I came from Zambales yesterday, Sept. 26, and one of my plans was to visit some two dozen Davao farmers where they are camped somewhere in Manila. The rains and the flooding delayed me from reaching my "other home" in Makati where i was to leave my things before the visit. I later learned that the farmers' tent was ruined by the heavy rains. Why are they here, why have they decided to come to Manila and camp away from their families?
The Davao farmers are here to press officialdom to finally grant them relief from poison rain.
The rains I had to brave yesterday came from God and it was water. But the poison rain being endured by Davao farmers contasins toxic pesticides, and a Health Department study has shown that traces of the pesticides have already found their way into the farmers’ bloodstream, causing ailments among the farmers and their children. It has also killed their crops and farm animals.
Aerial spraying being done on the banana plantations in Davao City have ruined lives in the downwind communities. City hall passed an ordinance banning the practice, as LGUs in other areas have done with no negative effects on the banana growing industry in their respective areas, but the powerful banana growers and exporters dared to fight City Hall and lost in the regional trial court. But they found allies in the Court of Appeals. Right after receiving their appeal, the CA issued an injunction against the city's ban on aerial spraying, which immediately resumed. The farmers and their supporters filed a case which now pends in the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the DoH secretary has still desisted from issuing an order to stop the aerial spraying, after his own personnel had come out with their official report. And the office of the DENR secretary recently claimed to have issued an order to the department’s regional offices to stop aerial spraying in their areas, but the claim was later proved to be just a press release (“jok lang daw”? not funny!).
The lameduck President has not been allowed by the extremely powerful association of banana planters and exporters to get her government’s act together, so she and her underlings all continue to dilly-dally on this issue.
As the issue remained unresolved and the victimized communities, many of us have remained completely ignorant about it. For those of us who still don’t understand this issue, I embed hereunder an excerpt of a privilege speech delivered as early as one year ago by our people’s own representative in the House of Representatives, Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel:
I HAVE MET FARMERS AND PEASANTS, and I have been with their families and communities, and they would be keen to share that the fruits of their labor, the blessings from their lands, bear stories of the dignity of their work. The bananas from Davao sing their stories, too, but they tell stories of human sufferings, of corporate abuse, of emotional pains. They are delicious and plush, but they are made so at the expense of our poor countrymen's health, the destruction of the environment, particularly the air that farmers and farming communities in Davao breathe.
The problem is the unabated spraying of deadly pesticides by banana plantations in Davao City.
These plantations, which are owned by big domestic and multinational corporations, make use of aircrafts in their method of spraying. Through this method, the pesticide drift, reaching as far as three kilometers and making nearby residents, plantation workers and the environment the unwitting recipients of deadly chemicals meant to kill the pests that attack bananas.
They are not bananas but they get sprayed with toxic pesticides. They are not pests, but they are slowly being killed by pesticides. So they waged an initiative to ban aerial spraying of pesticides in Davao City. They have a compelling case for their clamor, Ginoong Speaker, and we should pay heed: pesticides are designed to kill. We usually mistake pesticides as chemicals only limited to kill insects but in fact, pesticides can kill a wide range of living things, including humans.
According to the World Health Organisation, there are at least 3 million pesticide poisoning cases annually worldwide or six (6) persons poisoned every minute. These often occur due to accidental exposure through spillage and insufficient protective clothing while working. The effects of acute poisoning (immediate effects) depend on the toxicity and quantity of pesticides absorbed. These effects are wide ranging from numbness, dizziness, tremors, nausea, blurred vision to difficulty breathing. Death happens in the most severe cases.
Our farmworkers and communities living in and around plantations are subject to chronic or long-term exposure. In the short-term, impaired memory and concentration, confusion, severe depressions, nausea, and speech difficulties have all been reported. Other effects (of chronic exposure to pesticides) may only appear later in life, or even in the next generation. Learning difficulties, behavioural and reproductive effects such as accelerated puberty, infertility, and increased susceptilibility to cancer have been observed in children of parents exposed to pesticides. Numerous types of cancer including liver, skin, prostate and leukaemia have also been associated with pesticide exposure. One study of banana plantation workers in Mindanao found high levels of a fungicide by-product (ETU) correlated with incidence of thyroid gland disorders.
Here in the Philippines, over 30 chemical pesticides that have already been banned in Europe and the United States are still being used by banana plantations. Aerial spraying in particular, or the use of an airplane or helicopter in spraying pesticides, is a serious threat, thus the practice is prohibited in many countries. The spray can drift up to one hundred kilometres, exposing people to pesticides even when they live far from fields and crops that are being sprayed. Yet in many cities and provinces in Mindanao, aerial spraying is a routine practice that has been going on for decades exposing helpless communities to toxic spray with very little intervention from regulatory agencies.
There are alternatives to pesticides that are healthy for humans, the environment and the economy. We know that there are a good number of banana plantations also in the province of Davao that are thriving even without having to resort to aerial spraying of pesticides. Some are even growing them organically. In Cotabato, banana growers continue to exist and do good business despite their laws banning aerial spraying. In Bukidnon where there has been a ban in aerials spraying since 2001, alternatives such as boom, manual and sprinkler spray have reduced the exposure risk to surrounding communities, without affecting productivity. Reduction of pesticide inputs actually leads to an increase in profits.
Another successful alternative to pesticide use is organic farming or zero-use of pesticides. Using various forms of natural pest management, a farming cooperative in Mindanao exports organic bananas to Japan, earning premium price from the increasingly health-conscious Japanese market. The point is that there is definitely a better way of doing agriculture that is not only good for our farmers' pockets, but also results in safer food, healthier bodies and a more nurtured environment.
It is true that aerial spraying, compared with the conventional ground-based methods, is more cost-efficient and profitable. But there are limits that must be recognized by banana plantations that continue to rely on aerial spraying. The pursuit of profit is not without limits. I may be free to spray on my perfume onto myself, but I cannot force my perfume unto my colleagues by forcibly spraying the same on them. I may also flex my tired arms and legs for hours of sessions, but I cannot extend them to the inconvenience and harm of my colleagues – my right has to have a boundary.
Dagohoy Magaway, an affected resident who came to Manila through the help of some NGO's, related to me: "Nagtitinda po ako ng puto sa lugar namin na malapit sa mga taniman ng saging. Kapag dumadaan na po ang eroplanong mag-iispray, nagtatakbuhan at nagkukubli po ang lahat, lalo na po yung mga batang papasok sa mga paaralan. Dahil wala naman po kaming masyadong masilungan, nababasa pa rin po kami ng kemikal sa buong katawan. Nagkakasakit po kaming lahat. At sa aking pagkataranta, madalas po ay nahuhulog sa lupa ang paninda kong puto kaya malimit ay wala akong kita at lagi pang nalulugi. Tinatanong ko pong madalas ang ating Panginoon kung kaming mga mahihirap na apektado ng spraying ay may karapatang mabuhay."
Ginoong Speaker, my honorable colleagues: under the laws of God and our Constitution, who has the right to a real life – Dagohoy Magaway or the banana planters who are only concerned about profits?
(To see more info, please click at this link: http://kamayanforum.8m.net/kfj-89.htm.)
-- ding reyes
of subic, zambales
(now in makati)
09-27-09
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