Nature Displays Awesome Power
By Manny Pinol
In spite of the long years I have been in this place called Planet Earth, there are still moments when I cannot help but be awed by the mystery and the awesome power of Mother Nature.
When the medical community was confronted with the deadly and incurable Dengue, a tropical affliction caused by a mosquito borne-virus, Mother Nature came up with an antidote which simply grows in the vast expanse of land in Mindanao.
The shrub, called Tawa-tawa locally, when boiled and given to children afflicted with Dengue almost miraculously neutralized the virus.
Lately, a local medicine man in Antipas, North Cotabato, has come up with a concoction made out of a wild tree called “Sebucao” which is even more potent than “Tawa-tawa.”
Even the worse Dengue or chikungunya cases, where patients were sent home by the doctors themselves, have reportedly been relieved by the concoction of the medicine man from Antipas.
“For as long as the heart still beats, bring them to me, I will cure them,” he reportedly tells his patients.
That, of course, is an overstatement.
He is not the curer. Mother Nature is.
Or take the case of my neighbor, Marcos Sarda, who suffered from a serious case of prostate ailment that he was recommended to be operated on to allow him to pee through a plastic tube.
When he heard about the testimonies on the curative effect of the lowly Babana fruit and leaves on prostate cases, he started devouring every babana fruit he could find and boiled babana leaves and drank the tea.
He never went through that operation and today, he rides his carabao without suffering any pain from a swollen prostate.
“Puede na ibagdok,” the old man joked when I last saw him.
Today, Mother Nature is displaying its unfathomable and awesome power again in the Braveheart Farms which I own in Barangay Paco, Kidapawan City.
As if to make up for the years when abnormal climatic conditions affected the flowering and fruiting of our Longkong Lanzones, Mother Nature today is giving me a bonus.
Even when the first fruits of the Lanzones were being harvested, the trees started flowering profusely again, the second time this year.
This all caught us by surprise since, judging from the flowers sprouting on the trunks and branches of the Lanzones, the second fruiting could even be more than the first one.
So this week, in answer to Mother Nature’s gift, we are doing our share.
Workers scraped the dead tree barks to deprive red ants and termites of hiding places and started spraying the trees with Malathion for the inspects and ants, Dithane for the fungus and Grow More foliar fertilizer.
We have also fertilized using 0-0-60 and Urea to provide additional nutrition to the trees which need support because of the massive flowering.
As the fruits will start developing, we will make a second spraying of the trees against to get rid of the insects, prevent fungal attack and make sure that the young fruits will not fall off.
The last fertilization will involve the application of Phosphate fertilizer to ensure that the fruits are sweet.
Mother Nature holds awesome power and might but we, the beneficiaries of this benevolence must learn how to discover and make use of her kindness.
That is where human resourcefulness, hardwork and faith in Mother Nature and her awesome power, come into play.
https://www.facebook.com/100044577333084/videos/338566899621356
October 26 2013
Pork Barrel Scam
ESTRADA, REVILLA HIT DE LIMA
ON PASSPORT CANCELLATION MOVE
by David Dizon, ABS-CBNnews.com
MANILA – Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. on Friday accused Justice Secretary Leila de Lima of imposing “selective justice” and being publicity-hungry for seeking the cancellation of their passports.
In a press statement, Revilla said he can no longer expect fairness from the Aquino administration after the Department of Justice (DOJ) sought to cancel the passports of 37 people charged in the pork barrel scam.
“It looks like this administration is hell bent on decapitating the opposition at all costs – even if it tramples upon our basic rights enshrined in no less than the constitution. We have a Secretary of Justice who is just more than willing to disrespect the law to pursue her own agenda,” he said.
Similarly, Estrada said it is premature for the DOJ to seek the cancellation of their passports since the case is still in the preliminary investigation phase before the Office of the Ombudsman.
“It is premature to ask for the cancellation of our passports. Unang-una, wala pa naman kaming kaso. Hindi pa naman naisasampa sa Sandiganbayan. And yung sina-cite nila sa Passport Act, if I am not mistaken, is if you are a fugitive from justice,” he said in a radio dzMM interview.
Estrada admitted that he is scheduled to go to the United States to get a second opinion on his wife’s medical condition but that he would be back before sessions resume in the Senate.
He said he has no intention of fleeing the charges filed against him, noting that he and his father, former President Joseph Estrada, did not flee when threatened with arrest during the Arroyo administration.
He also vowed to fight the charges filed against him.
“Ito lalaban ko talaga itong kaso na ito. Wala naman talaga. I did not do anything wrong as far as I am concerned,” he said.
The DOJ earlier filed plunder, graft, bribery and malversation raps against 38 individuals including Senator Revilla, Estrada and Juan Ponce Enrile for their alleged links to the scam.
On Thursday, the DOJ said there was an “urgent and imperative need” for the cancellation of the passports of those accused in the pork barrel scam.
The DOJ invoked Section 6, Article III of the Constitution “which expressly permits the limitation of the right to travel ‘ in the interest of national security, public safety or public health as may be provided by law.”
The DOJ also cited Republic Act 8239 of the Philippine Passport Act of 1996 which provides that passports may be cancelled in the “interest of national security.”
Revilla: De Lima ‘wants to be famous’
In his statement, Revilla said it is ironic that de Lima, a former chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights,is now disregarding their rights in the pork scam case.
“This latest move – to unilaterally label incumbent Senators who just so happens to belong to opposition, as threats to national security – is more than absurd and is a cause for alarm. Kung ganitong kadali nila ito gawin, paano pa kung ang involved ay mga ordinaryong mamamayan?” he asked.
Revilla also scored de Lima for again making noise about the pork barrel scam even though jurisdiction has already been turned over to the Ombudsman. He said de Lima’s statements “belie her claim of neutrality and objectivity, and expose her true disposition and bias.
“Dahil sa kanyang katakawan sa publicity, sa kanyang ambisyong pulitikal, at sa kanyang hangarin magpasikat, binabalewala niya ang batas,” he said.
“Ngayon pa lang, kahit wala pang demanda na nakasampa laban sa amin, daig pa namin ang convicted na. Paano kaming magtitiwala ng mayroon pang due process kung hindi pa nga nagsisimula ang proseso ay gusto na kaming parusahan?”
He also said he chose to remain silent about the pork barrel controversy so he could speak at the proper venue.
Meantime, Estrada said he will leave it up to his colleagues in the Senate if they will grant immunity to alleged pork scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles when she testifies before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on November 7.
He said he already inhibited himself from the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee proceedings since the start of the hearings.
He, however, pointed out that the administration was practicing “selective justice” in the pork scam controversy.
Estrada also denied that he tried to divert the issue when he revealed that he received an additional P50 million in funds after he voted to convict Chief Justice Renato Corona in the latter’s impeachment trial.
The Department of Budget and Management later confirmed that the funds came from the Disbursement Acceleration Program, which came from government savings and unprogrammed funds.
“Had I known that animal named DAP or the term DAP, that would have been the center of my speech. E halos lahat kaming senador hindi alam yung DAP. Lumabas na lang yan after my speech. I had no intention of diverting the issue from us to DAP. It was [Budget] Secretary [Butch] Abad who admitted that the funds…the P50 million or P100 million came from DAP. Hindi ko alam. They were the ones who admitted it,” Estrada said.
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