Hundreds of soldiers in full battle gear and armed not with high powered garands but with machetes, shovels, crowbars, and power cutting saws combat an unexpected “enemy of the state”.
As the military commander watch over the removal of the “nuisance” in the Rio Grande de Mindanao, he called on the people to do a “bayanihan” to save the area from floodwaters that rise by the minute.
Last Saturday, floods inundate 33 out of 37 low lying villages in Cotabato City leaving at least 25,000 families displaced.
In neighboring Maguindanao and North Cotabato, some 30,000 families were dislocated by the floods caused by the overflowing Linguasan Marsh, which is also congested by this “perpetrator”.
The unanticipated foe, pest and culprit are called water lilies or hyacinths. This water plant specie took precious 30-second spots in news programs and suddenly became the talk of the town. In the next few days, expect it to be “trending” in Yahoo!
It is said that water lilies are rooted in soil in bodies of water, with leaves and flowers floating on the water surface. This explains why they thrive in heavily-silted rivers like the Rio Grande de Mindanao.
Filth, mud, solid wastes and sludge that used to swamp the river allowed water hyacinths to bloom, making the waterways impassable to water transport and dredging equipment.
Talking about waste disposal management and ecological balance, communities should be aware of the literal meaning of “ang basurang itinapon mo ay babalik din sa ‘yo”. Ecosystems work here and remind us of our co-existence.
The government needs to fund and monitor regular dredging, desilting and clearing operations of rivers and waterways. Our leaders must not take chances and put the lives and livelihoods of people at stake as environmental concerns are also socio-economic concerns.
But water lilies or hyacinths are not actually a blot on the landscape. They are things of beauty and hope.
In fact, water lilies (or nympheas) became a subject of a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet.
Art enthusiasts say that the paintings depict Monet's flower garden at Giverny and were the main focus of Monet's artistic production during the last thirty years of his life.
Enterprising women in Las Pinas saw the opportunity of using the plant stalks to make beautiful and durable bags. As cleaning operations started on Zapote River, the weavers harvested the hyacinths and, after sun-drying, made these into bags and other handicraft.
Other residents still make do with lilies because one can never go wrong with free raw material because a sun-dried water lily stalk from Taguig cost 25 centavos.
In Cagayan de Oro City, this water plant variety offers hope for farmers. Water lily-based fertilizers end their dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
As an alternative to costly farm inputs, rice and corn farmers would not need a sack of urea that costs PhP2,000 to grow these essential crops.
Farmers learned that a mix of decomposed water lilies and enzymes acts as complete fertilizer that does not only expel unfriendly pests but also promotes microbial activities while increasing or ultimately revitalizing soil fertility. It is time to think of green living as a solution to global warming.
Water lilies also give us a prospect to go back to basics. The compost’s life-giving elements set it apart from the synthetic chemicals that are hazardous to human health and the environment by producing organic foodstuffs.
Also in Las Pinas, a flock of villagers weaves sun-dried water lilies and turns them into baskets, slippers, and other decorative items.
For four years, water lily weaving has aided some 200 families bring food to their tables and send their children to school.
And for our penchant for festivities and to showcase these product derived from the pesky water plant and its achievement, residents staged a water lily festival not only for local but also for international buyers as the handicraft from water hyacinths have found a niche in the United States, Japan, and European markets. We can call that entrepreneurial merry-making Pinoy-style.
It is surprising to know that the U.S. military usually calls their Cooperative Security Location (CSL) as “lily pads” for facilities used for regional training in counterterrorism and interdiction of drug trafficking, and also to provide contingency access to the continent.
A CSL is described as a host-nation facility with little or no permanent U.S. personnel presence, which may contain pre-positioned equipment and/or logistical arrangements and serve both for security cooperation activities and contingency access.
Accordingly, these sites were established as the Pentagon began to address regional threats primarily in Africa and Latin America following its 2004 global posture review.
As what our dear soldiers and volunteers have shown in clearing the river from a mass of these hydroplants and save people and communities from drowning, national unity, singularity of purpose and service to our country will undoubtedly make us a better nation.
This simple, unfussy and “down-to-earth” event in some ways prepares us for the much-anticipated assertion of our sovereignty amidst the dispute over the Spratly island chain with or without the Americans backing us up and while maintaining our hope for a diplomatic and peaceful resolution among countries, specifically with China, on the disputed territory.
ayek/06.20.11
