Mercy missions without fanfare

Mercy missions without fanfare

Updated 01:11am (Mla time) Dec 17, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the December 17, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


(Continued from last Wednesday)

IN THE PREVIOUS column, I wrote that even with a total log ban, illegal cutting of trees from public forests would continue if demand for forest products doesn't ease and people are provided with other means of livelihood. In the villages in Real, Infanta, Nakar and Dingalan, for example, the residents, hardest hit by the landslides and floods admitted that they had illegally cut trees for lumber, firewood and charcoal because that was "their only means of livelihood."

I said the Philippine construction industry is very wasteful in the use of wood and that the government should have a policy like those of other countries, such as the United States, now already using wood substitutes that are cheaper and more durable.

As for the big demand for charcoal and firewood, this can be satisfied with tree farming. But the trouble with government policy on tree farming is that it encourages the planting only of fruit trees and the more expensive hardwood trees, such as narra and mahogany, which take decades to mature. So why not plant, in between, the hardwoods and fruit trees, fast-growing and easy-to-grow trees like giant ipil-ipil and kakawati for firewood and charcoal? They will be big enough to harvest within one year. The farmers will earn some income while waiting for the fruit trees and hardwoods to mature.

Cut only the branches in summer and the trunks will sprout new branches when the rains fall. What's more, these two trees are self-propagating. Leave a few branches to bear pods; when ripe, these pods will pop open and scatter their seeds to grow with the first drops of rain. Even better, these trees are legumes whose fallen leaves fix nitrogen in the soil, fertilizing it for the hardwoods and fruit trees.

Tree farming for firewood is already being done in some villages of Laguna. You see bundles of ipil-ipil firewood for sale stacked along the highways.

As for charcoal, we now have the technology and machines to make charcoal out of farm wastes such as rice hull, coconut coir, twigs and leaves. They are compressed into charcoal bricks that are now being sold, even exported, though still in a very small volume. Right now, the rice hulls, coconut coir, twigs and leaves are just burned in the farms. That's like burning money. The government should help and encourage farmers and hill people to make charcoal bricks.

The coconut plantations are a rich source of charcoal and firewood. Coconut shells make very good charcoal; coconut coir can be compressed into charcoal bricks along with other farm wastes; and palm fronds, when chopped into two-foot-long pieces and dried in the sun, make good firewood.

Strangely, these are already known to farm folk but they don't do it in commercial volumes because nobody encourages them to do so. The government should encourage them by lending farmers money to buy the machines to compress farm wastes into charcoal bricks that hundreds of thousands of sidewalk barbecue and “lechon manok” [roasted chicken] stands and “ihaw-ihaw” [grilled food] restaurants can use.

The Ilocos hills and mountains, as well as the backyards, are now bereft of trees because of the big demand for firewood to feed the Virginia tobacco flue-curing barns. Even fruit-bearing trees were cut down because the owners were tempted with big sums of money for the firewood.

The same thing will happen to the hills and mountains near poverty-stricken villages if the government doesn't do something.

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Several kind-hearted groups are getting widespread publicity for relief missions to flood-ravaged areas, but I would like to congratulate another group that has been helping flood victims quietly and without fanfare. This is the SM Foundation, which has been distributing relief goods and bringing volunteer doctors and medicines to provinces affected by tropical depression “Winnie” and typhoon “Yoyong.”

Using the private helicopter of the Sy family and an Air Force Huey chopper, the foundation has been sending relief goods and medical missions to Camarines Sur, Quezon, Nueva Ecija and parts of Bulacan. Five bridges have collapsed in Quezon, making the stricken barangays inaccessible by land. Supplies can be brought in only by helicopter. Weeks after the typhoons, hungry residents are still fearful when the next supplies would come as the collapsed bridges have isolated them.

So far, 10,000 families have been benefited and P1.85 million spent to purchase relief goods and medicines. The relief goods, contained in plastic pails, consist of rice, noodles, cans of sardines, laundry soap and blankets. Medicines for cough, fever, diarrhea, hypertension, parasitism, typhoid fever and topical ointments for skin diseases are also included.

In all its relief missions, the governors of the affected provinces are actively involved, as well as the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the National Disaster Coordinating Council and the Army Reserve Command.

That's not the only thing the foundation is doing. Through its Health and Medical Programs under former Quezon City Vice Mayor Connie Angeles, it will start the renovation of and donate equipment to the pediatric ward of the Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital where the Cervantes twins died due to the lack of equipment and facilities.

* * *

Although not yet formally inaugurated, the Front Page piano bar on Teodoro M. Kalaw Street in Manila is now open for business. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been invited to be the guest of honor during its inauguration as well as of the clubhouse of Samahang Plaridel, the association of veteran journalists. The lounge is their watering hole but it is open to the public.