Environment

On Mount Apo, Trails of Waste and Destruction

Although the amount of garbage collected during this year?s clean-up drive has significantly decreased compared to the summer of 2000, trash left behind by irresponsible trekkers still accumulate on Mount Apo.

Trash collected on Mount Apo. (photo courtesy of MAFI)

By Keith Bacongco
davaotoday.com

KIDAPAWAN CITY — Despite the campaign by the local government and some nongovernment organizations to maintain cleanliness on the country’s highest peak, garbage continue to pile up at the Mount Apo natural park.

Although the amount of garbage collected during this year?s clean-up drive has significantly decreased compared to the summer of 2000, trash left behind by irresponsible trekkers still accumulate on Mount Apo.

Ermelo Libre, executive director of the Mount Apo Foundation Inc., told davaotoday.com that there is a big improvement in the collection of garbage on Mount Apo. “Way back in 2000, we hauled 1.5 tons at Venado lake and around 30 sacks of assorted garbage at the peak,? Libre said. ?Comparatively, the garbage and graffiti have decreased tremendously. I give credit to LGUs that religiously conducted pre-climb orientation and onsite monitoring of climbers activities.”

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Farmers Seek Ban on Aerial Spraying of Pesticides

Related story: In Many Davao Villages, Poison Pours from the Sky

DAVAO CITY — Coconut farmers from seven villages of Baguio and Calinan Districts are demanding the banning of aerial spraying of pesticides on banana plantations in their villages, blaming this method for the decrease in their yield.

Jun Alcomendras, a councilor in barangay Wangan, said at least 60 percent of the coconut farmers in the village have suffered economic loss after their crop rhino beetles attacked their coconut trees.

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City Forms Team to Go After Litterbugs

DAVAO CITY — The city government, on orders of Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte, has formed a group to arrest persons found violating the city?s garbage disposal program.

Duterte said he wanted a sustained cleanup of wastes around the city to give Dabawenyos a healthy environment.

City Environment and Natural Resources chief Ann Silvoza said the city?s ?Basura Patrol? has been strengthened with the formation of the anti-littering team.

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In Many Davao Villages, Poison Pours from the Sky

Environmentalists denounce the continued aerial spraying of pesticides in banana plantations in Davao City and Southern Mindanao. They note the havoc wrought by aerial pesticide use, among them diseases and an increasingly imbalanced ecosystem.

Photos from www.sarangani.gov.ph and www.cow-net.com

By Germelina A. Lacorte
davaotoday.com

DAVAO CITY — The air would smell of alquitran (tar) and the leaves of malunggay (horse radish tree) would turn into what looked like beans.

A woman from Panabo thus described what happened to her plants after the aerial spraying of a nearby banana plantation.

?I did not believe her at first,? said Josephine Quiamzon, vice-chairperson of the environmental group Panaghoy sa Kinaiyahan. ?Until I saw malunggay leaves turned into what looked like monggo seeds when they fell to the ground and wilted,? she said.

During the Earth Day celebrations last week, environmentalist groups here called on government to ban the aerial spraying of pesticides, which has become a common practice among banana plantations here, according to the environment group Interface Development Interventions Inc. (IDIS).

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