 about forestry in the Philippines. I owe my gratitude, therefore, to your energE;tic staff who kindly and thoughtfully sent me up-to-date copies. The present form of the magazine shows how wonderfully it has grown up. Like most of our field men b3ing away from school, I feel now gratified that it quenched my thirst for additional knowledge and news now in the new columns and my anxiety to see again former classmates, friends, students and new faces in the pictorials. In my humble opinion, I consider it has grown into the "full grown tree" dreamed of five years ago; now it is breathing fully with life. In retrospect, the Forestry Leaves was born in its humble mimeographed form out of materials scrapped and bought from generous contributions of men from the Bureau and School. Concerted efforts by all-the faculty, forestry students, alumni and sympathizers kept up its growth in spite of financial difficulties. I still remember how contributions came in trickles at first; then, came in bigger donations from bermen and sympathizers, which financial support our Director, the Provincial Foresters, alumni, lummade possible its continuous printing. Undoubtedly, the present form is well-nigh perfect, austerity notwithstanding. I consider it my humble obligation, therefore, as recipient of these beautiful benefits, to support the Forestry Leaves financially, although how small be my part. Please, accept my pledge of five pesos (P5.00) as my voluntary share. My wife will remit the amount to you soon. Very sincerely yours, (Sgd.) FRANCISCO N. TAMOLANG * * * * May 2, 1951 Dear Mentong: I guess I mentioned to Dr. Quisumbing that Director Fischer wishes to be remembered to you. I do not know what orchid you had given him, but he certainly speaks a great deal about you. I did not tell him, of course, that you are suffering from back· ache as he may be disappointed. To show him that you are still strong, I told him that you go to Los Banos everyday. The old man is doing fine. He was weeping when he was relating to me his ad·ventures and experiences and his cares for all his men, which made me weep also. He had asked that we Filipinos should do something to commemorate the patriotism of Ex-Justice Jose Abad Santos whom he saw when shot by the J aps. He does not believe there could be any greater man. When convenient, I may write again. Do not write to me as it is very expensive to send Air Mail from the Philippines. I inquired about Catell for your American Men of Science and found he dropped the business and sold everything to another company. Page 62 Please remember me to the other folks-Mendoza et al. The Editor Forestry Leaves College, Laguna Sir: Sincerely yours, (Sgd.) C. G. Manuel * * * * City of Zamboanga May 7, 1951 I am quoting hereunder pertinent portions of the letter by the President of the Mindanao Lumber Development Co., Inc. of Davao City, dated March 17, 1951, and to my letter dated March 21, 1951,all to the Director of Forestry, Manila, which may be of interest in our Forestry Leaves: "We are about to start immediate operation of the area, and among the many technical men, under consideration, we have voted to hire the services of one of your men, Regulo D. Bala, to assist us in starting the operation. * * * we request you to please allow him to help us start the operation for a few months, after which time, he may either elect to stay with us, or to return to the Bureau of Forestry." "We have always relied upon the Bureau of Forestry for any technical services that we may need, and we hope you will not hesitate to grant _us our request." My letter: "In the outset, I may mention that this job was offered to me through the Company's own initiative and idea through its President, Mr. Gaudencio E. Antonino, without previous thought or idea on my part. So that, I consider this opportunity a challenge to our Forestry Profession, and of course to me personally, which challenge, I have to meet." I am leaving for Milbuk, Cotabato, momentarily, on receipt of the approval of my leave. Sincerely yours, (Sgd.) REGULO D. BALA (Junior Forester) * * * * The Director of Forestry Manila Sir: Candolman, Capo-ocan July 4, 1951 To-day is July Fourth, our Independence Day! On this occasion allow me, my dear Director, to submit to you this report for record purposes regarding the kindness, honesty and, above all, the meritorious acts done in the field by one of your forest officers, Mr. Jose Dato-on, who, I believe, deserves high esteem and congratulations. Forest Officer Dato-on deserves not only the public FORESTRY LEAVES congratulations but the appreciations of all his imme- in the remote places. Unlike other government emdiate Chiefs, in telling time and again in the field to every kainginero he meets, about the value of our forests and the important role that our trees have played. I am, therefore, dear Director, submitting this letter to you, because if all forest officers and other government employees are like this humble servant of the public, then I believe there will be less kaingin-makings and more wealth to our country in the form of trees that are saved. The said forest officer used not only to convince the illiterate and the mountain people to stop making kaingins, but he also convinced them including myself to better lay down our arms and surrender them to the authorities. Heeding his advice, many had surrendered their arms to the authorities. Mr. Dato-on is small in size but then he is big and strong enough to tell the tough guys hiding in the forests of Capo-ocan, Carigara and Ormoc, that he would be the first to lead the fight against any illegal kaingero and holders of illegal fire-arms who dare to evade the law. As proof of his sincerity, he already accused some kaingeros in Capo-ocan two weeks ago before the Court of the Justice of the Peace thereat, which I believe no forest officer has yet done in this place since liberation. ( Capo-ocan now is considered the most feared place in Leyte). If only many forest officers are like Mr. Dato-on who does not qnly campaign in the poblacion but also penetrates even the remotest sitios apprehending illegal kaingin-makers, the Government can accomplish much. Above all~ I would have been myself a "wanted" man now-a-days if not for Mr. Dato-on's advice that I better surrender and return home; he even gave me money for my transportation and chow in my going to Tacloban. He did not only do this to me but to other friends of his, especially the poor ones FREEDOM "The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs or impede their efforts to obtain it." John Stuart Mill * * * ACTION "Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action." * * * FRIENDSHIP Lowell "True friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation." Washington SEPTEMBER, 1951 ployees, during his inspections he stays with the poor, he is the one buying or spending money for his subsistence, including even the food of his hosts. When he goes home, the poor fellow with whom he stayed would give him rewards in form of chickens, eggs, etc., but he would just say, "Better sell your chickens and out of the money you spend for the education of your children." Otherwise, if he would be forced to receive the chickens, he would pay them with the amount equivalent to the market value. Dear Director, I congratulate you and all the immediate chiefs of Forest Officer Dato-on for putting him in the place and thereby effected public trust to the Bureau in particular and to our government in general. It may be also mentioned, in this particular, that forest officer Dato-on is one of the members of the unrecognied guerilla. In spite of this fact, he is very satisfied, happy and contented, because according to him, he saved the greatest wealth of our nation not only in Ormoc but also our forest found in the vicinities. To me, therefore, my dear Director, your Forest Officer Dato-on is considered as one of our unknown heroes of our country. Sir, I have submitted this report to you without any knowledge of the person concerned and I hope it could be published in. the Free Press through that Office with the picture of this forest officer, so that it may become a good guidance to all unscrupulous employees of our government and to surprise the person concerned, and to make him feel that his long honest services in the government has been spirit· ually compensated. Thanks. Very sincerely, (Sgd.) L. VERGANIA (Note: Only some corrections in grammar had been made by us in the above letter.-Ed.) EXCELLENCE "If a man has good corn, or wood, or boards, or pigs to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles, or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad, hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods." Emerson • • • AGE "To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living." Amiel • • • FORESIGHT "If a man take no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand." Confucius Page 63