AERIAL SPRAYING LEGISLATION: JUST THE START

This September 26, 2006, Davao City’s Legislative Council will vote on a landmark measure that will affect the operations of Export Cavendish Banana Companies – the biggest agri-industry in Southern Mindanao.

How Davao City’s councilors will vote on the proposal to Ban Aerial Spraying in banana plantations located in the second and third districts will serve as an indicator on how serious the legislative body is in pursuing legislation that will directly affect an industry capable of indirectly “assisting” political candidates in next years electoral exercise.

Davao City’s involvement with the Banana industry goes a long way back. It is no secret that political careers in Southern Mindanao have been closely linked with the support – direct and indirect – of personalities behind the industry. The interests of the industry has always been implicitly defended by politicians through the years.

This protective stance of politicians is being tested inside the august halls of the Davao City’s Sanguniang Panglunsod. This test does not imply that politicians are beginning to steer away from protecting the interests of the biggest economic player in the region.

What is happening inside the session hall of Davao City’s legislative building indicates a sea change in how this industry is perceived by citizens groups, a change in perception that will directly affect political careers. A transformation that will go on until reforms in the industry are put in place.

It is very important to take note that the initiative to propose a ban on aerial spraying in Davao City did not come from members of the Council, but from citizens groups who were audacious enough to propose it.

It may be recalled during the previous council (2002- 2004), the banana industry was also subject to intensive scrutiny and intense public debate. The issue at that time was the rapid expansion of the Cavendish banana plantations at the watershed areas of Davao City. The proposal, by environmental groups; for a moratorium on plantation expansion at the city council died by default. The previous council took it up at the last session, right before the campaign period started. The proposal was stonewalled and obstructed in every other way some members of the council saw fit. They made it appear that the discussion was needless and just a waste of their time. Efforts to engage the local chief executive was met with indifference.

Today, the game has changed – drastically.

The mayor has made public his stand. He wants to see an ordinance banning aerial spraying in Davao City, with out the ordinance, he has publicly declared he will come out with an executive order banning the same.

The City council is now clearly divided into groups closely identified as against or for the ban on aerial spraying.

Move’s to discredit groups pushing for the ban is an exercise in futility. Propagandizing and name calling won’t do the job of making the whole issue go away OR highlighting the issue in dramatic form. Even the remote possibility of these groups closing shop and leaving the city won’t mean that the banana company’s merry ways of yesterday will and should continue.

Banana companies, placed on defensive positions once again, still use the same strategy in dealing with the issue. The usual sidestepping of the issue at hand and asking for support and endorsements from other government agencies will not serve the purpose.

An on going groundswell calling for reforms in the industry is now growing from many small farming communities in the region, directly affected by the industry.

It is imperative that the Banana Industry closely examined and made to reform its ways.

Inefficiencies within the industry need to be weeded out. Its methods of doing business and its inefficient production practices need to be brought to much higher efficiency levels compared to the present.

These reforms need to be done, since whole communities are made hostage to their operations. Their quality of life and their future - economic, social, physical and environmental - well being is directly affected by company operations.

The whole region has been made hostage to its whims. The regional economy is so dependent on the industry that a 15 to 25 per cent cut in export quota’s would mean a regional crisis like the Asian Financial Crisis. A collapse in the international banana market – some say an unlikely event, but not a remote possibility- would mean death to many small farming communities.

A slowdown in the international banana market would figuratively mean just a case of runny nose for these companies, while whole communities would end up under intensive care, this poor government cannot afford.

Davao City’s dependence on the banana industry ought to be properly examined and assessed. The call for a ban on aerial spraying is just a start.

The companies have resorted to using host communities as pawns in their game. Small farmers who have entered into growership contracts and depend on aerial spraying for crop protection feel threatened. They will be directly affected by the ban, while the companies can move to other places for their supply.

The concerns of these small farmers are valid and should be looked into.

The writer personally recalls an encounter with them three years ago. They vehemently objected to calls for a moratorium in the expansion of the plantations in their upland farming areas – “gusto pod mi maka tagam-tam sa kaharuhay sa kinabuhi nga gisaad sa plantasyon. Nakit namo nga nakatagam-tam ang uban niani nga mga saad. Wala ba diay kami katungod makasulay niana. Demokrasya man kaha ning Pilipinas” (We also want to taste the good life that the plantations have promised. We have seen that others are experiencing this promise now. Don’t we have the right to try the same? Isn’t the Philippines a Democracy?)

With the proposed ban on aerial spraying put in place, these small farmers have become reluctant pawns in a complex political game, which in reality is political black mail at its finest. Because these farmer had no real choices available at the start. Today, they still have no other choice.

Democracy is after all about being able to make a choice on ones own free will, without fear or compunction, without pressure or threat. Choices made freely, are choices made without worries or concerns about fall out.

Can members of Davao City’s legislature do the same? Or are they in the same bind as those small farmers. Voting on a measure, compelled by the interests of a few, and not of the larger public they are suppose to serve?

Is the chief executive of Davao City willing to wrest the economy from the hold of these large banana companies? Can the city government look into a future where dependency on the banana companies is reduced to 15% of the direct and indirect economic dependence on the banana industry?

These questions are indeed hard to ask, but these have to be brought out, so it can be discussed by the public at larg

Next: The Banana Supply Chain Inefficiencies
An examination of the methods of land acquisition, crop production and fruit purchase practiced by the banana companies

Of Farms and Chains

At the start of the Industrial Revolution in Britain and Europe, the nature of work shifted drastically from farm to factory. In a span of 50 short years, settlements and factories could be found next to each other, while farming areas were slowly depopulated.

Farm based enterprises were seen as vulnerable to the vagaries of the weather and the infestation of pests and diseases. Early industrialists also saw farm based enterprise as a constricted labor generating resource.

Populations increase every year, while land area remain fixed. The only way to increase land was to go to war - a primitive method, or to acquire colonies in the “new world” – a primitive form of globalization. It was observed that farm input cost tended to increase over time, while the purchase value of farm products tended to decrease over time. Farming could no longer provide work to a growing population, and was seen as unsustainable over time. Industrialization was seen as the solution to this debacle.

Farm based employment in the old world decreased through the years compared to factory based work. Most residents of farming areas migrated to places where factory work was available, while the more daring ones moved to the colonies in the new world to become industrial farmers.

You can fill in the details as to what happened to the places that got colonized by the European powers, which is a long story in itself.

Factories produced tangible goods that were needed by an increasing population. The increase in demand for these goods increased with population. Factories could continue to provide employment for a growing population. One simple product produced by factories was soap. All permutations of soap based products were produced by the Lever industrial complex.

Every thing that we do not eat comes from a factory somewhere. Factory or Industrial based economies are more versatile.

But this does not mean there is no hope for Farm based initiatives. We are now living in the future that people living at the start of the Industrial Revolution envisioned. We have access to information at our finger tips. We have access to technology dreamed of a long time ago.

We need to find ways to make farming in Mindanao more efficient. Achieving efficiency will need a purposive decision to assess present farming practices through a comprehensive approach involving all stakeholders – from all levels of the farming supply chain, so points of inefficiency are weeded out.

Waste Management That Works

Garbage or waste is the natural by product of human activity. From Cave dwellings of prehistory to the most modern cities of today, garbage or waste has always been present.
Cave dwellers disposed of their wastes by either burning to provide heating or by throwing off a cliff or into a deep hole some where in the cave. The type of garbage modern humans produce can no longer be burned or thrown off some where.

The enactment of the Republic Act 9003, better known as the Solid Waste Management Act OF 2001 mandated cities and municipalities in the country to enact a solid waste management program.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources provided the guidelines for the implementation of the the Act.

Long before the act was promulgated, the city of Dumaguete already had a solid waste management program being implemented. The visible sign of the implementation of the program were the green, yellow and red garbage bins that one could find around the city. Houses and business establishments were required to produce their own bins. Businesses who would apply for a business permit every January or any time during the year would be required by the Business Registration office to bring their bins for inspection. With out the colored bins, a stores business permit would not be renewed. Employees of the CENRO would do spot inspections around the city to find out if offices had the colored bins. But the program had a very obvious flaw. Garbage was segregated at source, but when these were being collected, these were all lumped together. So segregation at source was just a waste of time. After a while this was corrected by color coding the garbage trucks. Wastes from green bins would go to the green truck. Red bins to the red track and so on.

At the city dump, one would would not smell any offensive odors typical of any garbage dump. The city even established an aviary within the garbage dump site. Different kinds of birds were placed in large cages. Families would go to the dumpsite to see the birds. The Banika river, flowing nearby, no longer had that bad smell. The city garnered accolades from organizations that saw the program as successful. The program did not cost millions to implement.

Early this week I was at Mati, Davao Oriental. I happened to pass by the public market. Three men on trisikad were going around collecting market wastes – vegetable cuttings, fish wastes, bones- practically any type of vegetable, animal or fish waste.

I inquired from a stall owner where the men were taking the wastes. She told me that the market had a composting facility somewhere at the back portion of the market complex. The men were taking the market wastes there for composting. The vendor added that the compost was being sold for P200 per sack, and the market vendors association had a share of that.

Since the men were only collecting organic waste, I asked what happened to the numerous plastic bags, glass containers and other types of waste a typical market generates. The vendor revealed that they would put all other types of waste in one place – segregated according to type, and scrap buyers would come to purchase these waste material for recycling. I would have wanted to visit their composting area but didn't have the time.

From the looks of it, Mati did not spend millions for that waste management program at the public market.

I just hope that Mati would be able to sustain the implementation of this program.
Dumaguete and Mati are small urban centers. They have small annual budgets. The scarcity of funds has made them find ways to come up with innovative methods in the implementation of their solid waste management program.

To paraphrase E.F Schumacher in his book – Small is Beautiful- “Scarcity of resources does not hamper the flow of innovative ideas in the attainment of a better life. In fact, this limitation has encouraged innovation, and fueled success.”

This is not case with Davao City's Solid Waste Management Program. The way it is being implemented will not guarantee that garbage will be collected efficiently and then properly recycled.

Would Davao City legislators and administrators be prudent enough to reexamine the current solid waste management program before this becomes a run away project. So much money being spent on a program whose goals could possible be unmet.

Environment and Development Defined

Caring for the Environment has become a by word – such that we have “environmental” related shows, articles and what not where ever we go.

Today we relate the word ENVIRONMENT to planting trees, protecting sea turtles, global warming, La Niña – El Niño, and solid waste management. Being “Environmental” in a sense has come to mean caring for planet earth and nature.

So being an Environmentalist automatically means some one who cares for nature. As popularly defined, “Environmentalists” are people who desire to protect and preserve nature to ensure that future generations get to enjoy the benefits that nature has bestowed on us today.

Environment as commonly translated into Cebuano is “Kinaiyahan”, in Pilipino – “Kalikasan”. The way the word is translated into our very own language connotes the “natural physical environment”.

These common translations –Kinaiyahan and Kalikasan - have narrowed the usage of the word Environment to the natural environment.

Since we see only see the natural environment that surround us, we attempt to come up with measures to preserve and protect the natural environment, to maintain its current status or to bring it back to what is used to be in the past.

Conflicts arise when protection, preservation, conservation; of the natural physical environment; gets sidelined by “Development”.

The word “development” is popularly translated in Cebuano as “Asenso” and “Pag-angat” in Pilipino, implying betterment of living situations through increased incomes.

A least used synonym of environment is surroundings. This is translated as “Palibot in Cebuano and Kapaligiran in Tagalog”. When we use “Palibot – Kapaligiran” as our translation of “Environment” our awareness and understanding of the natural environment gets a broader perspective.

The use of surroundings would then have an effect on the definition of development.

Development would then mean – an improvement on quality of life and not just an increase in income.

When we look into the quality of life as a definition for development, our actions on how we increase our incomes become more meaningful. The way we treat our surroundings becomes more integrative and wholistic in its approach.

So “asenso nga kinabuhi” – improved quality of life would mean a “haruhay nga palibot” –harmonious surroundings.

While “matahum nga kinaiyahan” – beautiful surroundings, would imply “makanunayong pag-asenso” – continuous development.

Now the question – How do we attain continuous development while maintaining beautiful surroundings?

I’m no Jungle Ape, so I don’t have the “experiential” exposure to preserving and protecting lush forests and jungle while at the same time having that quality of life humans envy so much – like sleeping on a tree all day, without any worry at all.

I’m an Urban Ape. I’ve been exposed to so much “development”.

But I might have learned a few lessons from my Jungle cousins, so keep me company. I might just share a few tricks on how to attain “development” from a Jungle Apes perspective.

Urban Planning For All

Laws exist to guide human behavior and set limits to what can and can't be done. Plans are created to set the direction to a destination. Houses are necessary for shelter and protection, a very basic necessity of Modern Human Civilization.

With out houses, we would all be living in rocks, caves at worst on top of trees – just like Apes.

The demand for houses grows in direct proportion to the population growth. This demand is felt acutely in all growing urban areas of the world today. Without proper planning, living conditions in urban areas become similar to stone age shelter conditions at worst, or likened to living in crowded isolation – so many houses grouped together but lacking access to basic community services.

As a discipline or profession, urban planning is so misunderstood, that upon mention of the phrase “urban planning” to the average layperson, they end up just nodding their heads pretending that they understand.

When the phrase is mentioned in so called professional circles like engineers and the like, they end up with the curt reply – “We can't afford that. That is a very expensive service that is best left for affluent countries and the rich.” Even some functionaries government planning and regulatory agencies shun the profession like the plague.

The Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board is one such agency mandated to look into Housing Development plans and this agency is tasked to look into the manner that land is being used by developers and local government units. The agency is tasked to assist local government units in promulgating land use and zoning policies that local legislative bodies may promulgate.

The housing industry is considered as a multiplier industry. Players in the industry are supposed to be regulated and guided properly by the HLURB in their site development plans.

But what has happened in reality.

We have subdivision projects where in home buyers end up with the short end of the stick. Their subdivisions are located in flood prone areas. Social service facilities so lacking. Garbage disposal a problem and the presence of security personnel, like the police next to nothing. To top it all some subdivisions end up located in areas that are not serviced by the regular public transport service; like public utility jeepney's.

When subdivision projects get fully occupied and problems start to crop up, home owners end up being passed around from one government agency to another, and then the local government unit, when all of these problems would have been anticipated at the level of the HLURB.

It would be best if HLURB does its job properly at best by providing the necessary guidance to local government units and developers so families who sacrifice hard earned money get their money's worth. Imagine paying a monthly amortization on a house when your house gets flooded every time it rains, or your monthly transportation budget is three times your monthly amortization.

When residents living in subdivision projects start experiencing problems that have a negative impact on their quality of life – there is a failure in the Urban Planning process. And this is being experienced by a lot of subdivision residents.

Mind you, Urban Planning is not just for the rich or highly urbanized cities. Urban planning must be implemented properly much more for the poor and even more so in rapidly developing urban areas like Davao.

Or else... the Apes in the Jungle might end up living a much better life that us urban citizens.

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This appeared on the 29 July 2006 issue of Mindanao Times

OF WATER AND CAUSES

The campaign to protect Davao City’s watersheds to ensure that the quality and quantity of our water supply is maintained has been around for almost a decade now.

Call it intransigence, call it bullheadedness, call it by any name that you want, this cause needs to go on, and keep on going while people living in Davao need water.

Groups advocating for the protection of Davao City’s water resources have continually called for the wise utilization of the upland areas. These areas lie within the Talomo – Lipadas watersheds and the Tamugan River Watershed.

Consequently, large scale Cavendish Banana plantations that have expanded in these areas in a very short time became the focus of the campaign. The whole issue was brought to the attention of the Davao City Council way back in 1997. The campaign has kept on for almost 10 years now.

In the meantime, the plantations have kept on expanding. What have been gained over the years have just been tokenisms that would not really ensure the protection, sustainability and maintenance of the quality and quantity of Davao City’s water supply.

It is easy to fall into the trap of drawing a line in the sand and concluding that this campaign is similar to a battle where it would be convenient for an observer to tell who the protagonists are. It is even more dangerous to say that the triumph of one side would mean the defeat of the other.

This cause needs to be re-examined and understood clearly for what it has become now.

We all need our water today and in the days to come. We need to protect our water from all types and sources of contamination. This is the line advocacy groups have taken.

The Cavendish banana plantations support the regional economy. With out it, Davao City’s progress would be hampered. The plantations create work in the uplands and earn dollars for our economy. This is the line Banana companies take anywhere they go.

The whole affair seems to be the proverbial immovable object meeting an irresistible force.

The Davao City council has been the arbiter in this ongoing discourse, dialogue, argumentation and debate.

The whole affair can go on and on… ad infinitum till the angels and demons fight their final battle.

But what has been accomplished so far?

Countless committee hearings have been called. The Davao City Sanguniang Panglunsod Environment Committee chairpersons have gone through the musical chairs process. Reams of reports have been made. Length upon length of newspaper space, radio air time and television broadcast slots have been allocated on this issue. Yet, we do not see any thing concrete happening on our watersheds.

The efforts exerted by the Davao City Council to look into this matter are laudable. The work that Councilors Cabling and Avila have done contributed a lot. The passage of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Davao City Water Code can be considered landmark legislation in protecting our water sources. The ongoing hearing’s to enact an aerial spraying ordinance in Davao City is also concrete evidence of a concerted effort to initiate reforms on plantation production methods to safeguard the environment.

The companies operating Cavendish banana plantations on our watersheds need to be honest enough to admit that indeed they are using very toxic chemicals in their crop protection and pest management practices, that has been found to affect the quality of water in other countries where these are used. Case in point – the nematicides that are being used to combat the spread of nematodes. This can directly affect the quality of the water that is being used by households near plantations. Do we have to wait for 5 years for the companies phase out the use of these chemicals?

Advocacy groups on the other hand need to realize that concessions and compromises have to be made, and the only way to achieve that is to bring the banana companies to a dialogue based on mutual trust and confidence.

The banana companies have actually more to lose when this whole campaign gets to be raised to its next logical level – an international campaign and expose’ on their current production practices – which would consequently affect many farm workers and contract growers.

In the event the watersheds are left unprotected and continually abused, our generation of Davaoeños won’t be the losers, it will be the next generation at the losing end.

While Enforceable and Concrete measures need to be put in place, it is obvious that banana companies need to initiate operational reforms from within themselves. They may have contributed a lot to the economy, but their negative effects on small communities seem to offset their gains.

There is that simple case of rainwater run off from large Cavendish banana and pineapple plantations that affect adjacent small farms. Plantations should be responsible enough to install rain water runoff management measures.

The City council needs to ensure that the legislation they enact are enforceable.

Out of curiosity, I’d just like to pose this scenario – in the event and aerial spraying ordinance is passed and the ordinance says that aerial spraying is a no-no in Davao City, what will the city do if the spray planes keep on flying? Or because of the ordinance, the companies will demobilize their plantation operations in the city and move out.

And the advocacy groups need to take on other pressing issues on the watershed to ensure the quality and quantity of Davao City’s water is maintained.

URBAN APE was once connected with IDIS Inc., a lead advocacy group in the watershed protection campaign. This SPIDER sees the watershed campaign as a lifelong personal advocacy.

Museums Point the Future By Way of the Past

Change is the only constant in this universe. Those who fail to anticipate its effects suffer its consequences.

As a growing city, Davao needs to find ways to project itself into the future so residents living within its confines get to harness the advantages its rich resources offer. Davao’s rich cultural heritage and the peaceful melding of different cultures are strategic psychic resources.

Efforts to establish the Davao Museum at the old Court of First Instance Building in Magallanes Street is timely. The construction of a museum building by the Philippine Women’s University at University Avenue at Juna Subdivision is another laudable initiative. These two museum projects are indeed very fortunate developments for Davao City.

These parallel efforts are evident of an emerging awareness and concerted agenda to put together a showcase of THE Culture and History that permeates Mindanao in general and Davao in particular.

Museums have very long incubation periods before one can say the museum has a functional role in community development. Doing research and archiving collections are gargantuan efforts that will need a lot of resources which need to be sustained through time. The tasks of doing research and unifying divergent ideas will be daunting. Yet, only museums can do these tasks.

By collecting artifacts, chronicling events and archiving stories these museums encourage the present generation to participate in setting the future direction of Davao City so different options are explored and discussed and Davao’s future potentials are taken into full consideration.

By retaining the façade of the old Court of First Instance building Davaoeños would be reminded that the building was once a court house where judgment was rendered on numerous judicial matters that had a lot of bearing on what Davao and Southern Mindanao is today.

It would be tragic for Davao City if the façade of the old building would be taken down too (This column is being written as the building is being demolished, with the façade still there).

It would be more tragic if these two museums would just end up as bodegas of native artifacts – old tools, clothes, pictures and what not – where in school children are required to see and pay an entrance fee because it is a school requirement.

Or the museum becomes a shrine of some persons’ personal effects, completely disjoint from the present except for the fact that that person played a political or whatever role in the city’s past.

And these museums would become a farce if they would eventually be established for the consumption of foreign tourists who have no real stake in our cultural past and future potentials.

Culture frozen in time, dried, preserved and put out for local or foreign pedestrian observation loses relevance. Exerting a lot of effort and spending large sums of money to archive artifacts - clothing, instruments, beliefs and tradition -, without understanding the forces that caused the demise of their use and relevance in the life of the community, will become an exercise in futility.

Many institutions set up museums with the unexpressed hopes of preserving culture and earning a profit. That is - their collection will inspire school children to love the “culture” on display and foreigners would willingly pay a nice sum to see the “cultural” collection.

These worn out, rut filled directions taken by museums ought to be abandoned.

Museums need to be vibrant centers of culture and citizen involvement to be relevant in the life of a city. To achieve such roles, discourse and debate about past events and the anticipated directions that the city will take need to be encouraged. When museums involve the community and enhance its present life and culture, it easily gains much needed community support.

When museums allow the present generation to gain awareness and understanding of the forces that caused dramatic changes in the past, its role as a repository of the past as a guide into the future is fulfilled.

Let us all hope that both museums would take Davao City’s future potentials into consideration as their organizers find ways to archive the past. And not just duplicate each other :-(!

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Published on Mindanao Times July 20, 2006