ikeseneres

WHY GOOD SOIL AND WATER MANAGEMENT IS THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL ORGANIC FARMING Food is supposed to give us life, and not kill us. As stewards of God’s creation, we are supposed to protect the earth in general and the land that we cultivate in particular. And that includes the soil upon which we grow our food. Using our God-given common sense, we should know that we must keep the soil alive . If the soil dies, how can we continue growing the food that keeps us alive? Unfortunately, we seem to be doing the opposite. It is ironic that we use chemicals to kill insects that feed on our crops, and then continue eating those crops. It is equally ironic that we apply excessive chemical fertilizers to increase production while neglecting the biological life of the soil that actually helps plants grow. The grand irony is this: we are poisoning the soil that gives us food, and then worrying about the quality of the food produced from that soil. This is why I find the work of the Department of Agricu...

COULD WE FINALLY PRODUCE A FILIPINO CAR, OR HAVE WE ALREADY DONE IT? It has been so long since I wrote an essay advocating that we should build the first Filipino car. At that time, electric vehicles were not yet in the market. We were talking about ICE engines , or Internal Combustion Engines, and one of our biggest problems was that we could not manufacture our own engines. I remember the late Senator Raul S. Manglapus advocating the idea of a Filipino car. Unfortunately, perhaps the Philippines was simply not ready at that time. Meanwhile, Malaysia went ahead with the Proton Saga, using a Mitsubishi engine. South Korea produced the Hyundai Pony, also with Mitsubishi technology. Taiwan produced the Yulon Feeling 101, using a Nissan engine. What did we do? We produced the Sakbayan , but hesitated to call it a Filipino car because it used Volkswagen components. Yet the Sakbayan was locally assembled and had locally produced bodywork. In fact, it is widely regarded as the first car des...

WHAT HAPPENS TO INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OUTSIDE THEIR ANCESTRAL AREAS? Due to various reasons, there are now Badjao and Mamanwa communities living outside their traditional areas. I deliberately say ancestral areas , because they may not have Certificates of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs) where they originally came from. I also say communities , because these are not merely individuals or isolated families. They may still have their tribal structures, elders and customary relationships, even though they have left their traditional homes. This raises an important social question: Is it more difficult to protect Indigenous Peoples when they are outside their ancestral domains? The situation of the Mamanwa in Basey, Samar gives us a concrete example. The NCIP documented 35 migrant Mamanwa families whose roots are in Surigao , and actually visited them together with DSWD, DILG and other agencies.  The NCIP has also documented Badjao communities in Mambaling, Cebu City, including efforts to...

SAVING THE VISAYAN WARTY PIG Who in this country has seriously thought about saving the Visayan warty pig ? Apparently, some people have—and thank God for them. But compared with the attention given to the Philippine Eagle and the Tamaraw, we hardly hear about saving this rather unfortunate-looking but uniquely Filipino animal. Is it because most Filipinos do not care much about our own wildlife? Or perhaps because we have such low regard for pigs in general that we care even less about a wild pig ? Maybe it is time to change that attitude. The Visayan warty pig ( Sus cebifrons ) is Critically Endangered and has disappeared from more than 95 percent of its former range. Habitat loss, hunting and conflicts with farmers are among its major threats. And now comes some rather surprising good news. Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos , through Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund, have launched the Phoenix Species Project , committing $200 million to recover 100 of...

HOW CAN A SHOPPING MALL MANAGE ITS OWN SOLID WASTE AND EVEN MAKE MORE MONEY?  In many respects, shopping malls are like small cities, especially the bigger malls. They have thousands of people coming in and out every day, restaurants, supermarkets, offices, stores and parking areas. Naturally, they also generate enormous quantities of waste—sometimes perhaps more than a small barangay. But here is something worth thinking about: if a shopping mall can manage its own solid waste, perhaps even better than a barangay can, why can’t other large institutions do the same? And if malls can invest in high-end waste management facilities, why not government office complexes, school campuses, hospitals and even military camps? One particularly interesting example is the partnership between SM Prime Holdings, Inc. and Japanese environmental solutions company GUUN Co., Ltd., which created SM GUUN Environmental Company, Inc. The joint venture operates a waste-processing facility in Consolacion,...

HOW MANY BARANGAYS STILL DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO SAFE DRINKING WATER? We have heard the terms homeless and jobless being used quite often, but not so much the term “waterless.” Perhaps we should start using it more, because a family without access to safe drinking water is, for all practical purposes, a family without water. With a little sarcasm, some people might say that water is everywhere. True enough—but tell that to someone surrounded by floodwater that cannot be safely drunk. Water may be everywhere, but there may not be a drop to drink. So how many of our barangays are actually “waterless”? The Commission on Audit provides an important answer, although it also exposes a problem. Under the SALINTUBIG program, 1,353 waterless barangays and 455 waterless municipalities were originally identified. DILG reported that 1,123 barangays and 340 municipalities had graduated from waterless status, leaving approximately 230 barangays and 115 municipalities on the original list. But COA...

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HOT COMPOSTING AND SLOW COMPOSTING? At first glance, this sounds like a technical question. But I think there is something wrong with the way the question is framed. Shouldn't the comparison be between hot composting and cold composting ? Or perhaps between fast composting and slow composting ? Personally, I would vote for cold composting, which is essentially the same as slow composting. What is the hurry anyway? Hot composting deliberately raises the temperature of organic materials to accelerate decomposition. It can reach roughly 57°C to 71°C and can produce finished compost within weeks. Cold or slow composting, on the other hand, allows organic materials to decompose naturally over several months. I understand the argument for hot composting. High temperatures can destroy weed seeds and many pathogens, which can be important when dealing with certain wastes. But I also wonder whether we sometimes become too obsessed with speed. Composting is fun...