MYVIEWS

Idis, Maas run berserk

By ROGER M. BALANZA 

First they forged the signature of Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla in an alleged church issuance supporting aerial spraying. Then they insulted Court of Appeals justices in Cagayan de Oro by gifting them with rotten bananas for thrashing the Davao City ordinance banning aerial spraying. Running amok after shaming the justices, they chained themselves at the gates of the justice building, which was followed by a die-in at a Cagayan de Oro City main avenue where they disrupted traffic and were arrested.

Inspired by a tsunami of donations from abroad, they held a vigil at the Supreme Court—where the Davao City ordinance is facing as dull a fate as it did in the appeals court in Cagayan de Oro City—believing that noises and lies could influence the high court against aerial spraying.

They have been peddling the lie that there are toxic showers from aerial spraying—a claim persistently denied by government agencies—with a nationwide campaign of toxic lies against the banana industry.

The pseudo-environmentalists just could not satisfy their hunger for publicity to sell the tall tale that aerial spraying is bad for the health.  

Now, IDIS (Interface Development Interventions) and MAAS (Mamamayang Ayaw sa Aerial Spraying) are pushing their comical stunts farther, this time aiming their bazookas at Malacanang.

Hey, Philippines! These NGOs from Davao City—where NGO, because of IDIS and MAAS, now means No Good Organization—are nothing but a pack of paid hustlers using the aerial spraying issue to lure foreign donors for their cause that no one believes in the banana-growing Davao Region.

Malacanang on Thursday cancelled an executive meeting with government line agencies—that would have provided inputs on the fate of aerial spraying. At the center of discussion would have been a Department of Health order yet to be signed by Secretary Arthur Yap that would ban aerial spraying.

A motley group of IDIS and MAAS elements led a protest outside Malacañang Gate 5 over the cancellation of the executive meeting, with shaved heads, angry and frustrated. Some students from the Ateneo de Manila—who could not have seen a banana tree—joined the ruckus that hardly attracted attention.

The banana industry concentrated in the Davao Region and neighboring provinces is one of the biggest industries in the country employing more than 200,000 directly-hired workers and earning $400 million in exports annually.

Fungicide used in aerial spraying against the deadly black sigatoka is non-toxic, according to the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) which said that no one has died from exposure to aerial spraying in the forty years that it had been used in banana plantations in Davao. The claim by IDIS and MAAS that people have been dying in communities near the plantations, that they suffer from skin and respiratory diseases, also have been disputed by the Department of Health and the Regional Interagency Committee on Environment and Health in Region Eleven, and by a Special Investigating Team organized by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte composed of the City Planning and Development Office, the City Legal Office and the City Health Office.

Methink, Secretary Yap is misled by the tsunami of lies peddled by IDIS and MAAS. Methink, GMA, no matter her low regard for anything that pleases us, is smart enough not to believe liars, her self having much experience in the field of lying. Methink, GMA knows that aerial spraying is bad for the health of the banana industry and the hundreds of thousands of workers and their families depending on the industry; and good only for IDIS’ and MAAS’ clever agenda to get loads of dollars from foreign donor agencies.

That is the reason why GMA aborted the Thursday meeting with the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Health (DOH), and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

GMA has no time to discuss Secretary Yap’s pending order banning aerial spraying or IDIS’ and MAAS’ lies against aerial spraying. GMA has made her mind: banana and aerial spraying are here to stay and that IDIS’ and MAAS’ arguments against the industry are as rotten as rotten bananas.

If GMA is running for president in 2010, I would campaign and vote for her for saving the banana industry. Unfortunately, she could not.

NOW IDIS AND MAAS ARE ANGRY.

“This wasn’t the only reason that angered us but also Malacañang’s corresponding order to create a task force to study on aerial spraying,” said Lia Esquillo, IDIS chairman, in an interview with Sunstar Davao. The study, according to her, is a win-win situation for the banana industry: the study could turn in favor of export Cavendish bananas’ battle against sigatoka—a fast spreading leaf disease that could cripple the dollar earning industry—or could be used by banana farmers to continue aerial spraying until after the completion of the study.

Malacanang is siding with the banana plantations, Esquillo said.

“What we’ve kept on saying was that all three departments, DA, DOH, DENR, have already given their reactions that aerial spraying is harmful then why do we still have to conduct more study? These are all executive bodies. Why question their observations?” Esquillo said.

Oooops! Methink, Ms. Lia is lying again.

DA, DOH, DENR merely adopted a study commissioned two years ago conducted by a team from the University of the Philippines in Camocaan, Hagonoy, Davao Del Sur, indicating threat to health from aerial spraying. Ms. Lia should tell her public that that study had been declared “inconclusive” and has been subjected to peer review to validate its findings. If there are rotten bananas, there are also studies that are shot full of rotten data.

When it comes to lying, MAAS and IDIS are good at mobilizing loudspeakers to reecho the lies to the border of truth.

“The government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo missed the opportunity to correct gross injustice that has been happening for over 30 years by playing into the hands of corporate interest,” said National Task Force Against Aerial Spraying (NTFAAS) coordinator Rene Pineda, said the report in Sunstar, NTFAAS is an offspring of IDIS led by Esquillo and MAAS founded by Dags Magaway. When two liars cohabitate, they sire nothing else but a liar.

“Malacañang’s inaction manifests its lack of concern to the plight and health of ordinary people. It also failed to make decisive action despite recommendation from it very own Health Department,” said Manny Calonzo, president of the EcoWaste Coalition. DOH, FPA and Davao City Hall have said no one has died nor has contracted disease from exposure to aerial spraying and Calonzo would know this if he visits Davao City Council records of proceedings on the aerials spray ban ordinance and the banana plantations in Davao City where banana farmers and growers have declared Esquillo and Magaway as persona non grata for lying against industry that fed them for decades.

“Natiis naming tumira dito sa Maynila ng limang buwan at matulog sa tabi ng kalsada tapos ito ang pamasko ni Presidente Gloria? Wala talaga siyang awa sa aming mga mahihirap,” said Loloy Languitan, a farmer from Maragusan, Compostela Valley. My advice to Loloy is that he ask in what five-star hotel Esquillo and her gang checked in while he slept in the sidewalks.

“We will go back to Davao to tell people that GMA (Arroyo) has blood in her hands. She is condoning the silent massacre of thousands of helpless rural poor living in banana plantations,” said Tom Villarin of the Siad Initiatives in Mindanao Convergence for Asset Reform and Rural Development (Simcarrd), an NGO promoting sustainable agriculture and member of NTFAAS. Would the Dabawenyos believe you, Mr. Villarin?

By ROGER M. BALANZA

400,000 farmers.

This is the troubling figure that should be considered if aerial spraying in banana plantations is banned.

Aerial spraying of fungicide—a non-toxic chemical according to the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority—is the fastest, most cost-effective and safest method of fighting the deadly leaf disease black sigatoka.

The Philippine government agonizing over whether or not to ban aerial spraying that has been practiced in banana plantations for over 40 years should seriously weigh its options before making a final decision.

Without aerial spraying, Philippine export Cavendish bananas could drop in volume and quality to affect its standing in the world market.

Without aerial spraying, the Philippine labor department predicts trouble in terms of livelihood and employment and the economy of the Davao Region and neighboring provinces.

An order banning aerial spray would be a huge blow to Philippine bananas, affecting an estimated 400,000 banana plantation farmers in Davao Region alone, said the labor department.

Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) Davao Region Director Jalilo dela Torre knew whereof he speaks. He is based in the Davao Region, where growing of export Cavendish bananas is the major industry.

Banana exporting is one of the region’s strongest economic drivers, he said, to emphasize how the ban would impact on the local economy.

But he said, putting a damper on the banana industry like the ban on aerial spraying could also have a reeling effect on the Mindanao and national economy.

“The banana industry contributes a lot to Mindanao’s economy and the country’s foreign exchange, Dela Torre adds.

With about 200,000 full time employees and another 200,000 indirect employees hired in banana plantations, we can indeed see trouble if aerial spraying is banned,” dela Torre told media in Davao City.

“I would really encourage those responsible for formulating the (ban on aerial spraying), whether DA (Department of Agriculture) or DOH (Department of Health), to really consider the employment side on this matter,” dela Torre.

“If the banana plantations will be forced to abandon the method of aerial spraying, especially multinational corporations, they might decide to relocate. This will pose a tremendous negative impact on the employment scenario in Region 11. I understand they’ve already taken steps to relocate to other countries,” dela Torre said, adding the multinational corporations could simply transfer to other countries if they are pushed to the wall by the ban. He said he knew of several companies now taking the option of scouting for banana farms in India, Indonesia or India.

FOREIGN COMPANIES OUT TO KILL PHILIPPINE BANANAS

If they are mere farmers, where did MAAS and IDIS members get the funds to pay for the P200,000 one-page ad in a national daily newspaper that blasphemed the banana industry?

From foreign banana companies out to kill the Philippine banana industry?

Or from their environmentalist donors in Europe?

No matter where the huge moolah came, Davao banana farmers and growers has warned President Arroyo not to believe the lies in the ad against aerial spraying.

Arroyo must not be deceived by lies and half-truths on aerial spraying, Reynante F. Bangoy, chair of the 911-Save Our Sagingan Movement said.

The ad is one of pressure tactics by critics of aerial spraying to pressure the government to ban aerial spraying in banana plantations, said Bangoy.

But Bangoy said the banana industry has been following government regulations and has not violated any government regulations on health and environment.

“Those opposing the aerial spraying are the ones who have shamefully and blatantly disregarded the right of the people, particularly the farmers,” he said.

He said these groups are the ones threatening the livelihood of the 500,000 individuals who are relying on the banana industry in the Davao Region, by using “a tainted study to suit their campaign.”

On the Department of Health recommendation, Bangoy said even the Inter-Agency Committee on Environmental Health junked its earlier recommendation to stop aerial spraying.

“I wonder why (Secretary Francisco T. Duque III) came up with a recommendation on his own without convening the committee. Does he have a motive of his own?” he said in a report in Davao City local dailies.

He said the 2006 study on Camocaan, Hagonoy, Davao del Sur that the department commissioned has been “proven to be rigged not only by experts of the banana industry but also by independent organizations like the University of the Philippines-Manila and the World Health Organization.”

He was referring to the peer reviews of the organizations, which concluded that the study was inconclusive and could not be made as basis for a “harsh recommendation.”

He appealed to Arroyo to also “listen to us because the industry has not done anything that violated Philippine regulations, unlike those groups that have claimed to have protected the rights of the people when all that they wanted was to obtain funding from international donors.”

“We appeal to you Mrs. President to heed our call. Stop these people who have been harassing us,” he added as he said his group and other allies will continue their mass actions until their demands are granted.

A new amazing international Yiddish web-page called KOPJIK International

The good and the bad bananas

By ROGER M. BALANZA

Two events that hardly caught the attention of the public as the country grappled with the damage of super typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng had bananas at the center.

First. Pseudo environmentalist groups battling aerial spraying at the Supreme Court used banana to illustrate the alleged damage of the farm practice in communities near banana plantations particularly in the Davao Region.

Second. The Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA), the umbrella group of banana growers, shipped out from Davao to Luzon tons and tons of Cavendish bananas to help feed hungry victims of the calamity.

Between the two, who is the bad banana, and the good banana?

Let’s take the first and skewer the Interface Development Interventions (IDIS), Mamamayang Ayaw sa Aerial Spraying (MAAS), the pseudo-environmentalist groups behind the lobby to ban aerial spraying in the banana plantations.

Last week, IDIS and MAAS went again into their boring routine of dramatizing their cause, parading at the Supreme Court picket a weighing scale with Cavendish bananas on one side and human images on the other. This dramatic presentation purportedly wants to send the message that banana plantations have been killing people through aerial spraying. This is another of the scare tactics employing baseless claims, lies and falsehoods that these fake NGOs (in Davao City, NGOs when referring to IDIS and MAAS is spelled out as No Good Organizations) have been employing since the battle over aerial spraying started three years.

While the show was good for media mileage, the IDIS and MAAS argument is nothing but rotten bananas.

The banana industry in the Davao Region alone employs about 200,000 direct-hired workers. About 5 million people are engaged in support industries to make the export Cavendish banana industry the Number One Industry in the region. About $400 million is brought in annual export earnings, fueling the economy of the region. The banana industry also is the flagship industry in almost all provinces and municipalities in the Davao Region including Caraga which picked banana growing as the main focus of their One Town One Product (OTOP).

And here’s the shocker. Contrary to the lies and falsehood being peddled by IDIS and MAAS and lately by its offspring Task Force Aerial Spraying (which counts members in the capital region who knew nothing about the banana industry and the good it has brought to the people), studies by government agencies showed no one has died nor contracted diseases for exposure to fungicide since aerial spraying was used in the Davao Region about 50 years ago.

This is not tall tale but a documented finding of the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority, the Department of Health in Region Eleven and by a Special Team commissioned by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte composed of the health, legal and planning departments of the city government. Mind you, these findings have been presented as evidence to rebut the claims of IDIS and MAAS about alleged the threat to health and environment from aerial spraying.

And yet the Davao City Council approved the ordinance banning aerial spraying, the only safe and surefire method of fighting off the deadly Sigatoka which in the past ravaged thousands of hectares of banana plantations in other countries. Fungicide used in aerial spraying is a non-toxic anti-pest chemical according to the FPA, also in papers presented to the Davao City Council. If the Davao Region bananas are widely accepted throughout the world, it is because they pass international standards on health and safety. Aerial spraying, administered by personnel under the guidance of FPA and other government agencies, help maintain quality and volume of bananas, reinforcing the stability of the industry as one of the country’s primary export.

This is the industry that IDIS and MAAS —a motley group of fake environmentalists making noises to lure foreign donors at the expense of the people of the Davao Region depending on the banana industry—want to kill.

As far as we are concerned, the bad banana on the issue of aerial spraying are IDIS and MAAS and the gullible supporters they marshaled into their cartel of liars and fakes to kill Davao Region’s main industry and the people depending on it.   

Now let’s take a look at the good banana.

PBGEA quickly responded to calls to donate food and other forms of aid to typhoon victims and immediately sent out to the Social Welfare Development two shipments (7,500 boxes of bananas in eight 20-footer and 14 10-footer container vans) of nutritious, export-quality bananas for repacking and distribution to typhoon victims in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

The good bananas behind these humanitarian endeavor were PBGEA members Tagum Agricultural Development Company Inc.,Sumifru, Lapanday Foods, F.S. Dizon and Sons, AM Soriano, Marsman-Drysdale and Unifrutti.

The bananas were a welcome change from the usual relief goods being packed and sent to evacuation centers, where many victims supposedly had instant noodles coming out of their ears.

Even relief workers benefited from the shipments of the energy-boosting fruit as aid. Bananas consist mainly of sugars and fiber, which makes them ideal for an immediate and prolonged source of energy, as most athletes already know.

The DSWD said it distributed the bananas as follows: two 20-footer and five 10-footer vans in the National Capital Region; two 20-footer vans in Pangasinan; three 20-footer and six 10-footer vans in Region 4-A; three 10-footer vans in Region 3; and one 20-footer van to various other evacuation centers. The fresh green bananas were shipped last week for free on board vessels owned by Solid Shipping and Aboitiz Shipping.

There were no reports of people being poisoned by the bananas, as they probably would have been if the fruits were saturated in dangerous chemicals as the Davao NGOs claim.

Then again, no one has ever complained about poisoning after eating in-demand Philippine-grown bananas or even in the plantations where they are grown before the NGOs came along with a great idea to scam foreign funding agencies.

And PBGEA did this without any fanfare.

But no one has heard about the anti-spraying NGOs giving anything to the flood victims, either. They were too busy holding rallies and photographing themselves while at it, to get some more money from their clueless donors.

While people suffered hunger in the wake of the killer typhoons, IDIS and MAAS and their underlings were at the Supreme Court trying to convince the Justices to stop a farm practice that makes the banana industry alive.

People should be wary of IDIS and MAAS. They could bring more nightmares than all the typhoons that visited the country, with their evil intention to kill an industry upon which thousands of people depend on to live.

DAVAO CITY – Even as it would have fatal effect on the Davao Region’s economy, businessmen here say they would welcome a ruling by the Supreme Court that would ban use of aerial spraying in banana plantations.

But the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry said its position is in support of aerial spraying of fungicide—a non-toxic chemical—which fights off the deadly sigatoka disease.

We will respect the law, said Simeon Marfori, president of the chamber in a media forum in Davao City.

The Supreme Court has yet to rule on  the legality of a Davao City ordinance banning aerial spraying, which had earlier been thrashed by the Court of Appeals in Cagayan de Oro City.

The export Cavendish banana industry is a major industry in the Davao Region and has been adopted by most provinces as its major product under the One Town One Product (OTOP) program of the government. The industry directly employs about 200,000 region-wide and brings in annual export revenues of more than $400 million.

Banning aerial spraying—the safest and most cost-efficient methods agains devastating lead diseases—could affect volume and quality of export bananas which has gained worldwide acceptance as the most favorite tropical fruit from Japan to China to the Middle East including Russia.

Foreign-funded non-government organizations like Interface Development Interventions (Idis) Mamamayang Ayaw sa Aerial Spraying (Maas) which lobbied for the approval by the Davao City Council of the ban on aerial spraying have been denounced here by the banana industry and workers.

The NGOs alleged aerial spraying posed risk to humans and the environment, even as government agencies recorded no deaths or diseases linked to fungicide exposure.

Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporter Association (PBGEA) president Stephen Antig said about five million people involved in spin-off industries supporting banana growing would be economically dislocated if the ban is imposed.

Marfori said DCCCI studied the position papers of both the PBGEA and the environmentalist groups and found the later study as confusing and lack documentation.

He suggested a validation study due to the aerial spraying ban’s impact on the local economy.

The Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) yesterday dismissed claims by elements of non-government organizations of getting death threats for campaigning against aerial spraying purportedly from goons hired by banana planters.

PBGEA is the umbrella group of export Cavendish banana growers which questioned a Davao City ordinance banning aerial spraying in the banana plantations.

Anti-aerial spraying activists have lobbied for passage of the ordinance quashed as unconstitutional by the Court of Appeals in a ruling now on appeal with the Supreme Court.

The NGOs in the forefront of opposing the ordinance—which PBGEA said could kill the million-dollar earning industry—are the Interface Development Intervention (Idis) and the Mamamayang Ayaw sa Aerial Spraying (Maas).

Maas president Cecilia Moran told a press conference in Davao City that unidentified men have been tailing her and cased her house in Calinan.

That claim is preposterous, said Anthony Sasin, PBGEA spokesman. He advised the anti-aerial spray activists not to resort to underhanded tactics and instead wait for the decision of the Supreme Court.

Why blame us? They say the threats come from banana plantations? Why don’t they face up to the persons following them? They are supposed to be brave, Sasin said.

Idis and Maas were known to insult to their face even the justices of the appeals Court in Cagayan de Oro City.

While the Court of Appeals was hearing the case last year, in separate incidents Idis and Maas elements picketing the court chained themselves on the gates of the appeals, hurled bananas at the lobby, gifted the justices with rotten bananas while holding a noisy rally in front of the building.

At one time, irate justices called police to arrest the activists for disrupting court proceedings with their noises. Some members were hurled to the police station and locked up by police after holding a die-in in the middle of the road fronting the appeals building that disrupted vehicular traffic.

Moran said at one time she noticed a motorcycle parked in front of her house in purok 12, barangay Dacudao in Calinan last week after she arrived home from a trip to Manila. Moran and several other members of Maas had made a two-month long road tour of schools and colleges in Manila to lure students to support the campaign against aerial spraying.

But Moran could be seeing the shadow of angry banana farm workers whose employment is are threatened by the prospect of where banana plantation workers have disowned her for leading the fight against aerial spraying. She said other members of Idis and Maas also experienced the same harassment. Banana growing in Calinan is a major industry and employs about 10,000 people.

Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has also told Maas and Idis members not to take the threats seriously.

They people from the banana industry would  not resort to this of tactic. Their problem is not with people like you but with higher government agencies, he said.

Fear of ban displaces 2,000 banana farm workers

The ban on aerial spraying on farms may have been aborted but it had already taken serious toll on a former banana planting community in Davao City that shut down at the height of the controversy.

A large banana plantation facing dire straights if the ban is implemented has done the inevitable: close before the company is sent to bankruptcy.

The former farm in Barangay Mandug is now home to about 2,000 displaced workers who lost their income when the Lorenzo family decided to cease its operations.

Lapanday operated a 200-hectare banana plantation in Mandug, employing more than a couple of thousand in the plantation and the processing plant for packing and handling.

The decision to close the banana farm came  a couple of months after the city government introduced an ordinance that banned aerial spray. The ordinance was later ruled as unconstutional by the Court of Appeals.

The Lorenzo family tried to convert the area into industrial parks and housing subdivisions, even in a city which had a lot of those ventures.

“The diversification into real estate business failed to take off. Most of the land in the former Lapanday plantation is now idle,” related Manila-based business writer Conrado Banal. “Believe me, I went there to check.”

Banal wrote that Mayor Rodrigo Duterte recently visited the former farm , and the city chief executive supposedly admitted to the people of Mandug that he had been misinformed regarding the “ban.”

In the visit, Duterte reportedly saw personally the misery of those fathers who lost their jobs at the Lapanday farm, “s their families went hungry.”
Duterte was quoted as saying the city government would just wait for the final decision of the court regarding the aerial spraying ban. The city government announced recently it is bringing the case to Supreme Court.

Banana plantations in the country cover some 50,000 hectares in 11 provinces in Mindanao and employs around 500,000 workers. Owners insist they must use aerial spraying to become viable.

In deciding to abandon the plantation in Mandug, the Lorenzo family figured that the switch to “manual” spraying would only result to their bankruptcy.

The family had to spend heavily on new equipment, aside from absorbing the loss in yield due to the “uncertainty” of the “manual” method.

The world demand for banana comes up to about 15 million tons a year, but several countries compete strongly for the market. The Philippines is ranked the third biggest banana exporter in the world, accounting for some 12 percent of the market.

Banana plantations abroad use aerial spraying of the fungicide to control the “Black Sigatoka” disease. In the United States, Australia and Europ, they apply aerial spraying in farmlands, and with the blessing of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

Catholics join fight vs. anti-aerial spray activists

 Anti-aerial spraying activists now making noise in Manila should visit the Davao Region where Catholics are up in arms against banning aerial spraying in banana plantations.

In Manila, the Interface Development Interventions (IDIS) and the Mamamayang Ayaw sa Aerial Spraying (Maas) are on a road tour to drum up support for bills pending in Congress calling for a stop to the most efficient, safest and effective method of fighting the deadly leaf disease sigatoka.

Davao City-based, IDIS and Maas were in the forefront of  lobby for the passage of a Davao City ordinance banning aerial spraying which is now being contested in the Supreme Court.

While IDIS and Maas had lured the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University to support their cause, Catholics in Panabo City in Davao del Norte are repudiating their arguments.

Panabo City is home to Tagum Development Corporation (Tadeco), the pioneering banana growing company of Don Antonio Floirendo which first brought the Davao Region in the world map of Cavendish banana exporters.

Panabo City residents have come face to face with the banana industry for nearly 50 years and have never complained about threats of aerial spraying to human health or the environment. The Cavendish banana export industry is now a major industry in Davao del Norte and grown in all its municipalities. Region-wide, the industry directly employs about 200,000 workers and earns annual export revenues of $400 million

A number of Gagmay Kristohanong Katilingban (GKKs) or Basic Christian Communities of the Roman Catholic Church in and around banana plantations in Davao del Norte are now banding themselves in opposing moves to ban aerial spraying in major banana plantations dotting the region.

The GKKs are also working it out that their parish priests will have major involvement in preventing the passage of two national proposed legislations now pending deliberations in Congress.

Congressman Rufus Rodriguez of Northern Mindanao has filed a bill in the House of Representatives while Senator Miguel Zubiri has its own version now pending in the Senate. Rodriguez is representing a district where there is no major banana plantation. Zubiri is from Bukidnon where fruit and vegetable plantations thrive.

Tirso Dalagan, GKK president in Barangay San Miguel in Tagum City said he has initial meeting with his group in appreciating moves to prevent ban of aerial spraying, saying his community may suffer from economic imbalance once aerial spraying will not be employed in nearby banana plantations of independent growers.

Likewise GKK officials including small-scale banana growers in Barangay Cuambugan, also in Tagum City are up in arms after an NGO, which never conducted a study on ill-effects of chemicals in the northern Davao region, pushed for the banning of aerial spray.

While GKK members of Mesaoy in New Corella town said they knew of the ill-effects of unregulated use of chemicals in tending banana farms, they still band themselves into one to ventilate the issue that in aerial spraying there is less health hazard compared to ground spraying which is recommended by the health department.

They also disagree with the NGO that the communities in and out of the banana plantations have contracted various diseases that they attributed to aerial spraying.

Meanwhile former GKK president of Checkered Farms in Panabo City, Noel Ruello said over a local radio station that in all the years that he spent inside a banana plantation since he was 14 years old, he never heard of one being hit by showers of aerial spray having contracted a major disease, which may cause death. He himself was hit several times by the showers but has not contracted skin or internal diseases as a result to direct exposure to fungicide.

Ruello also said an aerial spraying activity does not use chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides or nematicides, only fungicides.

Labelling aerial spray fungicide as most hazardous is injustice since fungicide used contra ‘ap-ap’, ‘alipunga’, ‘an-an’ and ‘bun-i’ are more dreaded and poisonous.

Ruello also said a fungicide used in spraying the canopy of banana plantation prevents the spread of a fungus causing ‘sigatoka’ that causes premature aging of banana leaves.

Ruello also hit hard the NGO by bringing the issue to Luzon dioceses to solicit support from church leaders in its advocacy. He said church leaders in Davao del Norte understand more the health advocacy related to aerial spraying here, adding the NGO is barking up the wrong tree if only to continue enjoying support from an international funding agency based in Netherlands.

¿Qué significa sargeo?

Al buscar Sargeo en el Diccionario de la Real Academia lo más parecido a esta palabra que encontramos es Sargo, un pez que por su descripción debe ser bastante feo.

Y es que la palabra sargeo surge de una jerga peculiar que se pondría de moda tras la publicación del libro “El método” , autobiografía de Neil Strauss quién tras más de 20 años de fracaso sentimental, decide adentrarse en el mundo de la seducción de la mano del triunfal Mistery.

Cuando Neil es escogido por un editor para escribir un libro que reuniera toda la sabiduria de los maestros de la seducción, a partir de un documento encontrado en internet denominado “La guía del ligue”, su vida cambia por completo. Su interés hacia este novedoso mundo comienza a convertirse en un modo de vida y empieza a ser adiestrado en la ciencia del ligue por los que hoy día miles de personas consideran “los machos alfa o gurús de la seducción”: Mystery (el mago), David X (un obrero de la construcción), Rick H., Steve P. y Ross Jeffries (un hipnotizador).

De las salidas nocturnas del gato de este último, llamado Sarge, surge la palabra sargear, disciplina que hoy en día es seguida por miles de personas con sorprendentes resultados.

¿En qué consiste el Sargeo?

Aunque cada vez son más las variantes que se derivan de esta disciplina, el sargeo surge como la técnica necesaria para conseguir llegar lo más lejos posible con una chica desconocida a la que se aborda en frio. ¿Y en qué se diferencia de lo que vulgarmente se ha llamado “ir de cazería”? Pues bien, aunque la finalidad es la misma el sargeo es una técnica mucho más refinada en la que el 90% de la interación con la chica no es dejada al azar sino fruto de una estudiada planificación.

Un abordamiento en sargeo consta de las siguientes fases: frases de entrada, técnicas o rutinas y un cierre memorable.

Las frases de entrada no son más que formas de romper el hielo, van de intrigantes a absurdas y su única finalidad es atraer la atención de la chica en cuestión, aunque para ser realizadas correctamente han de emplearse dirigiéndose a todo el grupo en que se encuentre con ella.

Las técnicas o rutinas abarcan un abanico más amplio, ya que aunque se basan principalmente en relatar historias u otras formas de atraer la atención, incorporan una gran cantidad de comportamientos integrados cuya finalidad es crear un ambiente con la chica de confianza y seducción , que veremos a continuación al explicar la jerga del sargeo.

Y por último el cierre, que ha de ser sabiamente calibrado y depende en gran medida de la moralidad de la chica. Si es de las que al irse contigo se sentirá como una cualquiera, mejor cerrar con beso o pedida de telefono, mientras que si está muy interesada, el arte de la seducción seguira en juego.

Por supuesto en todos estos pasos será necesario un gran aplomo y una autoestima creciente.

La jerga del sargeo

Las principales expresiones y palabras utilizadas en el sargeo son:

TB: Siglas de tia buena, basicamente el objetivo. Hay que decir, que la mayoría de los sargeadores se reunen en páginas web donde se cuentan sus hazañas, con lo que las abreviaturas y el lenguaje rápido son muy utilizados, como ocurre con el uso del movil. De esta manera se entiende que una TB9 es una chica guapa de alta puntuación.

Aven: Viene de artista o maestro de las artes venusianas, es decir un maestro de la seducción.

IDI: Indicadores de interés. Señales realizadas por la chica que muestran su interés hacia el seductor, como son que te pregunte el nombre o que al agarrarla la mano te la apriete.

Mageo: Es la técnica de quitarse de encima a otros machos alfa del grupo. Lo que viene siendo marcar territorio e incluso convivir pacificamente con ellos (por ejemplo si te aparce el novio de la chica).

Rapport: Establecer Rapport es llegar a un estado de comprensión y entendimiento mutuo en el que se siente que se puede hablar de cualquier cosa. Llamaló química o simplemente feeling.

Quine o Kino: Pequeños contactos físicos con la chica que te acercan a ella y cuyas respuestas te ayudan a determinar su interés, sobre todo cuando son imitados por ella hacia tí (ej. mano en el hombro)

Nega: La técnica de ignorar al principio a la chica que en realidad te interesa del grupo es ampliaente utilizada. Las negas más concretamente son pequeñas puyitas contra la chica para que se pique, meterte con ella en plan gracioso para conseguir que hable contigo.

Adi: Afirmaciones de interés. Lo que todos conocemos como cumplidos o halagos. “Tienes unos ojos preciosos”

PUA: De Pick up artist, maestro del ligue.

Set: Grupo de chicas a abordar.

Anclaje: Estimulos externos que desarrollan una respuesta afectiva. Se trata de hacer que la chica visualice una determinada imagen placentera en su mente que la estimule afectivamente mediante la conversación y asociar eso a un gesto (por ej. colocar la mano en el pecho), de tal manera que al repetir ese gesto estemos desencadenando una y otra vez la respuesta afectiva.

Regla de los tres segundos: Abordar a la chica nada más verla, sin dudar. Merodear hasta estar seguros da mala sensación y puede convertirte en el pesado de turno.

Cualificar: O hacer que la chica se cualifique, que hable de sus dones, en definitiva que se venda a si misma.

Soloamiguear: Falta de seducción que te acabará convirtiendo en una amiga más a la que te cuente sus penas. Para que una chica se sienta especial hay que escucharla pero si no se añade nada de seducción te conviertes en su amigo.

Falcar: Plantarse en medio, ganar posición.

¿pero, así de frio y calculado es todo?

En muchos casos sí. La chica se convierte en el trofeo colgado en la pared al día siguiente del seductor. Sin embargo hoy día tras la creciente asociación de personas con problemas de sociabilidad, autoestima y timidez surge otra variante del sargeo como terapia de rehabilitación social cuyo último fin no es tan frívolo como meter a la chica en la cama, aunque como podeis imaginar tampoco se descarta. De todas formas, el objetivo de este último no es tanto convertirse en el mítico macho alfa, sino superar dificultades sociales.

A nivel freaky y casi sectario (y digo sectario porque sacar el dinero a la gente para obtener resultados dudosos en algunos casos asi me lo parece) el sargeo ha existido desde hace mucho tiempo, sin embargo ahora esta ganando terrerno debido por una parte al programa americano “Keys to the VIP” y por otra, en un ambito más nacional a páginas web como sexcode o verdadera seducción, donde Mario de Luna y Jack the Ripper respectaivamente asesoran a quienes acuden allí solicitando las claves de la seducción.

Personalmente me gusta más el estilo de este segundo ya que creo que se centra más en la mejora como persona y el refuerzo de la autoestima y no tanto en fórmulas mágicas, aunque no siempre me convence.

El sargeo desde una perspectiva femenina

No voy a negar que a las mujeres nos gusta que nos seduzcan y admiramos esa capacidad en los hombres de saber lo que se hacen, pero tampoco somo tontas (aunque vistos algunos videos no voy a generalizar) y sobretodo no nos suele gustar que nos traten como un experimento científico.

Muchas de las técnicas que he observado en los diferentes videos y escritos que he estudiado para hacer este post, como las negas que mencionaba antes, no me parecen realmente tácticas de seducción sino de ocultar miseramente debilidades de la personalidad. Ellos consideran que al hacer una nega, la chica se pica y así comienza la conversación, a mi más bien me parece que necesitan rebajar a la otra persona para sentirse ellos mas poderosos y asi dominar la situación y no es una táctica que me guste. Puede que sirva para bajarle los aires a alguna pija creida, pero a la gran mayoria no nos gusta que nos ataquen de primeras.

Por otro lado, que te hagan sentir especial sólo es interesante si de verdad piensan que lo eres. Si resulta que eres su victima número cuatro de la noche, puede que te hagan sentir bien tres segundos, pero después te sentirás como el culo, y a eso se le llama jugar con los sentimientos de las personas. ¿A eso se refiere el “game”?

También decir,que muchas de estas técnicas me parece que sirven como mucho para los tres primeros días que conoces a una persona, pero luego más vale que tengas algo que ofrecer de tu propia cosecha o si no besarás a muchas chicas y puede que llegues a algo más con muchas otras, pero acabarás más solo que la una, porque al final lo que de verdad seduce a una mujer en el 90% de los casos es encontrar a una persona para lo bueno y para lo malo con quién disfrutar de la vida.

Por último si quereis el libro de El método podeis encontrarlo aquí aunque os tendreis que registrar previamente (es gratis).

MYVIEWS

Archbishop Capalla’s forgers

duping Jesuit institution

“Davao farmers who are in Manila to push for a nationwide ban of aerial spraying of pesticides get support from students of Ateneo de Manila University.”

This is the lead of news reports published in local dailies this week in Davao City.

The Jesuit-run Ateneo should be careful about dubious groups masquerading as environmentalists using the revered institution for personal greed.

“Seeking for divine help while representatives of Mamamayan Ayaw sa Aerial Spray (MAAS) patiently wait for action from Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, the students belonging to the Ateneo Student Catholic Action offered a holy mass and lighted candles at the Ateneo College Chapel recently, praying to put an end on the practice of dispersing pesticides from an aircraft in banana plantations in Mindanao,” said the report.

We pity the Ateneans who are ignorant about MAAS and its leader Dagohoy Magaway and the kind of swindlers hiding behind this so-called NGO. Three years ago, while the aerial spraying issue was at the center of heated debate in Davao City, Magaway bared an alleged pastoral leader signed by Archbishop Capalla supporting the ban on aerial spraying. Capalla would later disown his signature and slammed Magaway and Maas as forgers.

The report follows with our comments to warn the Ateneans about being misguided by Maas:

“Aerial spraying aims to rid banana crops of the Sigatoka fungus but causes proven health and environmental problems since harmful chemicals are indiscriminately applied with no distinction between pests and humans.”

The Department of Health in Region XI, the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) and a Special Investigating Team created by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte have conducted studies to deny claim of risk to health and environment from aerial spraying.

“AtSCA and Development Society among others, joined the clamor to stop what has been called “toxic rain” and committed to launch a signature drive and spread information about the plight of communities affected by aerial spraying through various communities and social networking tools.”

In Davao City, residents know what is toxic rain: the lies and black propaganda levelled by Maas and its sister the Interface Development Interventions (IDIS) against the banana industry which feeds and employs thousands of people and brings in export revenues of about $400 million annually.

“As an organization rooted in faith that does justice, AtSCA stands by MAAS and pledge to support their quest for human rights, including the right not to be poisoned with hazardous substances, by telling others about their stories and hopes,” said Michelle Roque, president of AtSCA.

By hurling mud to cripple or kill the banana industry, MAAS is guilty of violating the basic human rights to live and survive through gainful employment and the right to live sans hunger.

“We promise to spread awareness about the issue and to help the victims of aerial spraying in Mindanao in whatever way we can,” added Cherryl Si, president of the Development Society.

Yes, and even Ms. Si herself should be enlightened and she could avoid being a fool if she comes down to Davao City to personally learn the truth about aerial spraying from actual experience and knowledge and not through the forger Magaway and his Maas.

“In a statement, AtSCA called on the banana industry “to prioritize the welfare of the people over any profit-generating strategy” that undermines the rights of the people.”

Without the banana industry in the Davao Region, the right and welfare of the people to live decent lives is lost. Maas’ ultimate aim is to kill the industry, cause unemployment and sow economic chaos, a formula that enemies of the state use to  topple the government. Is Maas a front of the communist rebels?

“We invite banana planters to explore alternatives to aerial spraying since these are equally effective in ridding crops of pests as seen in Bukidnon and North Cotabato where banana plantations continue to thrive despite compliance to provincial bans,” said AtSCA.

This is another misinformation brought to Manila by Magaway to gain ears to his demented logic that lies can win the battle for him against aerial spraying. There are at present aerial spraying applications in Bukidnon and Central Mindanao.

“AtSCA cited a recently released study commissioned by the Department of Health that showed traces of pesticides in blood of residents and in air and water samples in Sitio Camocaan, Hagonoy, Davao del Sur. The study recommended a ban on aerial spraying and a shift to organic farming methods to protect public health.”

The DOH in Region XI has disowned any role in the study whose findings were never validated. The alleged environmentalist-toxicologists behind the study are now in the Most Wanted List of residents of Camocaan in Hagonoy who have resented the falsity hurled against the industry that has brought—not threats–but peace and progress and development to their communities.

“Representatives of the Ateneo Catechetical Instruction League, Ateneo Christian Ministry Group, Youth For Christ—Ateneo, Sanggunian ng mga Mag-aaral ng Loyola Schools, Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan, and the Office of Social Concern and Involvement also joined the solidarity mass and candle lighting. Members of the Alternative Research for Empowerment, Concerned Citizens Against Pollution, EcoWaste Coalition, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Green Families and Communities Network, Interface Development Interventions and Mother Earth Foundation also came for prayer.”

There are always two sides to a coin in scams THE CONMEN AND THE VICTIMS. As an institution of learning considered as the best in the country, Ateneo should advise its students to lead the fight against the conmen using the institution to peddle lies against an industry upon which hundreds of thousands of people depend for survival.

Davao anti-aerial spray lobbyists financed by European donors

European Union’s biggest non-government organizations funding environmental causes abroad feeds the kitty of environmentalist groups fighting aerial spraying in export Cavendish banana plantations in Mindanao.

The Netherlands arm of the Philippine women’s support group Damayan, based in Ultrect, said the Dutch funding agencies remit substantial euros to the local lobby groups for their campaign against the banana industry.

But Damayan said these Dutch NGOs may not have known that their financial supports for humanitarian aid are being used to fight off an industry that earns dollars for the Philippines and provides employment to hundreds of thousands of people.

In the front-line of the campaign against aerial spraying of fungicide in banana plantations are the Interface Development Interventions (IDIS) headed by Lea Jasmin Esquillo and Mamayang Ayaw sa Aerial Spraying (Maas) chaired by Dagohoy Magaway.

The Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) earlier said NGOs opposing aerial spraying are either hired by foreign companies to kill the Philippine banana industry or fake groups espousing environmental concerns to lure foreign donors.

Damayan also said the Dutch NGOs are awash with euros and could spell trouble for the banana industry, if they are not informed about how their funds are being misused by local environmentalists.

If what we heard is true that Dutch-funded cause-oriented groups are into lobbying against Davao’s banana industry then said industry is in trouble as, said Damayan, in an email to PBGEA.

The banana industry is a David facing off with the Goliath in the well-funded Dutch NGOs, it said.

Damayan said one of the Dutch NGOs funding the local environmentalists is one the European Union’s biggest and supported by thousands of institutional and individual donors.

The PBGEA has raised questions about where IDIS and Maas get their funds for pushing their campaign in Cagayan de Oro City and Manila as it trailed the fate of a Davao City ordinance banning aerial spraying in banana plantations in the city.

PBGEA had questioned the ordinance at the Court of Appeals in Cagayan de Oro City, which last year declared the ordinance illegal. IDIS and Maas had brought in a large group of their members to Cagayan de Oro City to conduct sit-ins and rallies while the appeals court was hearing the case.

The case is now with the Supreme Court, with IDIS and Maas repeating their Cagayan de Oro City stunts with pickets and speaking engagements.

In Davao City, residents of banana plantations deplored attempts by Maas to lure support for their campaign in Manila in speaking engagements coordinated with the Jesuit-run Ateneo University.

Cecilia Moran of Maas and a resident of Dacudao in Calinan is spearheading the speaking engagements.

Moran and a certain Liezl Bacalso were reported to have talked to the parishioners during mass for the Feast of St. Ignatius at the Ateneo de Manila University last July 30 to the seminarians at the Ateneo School of Theology, to students of the Ateneo Law School at Rockwell in Makati; and to socialites at the Nine-Mile Bar along Kalayaan Avenue in Quezon City.

Liza Mosqueda, a neighbor of Moran and an officer of the Gagmayng Kristohanong Kalingban (Small Christian Basic Communities) of the Catholic Church faulted the Ateneo priests for allowing Ateneo to be used by Maas.

Two years ago as the debate over aerial spraying was at its hottest in Davao City, Maas chairman Dagoboy Magaway circulated an alleged diocesan letter purportedly signed by Archbishop Fernando Capalla. Capalla would later disown his signature in the letter which he said was a forgery.

Mosqueda said the priests lack basic knowledge about aerial spraying and should been careful about Moran, said to be in Manila on a six-month tour sponsored by the National Task Force Against Aerial Spray.

They do not know anything about banana much less seen a Cavendish banana plantation, said Mosqueda, referring to the priests and members of the task force behind the Moran speaking tour which, according to an Ateneo law student in Davao City, “is grossly one-sided and ia repudiation of Ateneo’s time-honored tradition of being issue-confronting but dialogic and educative.”

Moises Torrentira of Subasta, Calinan said Moran and Bacalzo, who lived for years near banana plantations in Calinan without getting sick, should stop their lies against banana growing and the aerial spraying of low-dose fungicide as they know deep in their Christian hearts that they are not telling the truth.

Barangay captain Romulo C. Tubal of Dacudao, Calinan said Moran and Bacalzo do not represent the majority sentiments of the people who are daily witnesses to the good agricultural practices of the industry and who have actual experience for the past 30 years of the effects of low-dose fungicide to their health and environment.

No Baygon in Davao bananas

By ROGER M. BALANZA

Baygon, the widely advertised insect repellent commonly used in households to kill mosquitoes, flies and cockroaches is not used in export Cavendish bananas.

The Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) yesterday lamented that many people equate the word “pesticide” to insecticide and what immediately comes to mind when the topic of aerial spraying arises is “Baygon,” a widely advertised anti-insect product.

Some people believe that what we are aerially spraying is an insecticide as strong as Baygon which is so far from the truth,” said Anthony Sasin, spokesman of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA).

Sasin lamented that some people equate the word “pesticide” to insecticide and what immediately comes to mind when the topic of aerial spraying arises is Baygon.

Sasin belied claims that banana companies are aerially spraying  pesticide other than the mixture of water, oil and low-dose fungicide to control the dreaded Black Sigatoka fungus.

“The formulation consists of 81.63% water, 16.84% mineral oil and 1.33% fungicide which makes it as benign as the commonly used fungicides sold over the counter in most pharmacies and rub by people on their faces, necks and other body parts to control fungal infections,” said Sasin.

According to Sasin, “PBGEA is against the aerial spraying of hazardous chemicals as it inimical to people’s health and the environment and that it is a contravention of their commitment to Philippine laws as well as to international covenants governing the use of such chemicals of which the Philippines is a signatory.”

He stressed that the Philippine export banana industry is not aerially spraying hazardous chemicals and any other pesticide except the low-dose fungicide formulation as prescribed by law.

He said that “Latin American countries producing bananas have been using it for the past 110 years, we have been using it for the past 30 years and we have proven beyond reasonable doubt that it is not harmful to people’s health and the environment” citing the results of their painstaking review of cases of illnesses presented by the anti-aerial spray movement all of which, he declared, ” were falsely attributed to aerial spraying.”

“It will therefore be highly irrational to ban maximum residue limits of  .05 parts per million of fungicide which sickened no one while allowing certain levels of  the more obnoxious carbon monoxide emissions,” Sasin said referring to the odorless and colorless gas from motor vehicles which proved fatal to many.

Security (or a perceived lack of it), is the biggest reason why people choose not to buy goods or services online. There have been numerous well-publicised stories around this topic, with people being conned out of money by visiting spoof sites pretending to be a legitimate business.

While spoof or phishing sites account for a large proportion of online scams, a person can still lose money by buying from a legitimate site, only to find that the online retailer has been slack with their security and their credit card details have been stolen and used fraudulently. Although any money stolen can be claimed back if a credit card was used, it is still a long process to claim these funds back from the credit card company. Relatively few people are affected, however, and the volume of people who won’t buy is disproportionate to the levels affected.

So what can you do to convince people you’re safe?

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What is ISIS?

ISIS stands for ‘Internet Shopping is Safe’. Accredited retailers now account for approximately two thirds of all UK online shopping. Follow this Safe Shops List link for a full list of ISIS accredited e-Retailers: http://isisaccreditation.imrg.org/

Consumers will be able to shop with greater confidence when they see the ISIS logo because it certifies that the retailer has:

“Call for ban not IDIS license”

We are writing to clarify matters in response to the letter of a certain Antonio J. Valino of Diamond Village, Lanang Davao City who wrote a letter to the media entitled “Aerial spraying in DOH study”.

We are glad that Mr. Valino  is aware of the book Silent Spring written by Rachel Carson, which meticulously described how DDT entered the food chain and accumulated in the fatty tissues of animals, including human beings, and caused cancer and genetic damage. A single application on a crop, she wrote, killed insects for weeks and months, and not only the targeted insects but countless more, and remained toxic in the environment even after it was diluted by rainwater. Carson concluded that DDT and other pesticides had irrevocably harmed birds and animals and had contaminated the entire world food supply. The scientific data and studies of the damage of DDT on the environment were so enormous and credible that the DDT had to be banned in the US, and later worldwide because of its effects on humans and environment.

To say then that “the Silent Spring has not happened anywhere in the farming world” is truly a contradiction to what was scientifically accounted for years ago by a remarkable scientist and many other experts on the effects of pesticides to health and environment. We therefore challenge Mr. Valino to give us scientific studies as credible as that of Carson’s and those other numerous studies all around the globe saying that pesticides being used (despite the ban of DDT and its likes) could not harm the environment when the very label of these pesticides warn of its risks to human and environment.

May we remind him of a very basic and internationally accepted principle from 1998 Wingspread Statement on the Precautionary Principle, “when an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically. In this context the proponent of an activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof.”

We would also like to clarify that the July 9, 2009 forum was organized by the Ban Aerial Spraying Core Group, a coalition of non-government organizations, medical professionals, academe and people’s organizations that call for the banning of aerial spraying and not IDIS alone.

True, the study was of DOH and Dr. Dionisio is from UP but the activity was intended for participants who has been actively concerned with the banning of aerial spraying issue especially from Calinan and other far flung areas in Davao City. These people have been calling for the banning of aerial spraying and have been alarmed over the concerted efforts of plantation and chemical companies to undermine the DOH study findings, methodology and investigators. These deliberate misrepresentations about thestudy are being reported over the radio, local and national media.

As people affected by aerial spraying, they deserve to know the truth about the study from the lead investigator himself. Thus, the Core Group deem it proper to give them priority to the forum and have the right to refuse walk-in participants if need be.

It should have been a courtesy on the part of Mr. Valino to call the organizers in advance and ask for a possible accommodation on the said forum.

On his issue of not inviting Camocaan residents in the Davao forum, may we likewise clarify that the Core Jesu College in Digos City conducted a separate forum on July 10, 2009 to accommodate participants from Davao del Sur and a significant number of Camocaan residents were there. In fact, the Cor Jesu administration reportedly reprimanded people identified with the plantation companies for distributing papers discrediting the DOH study without paying courtesy to the school.

May this provide sufficient understanding and guidance. The organizers need due respect on this matter. Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Davao City Ban Aerial Spraying Core Group

Emma V. Sagarino, Research Associate, Research and Development Center, University of Immaculate Conception; Anita Morales, METSA Foundation, Inc.; Lia Jasmin Esquillo, Interface Development Interventions, Inc. (IDIS); Jean Lindo, M.D, Faculty Member and COMMED 4 coordinator, Community Medicine, Davao Medical School Foundation, Inc.; Atty. Raymond Quiocho Salas,  SALIGAN- Mindanaw; Willy Mosqueda, Daliaon Plantation Far-mer’s Association for Health and Environment Protection;  Tom Villarin,  Sustainable Integrated Area Development Initiatives in Mindanao-Convergence for Asset Reform and Rural Development (SIMCARRD).

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has directed Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III to review a 2006 study that the DOH commissioned on the residents of sitio Camocaan, a village in Barangay Aplaya in Hagonoy, Davao del Sur located near a banana plantation.

A source who requested anonymity said that Ms. Arroyo made the call after leaders of the Pilipino Growers and Exporters Association complained that Secretary Duque did not give weight to the complaints they raised on the study earlier criticized and called “full of inadequacies” by PBGEA’s experts and researchers.

Anthony B. Sasin, spokesperson of the banana group, declined to reveal the details but confirmed that such a meeting indeed took place last Friday when the President was in Davao City,

Last May, the PBGEA and CropLife, a group of agri chemical makers, wrote DOH, asking the agency to order a technical review of three-year old study which recommended for the banning of aerial spraying in banana plantations.

PBGEA complained that it was not informed about the study and it only learned about it from media accounts of forums conducted by the DOH research team in collaboration with groups which have been campaigning against aerial spraying.

The PBGEA also listed the flaws of the study as confirmed by its lead investigator, Dr. Allan R. Dionisio of the University of the Philippines-Manila. It said that the symptoms on the supposed illness were all based on interviews and therefore subject to recall bias; that there were no clear connection between aerial spraying of fungicides and the illnesses; and that residues detected were even below the United States-Environmental Protection Agency remediation goal.

In reaction to the May 15 letter-complaint of PBGEA, Secretary Duque wrote PBGEA president Stephen T. Antig. Duque’s letter was dated May 28, but Antig received a facsimile copy only on July 14.

Duque answered the questions raised by the banana organization based on the explanation of Dionisio’s group who undertook the study.

On the recall bias in the interiews, Duque adopted Dionisio’s argument that “recall bias does not apply to the separate issue of symptoms temporally related to aerial spraying experienced by the subjects exposed to such spraying. Neither does the recall bias apply to the objective findings of the decreased cholinesterase in the subjects as well as the presence of pesticide residues in the environment.”

On the link between aerial spraying and the symptom of illnesses, Duque also mentioned that Dionisio already pointed out that there was “clear temporal relationship between the acute signs and symptoms” of the people who were subject of the study.

Quoting Dionisio further, Duque also pointed out that one of the samples showed a high level of pesticide residue.

Earlier, an investigation conducted both by CropLife, an organization of agro-chemical companies, and the banana organization revealed that one drinking water sample was taken from a mangrove pond, which is not a drinking water source.

The PBGEA bared that Adela Amado, a barangay health worker, had confirmed that she was instructed by one of the study investigators, Engr. Ana Francisco Rivera, in gathering water and soil samples from a “mangrove pond far from the village where water from two newly-developed fishponds accumulate.”

Duque said the agency would convene the Inter-Agency Committee on Environmental Health to discuss the aerial spraying issue and that the banana organization to “make a presentation of the local studies including data on environmental and health monitoring done, if any, in the banana plantation communities.”

“We are also interested in comparative studies done by the industry to show that spray drift of pesticides were minimized using current technologies. This will provide us with broader perspective on the impact of aerial spraying to health,” the health secretary added.

Sasin, however, said he did not know whether the agency has started the discussion considering that the letter arrived at the office of the organization more than a month after it was written.

The DOH commissioned the Dionisio study because of the insistence and claims of one Dr. Romeo Quijano of Pesticide Action Network that people in Camocaan have died or dying of diseases due to exposure to aerial spraying by the Lapanday Food Corporation.

Many of the claims of Quijano have since been proven to be fabrications, according to PBGEA.

At least two persons whom Quijano claimed to have died of pesticide spraying — the Dulla twins — are very much alive. Many of those who suffered some forms of skin disorders also testified that they got their diseases before they came to Camocaan. The claim of Quijano that the animals and plants in Camocaan were dying were also proved untrue, the PBGEA said. 

The DOH commissioned the Dionisio study because of the insistence and claims of one Dr. Romeo Quijano of Pesticide Action Network that people in Camocaan have died or dying of diseases due to exposure to aerial spraying by the Lapanday Food Corporation.

Many of the claims of Quijano have since been proven to be fabrications, according to PBGEA.

At least two persons whom Quijano claimed to have died of pesticide spraying — the Dulla twins — are very much alive. Many of those who suffered some forms of skin disorders also testified that they got their diseases before they came to Camocaan. The claim of Quijano that the animals and plants in Camocaan were dying were also proved untrue, the PBGEA said.

Banana group seeks GMA help vs. IDIS

By ROGER M. BALANZA

The militant NGO Interface Development Interventions (IDIS)  and its campaign to kill the banana industry in the Davao Region were among hot topics discussed during a meeting between President Arroyo and officers of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) last week in Davao City.

IDIS spearheaded the campaign two years ago for the approval of a Davao City Council ordinance banning aerial spraying in banana plantations.

The group led by Lea Jasmin Esquillo has been variously tagged in the past by PBGEA as a ‘fake NGO’ luring donors to plunk funds for fake environmental causes or a foreign-funded NGO hired by banana growers in other countries to destroy the Philippine banana industry.

Banana is a major export industry in the Davao Region directly employing about 100,000.

IDIS and partner Mamamayang Araw sa Aerial Spraying (MAAS) headed by Dagohoy Magaway led the two-year battle against the ordinance whose approval was challenged by PBGEA in the Court of Appeals in Cagayan de Oro City which declared the ban illegal. The case has been elevated to the Supreme Court.

IDIS in fighting for the ban claimed aerial spraying placed people’s health at risk, a claim denied in testimonies before the city council by the Department of Health, the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) and a special body created by the Davao City government on claims of death and diseases in communities near the banana plantations. PBGEA said banning aerial spraying using fungicide—a pesticide declared as non-toxic by FPA—would lead to attacks by sigatoka—a deadly leaf disease—to cut volume and quality of export Cavendish bananas.

The President’s meeting with PBGEA bigwigs at the Waterfront Hotel was a sidelight of her brief visit in Davao City on Friday.  

PBGEA officials said the meeting with the president focused mainly on the promotion and protection of the multi-million dollar Cavendish banana industry which is raking in annual export earnings of $400 million.

The case of environmental groups shaming the industry before foreign buyers through smear drives accusing growers of using deadly pesticides was also discussed, said a PBGEA official who asked he not be identified.

Also discussed was how the government can support the industry, said Stephen Antig, president of the umbrella group of banana growers and exporters in the Davao Region where banana growing was adopted as a major choice under the “One Town One Product” program by all the provinces.

Davao bananas are exported to Japan, Korea, China, Hongkong, Middle East and even Russia,

We also requested reduction of export cost through lower wharfage fees and dues, said Antig adding the industry also sought other incentives from government.

PBGEA impressed on the President that the banana industry needs her support and  that of the other government agencies in the promotion of the industry especially now that it is under fire from environmental groups for its use of pesticides, said another PBGEA official.

The banana group also thanked the President for quashing an old government policy spelled out in Letter of Instruction No. 58 issued by President Marcos in 1973 limiting areas for banana growing to only 26,250 hectares.

Earlier, Vicente Lao, chair of the Regional Development Committee-Mindanao Area, said President Arroyo has cancelled the LO! 58 upon petition of Mindanao Regional Development Councils.

The President subsequently issued Executive Order (EO) 807 which repealed LOI 58.

IDIS denies rap

The Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) scored the Interface Development Interventions (IDIS) for marshalling people from a Davao City’s farflung district to drum up support for a public presentation on the banning of aerial spraying in banana plantations.

PBGEA, the Davao City-based umbrella of banana growers and exporters in Southern Mindanao, said IDIS “lured” the participants to the presentation organized by the Department of Health.

PBGEA said the participants may not be aware of the issue, but IDIS hauled them off to the presentation to give a semblance of support for a Davao City ordinance banning aerial spraying of fungicides in the banana farms.

But IDIS, at the forefront of the battle against aerial spraying,  denied the PBGEA blast. DOH presented days ago results of its study on the effects of aerial spaying in communities near banana plantations.

“The allegations of PBGEA are not true. People from the 3rd district who attended the forum are real stakeholders affected by aerial spraying in Davao City and who were active in pushing for the Davao City Ban Aerial Spray ordinance,” said IDIS executive director Lia Jasmin Esquillo.

“It is of their own volition to come to the forum and listen to the experts who made the study,” Esquillo said.

It is clear that those who attended the forum support and commend the study of these government public health experts, Esquillo said.

Dr. Allan Dionisio of the National Poison Management and Control Center (NPMCC) bared the study showed the effects of the chemicals being sprayed on banana plantations.

• PRO TV Chișinău riscă să-și piardă licenţa în prag de alegeri, la zece ani de când e difuzat în Republica Moldova. Frecvenţele postului au fost deja scoase la concurs. Potrivit Unimedia, ProTV Chişinău activează în prezent în baza unui moratoriu instituit de CCA, după ce licenţa postului a expirat în decembrie. În aceeaşi situaţie se află şi postul de radio Vocea Basarabiei, rămas fără licenţă din aprilie.

• Asociaţia „Parlamentul-90” constată că guvernarea comunistă continuă atacurile asupra presei libere. Aceasta condamnă încercările comuniştilor de a monopoliza presa şi a o transforma într-o maşină propagandistică de partid şi cere respectarea Constituţiei şi a rezoluţiilor forurilor europene privind dreptul la libera exprimare.
• Mediul academic din Moldova trage un semnal de alarmă privind declanşarea unei puternice crize politice şi constituţionale, pe fondul unei campanii electorale violente, marcate de o retorică agresivă. Printre altele, IDIS argumentează de ce mandatul deputatului Vladimir Voronin nu trebuia validat de către Curtea Constituţională.

Much have been written about the evil empire of banana plantations in Davao who are conducting aerial spraying allegedly at the behest of the environment and the health of the people in the nearby community.  These are the rantings of people with dubious motives and mysterious financial backings.  While the evil empire is concerned with the plight of its workers and the community where it operates, there are those who are using the issue of aerial spraying to gain …

Certamente que, durante algumas 24 horas, vos foi negado o acesso ao blog iDi@s com a seguinte frase: “This blog has been archive or suspended for violation of our Terms and Services”. Não, o blog ou o conteúdo do mesmo não violou nenhum TOS. Apenas foi suspenso, mas não porque infringi alguma a lei. Contactei o senhores do domínio e apesar de não justificarem o porquê da situação, responderam com o seguinte mail:

"Hi,
I am really sorry for that happening - I cannot see why yet but
I can  assure you it will not happen again.
The blog is back just as you left it and I very much apologise
for the  trouble we caused you.
Mark Jaquith"

É a resposta de Mark Jaquith, um dos responsáveis pelo desenvolvimento do serviço mais popular do mundo na criação de blogs – wordpress. Como vêm o blog iDi@s continua limpo e transparente, dentro da legalidade e estará aí para o que der e vier. Da minha parte, peço-vos desculpa pelo sucedido e agradeço àqueles que me contactaram para saber o estado do blog. E sim, o iDi@s Blog  jamais poderá morrer…

Cumprimentos,
TDias – BlogMaster

Even if Supreme Court junks Davao City ordinance

By ROGER M. BALANZA

Even if the Supreme Court kills the Davao City ordinance banning aerial spraying in banana plantations in the city, another local ordinance could be amended and given more teeth to ban the practice under a phase-out plan.

The aerial spray ban appears to be doomed after being declared unconstitutional by the Court of Appeals, even as the Davao City government appeals the decision and gears up for a protracted legal battle up to the Supreme Court.

The Watershed Protection, Conservation and Management Ordinance may be amended allowing for additional provisions that would include a phase-out period within which banana plantations could switch to boom spray or manual methods of spraying fungicides, said councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling, author of the landmark ordinance, at the SP Media Forum at the Davao City Council yesterday.

REPRESSIVE

In junking the ordinance, the CA said the three-month period for banana plantations to abandon aerial spraying was too short and repressive.

Cabling, who as then chair of the environment committee crafted the ordinance, said the phase-out provisions were in place in the original version of the proposed ordinance, while under deliberation by city councilors in 2007.

Unfortunately, before his proposed ordinance could be approved, then city councilor Nenita Orcullo supported by councilor Leonardo Avila, who replaced him as chair of the committee on environment, pushed for the approval of a separate ordinance banning aerial spraying in all agricultural plantations within three months.

FINAL VERSION

Cabling had to delete the aerial spray ban phase-out plan in the final version of the watershed ordinance, which aims to protect about 34,000 hectares of conservation and agro-forestry and non-tillage areas in the city’s upland areas, when his ordinance was placed on final reading and approved in early 2008.

The aerial spray ban ordinance was affirmed as constitutional by the Davao City regional trial court after being questioned by the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA), the umbrella group of the banana industry in the Davao Region.

But the Court of Appeals in Cagayan de Oro City thrashed the RTC decision citing short period for banana plantations to switch to other modes of spraying fungicides and failure by the Davao City government and intervenors to defend their claim aerial spraying led to diseases in communities near banana plantations.

PROTRACTED BATTLE

The city government this week filed a Motion for Reconsideration before CA, with city legal officer Melchor Quitain saying they would bring up the case to the Supreme Court if the MR is denied.

If the gradual phase-out of aerial spraying was retained in the watershed ordinance, which was approved in 2008, this practice could have ended five years later without the hassle of a court case, Cabling told the forum.

Aside from the phase-out plan, the deleted provision also required banana plantations to adopt a gradual switch to organic farm inputs and pest control away from synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and relocate communities inside banana plantations.

Cabling however told the forum moderated by city council secretary Zuleika Lopez that he is not hot at this point in time about amending the watershed code to install the aerial spray phase-out plan.

We will have to wait until the Supreme Court comes out with its final decision. If it thumbs down the aerial spray ban, then I will be the first to move to amend the watershed code to include the phase-out plan, he said.

Cabling’s idea appears to have the backing of legal experts and environmentalists.

BEST MOVE

Legal expert Fr. Joaquin Bernas in his Sounding Board column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer of January 26, 2009, had assailed CA for its decision thrashing the Davao City ordinance.

But in his column of February 2, 2009, Fr. Bernas gave way for Fr. Jett Villarin, S. J., president of Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City, an expert on environmental matters, who favored a phase-out plan for banana plantations to abandon aerial spraying.

“If three months are not enough to change systems, I would negotiate for a protracted withdrawal schedule,” Fr. Villarin said.

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Maas, IDIS turn mendicants; Beg for fare money from city officials

By ROGER M. BALANZA

The anti-aerial spray group rumored as agents of foreign-banana growing countries out to kill the local banana industry has no money for travel to pursue their fight in the appeals court in Cagayan de Oro City which has thrashed an ordinance banning the practice.

Members of the Mamamayang Ayaw sa Aerial Spraying (MAAS) yesterday appealed to Davao City councilors for financial help to bail out colleagues locked in jail in Cagayan de Oro City where the Court of Appeals two weeks ago shot down as unconstitutional a Davao City ordinance banning aerial spraying of fungicides in Davao City export Cavendish banana plantations.

But the appeal was pummeled down by councilor Diosdado Mahipus who said the council should not enmesh itself in Maas’ continuing legal battle. Maas is one of the intervenors in the appeal by the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) to declare the ordinance, earlier affirmed by the Davao City regional trial court, as unconstitutional. The Davao City government, which faced off with PBGEA in the appeals court, said it would file a motion for reconsideration and raise the case to the Supreme Court if the motion is denied.

In yesterday’s session Maas head Dagohoy Magaway and its ally, Interface Development Interventions chaired by Lea Jasmin Esquillo led the plea for fare money for members to lend support to four colleagues locked in a Cagayan de Oro City jail who were arrested after they disrupted vehicular traffic by lying in the middle of the road fronting the appeals court after the decision was announced two weeks ago.

Vice Mayor Sara Duterte who presided the session agreed with Mahipus and met close door in her office with the Maas and IDIS elements after the session ended in the afternoon. It was not known if Vice Mayor Duterte gave financial assistance to the groups, who earlier on Monday also met with Mayor Rodrigo Duterte at City Hall to seek help for a 20-man contingent that they would send to Cagayan de Oro.

Councilor Peter Lavina said city councilors frowned on open support for the non-government organizations which frontlined lobby for approval of the Davao City ordinance, to avoid antagonizing the appeals court.

We wanted to avoid being tagged by the CA justices as collaborating with rowdy groups, Lavina told an ACQ/KBN television news team in an interview yesterday.

Maas and IDIS, earlier rumored as backed by foreign funds to kill the local banana industry before the world market through black propaganda, have been repeatedly slammed by the CA justices for their behavior, while the appeals court was hearing the PBGEA appeal.

In separate occasions last year, the NGO elements gifted the justices with rotten bananas and chained them selves at the appeals court building gate to protest slow decision on the PBGEA appeal. In between, justices called police to force them to move their picket a distance away from the court building because they disrupted court proceedings with their noises.

In their latest caper after the appeals court declared the Davao City ordinance as unconstitutional, IDIS and Maas members conducted a “die in” by laying on the street fronting the court disrupting vehicular traffic and forcing police to arrest four of the members.

In arguing its case before the CA, PBGEA said banning aerial spraying of fungicide, which fights off the deadly leaf disease sigatoka, would reduce volume and quality of export Cavendish banana bringing $400 million in annual export earnings for the country. The Davao City council passed the ordinance despite testimonies by government agencies it is not harmful to human health and the environment.