Tuesday, October 03, 2006 Maxey: Hard evidence By Ram Maxey Bar None
DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte has spoken. Guesting in a television program last Sunday, the mayor said the controversial issue of aerial spraying by banana plantations will be decided in ten days after the City Government shall have come up with results of a final study he had ordered the City Planning and Development Office to make.
"Rest assured that it will anchored on hard evidence," Duterte added. The ten days end on October 10, Tuesday, when the City Council meets in regular session and presumably make up its mind on whether to ban, or not to ban, aerial spraying.
Will the City Council go along with the mayor's 10-day time frame when it meets in regular session today (Tuesday, October 3) and postpone the inevitable? If so, the militant groups who have been agitating for an immediate absolute ban will again be bitterly disappointed by the delay and send to-whom-it-may-concern Kalabasa Awards to the Council.
Last week they did that to four councilors they blamed for alleged delaying tactics. One of the recipients, Nilo Abellera, told reporters he made pinakbet out of the squash sent to him. "It tasted delicious, thank you."
To my mind, hard evidence in this case does not consist of testimony by so-called "experts" coming all the way from Manila to testify that chemicals sprayed on banana plants are poisonous. Even the ordinary table salt when taken in massive doses can prove hazardous to one's health. Allegations that some people living along the periphery of banana plantations have gotten sick or acquired skin rashes, or whatever as a result of having been exposed to aerial spray drift have to be substantiated.
These militant groups even went to the extent of paying P14,260 for a full page advertisement (one shot deal) to air their opposition to aerial spraying. When the City Council failed to pass an ordinance last Tuesday banning its practice, one of them, Mamamayan Ayaw sa Aerial Spraying (Maas), got so hot under the collar its leaders sent the insulting Kalabasa Awards to four councilors.
Some non-government organizations (NGOs) who depend on foreign funding in order to operate have to justify such financial support by sending from time to time reports and newspaper clippings to their patrons abroad as proof of their operations. These pseudo-environmentalists go to great lengths to dramatize their "effort" in the preservation of the environment, hence make a big show of it. Should the City Council fall for their "drama" and pass an ordinance banning aerial spraying, it could be an early Christmas for these pseudo-environmentalists. But why can't they produce the hard evidence?
Where are the victims, and the corresponding medical certificates attesting to the fact that their ailments were caused by aerial spraying? Susmariosep, ganun lang ka simple.
