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.