Disaster

ILOILO CITY--The First Philippine International River Summit in Iloilo City opened with rationale presentation by the organizers of the event led by the Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog shortly before lunch on May 30, 2012 at the Grand Ballroom of Centennial Resort Hotel and Convention Center, this city.

Right after lunch the participants broke up into various groups to listen to a variety of lectures by local and international experts on environmental research,  river management, disaster risk reduction and management (drrm) and others.

I joined the group that preferred the topic on  drrm. One speaker that caught my attention was an American who claimed to have worked on drrm  for almost four decades now. He recalled some natural tragedies that caught international attention which included the tsunami in Indonesia, a flood in Fiji, a flood in Aceh, lahar mudflow in Pampangga, Ondoy, Sendong, etc, etc. “One common denominator in all of these,” he said was that “the people in these areas were not prepared.” 

In the case of the Philippines, he lashed at the ningas cogon attitude of Filipinos to explain the level of preparedness (unpreparedness to be exact) of our people to the challenges of drrm in particular and to climate change in general. He said we are eager to talk about disaster prevention and mitigation and preparedness usually right after a disaster strikes us. But later our eagerness subsides especially when we feel that its possibility of recurrence is not imminent. 

LGUs usually complain that we can not be adequately prepared because of funds constraints. But when calamity strikes, we wonder how we are able to muster a  lot of financial, logistical and moral support for our victims and the rehabilitation of devastated communities which expenses far exceed the resources that could have been allocated for mitigation and preparedness. 

After his talk, I asked myself: are the communities I work with now prepared for disasters like flood, landslide  and earthquake?

The answer to my own question brought me to the  realization that the country does not lack human and material resources to address the challenges of climate change. What we basically lack I think is the will  to combat the worst disaster that has inflicted our national psyche: complacency.

Masterpiece

I read somewhere that agriculture is also an art, besides being a science. I didn't quite get it until I meet Nong Tiloy, the farmer.

Nong Tiloy considers the land as a wide canvass on which his dream of abundance is being painted. In silence, he tills his field with utmost care so that crops would grow and bear fruits for his family and for the community. He ensures that the crops are arranged in a way that the soil fertility is maintained and enhanced. He is quick to see areas that are prone to erosion and he plants right away madre de cacao to prevent a land slide. When piangaw attacks his upland rice he ignores them at first. When he senses that their presence gets damaging, he sprays them with pesticide made of panyawan, sili kulikot, luy-a, suka and tabako. 

He plants rose, gumamela and many other flowers in between tangkong, lemon grass and other vegetables and fruit trees. Every morning he wakes up early to the call of his hungry chickens. Their number is huge, enough to cover his entire lawn. At the lower portion of his little field, not less than 100 maturing tilapia fish compete to take the feeds broadcasted by his 11-year old son Simon.

While Nang Bilay returns home after washing clothes at the nearby creek with Inday Mely, Nong Tiloy pours steaming corn coffee on five cups on the dining table that holds newly cooked denurado rice, sinugbang bulad, kangkong salad and a bowl of boiled native chicken eggs.

 "Mangaon na ta!" Nong Tiloy calls me to join them.

It’s a hearty meal, incomparable to any meals at the leading fast-food chain in the cities. The meal, dipped in deep conversation about Nong Tiloy's farm and his family does not only feed my stomach, it does to my mind as well.

Now, I like to paint on the same canvass which Nong Tiloy mounts his masterpiece on.

"Bottom-up"

Naa na poy bag-ong konsepto nga gi-introdyus karon ang gobyerno diha sa pagplano pinaagi sa National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC). Kini ang “bottom-up” (ubos-pataas) nga proseso sa pagplano ug pagtakda sa national budget. Actually dugay na ni nga konsepto, ilabi na alang sa mga NGOs ug POs nga natugsaw diha sa kalihokang pangkausaban sa taas na nga panahon. Bag-o lang ni sa gobyerno kay dili man god ni iyang naandan sa taas nga panahon niyang pagtunhay.

Subay niini, gisugo ang mga Local Government Unit (LGU), ilabi na kadtong adunay taas nga ihap sa mga kabos, sa paghimo og plano nga pinasikad gayod sa kahimtang sa ilang katawhan sa mga katilingban.

Adunay natumbok ang NAPC nga 600 ka mga munisipyo nga anaay taas nga poverty incidence sa tibuok nasod.  Matod sa NAPC dili makompleto ang national budget karong sunod tuig 2013 hangtod dili makasumite og Local Poverty Reduction Action Plan (LPRAP) ang mga LGU ilabi na kining naapil sa 600 ka nasangpit nga mga munisipyo.

Gusto kuno sa administrasyon ni Pres. Aquino nga undangon na ang naandan sa mga ahensiya nga nakabase sa kaulohan nga maoy magplano alang sa katawhan sa mga probinsiya. Ug ang pinakamahinungdanon, wad-on na kuno ni Pnoy ang naandang “lump sum” o bulto-bulto nga budget sa mga ahensiya kay mao kuno kini nahimong gatasan sa mga opisyal sa  sa gobyerno. Ug kining LPRAP maoy usa sa mahinungdanong lakang aron mawala ang lump sum kay naa na may konkretong mga proyekto nga mahimong gamitong sumbanan unya sa mga ahensiya sa pagtakda sa ilang mga prayoridad karong 2013.

Aron gyod mapakita nga masalmoton (participatory) ang paghimo sa LPRAP, gimando gyod sa NAPC nga ang team nga maghimo sa plano kinahanglang 50-50 ang komposisyon; 50% gobyerno, 50% NGOs ug POs.

Sa  Lanao del Norte, gitagaag kutob Marso 15 karong tuiga ang mga munisipyo dinhi aron sa pagsumiter sa ilang tagsa-tagsa ka LPRAP.

Bibo ug madasigon ang kasagarang nagsalmot sa panday-buhat para sa LPRAP niadtong nakalabayng semana. Apan di gyod malikayan nga naa poy nagduha-duha sa kamatinud-anon (tingale, katakos) sa pamunoan ni Pnoy nga mahimo niya ang iyang mga laraw alang sa kausaban. Basta, kasagaran sa mga LGU interesado gyod pod sila ining “bottom-up.”

Nindot ning maong kalamboan. Dalaygon. Hinaot unta dili ningas cogon. 

Ang Atong Panguil Bay

Ang Panguil Bay giila nga usa sa pinakabahandianon nga tinubdan sa isda, kinhason, alimango, ulang, mga nagkadaiyang tanom sa dagat ug daghan pang uban.

 Nabuhi gikan sa iyang kamanggihatagon ang liboan ka mga lumulopyo sa tulo ka probinsiya sa Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental ug Zamboanga del Sur. Partikular nga nakapahimulos (ug tingale midaot usab niya) ang mga lungsod sa Tambulig, Bonifacio, Clarin, Aurora, Tangub City, Ozamiz City, Maigo, Kolambugan, Tubod, Baroy, Kapatagan ug Lala.

 APan niadtong 1990 nahaapil ang Panguil Bay sa listahan sa nag-unang 12 ka pinakanamiligrong katubigan sa tibuok kapopod-an (FSP, 1991). Matud sa mga banggiitan, wala makatabang sa pagsulbad sa padayong kadaot sa Panguil Bay ang pag-iyahay sa mga lungsod ug probinsiya diha sa pag-atubang sa mga problema sa iligal nga panagat ug pagguba sa mga mangrove.

 Natukod unta tong Panguil Bay Development Council (PBDC) niadtong 1988 nga gilangkoban sa nasangpit nga mga probinsiya ug tagsa nila ka rehiyon. Apan namingaw ra usab kini niadtong 2001 human wala makakuha og Executive Order (EO) gikan sa Malakanyang aron unta bendisyonan ang iyang pagtunhay. 

Busa nagsugyot ang mga banggiitan nga dili nalang unta magpahikot sa EO sa Malakanyang. Ang iyang katahom ug kamanggihatagon ug ang padayong hulga nga giatubang sa Panguil Bay mao untay mohiusa sa katawhan dinhi ug dili ang papel gikan sa Palasyo.

Mars S. Marata Online: Among Kapatagan

Mars S. Marata Online: Among Kapatagan

Hard lessons about Sendong

I recently had a conversation with a friend who's one of those working for the relief and rehab of Sendong victims in CDO and Iligan.

He said there are already a total of 7 persons who committed suicide due to intolerable depression following the loss of their loved ones and the subsequent suffering and the seeming hopelessness they have gone through at the evacuation centers. Shortage of medicine, food and psycho-social support are among the immediate needs of the victims.

Meanwhile, the group of my friend made a study on the causes of Sendong. The causes of Sendong, the study  says are: destruction of watershed in Bukidnon-Cagayan-Lanao Sur areas due to logging (mainly legal), quarrying, mining, destructive farming practices and overexpansion of dole, del monte farms and others.

Because of this, the experts have issued warnings many years back  to LGUs and other concerned agencies of the looming disaster these so-called "development" projects posed to the communities. And as usual, the warnings that stemmed from studies remained in the papers buried somewhere in the government offices.

Maybe those warnings were among the stack of trash that mixed with the mud when Sendong unleashed its fury.

SALAMAT

For the very few followers of Mars S. Marata Online, I ask for an apology for my two-year absence from our online exchanges of opinions and news. I was imprisoned from Dec. 11, 2009 to Dec 2, 2011 for a very serious criminal offense related to my alleged involvement in a military action conducted by the NPA against government soldiers sometime in 2005.

Nine days before I marked my second year at Misamis Occidental Provincial Reformatory Jail in Oroquieta City, Acting Judge Bernadette Encinareal of RTC-Calamaba Misamis Occidental rendered a decision on our counsel's Demurer to Evidence, ordering my release from detention and that of 8 others who were similarly charged.

With this attempt to get online again through this blog, let me thank you for your prayers, visits, presents and encouragements that enabled me to withstand the pressures of court hearings, undesirable prison condition and any other challenges related to being locked up in jail.

To my family who never failed to visit me weekly, my classmates, schoolmates, my friends in the church, the academe, the legal community and the press, thank you.

Special thanks to Atty. Julius Chiong, my counsel for his brilliance and skill in and dedication to his craft. He defended us well despite our meager pay. May your tribe increase!