Thursday, December 07, 2006 Ledesma: The saging issue that irked Duterte By Jun Ledesma Sunbursts
JUST because Mayor Rodrigo Duterte did not accede to the demands of panhandling NGOs to ban aerial spray of agricultural inputs in corporate farms does not presuppose that he received some favors from the banana industrialists. I think that Councilor Nenen Orcullo knows the mayor better than anyone of us.
You can chide the mayor for caving in to the importuning of women. Or, blame him for the disappearance and terminations of drug pushers and other criminal elements. But bananas? Nah! Not Duterte. I believe him when he says that "wala na sila kahatag bisag usa ka sipi sa saging." (They have not given even one hand of bananas.)
If Nenen had been observant, these giant banana and pineapple corporations are just about the big business in the city that do not participate in Araw ng Dabaw and Kadayawan Festivals. You noticed that?
They have this corporate hubris that because they are the biggest employers hereabouts, maybe among the biggest taxpayers and are earning dollars for the country they ought not be saddled by other obligations like participating in parades, etcetera, etcetera.
But these firms are sensitive to health issues because banana is a favorite and an essential fruit in the export markets. I often wondered why there are Japanese technicians present in banana firms. I found out later that the Japanese buyers closely monitor the applications of chemicals on banana plantations.
And because banana is one of the prime export of the country, the government through the Fertilizer and Pesticides Authority also closely supervises how and what inputs these firms use.
Of course there ought to be some limits in aerial spray. No matter what, there are certain levels of toxicity in these chemicals. If buffer zones are not established yet, then maybe other mode of spray applications should be used. Otherwise, if this cannot be implemented then ban the planting of bananas near populated areas.
Unfortunately it's the small landowner-growers who will be greatly affected by this. The wide and contiguous corporate farms can set up their buffer zones, no sweat.
It is not only the NGOs that are hurting by Mayor Duterte's decision to go slow on aerial spray. Even Pastor Quibuloy, who is perceived to be close to Duterte, is complaining. Why? Because he has this prayer mountain somewhere near a banana plantation and according to his flock, they get the drift of chemicals from aerial spray.
I was told that that prayer mountain is a beautiful resort. I don't know what is it doing there or who got there first. The plantation or that resort? Maybe, the reverend and the plantation owner should sit down and talk. It's not good to assail a perceive adversary in a religious program. Especially if they cannot respond.
But I believe Pastor Quiboloy has a good point. I think he is not against aerial spray but that this should be limited to plantations where there are no human populations. Otherwise, use the conventional hand spray. He also advocates the setting up of hedges. I think Reverend Quiboloy was fed the wrong info about Dr. Anacleto Pedrosa who was quoted as saying that buffer zones are not needed in plantations as this will reduce the income of the company.
This is not what I heard from Pedrosa when I talked to him a long time ago. I was curious then why they were buying so many bamboo seedlings. He said they will use it in their buffer zones. Maybe it could reduce the plantation area, but to say that it is not necessary is very unlike of Pedrosa.
Pastor Quiboloy I would understand. But there are politicians I heard who want to hit back at plantation owners for refusing to employ constituents they had recommended. Some politicians have interest to protect. I heard that there is this official who represent an organic fertilizer firm which the giant banana firms have not patronized. This is a good issue to tackle and I will write about it one of these days. I will not dwell on the politician but on the merit of his advocacy.
By the way, congratulations to Doming Duerme for having been elected as president of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Doming, Mindanao Vice President for Sales of Philippine Airlines, was unanimously elected. He will take over the helm of the Chamber from Atty. Ben Carriaga.
Doming is himself a lawyer. The City Chamber just cut its umbilical cord from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry so it will be interesting how well Doming can steer the chamber to greater heights like PAL.
