Thursday, October 05, 2006 Ledesma: No ban but some rules to heed? By Jun Ledesma Sunbursts
AFTER all the diatribes and sloganeering that beset the needlessly controversial aerial spray issue Mayor Duterte volunteered that his office instead will undertake a thorough probe on the issue that made a veritable cockpit of the Sanggunian session hall last week. When the protagonists are paid or funded or when some members of the City Council have vested interests, don't expect any sane discussion to evolve.
With all due respect to some rabidly anti-industry proponents who hid in the cloak of being watchdogs of environment (and are not even from Davao or for that matter from Mindanao), these talks about chemical hazard has been polluted with an overdose of prevarications. And mind you, all these because of their quests for $ funding and because some petty interests are into organic fertilizer distribution!
As I said in the past, some militant environment organizations (with interlocking memberships) made a lot of brouhaha over a raw information of PCEEM, a Canadian-funded NGO, that Davao City rivers were tainted with lead, an element that is quite toxic, which they were so sure came from the banana plantations.
But they stonewalled another alarming data gathered by PCEEM, which states that the coliform levels in these rivers are several millions count over the parts per millions limit of human tolerance. In the US early last September, supermarkets nationwide withdrew and dumped vegetables because of e-coli outbreak, which claimed lives and sent hundreds to the hospitals. Ironically, it turned out, the veggies were raised organically. This is an aside but I am citing this for whatever this input is worth.
The fish kills attributed to banana chemicals were all fabrications. The media, including the giant TV networks, got stung. Were the pan-handling NGOs who parade as environment watchdogs repentant? NO! They succeeded in sending jitters to our banana export markets and wrought havoc to the erstwhile vibrant hito culture in Calinan and elsewhere. These NGOs merely played possum, as they cannot afford to take back their falsehoods for fear that the funding pipelines from European, Canadian and Australian donor foundations will be shut off. A few months later they came back with impunity demanding banning of aerial spray because of its hazards. To back up their cause they presented a case of a patient who tongue-lashed them later for making her their guinea pig. It turned out that the woman was diagnosed of another ailment.
But after all is said and done, I personally, would assert that the banana plantations operating adjacent to populated areas must follow certain restrictions and guidelines. There ought to be adequate buffer zones. In Tiboli, South Cotabato, Bobby Soriano when he was still on top of AJMR Group that developed a banana plantation there, ordered to set up boundary lines between population and barrio roads and banana plantations. They identified these as buffer zones and were planted with bamboos. The tribesmen were happy with this because they derive extra income from the bamboos (Laac variety), which they later volunteered to plant in slopes. The bamboo poles are sold to the plantation for banana props. Bamboos are fast growing and when planted close to each other can grow tall and make for excellent buffer.
In Davao City the Japanese officials of Sumitomo Fruit Corporations were enamored by the view of the City and the gulf from Apo land plantation in Tamayong, they issued strict rules not to cut down the mahogany trees in the farm. They also set aside P20-million to replant denuded slopes with mahogany trees. These are natural buffer zones, which other corporate banana firms can adopt.
But there are hard realities, which have to be addressed. Small Cavendish and lakatan banana growers utilized every inch of their lands and many of these are in populated areas. I go with the aerial spray restrictions and instead use hand or boom spray. But using hand spray does not actually mean it is safer than aerial spray. The government should put to task corporate firms, which have marketing and grower contracts to educate their partners in the proper application, handling and disposal of chemical waste. While we are in this subject, it is also imperative that vegetable, rice and corn farmers ought to be properly educated in this aspect. The militants who see hazards in fungicide sprayed on bananas are totally, if not conveniently, blind to the fact that some of our less informed and unsupervised farmers oftentimes apply pesticides and herbicides beyond the limits of what is necessary. This is when it becomes hazardous and dangerous to health especially on the person applying the chemicals.
Corporate plantations and chemical companies must absorb some degree of social responsibility too, for Pete's sake, like setting up infirmaries, carrying out information programs, help local government set up schools, provide scholarship programs not only for deserving students but also to upgrade knowledge and teaching skills of teachers. Multi-national corporations are making a windfall from our bananas. It's about time they reciprocate by extending social amelioration projects, which they can very well afford.
WATCH THIS OUT. Air Macau will have a direct flight to Davao City starting next month. Air Macau believes there is potential traffic in Mindanao and makes Davao City as their main hub instead of Manila or Cebu. From the exciting City of Macau, Air Macau can bring you to other destinations! I heard it from the firm reps that they are inviting Mayor Duterte to their inaugural flight on board Airbus 319. Cheers to Davao!!!
