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DOMESTIC politics threatened to take over media but
humanitarian efforts and financial activism abroad staunched the
move to bring in 2010 ahead of time. The appeal of Jun Lozada to the
Supreme Court to reverse the Court of Appeals decision throwing out
his application for a writ of amparo and semantic and deconstruction
argument over a road to nowhere and a flyover now here were swamped
by the efforts of the United States Congress to throw $700-billion
good money against bad to relieve pressure in the world financial
system.
Saving the lives of 10 of 16
miners, one of them a fugitive from justice, kept the bailout battle
in the US from dominating the media and providing a free ride for
ambitions hoping to ride the exposure express for 2010. In fact, the
miners trapped by waters from a typhoon were not authorized to work
in the tunnel but actually broke into it. But after getting into
trouble by their supposedly unauthorized incursion, the nation
waited with bated breath for their rescue.
The miners’ story held its own
against another international scandal—the use of melamine in milk
products by China that endangered lives. To its credit, it was China
who gave the warning after Chinese children fell victims. It was a
media coup of sorts. Some of the world’s biggest multinational
firms have to take out expensive full-page advertising to assure the
public of the safety of their products. Actually, those who were
heavily at risk were the poor who can only afford cut-rate milk and
milk products. The rich and the well-to-do patronize the name brands
of the multi-national corporations. It’s only the marginal
population that buys cheap products in the low-end of the milk
market.
Sustainable Consumption and
Production.
Anyway the United Nations has
launched a mid-century development plan and provided funding to
enable developing countries to catch up with development by the
mid-century. Part of this initiative is the Asia-Pacific Roundtable
for Sustainable Consumption and Production (APRSCP). Since 1997, the
APRSCP has held eight Roundtables, discussions among industry,
government, academe and nongovernmental organization on sustainable
consumption and production issues.
The last roundtable was held in
Cebu City last month and the highlight of the meeting was the
recognition of a successful Philippine environmental initiative.
In 2004, tobacco farmers in
Cagayan and the Ilocos provinces suffered from drought which brought
down their production. The farmers were using deep wells for their
rice and tobacco farms. Because of the extensive use of water, salt
water from the sea seeped into the wells causing extensive damage on
the crops.
These farmers were major
suppliers of tobacco for the cigarette factories, Lucio Tan,
chairman of the Fortune Tobacco Co. Tan hired former Secretary of
Agriculture Salvador Escudero to make a study of how to solve the
problem of salt in water for the farms. The objective was water
conservation, enhancement of productivity and the provision of
livelihood. Tan found it ironic that the farmers depended on deep
wells for water when there was more than enough water during the
rainy season.
These farms used to be fed by
rainwater impounded in small dams but these dams were now damaged
and silted. Secretary Escudero, now congressman from Sorsogon,
assisted by Richard Yao, the director of the project, and a team of
soil and water experts, recommended the construction and
rehabilitation of seven irrigation dams to collect water during the
rainy season and to store them for use during the planting season in
the summer.
Fortune Tobacco and the Tan Yan
Kee Foundation, Fortune’s philanthropic organization, undertook to
finance and implement the project. Two small farm reservoirs
servicing some 50 hectares for farmlands were constructed and
completed in 2005.
In 2006, the Quiling Norte and
Abkir Diversion Dam covering 450 hectares in Ilocos Norte, the
rehabilitation of the Garab and Dadda dams and the construction of a
line canal to serve 125 hectares of farmland in Cagayan were
completed.
This year saw the completion in
February, of the Silag-Pacang Diversion dam in Sta. Maria, Ilocos
Sur servicing some 130 hectares. These served as catch basins which
have a capacity to store a million cubic meters of water
In recognition for these
projects, Tan was awarded the Eco-Award for Water Sustainability
during the 8th APRSCP roundtable in Cebu last month. The award was
handed by HRH Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, chairman
of the UN General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation.
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