Wednesday, May 02, 2007 Junked batteries 'deadly' for Liguasan Marsh
GENERAL S.K. PENDATUN, Maguindanao -- Faces of poverty is virtually splashed wherever one looks at this Muslim-dominated town that has been the hotbed of Moro rebellion in the 1970s.
In recent years, the town continues to hog local and national headlines as it is supposedly being used as hiding place of kidnap gangs, notorious among them the Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom group.
Essentially, the town is an "ideal" hideaway for dubious elements due to its remote location made difficult by a bumpy road ride ending in a portion of the vast Liguasan Marsh.
Members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is fighting for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao, can also be found in remote villages here straddling the wetland, proud to show off their Armalite rifles to strangers.
But residents, especially those living at the coastal areas of the marsh, have started waging a new war.
By and large, the fight launched last week has far reaching relevance at it affects not just the locals but also the biodiversity in other parts of the globe.
Liguasan Marsh is a known migratory path of birds, especially when the climate in other countries gets colder.
The culprit threatening Liguasan Marsh is simply junked car batteries, particularly its acid and lead contents.
No, not so many owned vehicles here that's why car batteries threaten the marsh. Since most residents are poor, they used car batteries to light up their homes at night, especially in villages not serviced by electric power providers.
"It is only now that we're aware that junked batteries can destroy our Liguasan Marsh when they're disposed to it," said Phenny A. Dalundong, a leader from Barangay Kaladturan here.
"We're throwing unusable car batteries everywhere in the past," he added.
Dalundong was grateful to the Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (Amore), a program funded by the United States for International Development, for initiating the awareness program.
Amore provides electricity to far-flung villages in Mindanao using solar or micro-hydro power systems. For its solar power system, batteries are employed.
Tetchi Capellan, Amore chief, said they launched the battery awareness campaign because Liguasan Marsh is considered one of the important wetlands in the country. The two others are the Candaba Swamp in Pampanga and the Olango Island in Cebu.
"The awareness campaign focuses on the disposal of batteries. It is the most vulnerable and dangerous component because of its acid-lead contents. With proper handling of used batteries, we can mitigate possible acid-lead leaks in the marsh," she said.
"While we help improve the people's quality of life through village electrification, the project also ensures that the benefits of clean energy in areas surrounding the Liguasan Marsh are not reversed by the careless disposal of batteries," Capellan added.
Liguasan Marsh is a vast 288,000-hectare swamp in Central Mindanao region. It straddles the provinces of Cotabato, Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat. The marsh covers a total of 20 localities; 11 in Maguindanao, eight in North Cotabato, one in Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato City.
The marsh is rich in biodiversity. It is home to 30 fish species (24 of which have commercial value); three species of reptiles, notably crocodiles and turtles); over 20 species of waterfowl, like herons, egrets and ducks; and crabs, clams and shrimps. It is said to be the last stronghold for the endangered Philippine crocodile (Crocodylus mindorensis).
A field inventory of the wildlife and vegetation in Liguasan Marsh revealed a total of 218 species of flora and fauna.
Liguasan Marsh serves as the economic lifeline of people living near and within the wetland.
It also acts as depository of water drained from the Cotabato River Basin, which prevents the flooding of low-lying downstream areas in Central Mindanao, thus making farming viable in the lowlands.
Capellan said with the awareness campaign, the Liguasan Marsh could be spared of at least 420 toxic junk batteries and eight metric tons of lead and a considerable amount of sulfuric acid electrolyte.
Batteries provided by Amore to 14 villages in five towns in Maguindanao surrounding the marsh have a lifespan of two to five years, depending on how villagers take care of them.
When not properly disposed, these batteries pose environment and health hazards due to its acid and lead contents.
Lead is extremely poisonous and slowly affects the brain and causes infertility. Proponents of the awareness campaign have expressed fears that the lead contents will poison the fishes and other creatures at Liguasan Marsh.
"Once the poisoning of the marsh happens, it will definitely affect the livelihood of [thousands] of people dependent on the wetland," Ces Rodriguez, Amore's communication coordinator, said.
On the other hand, the sulphuric acid of the batteries can irritate the skin, destroy clothes and cement floors, and corrode iron.
Lead-acid poisoning cause hair loss, insomnia, respiratory diseases, gastritis and liver damage, a project briefer said.
Residents welcomed the awareness campaign in that it does not only educate them on the environment and health hazards of junked batteries but also gives them some money.
At the recent launching, which fell on Earth Day celebration, a junked battery depot was opened at Barangay Lao-Lao here, where residents can sold their unserviceable batteries.
"The price [at the depot] is significantly better than when sold to junkyard buyers roaming our villages," Dalundong said.
A youngster who did not give his name said that itinerant buyers would purchase junked batteries at less than P100 per piece.
But at the depot, established with the support of the Philippine Recyclers, Inc., a junked car battery could fetch as much as nearly P300, he added.
In Sultan sa Barongis, another Maguindanao town that's also a recipient of the off-grid electrification project of Amore, residents have been taking the lead contents of junked batteries to be made into an iron fist or formed them together like a stone to be used as heavy-material in submerging fishing devices at the Liguasan Marsh.
"Now that we know that junked batteries are dangerous, we would try to change our practice," said Yasser Diakal, chief of Barangay Darampua in Sultan sa Barongis.
