THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DOH-COMMISSIONED STUDY ON AERIAL SPRAYING

 A 10-POINT REBUTTAL OF THE LIES PEDDLED AGAINST THE BANANA INDUSTRY

    1.  The study methodology is not clearly described in the report. 

    In particular the randomization method, sampling of environmental samples and methods of pesticide residue analysis, need to be clearly described in order for us to appreciate the results better.

 

    Statistical randomization must balance other factors that have not been explicitly accounted for in a study design. Where those random numbers fall short of the acceptable standards of randomness, any subsequent analysis will suffer from systemic bias. This is one of the many lapses of the health assessment and environmental study of Sitio Camocaan and it is to nobody’s benefit to cover it up with an air of infallibility.

 

    We have direct information that the respondents volunteered because they were made to understand that there was a free medical clinic in Camocaan.  In addition, not all of the respondents had blood analysis.  Clearly, this situation is not random in nature and the test population is not a representative sample (Video Clip 1 in CD).  

 

    Given the manner by which the respondents were engaged in the study, we would not be surprised if the researchers concluded 100% of the community was exposed to pesticides through aerial spraying and 100% were sick.

 

    2.  The identities of the sick people in Camocaan have not been endorsed to the local health authorities despite repeated requests.

 

    The global developmental delay of 2 children is likewise a matter of extreme concern to us. In fact, one child has mild wasting.   We wonder why the good doctors have not referred these cases to the health workers in Davao so that their concern and recommendation for further investigation could have been immediately done years ago. 

 

    We find it extremely difficult to comprehend the actions or inaction of the researchers for the last three years, despite repeated efforts to get the information, as expressed by the LGU at the DOH Davao public hearing (May 12, 2009) and at the People’s Inquiry in Camocaan (June 3, 2009), as expressed by the people of Camocaan in a letter written to Dr.. Allan Dionisio (dated July 5, 2009) (Annex 1).  At the People’s Inquiry, Dr. Allan Dionisio promised to endorse to Dr. Patricio Hernane, municipal health officer, the results of the examinations, with emphasis on those who were sick, so that these persons could get medical attention (Video Clip 2 in CD).  However, to date, these names have not been endorsed despite the repeated visits of Dr. Dionisio to Davao for his various speaking engagements.  It appears media mileage has overshadowed the Hippocratic oath of this doctor.

 

    It is therefore not surprising that the people of Camocaan are now restless over this development, showing indignation over the way their dignity has been trampled upon.  They see themselves as mere numbers or statistics for the consumption of media and advocates with their own agendas.

 

    3.  We maintain, aerial spraying in areas without communities does not offer a health risk.

 

    The researchers agree with this statement but do not believe it is true for the Philippine setting.  We marvel at the gall of the researchers to make such a claim.

 

    Are they better authorities on the state of the Philippine export banana industry than the PBGEA? 

 

    4.  The nature of environmental samples is questionable.

 

    The researchers have emphasized that “due to the presence of pesticides in the environment, acute signs and symptoms as well as abnormalities in biologic markers among the residents in the area has occurred.”

 

    We have serious doubts about the veracity of the environmental samples and the levels detected for the following reasons:

 

a.  The water samples were presented in the report as drinking water samples (Table 27, p.21) and are once again reiterated in your letter (Item No. 5).  However, in the same instance, the researchers also acknowledge that the sample taken from the irrigation system is now described as water from a canal..  We have information, from the site, that the water for this particular sample was taken from the river close to the fishponds (Video Clip 3 in CD). This is not a drinking water source for the community. The sampling was done by the baranggay health worker after instructions were given by Engr. Rivera, who chose to stay at the main community area, leaving the BHW to do the sampling by herself (Video Clip 4 in CD). There is no canal in that area although Engr Rivera emphatically stated, during the People’s Inquiry, that the irrigation sample was taken from a canal.  In your letter to us, you mention that the canal is indicated in the map.  Our efforts at searching for this canal, at the site, has been futile and neither can we find it in the attached map of the report.  This therefore proves to us that the researchers did not have full control over the quality, nature and integrity of the samples. 

 

b.  We have information also that a soil sample was not undisturbed soil but rather swept soil which is not the manner by which an environmental risk assessment is made (Video Clip 5 in CD).  It is therefore not surprising that soil samples collected in such a manner, would contain detectable residues.  We wonder how many square meters of top soil were scraped, by sweeping, thereby concentrating any low level or even non-detectable residues that would be present in undisturbed soil.  This is not reflective of the soil conditions that would be considered as contaminated soil to be used for risk assessment.  Thus, levels detected in soil remain highly questionable in nature.

 

c.  Given the nature of the samples taken, water and soil without known spraying history, it is incumbent upon the researchers to confirm results made by gas chromatography.  This was not done and therefore, the presence of any residue is not conclusive, most especially since the detector used in this analysis (electron capture detector) is not a selective detector.

 

d..  The detection of ETU in blood, soil and water is likewise highly questionable to us. Earlier on, we emphasized that the methods of analysis needed to be clearly explained.  We refer to an earlier study conducted by Panganiban et al, 2004 which showed ETU levels in soil taken from an organic farm, which is doubtful.  The study was not able to explain the presence of ETU thus we question the scientific value of the ETU results of this study as the analysis was conducted in the same laboratory as the former study. (Annex 2).

 

e.  The presence of ETU in soil, several hundred meters away from the plantation and several days after spraying, is inconsistent behavior of the chemical ETU under Philippine conditions.  ETU was not detected in soil 2 days after spraying in cucumber; the same rapid degradation was observed in soil after spraying cabbage in studies conducted at the National Crop Protection, UPLB (Calumpang et al, 1990; Calumpang et al 1988; Annex 3) and in other countries (Yip et al 1971 cited in Calumpang et al 1990).   Pesticide residues in the environment degrade due to the effect of the environment; microbial degradation of ethylenethiourea is highly temperature dependent and is reduced to half the original value in less than one week (Rhodes 1977; Jacobsen et al 2006 cited in JMPR, Annex 4). 

 

The persistence of ETU for as long as 5-10 weeks, as claimed by the researchers, is not reflective of conditions in the tropics. 

 

Supporting data from a study conducted in a banana plantation in Australia:

 

In a study conducted by the North Coast Public Health Unit, Australia, ambient air was monitored for pesticides at four sites in Coffs Harbour, a coastal town surrounded by banana plantations in Australia.  Air was sampled continuously for 5 consecutive months during the peak agricultural spraying period.  The only pesticide applied by air in the district (propiconazole) was not detected. If international health guidelines are used as a yardstick, these levels of exposure appear unlikely to present an appreciable health risk.  (Beard et al 1995, Annex 5).

 

 

    The researchers claim that “… pesticide residues were seen in air and soil samples, as analyzed by the UP-Los Banos”.  This claim is not true.  UP Los Banos only analyzed water and soil samples, for which chlorothalonil residues were not detected in water, while chlorothalonil residues in soil were extremely low (0.01 – 0.05 ug/g).

 

    Action for possible remediation cannot be based on just one air sample with ETU levels exceeding the US EPA program remediation goals, considering the nature of the analysis, which is very much in question.  The results in the report, given the doubtful nature of the samples, reflect the over-eagerness on the part of the researchers to blame pesticides, leading to statements that have been used to practically wreck havoc on the banana industry.

 

    5.  Volunteer bias in the study prevents pesticide management decisions from being made.

 

    Volunteer bias is always avoided in studies of this nature (Keifer et al 1996; Annex 6).  The study report mentions that some of the respondents are workers of the nearby Lapanday banana plantation.  It is no wonder therefore that ETU levels detected in blood were high in some respondents resulting in a higher arithmetic mean for Camocaan subjects than Baliwaga subjects (12.77 vs. 5.34 ppb), while geometric means are much lower (0.67 vs. 0.37 ppb) (Table 22, p. 18).  This indicates that some subjects in Camocaan and Baliwaga may have been directly exposed to an EBDC fungicide or ETU, that is not related to aerial spraying drift. 

 

    At the very best, the analysis of the data should have differentiated the occupational exposure from exposure related to drift.  Had this been done, the information generated from the study would have helped draw sound pesticide management decisions from the plantation management team as well as from LGUs and other concerned government agencies.  As it is, the researchers clearly showed their strong inclination in banning aerial spraying, which is now clearly being publicly advocated by Dr. Allan Dionisio and Dr. Annabelle Yumang, DOH Davao in their current forum shopping spree in Davao.  Given that Dr. Yumang carries with her the authority of her office, are these pronouncements the official stand of DOH?

 

    6.  Symptoms described after exposure to pesticides should be verified.

 

    a.  We have difficulty accepting that “recall bias does not apply to the issue of symptoms temporally related to serial spraying experienced by the subjects.”  Anybody can claim to have been poisoned after exposure to aerial spraying.  Anyone can claim anything for reasons only known to that person.   A thorough medical examination should have been made to document and support such experiences.  This is the reason why we have always stood for a science-based assessment of the situation.. 

 

    We strongly react to the use of personal recall in the study.  As an industry we have been burned from our previous experiences with Dr. Romeo quijano, who has long made misrepresentations about deaths and illnesses in Camocaan.  He has even resorted to bringing some of them to New Zealand, claiming illnesses due to pesticides.

 

    b.  In addition, these symptoms experienced should have also been presented with a time reference.  The use of GPS systems and flow-controls in aerial spraying has been in use for about 10 years already.  At present, buffer zones are in place in Camocaan and elsewhere, while ground spraying operations are in place in areas close to the communities.  There are trees and residential structures that obstruct wind movement and collect some residues in the air.  Thus, the questionnaire should have been able to differentiate whether the symptoms experienced were current realities or previous experiences, reflecting previous episodes when current technologies were not yet in place.

 

    c.  The questionnaire portion on Symptoms of Exposure (p.43) has the following questions:

 

            i.  If you were exposed to pesticides, did you feel sick?   Yes      No

            ii.  If yes, how often were you sick?   100%    76-99%    51-75%    25-51%   <25%

            iii.  What were your symptoms?

 

    The results are presented as:

 

Table 19.  Frequency with which Camocaan subjects experienced symptoms after exposure to aerially sprayed pesticides.

 

Table 20.  Frequency of symptoms experienced after exposure to aerially sprayed pesticides among Camocaan subjects.

 

    The questions shown above do not refer to aerial spraying exposure.  However, the results are presented as such.  Again, we clearly see the bias of the researchers in relating the results to aerial spraying even if these are not substantiated. 

 

    We wonder if this is the scientifically acceptable way to present the results of the questions..  We earnestly look forward to getting the peer review made by UP Manila experts to give us guidance on the appropriate scientific approach.

 

    7.  Confounding factors were not considered in the conclusion of the study.

 

    a.  The study shows the consumption of cassava is high in Camocaan (p.9) and is therefore a confounding factor. Cassava is a human goitrogen, ETU is not a human goitrogen.  Cassava contains substances that act on the thyroid gland just like ETU, with one critical exception - human exposure to cassava is proven to be high enough to cause serious alterations to thyroid function whereas ETU exposure is almost certainly too low to cause any effects at all. There are many publications on cassava’s effect on the human thyroid, none of which are cited in the DOH study, in fact the action of cassava on the thyroid is not even mentioned.

 

    However, there is one major difference, one is proven to cause effects in humans (cassava) while one is known to cause effects only in rodents (ETU).  Based on toxicology data in rodents and epidemiology data in humans The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that ETU is not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans (IARC, 2001).

 

    b.  There are other causes of chloracne, other than chlorinated pesticides, such as dioxin, which is easily generated by human activities such as burning backyard garbage and reusing cooking oil. There appears to be an inclination by the researchers to attribute goiter and chloracne cases to exposure to pesticides fromaerial spraying without going through the rigors of eliminating the possibility that these factors could have caused these illnesses. 

 

    c.  Your letter states that “the neurodevelopmental delays in the children studied may be related to pesticide exposure but further studies are needed to confirm this.”

 

    It has been shown in a study conducted very recently (2004) that there is a significant interaction between material hardship and environmental tobacco smoke.  Children with both ETS exposure and material hardship exhibited the greatest cognitive deficit or low mental status.   Prenatal exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in the home has a negative impact on 2-year cognitive development, and this effect is exacerbated under conditions of material hardship  (Rauh et al 2005; Annex 7). 

 

    These conditions are evident in the Camocaan families.

 

    8.  Cholinesterase depression can be caused by factors, other than pesticides.

 

    a.  We had expected the study to consider the effect of other factors that can cause false positives for acetyl cholinesterase depression.  We are aware that the following factors cause false positive results for RBC cholinesterase:  drugs and reticulocytosis (Keifer handout, University of Washington; Annex 8).  However, the researchers continue to view pesticides used in the plantations as the only cause of the cholinesterase depression in Camocaan.

 

    b.  The present study did not do any baseline data gathering for the subjects.  Even Engr. Rivera, declared at the Camocaan People’s Inquiry that the best way to conduct a study of this nature, was to gather data before the spraying, during the spraying and after the spraying.  This was not done in the present study and a lot of aspects are left to be verified and studied further (Video Clip 6 in CD).

 

    c.  Results of 2009 physical examination of several workers of Lapanday, likewise show that even bud injectors, who are potentially occupationally exposed to cholinesterase-inhibiting compounds, have normal cholinesterase levels (Annex 9)

 

    d.  Likewise, we have attached results of annual physical exams of 35 persons (average age 44 years old) who used to be flagmen, and therefore can be considered as those with a long history of exposure to fungicides sprayed aerially, of Tagum Development Corp. These workers do not have cholinesterase depression, have normal haemoglobin levels and except for 1, are negative for thyroid mass.   They have worked for about 20 years in the plantation. With the use of GPS systems, they are now assigned to other tasks..  (Annex 10).

 

    9.  We care about human and environmental health.  Lives have not been sacrificed for profit.

 

    So much improvement in the technologies for spray operations in banana production has been achieved.  Recent developments in application technology, formulation chemistry and delivery systems have resulted in better application techniques.  Thus, human exposure to drift under these conditions is extremely minimal. Standard operating procedures on good practice for aerial spraying and qualifications for pilots and ground support staff are attached. (Annex 11)

 

a.  The banana industry goes through painstaking efforts at calibrating its aerial spraying equipment to ensure that there is maximum use of resources and minimal wastage of expensive fungicides as well as maximum protection of the environment, in compliance with government guidelines. 

 

b.  At present, the banana plantations only use airplanes with global positioning systems (GPS), a computer-driven, via satellite, guide for pilots on the course to follow while spraying.  The planes have target flow controllers which are also computer-driven mechanisms that shut off automatically for areas which do not need to be sprayed and open automatically in areas to be sprayed.  Delivery rates are also controlled by computerized flowmeters so that the required amount per unit area is accurately delivered.  We do not spray when then the wind speed exceeds 2 m/second  and the air temperature reaches  28 oC.  We also only spray at a height of only 5-7 meters to ensure that the spray solution reaches the leaves right away. This situation makes the drift from aerial application absolutely minimal. We cannot afford to let it drift away while spraying.

 

c.  Banana oil and stickers are also added to the fungicide spray solution to ensure maximum protection for the banana plants from the disease for several days. The fungicide stays on the leaves longer, as it is solubilized in the plant waxes or oils, resulting in the effective reduction of the vapor pressure of the fungicide which would mean less fungicides evaporating from the sprayed leaves. The number of droplets per unit area are monitored and have a standard number of counts.  Only under these optimal conditions are fungicides sprayed.  This is the desired situation because the banana plants need to be constantly protected.  We cannot afford to let the fungicide drift away after spraying!

 

d.  Sign boards are maintained to alert communities before any aerial spraying activity. 

 

e.  In addition, buffer zones of 50 – 100 m from communities and thoroughfares (highways, roads) are maintained.  The bananas in these areas are sprayed using ground equipment and spray in the direction away from the road.  This is to ensure that these areas are not covered by aerial spraying.

 

f.  Environmental monitoring of water quality in terms of pesticide residues have long been conducted. (Annex 12)  Likewise, pollution monitoring of water sources in Camocaan in terms of dissolved oxygen, pH, total suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand, etc have also been done since 2007 (Annex 13).

 

g..  In addition, our banana exports are monitored for pesticide residues to comply with maximum residue limits (MRLs).  We are serious with our efforts in protecting the health and welfare of the consuming public (Annex 14).

 

 

    DOH also made reference of “of the need for PBGEA to adhere to the global program of “REACH” (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical substances) which is a new European Community Regulation entered into force on June 1 2007 (Annex 15). 

 

    We are surprised at this pronouncement.  PBGEA’s activities are not covered by the European Community.  The Philippines has its own set of standards and operating systems and we work closely with FPA-DA, DOH and the DENR through the Multipartite Monitoring Team which meets regularly to address issues of common concern.  All our environment and human health monitoring activities are in compliance with FPA guidelines and are monitored regularly in a transparent manner.

 

    10.  At the People’s Inquiry in Camocaan, the researchers repeatedly and emphatically claimed that this present study is in no way connected to the reports made by Dr. Romeo Quijano. 

 

    We quote a portion of the introduction of the study report, which says otherwise:

 

This study was originally prompted by complaints from the residents of Sito Camocaan.  Sitio Camocaan, Puroks 5A, 5B and 7 comprise Sitio Camocaan which is part of Baranggay Aplaya, Hagonoy, Davao del Sur.  It is adjacent to the Lapanday banana plantation.  In 1997, several individuals residing in Camocaan complained of skin diseases which were ulcerated and non-healing (Quijano and Quijano 2000).  Some developed blisters and pruritic lesions.  The residents attributed the conditions to the banana plantation pesticides to which they were allegedly exposed.  Thus, the residents, through a local organization, sought the assistance of the Pesticide Action Network- Asia and the Pacific (PAN-AP) to look into the problem”.

 

    We are extremely disappointed with this willful public disinformation and manipulation of the facts made by Dr. Allan R. Dionisio, UP Manila and Dr. Annabelle Yumang, DOH Davao at the Camocaan’s People’s Inquiry.

 

    The people of Camocaan, Davao and the nation as a whole, deserve respect, nothing less.

 

    Dr. Romeo Quijano of UP Manila has used his profession as a medical doctor to manipulate and fabricate lies regarding the health conditions in Camocaan.  His two articles on Kamukhaan: Report on a Poisoned Village (Annex 16) and Kamukhaan Revisited (Annex 17) presented illnesses of people as caused by pesticides. He has blamed pesticide exposure for some congenital conditions or illnesses of persons who had these conditions before relocating to Camocaan, in search of a better life.  We have documented the cases which FPA, in part, investigated and uncovered falsities.  The deception has to stop now.  (Annex 18).

 

 

    We maintain that:

 

• Fungicide use and application in banana is approved by the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority and the Department of Agriculture.

 

• The conditions presently in place in Camocaan is so different from those in 2006 when the study was conducted.  In fact, there is a 2-hectare cemetery (100 x 200 m2) beside the community (which used to be planted to bananas) which puts a large portion of the community further away from the treated area.  A buffer zone is in place beside the community and this is not sprayed aerially. 

 

• Exposure of populations does not exclusively come from exposure to pesticide residues in the air.  Other routes such as dietary and occupational are possibilities.  For dietary exposure, there are standards to address these concerns, such as MRLs and ADI.  This reflects the international community’s efforts at risk assessment.  The acceptable daily intake (ADI) for man, expressed on a body weight basis, is the amount of a food additive that can be taken daily in the diet, even over a lifetime, without risk.  Thus, the mere presence of pesticide residues does not necessarily mean a health concern.

 

• The identities of the “sick” people identified in the study, should be immediately endorsed to the municipal health officer, if indeed there is a genuine health concern.  This has been made known to the researchers ever since we learned of this study..

 

• The banana industry is not against organic farming nor are we spraying insecticides and other chemicals hazardous to people’s health and the environment.  We do not spray highly toxic chemicals and all that we are asking for is to be allowed to make use of a fungicide-control practice that have been proven safe to both humans and the environment.  We have our 30-year track record of safety for all to see.

 

• It is our corporate social responsibility never to gamble with the lives and future of the hundreds of thousands of residents who are dependent on our continuing viability. We must, by all means, take precaution against all forms of harmful pests and in a manner, as we have been doing the past many years, that will ensure rich harvests but neither sacrifice the health of the people or contaminate the environment.

 

• It is our humble assessment that the report of the Health and Environmental Assessment of Sitio Camocaan, Hagonoy, Davao del Sur does not have the scientific basis that can withstand the rigor of scientific scrutiny.  Obviously, it cannot serve as a basis for concluding that aerial spraying, in the banana plantations, has resulted in health concerns and therefore has to be banned.

 

    We pray that those now under pressure to prove their institutional relevance for whatever purpose it will serve them will do it in the best interest of our country and people. We do share their noble cause of protecting our rich biodiversity and environmental integrity but it must be pursued not with Quixotic exuberance but with a dispassionate, scientific and developmental perspective.

 

 

AERIAL SPRAY CRITICS STEP UP DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN

myviews

Duque should look into irresponsible reporting on aerial spray

By ROGER M. BALANZA

 

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III should take time out from other pressing health concerns to look into how critics of aerial spraying in banana plantations are using underhanded tactics to misinform the public.

 

In Davao City, the center of information of banana-growing Davao Region, a daily newspaper, Sunstar Davao, has published in its November 6, 2009 issue an old decision by the DOH executive committee declaring the practice as “hazardous to humans.”

 

Made to appear as a final verdict by DOH on the fate of aerial spraying, the decision—based on a DOH study which wanted to totally ban aerial spraying—was handed out in August 24, 2009.

 

The timing of the publication is suspect. It came barely a week after a report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer about the World Health Organization (WHO), and another no less in Sunstar Davao, saying the study upon which DOH based its decision was “inadequate” and “in conclusive.”

 

It appears that the publication was intended to present the DOH decision as the latest event on the fate of aerial spraying.

 

Sunstar Davao reporter Jade C. Zaldivar, a neophyte in the field, should be wary about being taken for a ride by critics of the banana industry feeding her with misinformation.

 

It could dbe that an operative from the media bureau of Interface Development Interventions (IDIS), the noisiest NGO hereabouts against aerial spraying, provided her with the August 24, 2009 DOH decision, which has been discredited by WHO after conducting a peer review on the study in Davao del Sur alleging hazards posed by aerial spraying on humans.

 

There are only a few monkeys—among them IDIS and its clone Mamamayang Ayaw sa Aeiral Spraying (MAAS) and the National Task Force Against Aerial Spraying, composed of a bunch of idiots who do not know anything about bananas—trying to kill the Davao Region export Cavendish banana industry that earns more than $400 million in annual export earnings and employing hundreds of thousand of people. Ms. Zaldivar would not want to be a monkey herself by allowing her profession to be used as a tool of misinformation, would she?

 

Secretary Duque pronto should pronto make a rejoinder on the Sunstar Davao report where he is pictured as another monkey out to kill the banana industry. If he doesn’t, then Secretary Duque is.

 

Anyway, read on:    

  

 

SUNSTAR DAVAO, November 6, 2009

 

Aerial spraying is hazardous: DOH

By Jade C. Zaldivar

Cub Reporter

 

RESULTS of a Department of Health (DOH) study said aerial spraying is hazardous to humans.

 

An official statement from DOH contained the decision of the DOH executive committee in their meeting last August 24 that approved and adopted the recommendations of the study done in 2006 by the DOH/Philippine Society Clinical Occupational Toxicology Inc./UP-National Poison Management and Control Center.

 

The statement was signed by DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III, undersecretaries Alexander Padilla, David Lozada Jr., Mario Villaverde, and assistant secretaries Nemesio Gako, Lydia Fernandez, Elmer Punzalan, and Paulyn Jean Ubial.

 

The recommendations urged the Department of Agriculture to stop “aerial spraying.”

 

Other recommendations include:

 

(a) The industry establish a health surveillance system to detect effects of chronic pesticide exposure in communities adjacent to the banana and other agricultural plantations. Include more detailed neurodevelopmental assessment of children, follow up of previously diagnosed conditions, screening for sentinel conditions, periodic screening of biomarkers and allocate the necessary funds. The DOH as regulatory agency will validate findings.

 

(b) Based on the Philippine Environmental Impact System (PD 1586), the industry shall perform systematic and periodic monitoring of pesticide residues and metabolites in the environment of communities adjacent to banana and other agricultural plantations and do remediation where necessary. The responsible agencies shall provide oversight function.

 

(c) Government and industry should develop and strengthen guidelines for protecting communities from pesticide contamination in plantations.

 

(d) Acute and chronic pesticide exposures can result in harm to both health and environment; hence, a shift to organic farming techniques should be considered.

 

(e) Given the results generated by the joint DOH-PSCOT-NPMCC study, and in the light of the precautionary principle espoused by the Rio Declaration of which the Philippines is a signatory, we urge the Department of Agriculture that aerial spraying must be stopped until proof of its safety is clearly established by the industry.

 

The said recommendations are grounded on previous accounts on the matter, specifically:

 

(1) The technical review commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the health effects attributed to pesticide exposure and spray drift;

 

(2) The voluminous evidence shown that fungicides such as mancozeb and chlorothalonil cause acute health effects and chronic effects to workers and communities living near plantations;

 

(3) That drift is unavoidable whenever pesticides are applied;

 

(4) Aerial spraying has been banned in certain countries because of concerns on drift and its potential effects.

 

 (5) The Food and Agriculture Organization’s Guidelines on Good Practice for Aerial Application of Pesticides stipulates that ?risk management measures should be implemented and enforced in order to minimize the risk of harm to health and the environment from aerial application of pesticides and also includes guideline to alternative pesticide use such as natural and applied control measures?; and

 

(6) In an official communication to (Duque), the WHO Philippine Office cited significant comments from the experts? technical review indicating ?support for surveillance, environmental monitoring, banning of aerial spraying, and further epidemiological study on health effects of pesticides usage. It was also cited that aerial application of pesticides have shown to mostly reach non-target sites and communities.?

 

 

 

SUNSTAR DAVAO, November 5, 2009

 

PBGEA welcomes WHO stance on DOH study

 

By Carlo P. Mallo

Reporter

 

 

PILIPINO Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) president Stephen Antig yesterday welcomed reports the peer review conducted by the World Health Organization has tagged the Department of Health sponsored study in a plantation village in Davao del Sur as “inadequate” and “inconclusive”.

 

“We are happy but we have yet to receive the official and complete results of the peer review conducted by the WHO,” Antig told Sun.Star Davao yesterday at the PBGEA office.

 

National newspapers carried reports that WHO officials, who conducted the peer review on the highly disputed Camocaan study, were not convinced by the study, which said that the study was an insufficient basis to call for the banning of aerial spraying.

 

The disputed study was conducted by the Department of Health and some organizations who have called for the banning of aerial spraying in the sleepy sitio of Camocaan in Hagonoy town, Davao del Sur. The study, released last May, recommended a stop to aerial spraying as an agricultural practice, among others.

 

Late September, WHO stopped the Philippine government from taking any action against aerial spraying pending the international body’s review.

 

WHO officials asked the government to shelve any action on the ban being pushed by environment advocates until it completes reviewing the disputed Camocaan study, which claims that residue from pesticide spraying was detected in villagers’ blood, in the air, and soil samples.

 

The WHO stepped into the controversial aerial spraying of agrichemicals, amid allegations of rigging in a study purportedly showing that pesticide contamination has breached the boundaries of agricultural plantations.

Senate and House

 

At the moment, two bills seeking the nationwide ban on aerial spraying of pesticides, authored by Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and Senator Miguel Zubiri who hails from Mindanao, are anchored on similar studies — all connecting the aerial application of agrichemicals to various illnesses allegedly suffered by residents near agricultural areas.

 

“Once and for all, the study on Camocaan will be resolved and finally put to rest,” Antig said.

 

The banana umbrella group has accused those involved in the study of “strong bias against pesticide” and of using environmental samples of questionable integrity and fabricated illnesses among residents.     

PHILIPPINE DAILY INQURER, November 1, 2009

Banana growers get WHO reprieveBy Daxim Lucas
Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) has reportedly found as “inconclusive” a controversial study that became the basis for the banning of aerial spraying of fungicides on banana plantations in Davao City.

Because of this, key players in the banana industry believe that efforts to have the ban lifted by the courts—as well as their fight against Congress’ moves seeking to prohibit the practice—have now received a boost from an impartial scientific organization.

“According to the WHO, the supposed evidence against aerial spraying was insufficient and inconclusive,” said one industry official privy to the results of the international body’s review. “Basically, they said the facts did not support claims that the practice [or aerial spraying] causes health problems.”

The WHO made this assertion last week during a teleconference from its offices in Geneva, Switzerland with Philippine government officials, including representatives from the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture.

The official, who declined to be named, because he was not authorized to speak about the closed-door teleconference said the WHO was expected to transmit an official copy of its findings to local officials soon.

“This puts a big hole in the case against aerial spraying,” he said.

The local banana industry is one of the country’s top agricultural export earners having exported $780 million worth of fruits to the international market—primarily Japan, the Middle East and the United States – last year.

The development was welcomed by the head of the Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA). The group earlier expressed apprehension about the negative effects any ban would have on the dollar-earning industry.

“This is a good development for us,” said PBGEA president Stephen Antig. “Hopefully, we can now correct all this wrong information going around about aerial spraying.”

In an interview, Antig pointed out that the substance being used to protect banana plantations from the “sigatoka” fungal infestation was a mild “fungicide,” and not a toxic “pesticide” as claimed by environmentalists.

He said the fungicides were completely biodegradable and approved for use by the agriculture department’s Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority as well as by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Antig welcomed the WHO’s findings, saying that the industry association had always said that the disputed study – conducted in the 1990s in the municipality of Camocaan in Davao del Sur – had little scientific basis.

October 19, 2009, WHO Manila Office

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED

an update on the recent video conference with the experts from the World Health Organization. Here’s the summary of the report.

•    The meeting was attended by members of the IACEH (Usec. Villaverde, Yolanda Oliveros, Dr. Nelia Maramba, Dr. Irma Macalinao, the Dionisio Team, Dr. Norlito Gicana, Ms. Aida Ordas, Ms. Angie Brabante (DENR)

•    Dr Soe Nyunt-U, WHO Representative to the Philippines, presided the meeting.

•    The WHO experts who conducted the peer review on the “Health and Environmental Assessment of Sitio Camocaan in Hagonoy, Davao del Sur” were Dr. David Coggon (UK) and Dr. Brian Priestly (Australia)

•    According to the experts, the said study by the team of Dr. Allan Dionisio is “INADEQUATE, INCONCLUSIVE; IT HAS LOOPHOLES; THE DATA IS LIMITED”. Therefore, its conclusion (to ban aerial spray) is not supported by adequate data.

•    The proponents of the study, particularly Dr. Lynn Panganiban, insisted that Aerial Spraying should be stopped. However, the experts reiterated that based on the document/data given to them, the conclusion to ban aerial spraying is not supported by adequate data.

•    It was suggested that in the light of this development, a joint study should be conducted by the government (DOH, DA, DENR, FPA) and the banana industry. The issue on funding said joint study would require money.

•    It was observed that Dr. Soe Nyunt-U was very objective and did not allow himself to be swayed by the different reactions from the members.

•    The recommendation on the aerial spray issue will be taken up in the next IACEH meeting.

 

Davao del Sur up in arms vs. aerial spray ban

“POISONED” VILLAGERS TO DOH:
NO TO AERIAL SPRAY BAN

Residents of Sitio Camocaan, Barangay Aplaya in Hagonoy town of Davao del Sur  called on the Department of Health to reconsider their call for a stop to aerial spraying of fungicide in view of its serious repercussions to the banana industry and to their livelihood.

    The community appeal was aired by Mayor Franco Calida, barangay officials, sectoral representatives and villagers in a “People’s Inquiry” forum hosted by the municipal government and attended by representatives of the DOH led by Prof. Allan Dionisio of the UP Poison Management and Control Center.

    Dionisio was lead investigator of the controversial DOH study four years ago which found ethylene thiourea (ETU), a byproduct of fungicide degradation, in the blood samples of three Camocaan residents probably due to aerial spraying. The same study, however, also found ETU in blood samples of Sitio Baliwaga residents where no aerial sprayings are conducted leading residents to question their call for an aerial spray ban.

      Sitio Baliwaga is in Sta. Cruz town which is very far from a banana plantation but where residents were found to have more health problems than in Sitio Camocaan.

    Dionisio openly admitted that they do not know anything about aerial spraying alleging that the banana companies, at the time of their study,  did not cooperate which a banana industry representative debunked as “baseless.”

    “How can they recommend a ban on aerial spraying  when they  are totally ignorant how it is done,” said Pastor Tamayo, a longtime Camocaan resident who used to work as a flagman at the nearby banana plantation and whose house is right in the line of sight of aerial spraying operations.

      Tamayo said he is totally dumbfounded by the suggestion  of Dr. Annabelle Yumang of the DOH  for banana plantations to shift to ground spraying which he said is a “stone-age technology and very wasteful as it puts more fungicide on the ground than on the banana leaves where the Black Sigatoka fungi are found.”

DOH’S STUDY TEAM DENIES TIE-UP

    The Department of Health team under Dr. Allan Dionisio of the UP Poison Management and Control Center strongly denied suggestions that they undertook a health and environmental assessment of Sitio Camocaan in Hagonoy, Davao del Sur at the behest of the Pesticide Action Network of Dr. Romeo Quijano.

    Quijano’s reports of sick and dying residents due to aerial spraying was reportedly the basis for the DOH study which was subsequently used by militant groups to rally public support for an aerial spray ban.

     “We have nothing to do with Quijano’s group,” UP toxicologist Dr. Allan Dioniso declared before Hagonoy officials and residents in a “Public Inquiry” yesterday on their Camocaan study.

     The denial came in the wake of vehement protests by Camocaan residents who found Quijano’s reports of sick and dying residents false and fabricated.

      “It was produced mainly for fund-raising,” said barangay chairman Randy Buat who paraded before Dr. Dionisio and members of his study team  all the “victims of pesticide poisoning” that Quijano and his daughter, Ilang-ilang,  cited in their documentary “A Poisoned Village” which was shown in New Zealand and posted in the internet.

    Among said victims are the Dulla twins whom Quijano reported to have died at childbirth due to pesticide poisoning.

DOH-study on aerial spraying questioned

UP approves peer review

AUTHORITIES of the University of the Philippines in Manila have given the go-signal to subject to critical peer review the controversial health assessment of sitio Camocaan in Barangay Aplaya in the municipality of Hagonoy, Davao del Sur.

 

The study, commissioned by the Department of Health three years ago, was roundly criticized by knowledgeable experts and observers due to alleged loopholes and inadequacies, after its 11-member study group came out with their findings last May and recommendation that aerial spraying be ordered stopped.

 

The criticisms came from CropLife, an association of agro-chemical companies servicing  cavendish banana planters, and the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association. Both group asked the UP Manila chancellor to cause the peer review of the study due to certain lapses.

 

In press statements, CropLife and PBGEA lamented that the study group headed by a certain Dr. Alan Dionisio of the UP Poison Management Center, said that recommended the stoppage of aerial spraying without conclusive evidence of alleged ill-effects of aerial spraying.

 

The two groups also claimed that banana plantations have been spraying low dose fungicide approved by world bodies like the Food and Agriculture Organization, strictly monitored according to standards set by an international covenant on the dosage of fungicide to which the Philippine export banana industry is a signatory.

 

Hagonoy Mayor Franco Calida, who organized a people’s inquiry wherein the residents of Camocaan where given a chance to confront the study group of Dionisio a month ago, complained that the village was unfairly shamed before the world and used in fund-raising by certain non-government organizations.

 

Calida was referring to a roadshow organized by a certain  Dr. Romeo Quijano, of Pesticide Action Network, picturing Camoocan as a pesticide ravaged community with some people dead due to pesticide-caused diseases, and some animals and plant in the purok also dying. Quijano’s video presentation was shown in the Neitherlands allegedly to generate support and funding.

 

It was Quijano’s claims which reportedly prompted the DOH to commission the Camocaan health  assessment. 

 

However, Mayor Calida said that many of the allegations of Dr. Quijano were found to be untrue. For example, he said the Dulla twins, Martin and Marlon, which the group claimed to have died due to diseases caused by pesticide were found to be very much alive and are living  right in sitio Camocaan.  Other persons allegedly mentioned in Quijano’s presentation like Ramil Murillo also debunked  claims that what he had was tuberculosis (TB) of the bones which had nothing to do with exposure to aerial spraying. He said that he was brought by Quijano to the Netherlands to be shown to the anti-persticide advocates like him but he was not allowed to speak. He said that he was just used for fund-raising in that trip and that he never benefited from it.

 

During the dialogue with Camocaan residents during the “people’s inquiry,”

study group leader Dr. Dionisio told the audience that Quijano had nothing to do with their study, forgetting that the opening of the study report specifically mentioned that the reports and claims of Quijano prompted the DOH to commission the study (health assessment of Camocaan).

 

In their request for a peer review, CropLife complained to UP Manila about the questionable behavior of  research professionals in  fabricating what they claim to be evidence in their study.

 

Upon learning about the peer review, PBGEA spokesman Anthony B. Sasin expressed confidence that the review findings will sustain the position of the banana growers and belie the claims of the questioned study.

 

 

 

Davao City: Death squad vs. death squad?

 

(The joker behind the blog http://watchingsara2010.wordpress.com has this entry about the deadly Davao Death Squad and its potential rivals that could further spread blood on the streets of Davao City with the 2010 elections nearing. Heaven forbids, but the joker’s prediction appears timely over suspicion the killing of a City Hall employee recently could be a precursor to what could happen to the coming polls.)

TRIPLE DEATH SQUADS, TRIPLE TERROR

Dabawenyos should tremble to hell at the coming bloody scenarios in the local elections in May 2010.

Critics of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Vice Mayor Sara Duterte are hitting them for the Davao Death Squad, the cal. 45-bearing motorcyle-riding gunmen said to be behind the series of summary executions in the city and suspected as City Hall-backed.

The gunmen—popularly known as DDS— could be used by City Hall to terrorize supporters of Speaker Prospero Nograles—running for mayor against Sara—-and Atty. Karlo Nograles–son of the speaker and running against Mayor Rody in the first district congressional race.

Supporters of Nograles however need not be afraid.

If the Dutertes have the DDS, the Nograleses have the PDS and the MDS.

What PDS and MDS?

Well, we heard that retired Gen. Jovito Palparan, the Butcher of the Militants—he left a bloody trail of killings of progressive personalities in Samar, Bicol and Central Luzon before his retirement from the Army two years ago—is pitching camp in Davao City to help Speaker Nograles capture City Hall in 2010.

Palparan, who sits in Congress representing the Bantay partylist, has been a regular in the city since the Duterte-Nograles encounter heated up, supposedly to meet with Bantay members.

Don’t believe the crap. From what we know, he has started organizing his own hit squad–which should be known as the PDS or the Palparan Death Squad to counter the DDS assault on Nograles supporters. Given his track record as a military officer, there is indeed a need to fear.

And there is more to this death squad thing.

We also heard that Gen. Matillano (is he retired?), the former chief of the PNP XI regional office is also hiding somewhere in this city for reasons similar to that of the Butcher.

If you remember Mati, that’s his nickname, he was the only police officer who stood up against the DDS, which was hitting one victim a day when he was assigned at the Recom XI.

He had threatened precinct commanders they would be assigned to Paquibato, ruled by NPA kumander Parago, if the killings are not stopped. For a while, the DDS laid low until “somebody” also stood up against Mati.

His reign at Recom of course was shortlived, but Mati left with a heavy heart.

Like Palparan, he has become a good friend of the Speaker, and reportedly is on the same mission here: form his own death squad which we could call the MDS or the Matillano Death Squad to trade bullets with the DDS or harass Duterte supporters.

Ha!Ha!Ha!

Tago na mo mga Dabawenyo pag-abot sa eleksyon 2010!

Imagine: DDS ni Duterte kontra PDS and MDS ni Nogie.

Bloody gyod!!!

IDIS, MAAS TWITTED FOR BAD SHOW AT SUPREME COURT

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.

RONNIE PUNO ADVICE TO FAULTFINDERS: PUT UP OR SHUT UP

PERISCOPE

Working LGU officials shielded vs. whiners

Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronnie Puno took the cudgels for  embattled local government officials working quietly in the disaster areas when he rightly pointed out in a Camp Crame meeting that couch potato critics and professional faultfinders—if they have nothing better to do—should stop carping and whining.

RONNIE: No time for carping, whining

Deep in the disaster-stricken areas, it is the mayors and governors who have been leading the rescue efforts, quietly and almost heroically.  Stricken by fatigue, loss of relations and constituents, and the need to allocate so limited a resources amid so much demand, the mayors and the governors have working 24/7 and they are visible at the forefront of whatever is needed to be done to save lives and communities.

Puno said the professional carpers and whiners should leave the comfort of their air-conditioned rooms and plush offices to check what is going on at evacuation centers, in the government gymnasiums and sports centers where there is a deluge of evacuees, in towns and barrios isolated from the rest of their world by infrastructure damage.

There you will find the comforting presence of LGU officials as they multi-task: handing out relief bags, marshalling rubber boats to pluck people from their rooftops, or personally leading the rescue and relief efforts themselves.

The last thing in the minds of most LGU leaders at this time is getting public recognition for these work. After all, these are your people and this is your town or province.

Puno was once tempted to give the necessary appreciation, such as “Gov., Mayor, you are doing one heck of a job.”   But the tragic backdrop was not an appropriate place and time for recognizing heroism.  

 On the whole the official response to Ondoy and Pepeng was swifter, more comprehensive and more coordinated than the US government’s response to Hurricane Katrina.

 The national government and the LGUs have been a visible presence in the disaster-stricken areas, said Puno. From reining-in profiteers, to rescuing people, to providing relief and up to issuing official proclamations and guidelines, the national government and the LGUs have been with the disaster-stricken areas from Day 1 of Ondoy and are still with the suffering areas of Pangasinan, Northern Luzon and the Cordillera Administrative Region reeling from Pepeng.

The only thing that is out of sync is the usual grating voices of the whiners and the carpers.

Puno also struck a very familiar chord when he lamented the usual rearing of politics’ ugly head even amid the great suffering of much of Luzon.

 The administration critics did not even wait for things to settle down to normal before unleashing their standard vitriol–the usual script about government’s lack of readiness and competence to deal with disasters.

The professional kibitzers would rather complain than help, Puno lamented, with their usual polluted dialogue.

If there is a non-partisan, unbiased appraisal of the rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts from the NG and the LGUs, we should take it from the United Nations. Jacqueline Badcock, UN Resident Representative, who described the efforts as “inspirational.” 

During the launch of the Manila Flash Appeal for disaster rehabilitation aid from the international donor community, she noted the “sense of unity from the higher levels of government to the village communities.”

Anne Veneman, executive director of the UN Children’s Fund, said during the same event that the government’s efforts, despite the overwhelming odds, were commendable.

The two also lauded the efforts of NGOs and individuals, the out-of-government efforts and the efforts of humanitarian agencies such as the Red Cross.

Puno confronted the coach potato critics to give a sense of balance to the unjust, venomous and unfair criticisms of the LGU leaders.

Put up or shut up, was Puno’s challenge to the professional carpers. To those damning the rescue and relief efforts for partisan gain, Puno has a rejoinder. This is not the time for politics. Find something worthwhile to do.

 

ONDOY, PEPENG AFTERMATH: Puno wants action

LGUs urged to Identify Social Housing Sites for Calamity Victims

In an effort to help thousands of families displaced by the recent typhoons that hit the country, Secretary Ronnie V. Puno of the Department of the Interior and Local Government ( DILG ) has called on all town and city mayors to identify lands for socialized housing and resettlement areas in compliance with the provisions of the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992 or Republic Act 7279.

In a directive, Puno urged city and civil regimes to conduct a stockpile of residential, central authority, unregistered or abandoned and other lands for the purpose of identifying which lands may be given consideration for socialised housing and resettlement for the immediate and future needs of the underprivileged and homeless in built up areas.

‘I urge our mayors to act with urgency and fasttrack the submission of this inventory so that we may be in a position to assist the many families rendered homeless by storms Ondoy and Pepeng,’ he claimed.

Under RA 7279, inside one year from its effectivity, all city and borough states shall conduct a stock of all lands and enhancements within their own localities, and furnish the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council ( HUDCC ) a copy of its inventory which shall be updated every 3 years.

The law further states that LGUs shall conduct the inventory in coordination with troubled agencies, and take into consideration’the degree of availability of basic services and facilities, their accessibility and vicinity to job sites and other economic opportunities, and the actual number of registered beneficiaries.’

Puno noted , however , that a large percentage of towns and municipalities have not been able to obey the wants of the law.

He said town and civil local chief executives should direct their respective planning and development officers as well as their elected zoning administrators to conduct the inventory using the Land Inventory Form prescribed by the HUDCC, and submit the same beginning the first week of 2010 and each quarter thereafter.

Ronnie Puno also directed DILG regional and field offices to assist LGUs in their areas to help the submission of the claimed documents and monitor their compliance.

ARTICA SPORTS DOME: From ‘Monument of Corruption’ to ‘Monument of Redemption’

MOTHBALLED P300 PROJECT RISES FROM THE DEAD

By ROGER M. BALANZA

Will the Artica Sports Center—the unfinished P300 million city government project mothballed Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for being a ‘monument of corruption’—rise from the dead?

Former Davao City mayor Benjamin de Guzman—under whose administration the edifice at the outskirt barangay of Langub—hopes so, if he wins the race for the vice mayorship in 2010.

Partnering with Speaker Prospero Nograles, the standard bearer of the Lakas/Kampi/CMD, de Guzman is hoping to redeem his political stock with a crack at the post he held in 1995. A former ally of Duterte, de Guzman won as mayor in 1998 but was trashed by Duterte in the 2001 elections.

“Davao is suffering today with the disrepute of being a “billionaire city” without a decent sporting facility “but who knows it may end up with not just one but two world-class sports domes” local media reports quoted de Guzman as saying.

Nograles, who will be facing up with Vice Mayor Sara Duterte in the mayoral race, is playing up the city’s lack of a sports center as a propaganda spin in an apparent slap at the Duterte administration reported focus on sports.

He has set aside funds for a sports center to be built at the University of the Philippines campus and to be completed before the May elections.

De Guzman, according to the reports, has said that the prospects of having two domes is likely, stressing there is no legal impediment to the resumption of the Artica Sports Dome project that he initiated. De Guzman said Artica could complement the P100-million Nograles Sports Dome currently being built at the University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP) in Bo. Obrero.

Mayor Duterte, who would be running in the Firsr District congressional race against lawyer Karlo Nograles, son of the Speaker, during the 2001 electoral campaign had used the Artica Dome—tagging it as a “monument of corruption” of the de Guzman administration.

The unfinished Artica was at the center of jokes that the comebacking Mayor Duterte delivered in his verbal harangue against de Guzman, alleging corruption in speeches back-dropped by a large streamer showing the edifice and fat goats feeding on tall grasses at the foreground. Duterte said only goats benefitted from de Guzman’s wanton waste of public money.

As soon as he was back at City Hall after the 2001 polls, he had the construction of the sports center stopped, with about P150 million of the P300 million loan from the Land Bank taken out for the project.

The Artica Dome further became a butt of jokes when some quarters suggested it be completed and converted into a crematorium and mausoleum as the city’s public cemeteries become overcrowded.

A city councilor also had suggested earlier that Davao City could land in the Book of Guinness if it converts the sports center into the “world’s biggest cockpit.”

Now de Guzman is hoping the edifice would be a monument of his political redemption.

In the reports, De Guzman said it is the “legal and moral obligation” of the city government to utilize the 12,000-seater Artica Sports Dome.

De Guzman also brushed aside claims that there was irregularity in his sporting dome project. “The present city government already paid the P150-million bank loan transacted to build the Artica Dome,” De Guzman noted. “If there was any irregularity, why did they pay for it?”

According to De Guzman drumbeaters, City could redeem its prestige when it would have two world-class domes to show.

 “The Nograles sports dome in USEP could be the downtown site for sports while the Artica dome,” said his and Nograles’ supporters.