Can make news articles, translate English-Tagalog and vice versa; can do typing jobs.

BAGUIO CITY – Whenever Cordillera tribal folks   get invited to social gatherings to partake of food, merriment and camaraderie, there is this jocular saying often expressed: “Where there is smoke, there is etag and pinikpikan,” Or, “Where there is smoke, there is kinnuday and pinikpikan,” Or, “Where there is smoke, there is kini-ing and pinikpikan.”  

Etag, kini-ing or kinuday is salted pork and smoked for days to attain a unique taste and always added to pinikpikan, a chicken singed off its feathers.

Many Firefighters worth their salt and assigned with the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP-CAR) tinkered a bit on the phrase and came out with, “Where there is smoke, there is fire!” 

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Not to be outdone, highlander and lowlander pundits reshuffled the phrase further and came out with, “Where there is smoke, there is marijuana, ” in a slap to those  who use  marijuana and, a  direct  reference to law enforcement officers who raid, uproot and  burn outright, marijuana plants uncovered in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).  

They even humorously add that law enforcement officers doing marijuana burning are legally exempt from the provisions of RA 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, that prohibits, among others, burning of leaves, discarded plants/things or trash.

By and large, the phrase is connected to fire. There is another saying, “Do not play with fire, if you do not want to get burned.” Its barefaced message is simply that fire, when tamed is a good tool, but when it gets out of hand, becomes a very deadly beast.

And tinkering with marijuana in whatever manner, by planting, selling or using it is exactly the same as playing with deadly fire. Either way, one can get imprisoned or killed.