Mindanao Be Warned: We’re Facing A Crisis!

As we continue to pray for our flood-ravaged countrymen in Bicol and Northern Luzon, the people of Mindanao have to be reminded that a disaster could also befall on us if we do not reverse the destruction of our remaining forests.
It would be worse if powerful politicians continue splurging money on ineffective or phantom flood control projects instead of taking a serious look at policies on Re-Greening, Water Management and Forest and Tree Farming Management.
Here is an article I wrote in 2021 which I hope would remind our Policy Makers and Economic Managers of the dire need to revisit and review our policies on Water Management and Forest Protection and Conservation.
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“Good Mountain, Good Water, Good Life.”
This is an old Korean mantra which a friend shared with me many years ago when he saw the lush virgin forests in the Cotabato side of Mt. Apo when I was the Governor of the province.
As a farm boy who grew up in a mountain village where we played in the nearby forests and creeks, I knew what he meant – Once you cut down the trees in the forests, the creeks would dry up and there would be no more water for the rice fields and for our carabaos to drink.
Unfortunately, not many understand the delicate relationship between the lush forests, water and human life.
At the turn of the century, an American lumber company, the Insular Lumber, showed Filipino entrepreneurs how much wealth could be amassed by cutting down centuries old trees in the forests and sending these to mainland United States to build American homes.
Insular Lumber, which was based in Fabrica, Sagay, Negros Island, literally shaved the whole island of every hardwood there was at the turn of the 20th century and started a logging frenzy which in less than 100 years reduced the country’s forest cover from 21-million hectares in the 1900s to only about 5.5-million hectares by 1999.
Of the 5.5-million hectares, only about 800,000 hectares are considered primary forests which have never been touched while the 4.7-million hectares are second growth forests.
Through the years, rivers have either dried up or were heavily silted that every time the rains come, these would overflow the banks and destroy thousands of hectares farm lands affecting the country’s food production.
Except for a few island provinces, I have been to almost every agricultural area of this country during the time I was Secretary of Agriculture and later Chairman of the Mindanao Development Authority.
These travels have made me more aware of what needs to be done for agriculture and fisheries in this country, what the poor stakeholders of these sectors need to produce more. Most of all the travels gave me the realization that with the way we treat our remaining forests, this country is headed towards worse calamities, tragedies and a looming food crisis.
Flying by helicopter over the Typhoon Vinta affected areas of Northern Mindanao in 2018, I saw the same grim scene again – farms covered with mud from overflowing silted rivers, flattened villages because of flash floods and deforested mountains.
In Zambales province, mud which cascaded from the mountains during heavy rains damaged coral reefs in the coastal areas.
Northern Mindanao’s Panguil Bay, a rich and natural breeding ground of the mud crabs, is threatened by siltation.
I have seen this scary image many times in my travels by helicopter – over the Sierra Madre Mountains, the mountain ranges of islands of Panay, Samar, Leyte, Negros and Mindoro and the regions of Caraga, Davao, Northern Mindanao and lately Zamboanga Peninsula.
The scariest nightmare we have now is the fact that many of us seemingly are not alarmed by this impending catastrophe that could befall on this country.
The greed for money fuels the cutting down of trees in the mountains and worse, bureaucratic red tape and corruption are dampening the enthusiasm of farmers to plant trees.
Ask any farmer who has planted trees in his farm and he will tell you how difficult it is to ask for permits from government to use the trees that he planted.
In fact, it is easier to apply for permits to enter a forested area to cut down trees under the guise of replanting than it is to apply for a permit to cut down a planted tree species in a farmer’s lot so he could use this to build a house.
This is something that must be brought up in the open for us to realize that unless we protect the remaining forests now and plant more trees, we, farmers and fishermen, will not be able to produce enough food for this country.
Remember this: “Food Grows Where Water Flows.”
#RepentanceComesLast!