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EXCEPT for a few inconveniences caused by recent repairs of the roads in Bukidnon, our trip to Davao was relatively smooth. This time, the invitation for Ralph Abragan and me came from former DENR regional director Raoul Geollegue, EWWP senior technical team consultant.

Early in the afternoon of July 9, Dr. Geollegue delivered a brief lecture on watershed and Payment on Ecosystem Service (PES) modalities before members of the Maramag SB members, Local Environmental Monitoring Team, Local Zoning of Board of Adjustment and Appeal and Technical Staff. After the briefing, some revelations given were quite hairaising.

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The Sangguniang Bayan of Maramag, Bukidnon, passed an ordinance that disallows Agro-Industrial Plantations, specifically banana and pineapple plantations to establish/operate within the 1,000-meter radius distance from the general residnetial zone, socialized housing zone, general commercial zone, central business district, food manufacturing industries, special institutional zone parks, recreation zone, and tourist zone.

Unfortunately, these agro-industrial plantation firms are allegedly defying this ordinance. They even plan to come up with their own political group or candidates to challenge the incumbents in order to remove/amend the ordinance.

You can just imagine what money would and can do––never mind the health risks on people as long as their cash registers continue to ring.

The local government of Maramag lacks support from NGOs but there are several groups willing to lend assistance and support to the local government.

The side trip to Maramag was in preparation for a bigger activity in Davao City. In a breakfast meeting the following day with Interface Development Interventions Inc. members Chinkie Peliño-Golle, Mark Peñalver, Mary Ann Fuertes and Davao Cenro Christopher Asibal, it was agreed that the next screening and evaluating climate change adaptive practices of pineapple and banana plantation projects in support of the implementation of Memorandum Circular 2011-005 under the Philippine EIS System, would be held on Aug. 14, 2015.

Targeted participants would be around 60 persons coming from stakeholders like LGUs, Agro-Industrial plantation representatives, NGOs and environmental groups. The prime mover of this undertaking is, of course, the Enterprise Works Worldwide Philippines Inc. led by Susan Naval, country director.

It seems that the struggle against limiting/reducing the use of sloping areas for pineapple and banana plantations is facing strong resistance from multinational companies. Protecting our watersheds comes second only to profit. Lives and health of people do not matter to them.

One of the reasons why they get away with it quite easily is probably because politicians are themselves owners of lands being rented by the multinationals.

Perhaps, it was divine intervention that led to the discovery of the banned chemicals being used by one multinational corporation when its ship sank a few years ago. Chemicals being used for pineapple and banana plantations could pollute our water sources. They are definitely health hazards.  I wonder what their lawyers have to say this time.
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Davao is indeed a very big city. No, you can’t compare CDO to Davao. In every aspect, CDO comes far behind Davao. Motorists follow/obey traffic law and regulations. Their sidewalks are clear of vendors. Their streets are clean unlike ours where you can see pile of garbage almost everywhere. To see is to believe? Yes, it is.

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