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Friday, September 15, 2006
Group denies fabricating stories v. aerial spray
By Ben O. Tesiorna and Barbara Carla R. Quiero
AN OFFICIAL of a local environmentalist group denied reports Thursday they “coached” a woman to claim that she acquired a rare skin disease after being exposed to chemicals used in aerial spraying.
Interface Development Interventions Inc. (Idis) executive director Lia Jasmine Esquillo said they did not fabricate stories.
Flor Watin, 31, a resident of Mandug, reportedly denied claims that her disease was caused by chemicals from aerial spraying in banana plantations in particular by Lapanday Agricultural Development Corp. where she resided for several years back.
But in an interview with Reporters Notebook, a public affairs program aired over GMA-7, Watin blamed "aerial spraying" for her skin disease.
She said lesions started to appear all over her body after she was exposed to chemicals from aerial spraying.
But Esquillo said Watin has been receiving "pressures" from the plantation firm that may have caused her to deny the real cause of her disease.
"We know the tactics that the other side can do," Esquillo said.
She, however, said Idis has no ill-feelings against Watin and that they understand her.
"But, definitely, we will blame the plantation. If there's nothing to hide, why pressure people? And we know there is harassment. But, we deny coaching anyone," she added.
Watin said medical findings showed the lesions all over her body were caused by a genetic disorder called the Dario White Disease or Darier's disease.
Dr. Maria Myla Alvarado, resident physician of the dermatology department of the Davao Medical Center, said they have conducted a biopsy examination on Watin and it turned out that she is suffering from this very rare genodermatosis disease.
Alvarado said the rare skin disease could be triggered by factors like bacterial infection, but never by chemical contamination.
Medical experts said the fact that three out of Watin's seven siblings also suffered from skin lesions even without exposure to chemicals from aerial spraying is an indication that it is a genetic disease.
In an interview Wednesday, Watin said when television networks interviewed her, a certain Luz Capendo was coaching her to blame the aerial spraying for her predicament.
Watin could not confirm though to which organization Capendo is affiliated. The two television networks denied Capendo is their employee.
Jeffrey Tupas, researcher of Idis, admitted that Capendo is one of their community organizers in Mandug.
He denied, though, that Capendo coached Watin to blame aerial spraying for her disease.
"She (Watin) said she experienced having been sprinkled with poison and we believed her story," Tupas said.
Idis is a non-stock, non-profit organization that promotes environmental care.
It is engaged in environmental education, community mobilization, policy advocacy, research, media advocacy and coalition building.
One of Idis' main advocacies is the protection of the upland areas of Davao City's watersheds to ensure clean and abundant water for all generations.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (September 15, 2006 issue)
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