We are breathing bad air!

March 31, 2014, 7:51 am

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We are breathing bad air!
Dr Abe V Rotor

 Smoke belching vehicles - unstoppable

 Dumpsites - breeding place of disease, poisonous and obnoxious gases

Bad air days (BAD)

Bad air accumulates and moves, such as the case over Hong Kong. Bad air moves in two directions - to Bombay, India; and to neighboring Guangdong where pollution meets and mixes over the Pearl River and forms a shroud as it meets the sea. Similar cases occur over Beijing, Tokyo and San Francisco. The stale air hangs as an inversion layer practically choking the city.

Rapid economic growth has led to record levels of pollution, producing filthy air rising and spreading over highly industrial centers and densely populated cities. Here power plants, factories and vehicles release pollutants into the air, and as the sun heats up the ground, the polluted air rises. But polluted air cools quickly over water and sinks to the surface and disperses. Without strong wind to clear it away, the pollution mix can build up over time, leading to BAD (bad air days).

What is in the polluted air?

Sulfur Dioxide is produced by coal-burning power plants and heavy industry. Effects: reduces lung function, exacerbates wheezing and shortness of breath. Builds acid rain with other gases.

Nitrogen Dioxide comes from emissions of vehicles and power plants. Effects: helps form smug, exacerbates asthma and increases chances of respiratory infections.

Respirable suspended particulates. These tiny particles are created chiefly by diesel exhaust and coal-burning power plants. Effects: can penetrate deep into lungs and aggravate serious respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

Ozone is formed by the reaction in sunlight of volatile organic compounds and CFCs that primarily come from cars, and household byproducts. Effects: causes chest pain and coughing, aggravates asthma.

Hydrogen sulfide, ammonia gas, elevated CO2 from piggeries and ranches, swamps and polluted rivers and lakes. Algal bloom contributes significant amounts of these gases.

Suspended dusts as what happens during sandstorms and volcanic eruptions, such as what happened during the Pinatubo eruption, and recently, in Iceland and Brazil. Remember the Dust Bowl of the Dakotas in the thirties when the air became was loaded with dusts which lasted for weeks.

Dioxin, the most poisonous substance ever formulated by man is in the air since plastic was discovered. Pastics are the most popular material used in the household, industry and agriculture. Dioxin is produced by burning plastics. With increasing use of pesticides, the air is getting thicker with chlorinated hydrocarbons, organophosphates, and other harmful residues.

Radiation is the result of fallout from nuclear accidents like what happened in Fukushima, Japan, in March this year, and in Chernobyll in Kiev twenty years ago, not to mention the Three-Mile nuclear incident in the US in the eighties.

Pathogens - Spores of disease-causing organisms that infect not only humans but animals and plants as well, ride on air current, and on particulates suspended in air. Thus the hypothesis that epidemic diseases move on air has strong scientific evidences.

Are we safe inside our schools and houses?

Bad air builds up surepticiously in airconditioned halls and rooms. Don't be deceived by the comfort of coolness lulling you to sleep. Defective and leaking aircon units virtually make the room a gas chamber. There are cases of death due to poisonous gases from leaking aircon.

Defective exhaust or overload results in buildup of Carbon Dioxide and its more poisonous cousin, Carbon Monoxide (CO).

When students become inattentive and drowsy, yawning, complaining of headache, nausea, and the like, suspect the air conditoning unit as the culprit - and the classroom heavy with bad air.
As a teacher, when confronted with this situation, immediately institute these measures.

• Give the class a break. A recess outside the classroom is preferred.
• Open all windows and doors
• Check the aircon, the exhaust fan with the aircon technician
• Inform management.
• Give sufficient break during brownout

Bad air inside rural Asian homes kills hundreds of thousands a year. The most poisonous atmosphere in the Asian region is found not only in rapidly modernizing cities like New Delhi or Beijing but inside the kitchens. Millions of families heat their abodes and cook in open fires that belch CO and other noxious fumes at levels up to 5000 times the international safety. Families and children spend hours each day in poorly ventilated homes and kitchens. Although this is as old as humankind, living in tight quarters and poverty have aggravated the situation.

Solution: improved stove, more efficient with least pollution. Improved stoves are subsidized by governments such as in China and India, which also back us the campaign by proper education, and strict pollution control laws.

And lastly, have trees and plants around the house, on backyards and sidewalks, on idle lots and parks to increase Oxygen level and cool the surroundings. But never keep plants inside your house, and never in your bedroom. At night plants give off CO2 as they, like other organisms, respire. In our knowledge of photosysthesis, the dark phase of this biological process takes place at night. ~

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Images of Nature in Mural

March 31, 2014, 9:12 am

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Dr Abe V Rotor

Wall mural (8 ft x 16 ft) St Paul University Quezon City by the author, 2000

      Nature represents the idea of the entire universe in a state of perfection.  Nature is one: it unites heaven and earth, connecting human beings with the stars and bringing them all together into a single family.  Nature is beautiful; it is ordered.  A divine law determines its arrangement, namely the subordination of the means to the end, and the parts to the whole.

      After putting down my brush, I took a view of the mural from a distance.  The scene – unspoiled nature – one spared from the hands of man and typified by the tropical rainforest, flowed out from a wall that was previously white and empty.

      In the course of painting the mural, which took all of seven days and in the days following its unveiling, I took notice of the reactions of viewers. It must be the stillness of the scene, freshness of its atmosphere, and its apparent eccentricity that attract passersby as if in search of something therapeutic. It seems to slow down busy feet, soothing tired nerves. There is something I thought was mysterious beyond the levels of aesthetics. For the huge scene is a drama of life completely different from city living.  It is respite.  It is transformation from concrete to greenery, from cityscape to landscape.

      Yet, I found it difficult to give it a title and an explanation that captures both its essence and message. This time many ideas crowded my mind. At the start of my painting labors, the challenge was how and where to start painting. Now that it is completed, what else is there to say after one has “said” it all in colors and lines, hues and shadows, perspective and design? What more is there to declare for after the last page of a book?  For a painting, it is the same.

      Relaxation did not come easy for me after many hours of concentrating on my subject, dealing with a fast-drying medium of acrylic.  What made it more challenging was the unending attempt to capture those fleeting impressions and recollections that pervaded my mind as I painted. I then took a pen and slowly wrote my thoughts. From the mural, I saw the scenery of my childhood on the farm, views of my travels here and abroad, imagery from my readings, and views drawn out like a thread from the mass of a golf ball. It was imagery and memory working jointly.

                                     Tropical Rainforest Model

     I chose the tropical rainforest scenery since it is the richest of all ecosystems in the world.  The Philippines, being one of the countries endowed with this natural wealth is a treasure, indeed. For this reason, I believe that, the tropical rainforest closely resembles the description of the biblical paradise. It is not only a living bank of biological diversity; it is the most important sanctuary of living matters on earth.

      To paint such a big wall is no easy task. It is not unusual to face a blank wall, literally speaking, and not knowing what to do first even with all the colors and tools on hand – and a predetermined topic in mind.  Shall I start at the center and move outward, or from both sides slowly progressing inward?  Or do I divide the wall into parts, working on them one by one, then unifying them at the end?  

                                 

…and Heaven and Nature Sing

      Christmas was already in the air and the Siberian winds were bringing in the chills. Carol music was now being played in malls, schools and homes. I was engrossed in my work when some students, watching me paint, sang a familiar song. On this particular occasion, something about the song chimed inside me, directing me towards the central theme of my mural.

  

“…and heaven and nature sing,

and heaven and nature sing,

and heaven, and heaven and nature sing.”

                                                                 - Joy to the World

     What does this mean? Is it the idea of nature representing the entire universe in a state of perfection?  Or is it nature as one?  Does it unite heaven and earth?  Does it connect human beings and the galaxies as one family?

      Little did I know of my ecology.  As a subject I teach in college and in the graduate school I depend much on formulas and equations, principles and case studies. My knowledge about the environment is structured and formal. I use module maps or course syllabi based on accepted teaching techniques and references.  My approach was comparative analysis. I was a judge of the beautiful and ugly, the do’s and don’ts.  At times I am a Utopian; at others, conformist.

      Little did I realize that the order of Nature is not merely determined by natural laws applied as ecological tenets, but as a divine law which determines its arrangement, the subordination of the means to the end, and  the assimilation of the parts to the whole. Many of us are ignorant of this law, or if we know it, seem to forget or disregard it as we relentlessly work to exploit the earth.

      In our apparent failure to preserve nature, perhaps it is time to look at ecology with the essence of this popular Christmas song – a song that makes everyday of the year, Christmas. Ecology is “heaven and nature singing together.” Only then can we truly understand the term, balance of nature – a kind of dynamic equilibrium that leads to homeostasis where there is stability among interdependent groups that characterize natural processes, and the period in which they take place.  The ultimate conclusion is always a balanced system.  We have to look beyond books to understand biological diversity, and its application in nature, to find the common phrase: In diversity there is unity. The general rule is that the wider the diversity is in terms of number of living species, and in terms of the number of natural species and their habitats, the more closely knit the biosphere becomes, resulting in a richer, more stable environment. Undoubtedly, all this is part of a grand design inspired divinely.

                                        A Hole in the Sky

      Looking at the mural from a distance one notices a darkened part of the sky, apparently a hole (though this is not the ozone layer pierced by CFC pollution). It gives one a feeling that it is a tunnel to infinity as if to link both earth and heaven.  Through this hole, one envisions a Higher Principle. From the foreground, which is the placid stream of a downward meandering river, its tributaries and banks lined with trees and thickets, the eye soon reaches the forested hills and mountains shrouded by clouds.

      But it does not end there. Here the cloud is a curtain laden with the radiance of the sun, and the life-giving provenance of rain, useless each without the other for life on earth to exist. This is the crossroad.  The cloud opens with a backdrop of infinity.  The universe, whose limit is unknown, bursts open a foreground that reveals a whole drama of life on earth.  After that, the eye repeats the journey.  In the process, the viewer becomes sensitive to the details of the painting. He searches for things familiar, or situations that later become a new experience.

Creatures in the Forest

      Creatures in general are not as visible as they appear in books and on the screen.  They blend with their surroundings mainly for predatory anticipation and protective camouflage.  But there are other reasons too, that are not well understood.  Take the case of the butterflies. Their beauty is extravagant for their basic function as pollinators.  Fish jump for mere pleasure, dragonflies have wings that split light into prisms. Birds stay in the sky longer for the sheer joy of flying, and not just to cruise in search of a prey. 

     Among the animals suggested to me while painting the mural are flying lemur, Philippine monkey, heron, monitor lizard, boa constrictor and hornbill. I painted these - and many more, the way I imagined them in their natural habitat. I put a touch of Noah’s Ark, painting them in pairs.  For the rodents, ducks and doves I made them in amiable groupings that exude a familial atmosphere.

      Whenever I see viewers seriously searching for these creatures with walking fingers, I am tempted to add to the collection of creatures, making them even more difficult to find. But that might change the ambiance to fun and puzzle solving, rather than of meditation and recollection.

                                          People in the Mural

      The trees and the massiveness of the scenery dwarf the characters in the mural. They appear mindless of events and time. They care not for the chores of the day. Those who are engrossed fishing with a simple hook-and-line do not show excitement even as they land their catch.  Others patiently wait for a bite.  There is a sense of tranquility and peace to all characters, whether they are promenading or just passing the time away. Their faces show only the slightest hint of anger or sadness.

      I noticed viewers trying to identify themselves with the characters of the mural.  Some construction workers envision themselves fishing. High school students are drawn by the promenades. But there are those who simply imagine themselves part of the scene.  “This place is familiar to me,” one would say, apparently recalling provincial life. “We have flying lemurs in Davao,” says another. 

      Where does the water flow, and what does the mural mean to us? Water is everywhere.  It is free to flow.  Tributaries abound as if there were no limit. Trees are everywhere and far into the backdrop is a vast virgin forest. There is no sign of man’s destructive hand. At the foreground is a placid pond where Nymphaea and lotus grow.  It is in contrast to the lively pulse of the river. This is a corner where life is peaceful and serene. It is here that we draw strength in facing the river and beyond.

What really is the message of the mural?

      Quite often, images of nature enrapture us.  These are reminiscences of childhood, a re-creation of a favorite spot we may have visited or seen, or products of the imagination greatly influenced by the society we live in.

      These images reflect a deep-seated biological longing to be part of nature.  Putting it in the biblical sense, it is a natural searching for the lost paradise.  They are a refuge from city living, a respite, and an escape from the daily grind.

      But these images do not only tell us of what we are missing.  Rather, it reminds us what we are going to miss, perhaps forever, if we do not heed nature’s signal towards a fast declining ecosystem.  If we do not change our way of life from too much dependence on consumerism, to one more closely linked to conservation of nature, we may end up building memories and future archives of a lost world.

      The warning is clear.  The painting challenges everyone to do his part to save Mother Earth so that her beauty is not only kept in the form of images, but a scenery of real life enjoyed by us and future generations.

                                       x                x                x      

Global Warming Breeds Super Bugs

April 1, 2014, 9:15 pm

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Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM 8 to 9 Evening Class, Monday to Friday

In one article in this blog, “Industrialization is Driving Our Climate Wild,” I discussed how global warming affects agriculture. In this one I will present how the present phenomenon affects our health and welfare, and why we should gear up against the possible epidemic spread of pests and pathogenic diseases.


Aedes egypti transmits dengue or hemorrhagic fever, a disease that can spread into epidemic in many parts of the world, including the Philippines. (Wikipedia)  


Leptospirosis, also called infectious jaundice, became known as a disease recently when Manila virtually remained underwater for days as a result of monsoon rains intensified by a series of typhoons. The disease’s symptom is yellow coloration of the skin. The causal organism is a spiral bacterium, hence the name, and is endemic where public sanitation and personal hygiene are neglected. One can contact the disease through infected rodent and other animal urine. According to reports, most of the victims acquire the disease from polluted drinking water or wading in flood streets. The suspected carrier is the Rattus rattus norvigicus or city rat, counterpart of the field rat, Rattus rattus mindanensis.

How do we know if a person has contacted the disease? At first, the symptoms are like those of an ordinary flu, which may last for a few days as the pathogen incubates in the body. If not treated immediately, the infection may lead to hemorrhages of the skin or mucus linings and eye inflammation. Extreme cases may lead to irreversible damage to the liver and kidney.

As floodwaters drive the rats out of their subterranean abode (such as canals, culverts, and sewers), they take refuge in homes, market stalls, restaurants, even high rise buildings and malls, bringing the infectious bacterium directly to its victims. The migratory nature of rats also explains how leptospirosis can reach people living far from the flooded areas.

Bubonic Plague or Black Death

This brings to mind the dreaded scourge of mankind in the Middle Ages, bubonic plague. Rats are the carriers of this bacterium-caused disease also called the Black Death. It was so deadly that it claimed the lives of at least 100 million people with 25 million in Europe alone. It stopped man’s progress that the period was appropriately described Second Dark Ages. It spread around crowded cities and towns, with the pestilence peaking with climatic upheavals, such as what we know today as the El Nino phenomenon. Historical accounts are usually laced with superstitious beliefs. With the arrival of Renaissance (Rebirth of Learning) in the 15th century the whole incident was shelved and filed away in archives. But scientists today are piecing up together evidences which may indicate that climate had something to do with long-term cycle of the disease.

The bubonic plague appeared in the United States at the start of the 1900 and then in India in the late 1970’s, but thanks to modern medicine the disease was effectively controlled even before it reached epidemic stages. Between 1941 and 1945, the Japanese used the plague bacteria in war, by rearing the germs clinically and using flea (Xenopsylla cheopis) as carrier. The idea is to sow pestilence, thereby defeating the enemy both in the battlefield and at home. After successfully testing the bubonic plague bombs on China, Japan aimed the new biological weapon against its number one enemy, the U.S. The attempt failed when the American forces dropped two atomic bombs in 1945 obliterating Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in the end of World War II hostilities.

Adverse Weather and Common Ailments

Common ailments are usually tied to adverse weather conditions. Following are same examples:

1. The outbreak of boils for one is more likely to occur under hot, steamy weather. The same is true with many bacterial and fungal skin diseases.

2. Influenza outbreaks coincide with extreme changes in weather conditions, normally, towards the rainy season and start of the Siberian High (cold months).

3. Typhoid cases are higher during the rainy season, particularly when there is a flood. It is the floodwater, mixed with sewage and other organic waste that carries the pathogenic bacterium, Escherichia coli.

4. Dengue Fever mosquito larvae, Aedes egypti may aestivate in the dry season. But once rains come it starts breeding in empty bottles, old tires, basins and clogged gutters. Rain and flood enhance the population and spread of mosquitoes, which spread not only dengue but malaria, too.

Global Warming Disturbs Our Climate

Here is a background on global warming and its impact on our atmosphere (air), lithosphere (land) and hydrosphere (water).

1. During the 20th century, the average atmospheric temperature went up by at least one degree Fahrenheit. Small as it seems, this rise in temperature is sufficient to activate tornadoes, hurricanes, rains and floods. It also helps widen temperature range to extreme levels, creating abnormalities in weather conditions. Scientists explain why the El Nino phenomenon (which comes every five or ten years) is becoming more and more erratic, causing much destruction, especially when it is too wet on one side of the globe, and too dry on the other.

2. The reason why our atmosphere is getting warmer is because of the so-called greenhouse effect, which means that more of the heat of the sun is absorbed and stays longer, causing increasing levels of heat-absorbing gases like carbon dioxide. Our cars and factories are the principal sources of these gases.

3. Rising temperatures cause pronounced atmospheric heating. Hotter air and water along with higher relative humidity altogether stimulate evaporation, cloud formation and eventual precipitation. When there is extreme cold and hot air, a wind system develops, growing into cyclones, hurricanes and tornadoes.

4. Hotter climates cause ice thinning on mountaintops, breaking down of icebergs and floes, melting of the polar ice. The law of displacement explains why our seas are rising, and because all oceans and seas are interconnected, the effect becomes a global one. The first to suffer are those living on low-lying areas. Unfortunately, most cities and town are found on lowlands, near seaports and along major rivers. Thus the next exodus will be ecologically caused. We can call it mass eco-migration. A very disruptive kind of resettlement is needed, dwarfing the kinds of settlement during the era of colonization and conquest. Today’s planners are revolutionizing the concept and design of human habitation that would be decongested and environmentally conserving.

5. There will be a major shift in farming systems where new frontiers will be opened, while others will be abandoned. Adaptation strategies of crops and animals, review of land use policies and programs are back on the drawing boards. Again, environmental conservation will receive special attention.

6. Wildlife migration patterns, niches and distribution, will be greatly affected as their natural habitats are destroyed or modified by changing climate. All living things, without exception, are affected by the man-induced phenomenon of global warming.

The Making of Superbugs

Global warming affects even the lowly and microscopic organisms.

They are called gamu-gamu or simut-simut. These are the winged termites. These ordinarily shy, tunnel-dwelling insect suddenly take into the air at night in a swarm, attracted by light in our homes and towns. There is a new breed of super termite that has destroyed thousands of homes in Southern United States since the 1950’s after it was accidentally introduced from China. The insect continued to develop resistance to eradication despite U.S. advances in biology and chemistry.

We trace this superb resistance on two views. First, this super termite is the survivor of chemical spraying. Pesticides may have eradicated the weaker members of its population, but the survivors carry the acquired resistance. After several generations, and the super termite was formed. This genetic advantage may explain the species’ survival, but what about its successful geographic adaptation and distribution? This brings us to my second observation.

Frequent rains and floods predispose wood to soften or even rot, making it more palatable to the cellulose-eating insect. It prefers old wood and the southern states have houses as old as the Mayflower expedition. These conditions provide a perfect termite abode, and together with its symbionts, protozoa in its stomach and wood fungus as pre-digester, termite empires continue to spread from one house after another.

Then at swarming time (which now occurs more frequently than once a year), it is easy for a new termite swarm to start new colonies, which today can be as convenient in book shelves, wooden appliances, apparadors, and office files, as well as posts, beams, floors and walls. And by the way, according to Discovery TV channel, termites strangely eat twice as fast, given an ambiance of loud metallic music (or noise). Watch out for the floor!

The Case of the Fire Ant

We encounter red ants, Solenopsis geminata, in the kitchen, picnic grounds, and garden. According to old folks, when they emerge from their nest to seek shelter on higher grounds, carrying their young and food, they proclaim the arrival of heavy rain.

But it is not this kind of ant of which we are more concerned now. In Florida, a super red ant has spread all over the state and is still moving via floodwaters. A mass of ants, by the thousands, would simply float on water currents landing on a new territory, and then break into several colonies. That is how efficiently the ant is spread, a new adaptation that other ants do not possess.

The sting of this super ant contains a poisonous formic acid. A person who is allergic to it could die from just a single sting. While this ant may be beneficial in one way by devouring destructive insects on the farm, the very sign of its presence in such magnitude is alarming. The US Department of Agriculture even uses GP (Global Positioning) Satellite to monitor and identify the foragers’ locations and sizes of their colonies to assist in their eradication.

The Case of the Super Bacteria

In 1993, tens of thousands of people in Milwaukee suddenly got sick and the suspected culprit is a bacterium that lives in the cloudy waters of Lake Michigan which supplies the areas’ potable water. But Lake Michigan has long been polluted. From the view deck on Sears Tower, one can smell the foul odor of the lake. What is surprising is that the pathogen has found a way to defy ordinary water treatment methods.

Such is how the Milwaukee pathogen has proliferated. During the El Nino of 1993, melting snow joined the floodwaters, washing down animal manure and other organic wastes from upland farms and homes, and dumping them into the lake. This has the effect of fertilizing the bacterium. Ecologists call this sudden bacterial upsurge “bloom”, which is similar to the algal bloom phenomenon.

To control the epidemic, drinking water had to be boiled, and water treatment methods intensified until the bacterium is eliminated. These procedures are necessarily very costly operations.

Deadly Dinoflagellates

On the estuaries of Maryland and North Carolina a strange disease has been harming humans and was only first observed 1993. For a time it baffled doctors and scientists until it was traced to Plasteria, a dinoflagellate - a microscopic unicellular organism that behaves like both a plant and an animal. It carries chlorophyll to enable it to manufacture food by photosynthesis, and being equipped with flagella and amoeboid form, it could live freely on the estuaries in huge numbers or as a parasite of fish and other organisms.

It attacks fish by ambushing it with neurotoxin. Once inside the fish body the amoeba-like creature enters the blood stream, and secretes an acid that dissolves tissues and internal organs, killing the fish. This explains the massive fish kill that occurred in these estuaries in 1991.

In turn, the toxin as well as the immature form of the dinoflagellate, enter the human body through infected fish. Even if a person recovers, he suffers permanent loss of memory, and adversely affected speech and coordination, as discovered by scientists from the University of Maryland.

Where did the dinoflagellate come from and how did it spread into the estuaries? From nearby pig farms, with the slurry flowing downward to the estuaries. Fertilizers, farm chemicals, and organic wastes, follow the same process. Flooding and poor drainage controls exacerbate the situation, favoring the growth of the dinoflagellates.

The culprit in Red Tide is another algal bloom, but is located at coves and harbors. Organic materials and wastes flow down the river during floods and onto the sea where they fertilize the red tide dinoflagellates. In the Philippines the red tide species is Pyrodinium bahamense compressa. This happens when the water is warm and there is plenty of sunlight. The organisms multiply very rapidly that due to their enormous numbers, the water appears red, hence the term Red Tide.

The biblical story of the Nile turning red, as in one of the plagues of Egypt during the time of Moses, was a case of the Red Tide phenomenon. One would appreciate this better on entering Cairo coming from Sinai desert across the Suez Canal. From there one can see how near the Nile is to the Mediterranean Sea. During flood seasons the Nile deposits its load of silt and organic delta-building materials, consequently obstructing water flow. The area has become as a cradle of the Red Tide.

Hantavirus from Mice

In New Mexico that is a desert country, a strange kind of disease was discovered that affects the heart, kidney and liver. Dr. Ben Moneta, a descendant of Navajo Indians, and a graduate of Stanford University, came up with the answer. His findings may also re-open the puzzle of how the Navajo civilization suddenly perished.

Whenever the desert begins to get more rains, vegetation is increased, and so is the number of animals living in the area. The once barren area becomes suddenly fertile, causing the mice population to rapidly increase. Mice are carriers of a deadly hantavirus that adversely infect humans. Dr. Moneta found out that as early as in 1923 a medicine woman warned that if a mouse gets in contact with clothes or anything worn, these apparel should be immediately burned to prevent infection. This led him to believe that the hantavirus is not new. It must have existed for millions of years, but its resurgence is becoming clear.

Delphi Project

In the idle Los Alamos desert is a new center. Its Mission code name is Delphi Project. Here, scientists are studying killer bugs (organisms which can launch an attack and destroy many lives and properties). It is a race with time and as the clock ticks, man should be able to prevent any catastrophe reminiscent of the Bubonic Plague. AIDS (Acute Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome) is already prodding us to move fast.

The message is clear. Let us restrict careless activities that favor the making of super bugs.~

Author’s Note on SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)

According to Time Magazine, a more likely, and frightening, possibility is the unstable SARS coronovirus which has mutated since it left its origin in Guangdong, China. Now it has become a more virulent and contagious virus as evidenced by samples taken in Beijing and Hongkong. The spread in China and other countries is expected to rise, causing untold numbers of deaths. While there is no specific connection between global warming and SARS, it is established that unstable and unfavorable climatic conditions expose millions of people to health problems.

Water contaminated with microscopic algae, such as Euglena, may render a whole reservoir unfit for human consumption.

Spyrogira, like other algae, may “bloom” under intense sunlight and nutrient-rich water, the cause of fish kill. Algal bloom of the poisonous Caulerpa taxifolia on the Mediterranean seafloor is thought to be a result of global warming. Right, a biology researcher analyzes specimens of algal bloom at the biological laboratory of St. Paul University, QC.

Jellyfish outbreak is spurred by global warming.

San Vicente IS Series: Atty Santiago "Tata Ago" Robinol, proponent of the sixth sense of the law.

April 3, 2014, 7:29 am

≫ Next: Museum: Miniature Dioramas of Nature - you can make one yourself

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Dr Abe V Rotor

To his kababayan (townmates) and his numerous clients, he was known as Tata Ago, with emphasis on his nickname, contracted Santiago who, many people may not know as James - St James or Santiago, preacher and martyr of the church.*

But Tata Ago was not the religious we know, that's too assuming and doctrinaire if justice is to be fought for and in behalf of the faithful - the grassroots who quite settle into penitence and asceticism - or silence - in lieu of fundamental human right - the right for justice. Social justice. 

Graduation photo on finishing law and passing the bar soon after, from Manuel L Quezon University then the primer law school in the country.  He was only 28, idealistic and full of dreams.  He run for mayor in his hometown although he knew well the fate of a neophyte in traditional politics. After recovering from defeat he furthered his studies at the University of Southern California for a masteral degree. He returned and landed as a public servant in Comelec, a job he did not find excitement and challenge.  He practiced private law and became an institution in his own right. 

The arena is no longer the amphitheater or the cathedral, or some fortress, but a room called the hall of justice where the search for truth is governed by  proper conduct and inspired by  principles of human society - liberty, brotherhood  and equality. Which means that the law must uphold these principles.

But these are beyond the comprehension of common people. And this is where Tata Ago excelled: the interpretation of the law on the grassroots, particularly criminal and civil law. Tata Ago is a kind and considerate man, with a Solomonic psychology as in the case of two mothers claiming for the same baby.  When the king threatened to cut the baby in half, the impostor said, go ahead.  But the real mother said, no, let the baby live, give it to her.  

Or Lincolnian compassion. When a boy soldier was presented for deserting the union army and was condemned to hanging, the kind president said, give him some spanking and send him home.    Breaking the law may be resolved to the letter but the future of the young man was more important. 

And would Sherlock Holmes be impressed with investigative cases Tata Ago handled? But there's one thing that can't pass: the evasion of justice however perfect the crime may be. Face it, the law is not intended to shield a crime.  Tata Ago's jaw tightened and the suspect submitted to a plea. 

What greater role does a lawyer play but the prevention of crime? There on his front yard in San Vicente or in Providence Village in Marikina, he was a teacher not so much on the fundamentals of law but the sixth sense in law.  That is, the potential of crime must be removed before it is committed. Like medicine prevention has no substitute. Which means only one thing practical for everybody: be a good citizen.  Strive to be one always.

Young people, aspiring to pursue their career used to consult Tata Ago.  For he was a model in town particularly San Vicente a small community where looking for a model may not take one to the likes of legal luminaries in the books.  But the local model is not without the qualities of a Recto, Marcos, Saguisag, Roco, Rojas (another model of the town, regional director of NBI), and the vision of those non-lawyers who even surpassed those in the profession.

There is always a disturbing question raised to those people who rose to fame.  And that is, Have you changed the world?  Of course it is a gross, unkind expectation, but this leads one to examine his contribution to the betterment of life.  Victor Frankl in his book, A Search for Meaning, confirmed that those who held on to their hopes and dreams mostly survived the concentration camp. We are in a kind of concentration camp, not to merely escape but help others, too.  Tata Ago was like that, no doubt.

And when he was about to take the armchair to spend more time with his family - a loving wife and four beautiful children all raring to pursue their careers, tragedy struck.

I would like to stop here.  As a chronicler I find it difficult to shift from a happy story to a sad one, from the ideal to the cruel reality of life, the momentum set for a lifetime to end abruptly, inconsolable, irreparable, tragedy beyond any definition of the word. Beyond any explanation.  Beyond any answer.  How we wish heaven has an answer to our tragedies. 

Two of the children died in a fire that razed their house in Marikina, with the eldest son braving the fire to save his sister. It’s a dead end, Tata Ago, Nana Carolina and the surviving children faced.  Silence in gloom is perhaps the most difficult thing to bear. Time stood still, neither can it bring back the past nor pave a clear path and direction.

Tata Ago lived to 82.  On the day of his final wake my wife and I being distant relatives of the Robinol and the Roc paid our condolence to the family together with a number of townmates.  I played on the violin Meditation  while holy water was passed on to bless the remains of the good Tata Ago. Méditation is a symphonic intermezzo from the opera Thaïs by French composer Jules Massenet. The piece is written for solo violin and orchestra,1894..

The final melody of Meditation sounded like dirge, lament in the deepest sense for losing a man who stood up for the dignity of the legal profession, who remained a model of aspiring young men and women to take up law, and practice law in its finest, incorruptible and indelible in the annals of history and the hearts of men.~
    
* NOTE: The name Santiago goes back to the Apostle James (Saint James = Santiago) who went to this most north-western part of Spain, called by the Romans "Finis Terrae", "end of the world", to preach and convert people to Christianity.

After returning to Palestine in 44 a.C., he was taken prisoner by Herodes Agrippa and tortured to death. The king forbid to bury him, but in the night Jacob's disciples stole the body and brought him, in a sarcophagus of marble, on board of a small boat. The current of the sea drove the boat to the Spanish coast, into the port of the Roman province's capital, Iria Flavia. Here the Apostle was buried at a secret place in a wood.

Centuries later, in 813, the hermit Pelayo listened music in that wood and saw a shining. For this shining the place was called, in Latin, "Campus Stellae", field of the star, name that was later on turned into Compostela.
 

Museum: Miniature Dioramas of Nature - you can make one yourself

April 3, 2014, 8:00 pm

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Dr Abe V Rotor

These miniature dioramas are among dozens of student projects depicting the biomes and ecosystems of the world. They graced the SPUQC museum for 15 years, and became inspiration to art enthusiasts and budding scientists.

Why don't you make dioramas about nature? Viewing these samples may help you build one in your school - or in your home. Do not attempt to make a big one immediately. You will graduate to that - even to a life size diorama when you'll have the skill and experience. Use local materials - maybe recycled, but remember - aim at exhibiting it in a museum. It must be authentic, complete and beautiful to be appreciated.

Don't hurry, take time, research to make every part true and scientific. Ask your humanities teacher on the artistic part, your biology or ecology teacher for the technical side. Plan well, forget the cartoons and fantasies for the moment. What you are doing is a replica of nature - how it looks, what it is made of, how it responds to changing times, its aesthetics, its function, its appeal. You are now an artist and a scientist!

The Ocean Biome and Coral Reef Ecosystem

Scientists today believe that eighty percent of the world’s species of organisms are found in the sea. One can imagine the vastness of the oceans as their habitat – four kilometers deep on the average (12 km at the deepest, Mariana Trench and Philippine Deep), covering 78 percent of the surface of the earth. Young people create scenarios of Jules Verne’s, “Ten Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” such as this diorama, imagining man’s futuristic exploration in the deep led by Captain Nemo, the idealistic but ruthless scientist. Such scenarios are no longer fantasy today – they are scenes captured by the camera and other modern tools of research. And the subject is not one of exploration alone, but conservation, for our oceans, limitless as they seem, are facing the same threats of pollution and other abuses man is doing inflicting on land and air. The sea is man’s last frontier. Let us give it a chance.

The Tropical Rainforest

The earth once wore a green belt on her midriff – the rainforest, which covered much of her above and below the equator. Today this cover has been reduced, and is still shrinking. The nakedness of the earth can be felt everywhere. One place is our country where only 10 percent of our original cover remains. Even the great Amazon Basin is threatened. As man moves to new areas, put up dwellings, plant crops, becomes affluent, increases in number, the tropical rain forest shrinks. Our thinking that it is the source of natural resources is wrong. These are finite and not only that, the ecosystem itself once destroyed, cannot be replaced. It can not regenerate if the soil is eroded, if the climate around it is changed. It is everyone’s duty to protect the tropical rainforest, the bastion of thousands of species of organisms. In fact it is the riches of all the biomes on earth.

Savannah - biome for safari

Island and Atoll Ecosystems - characteristic of thousands

of mainly volcanic islands in the world.

Desert biome - second largest biome after ocean

Scenarios of Sahara flash in the mind the moment the word “desert” is brought out to both young and old in fantasy or vivid reality. Here are wastelands, so vast that they dwarf the imagination. They may lie at the very core of continents like Australia and North America, or extend to high altitude (Atacama Desert) or altitude (Siberia) where temperatures runs way below zero degrees Celsius. Here, rain seldom comes. It is a lucky place where rain falls, and when it does, the desert suddenly blooms into multi-facetted designs, shape and colors of short-growing plants. Sooner the desert is peacefully dry and eerie once more, except the persistent cacti and their boarders, shrubs and bushes that break the monotony of sand and sand dunes. But somewhere the “desert is hiding a well,” so sang the lost pilot and the little prince in Exupery’s novelette, “The Little Prince.” He was referring of course to oasis, waterhole in the desert. It is here that travelers mark their route, animals congregate, nations put claim on political borders. Ecologically this is the nerve center of life, spiritually the bastion of hope, a new beginning, renewal, the source of eternal joy. The desert is not a desert after all.

Two versions of Maria Cristina Falls in Mindanao

Alpine, representing high rise mountains

Try stone soup - “poor man’s delicacy.”

April 4, 2014, 3:50 pm

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Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid 738 DZRB AM with Ms Melly C Tenorio 8 to 9 evening class, Mon to Fri

Stone covered with green algae (lumot); microcopic structure of Lyngbya 
crosbyanum, a common green freshwater alga. (Photos by AVR)

This is one for the Book of Guinness.

Along the pristine shallow shores of the sea, lakes and rivers, you will find stones coated with living algae. Along coral reefs the algae growing on these stones are mainly Enteromorpha, and a host of juvenile seaweeds, while those in freshwater the dominant algae are Chlorella and Nostoc, all commonly called lumot. These are edible species listed in books in phycology, the study of algae.

Now there are two ways old folks prepare the soup from these algae-rich stones. The stones are roasted or charcoal or under low fire to bring out the aroma, and then dropped simmering in a waiting bowl of water complete with tomato, onion and a dash of salt.

The other method follows the traditional way of cooking of broth, with the addition of vegetables - and even fish or meat. The recipe is rich in calcium because of the calcareous nature of the stones, especially those gathered in coral reefs.

Try stone soup; it's good for the bones. And it's a good piece of friendly conversation. One summer I started a lecture at one o'clock in the afternoon with "Have you tried stone soup?"

Environment: A Primer on Water Conservation and Utilization ( 12 Guiding Principles)

April 4, 2014, 4:30 pm

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Amadeo Waterfalls, Cavite

Bantaoay River, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

This article is very timely as a guide to water management with the coming dry season. Habagat (rainy season) has just ended, we are now in amihan (dry season). We hope that this lesson will serve the interest of both the followers and viewers of this blog, and the listeners on Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid aired 8 to 9 in the evening Monday through Friday on DZRB 738 AM KHz.

1. Monsoon rains generally come in June to October- Habagat. The rest of the year is considered dry. Amihan season occurs during the cool months of October to February. The driest months are March and April. Let us conserve water particularly during the dry season.

Rainfall pattern

O D J F M A M J J A S

Dry Season / Wet Season

2. A region or a particular geographic area may possess a micro-climate of its own, and therefore, a distinct rainfall pattern. Let's be guided by this sub-type of climate in the conservation and utilization of water.

Factors Creating a Sub-type of Climate

• Elevation – The higher the elevation, the cooler is the environment. There is more rainfall and thicker vegetation. Examples: Benguet, Mt. Apo, Kanlaon, Bulusan

• Presence of natural barriers – The Cordillera mountain range separates the Ilocos provinces and the Cagayan Valley into two sub-types of climate. The Sierra Madre mountain range has a similar effect.

• Position and closeness to large bodies of water – Samar and Leyte Islands have three micro-climates owing to the varied conditions brought by the surrounding sea as well as the presence of mountains and a large swamp – the Sab- A Basin.

• Forest cover – The thicker and more extensive the primary forest cover, the higher is the precipitation or rainfall falling in and around the area. Examples: Mt. Makiling, parts of Mindanao, Isabela and Palawan still covered by original forests.

3. In the Philippines our main supply of freshwater comes from

• lakes, swamps and ponds;
• rivers and streams; and
• springs and ground water.

Let's take care of these sources and use them wisely following these guidelines.

A. Lakes (e.g. Laguna de Bay, Paoay Lake, Taal Lake), and swamps (e.g. Liguasan Marsh, Sab-A Basin) are made up of a complex system network of watershed, tributaries and distributaries. Watershed supplies water and maintains stability of a lake or swamp.

Management should be holistic, treating the system on the basis of inter-relationships among its parts.

A pond has similar basic structures although it is generally shallow and intermittent, its system very much simpler and reduced. A swamp, compared to a lake, is a water-logged area, usually a basin, thickly vegetated, rich in organic matter deposits such as muck and peat. Natural reservoirs maintain a desirable amount of ground water for agriculture and domestic use.)

B. Rivers and streams conduct runoff/surface water. Their load can be tapped for future use through impounding, especially those which directly run to the sea and dry up after the rainy season. Great potentials for large supply of freshwater await in our major rivers like the Agno River, Tagum River, Aparri River, Mindanao River, Pampanga River, and Agusan River.

4. An efficient watershed maintains the stability of a water reservoir whether it is natural or man made by

• Providing protection against erosion and siltation,
• Increasing the rate of water absorption and impounding,
• Inducing rainfall, and
• Keeping the surroundings cool and reducing evaporation.

A. Erosion and siltation work in tandem. Silt is carried down by water from eroded areas.Deposition causes clogging of waterways, and the silting of farms. It exacerbates flooding, reducing the life of dams, decreases crop yield.

B. Water absorption and conservation of ground water are enhanced by well-maintained watersheds.

C. A micro-climate is created within efficient watershed areas which is conducive to cloud formation and consequent precipitation. This is mainly the result of increased relative humidity and reduced evaporation.

5. Water supply is enhanced by forests and woodlands (man-made forests) through

• Higher rate of rainfall (tropical rain forest is so-called because rain occurs frequently, if not daily, in and around tropical forests, such as Mt. Makiling.
• Fuller rivers, streams and natural springs,
• Abundant amount of ground water and fuller aquifers.

A. A forest has a multi-storey structure that is very efficient in water conservation, and solar and space utilization. Organic matter built on the forest floor helps conserve water like sponge.

• Emergent tree
• Canopy layers
• Lianas & epiphytes
• Bushes & shrubs
• Ground plants

B. The forest cover conserves water and keeps it underground for future use. It slows down  water flow thereby increasing the rate of water absorption. The roots of trees help maintain s desirable water level in the ground and fuller aquifers (underground rivers). All these enhance the life of rivers, streams and natural springs.

6. Water impounding in the tropics is a common practice in agriculture, fisheries, power generation, recreation, industry (e.g water coolant), and for domestic use. Commonly adopted designs are based on these models:

• Dam (e.g. Ambuklao, Binga, Angat, Lamesa, Pantabangan, Chico)
• Pond (e.g. farm pond, communal water impounding projects)
• Terrace (e.g. Banaue rice terraces gravity irrigation) and
• Series of catchments (China’s model)

A. Large water reservoirs are very expensive and require extensive areas. They are characterized by high technology and maintenance requirements. Our major dams are suffering from heavy siltation which have drastically reduced their capacity and life.

B. Ponds are mainly for individual use in small and medium farms. Small communal reservoirs projects are popular in Iloilo and in many parts of the country but many of them are not properly managed. Such projects are designed for cooperative farming. One project in Iloilo has 5-ha reservoir, 100-ha watershed, and a service area of 50 hectares, cultivated by some 30 farmers.

C. Water Impounding on the Banaue rice terraces is a classical example of a very efficient water management system. Rainwater is trapped in each of the hundreds of terraced ricefields which then act as a reservoir until the crop is harvested. Through gravity irrigation system paddy water is regulated. Excess water is conducted to the lower paddies and ultimately to the gorge which serves as the main drain.

• Precipitation
• Forest Cover
• Upper terraces
• Lower terraces
• Gorge/River

D. A series of small catchments built along the length of a river conserves virtually all the water that would otherwise go to waste. This system of water impounding is built on intermittent rivers and streams of certain parts of the People’s Republic of China where the rainy season is short leaving the place dry the rest of the year.

7. Where irrigation water is limited, the principle of comparative advantage should be applied. Considering other things equal, choose the crop that gives the highest level of water utilization and returns on investment.

Economics of water utilization during the dry season:

20,000 cubic meters - water requirement of

1 ha of Rice

3 ha of Corn

5 to 6 ha of Bean

8. In recycling water for farm, industry and domestic use follow the principles governing Nature’s Water Cycle, namely

• Water is transformed into three states of matter – solid, liquid and gas. In the process of transformation, water is separated from other substances and impurities.

Examples: In distilling water, the impurities are left behind. Much of the rain which falls on land comes from clouds formed at sea. The process of desalination follows this principle.

• While water cleans, it has also the inherent power of “cleansing itself”.

Examples: Organic matter settles at the bottom of lakes, leaving the water clear and clean. Similarly after heavy downpour, silt and clay settle down leaving the water clear. Natural springs rarely need the attention of man.

• There are certain biological and physical, including geologic and chemical processes that enhance water recycling.

Examples: Aquatic plants maintain a desirable supply of oxygen in water. In sewage treatment, water passes through a series of tanks/pools until it goes out safe and functional again.

Aquifers are natural underground reservoirs and filters.

9. Water pollution exacerbates water shortage. Let's minimize, if not prevent, the pollution of our water supply by using biodegradable materials.

There are now biodegradable plastics. Coconut oil-based detergents are preferred. So with organic fertilizer over chemical fertilizer. Botanical pesticides leave little or no toxic residue.

• Reducing pollutants

Reduced emission of gases which combine with atmospheric water to form “acid rain”. Clear watershed and waterways from all forms of garbage. Prevent clogging and water-logging as these favor accumulation of wastes and increase the effects of pollution. More strict laws on oil spill.

• Practicing cleanliness and sanitation

Proper garbage disposal. Keep industrial wastes away from water sources. Implement a shanty-free estero program. Impose strict sanitation in public markets, and “talipapa”/ flea markets. Strictly implement anti-pollution laws in factories, homes and motor vehicles.

• Banning dangerous pollutants

Let's uphold the anti-nuclear constitutional provision to prevent radioactive fallout incident.Radioactive wastes must be disposed following international safety standards. Permanently ban the “Dirty Dozen” pesticides. Use only unleaded gasoline. Regulate use and disposal of mercury compounds.

• Planning our community

Residential and industrial zoning. Strictly implement building and housing policies of the National Housing Authority, DPWH, local governments, etc, Ecology village concept, Decongest urban centers and promote rural living.

• Educating the public

National Geographic and Nature-Life TV series, DENR media programs on environment, Kalikasan publications, DA and DOST programs on agro-ecology. Include ecology in the school curriculum on all levels. Ban ads of products which contribute to environmental degradation.

10. As the flow of our rivers gets less, our lakes subside, and ground water sinks deeper, saltwater intrusion increase spoiling our farms, springs and wells, rivers, streams and ponds. Ward off saltwater intrusion by

• Preserving the mangrove forests

Mangroves are frontlines against tides and sea currents. They are natural riprap builders and they moderate the rate of flow and mixing of seawater and freshwater at the estuaries.

• Reforestation of mountains and watersheds

Flash floods are frequent where trees have been cut. Runoff water cuts river banks, makes waterways shallow and at the mouth of rivers mudflats are formed. With reduced flown of rivers, seawater intrudes island and underground. In many parts of the country, intrusion is noted in farms as far as 10 km inland.

• Preventing siltation and pirating of rivers

River banks must be protected with trees. Residential areas must kept away from river banks. Farming along rivers and around bodies of water must be controlled, specially if it contributes to erosion and siltation. Farm chemicals drain into rivers and lakes specially if it rains. Reclaiming and pirating beaches, estuaries, rivers and streams should be strictly prohibited. Major obstructions are illegally constructed fishponds, rest houses and shanties.

• Dredging waterways

Many of the rivers are heavily silted and dredging is necessary. This is specially true in and around big urban centers. Illegal dikes and structures must be removed and strict garbage disposal enforced.

• Regulating the drawing of underground water and the damming of rivers

Water rights regulate the rate of drawing water from the ground and rivers. However, this is not being implemented strictly. Too much withdrawal predisposes saltwater intrusion. Many wells and rivers in summer turn saline.

11. Modern technology has developed new ways of tapping and recycling freshwater by means of

• Towing icebergs,

Icebergs are towed hundreds of miles to countries in need of freshwater.

• Desalination of seawater,

Freshwater is produced from seawater through the principle of distillation. To reduce cost, solar energy has replaced conventional fuel. Israel adopts desalination for its agriculture.

• Cloud seeding and inducing rainfall

Rain-inducing compounds are used by airplanes to seed rain clouds. Technology has increased the efficiency of cloud seeding.

• Bottling spring and mineral water, and

Due to dwindling natural supply of safe freshwater, bottling spring and mineral water has become in the last twenty years a booming industry in large urban centers. A chilled 250-ml spring water sells at 15.oo php on university campuses in Manila.

• Re-processing used water.

Unlike the conventional filtration-aeration-chlorination process, used water is recycled for domestic use through a complex purification process in big cities.

12. Everybody should share in the common responsibility to use and conserve water wisely by means of

• Avoiding wasteful use of water

List down ways to save water. These include such simple means as repairing leaky faucets and pipes, to adopting a systematic program in household management.

• Impounding rain and surface water

Residents in small islands depend largely on rain. Their houses are equipped with special gutters and storage jars to trap and store rainwater.

• Maintaining ecological balance

List down all the ways to help preserve the environment to enhance the adequacy of freshwater supply from wells, rivers, springs, etc. Refer to the foregoing principles.~

El Niño indeed gives each and everyone of us ways by which we can minimize its impact on our lives and on our community. Above all it has a humbling effect on our technology - and our wasteful living. It is the great moderator. It is also the great reminder for us to be always prepared to face the vagaries of our climate, more so natural calamities. ~ 

Living with Nature-School on Blog is purely a voluntary effort help conserve the natural environment, and to bring functional literacy to millions who lack access to formal education, and to augment formal learning and experiential knowledge. (More lessons are found in avrotornaturalism.blogspot.com)

Happy Moments with Baby Mackie

April 4, 2014, 5:41 pm

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  Learning to eat independently 

Valuing toys and gifts

 Recognizing useful things 

 Associating with older people 

 Differentiating toys from real things

Keeping company with Lola

 

Spending happy moments with Lolo and cousin 

Oh, how fleeting, how ephemeral, 
adorable a baby to everyone,
like dewdrops in the morning gleaming 
with the early rays of the sun.

Capture the moment before it's gone   
in a thousand ways combined,
the innocence at play and at work   
the elusive peace of mankind.

If only the world remains forever young,
and the old become young again,
to fill the gap with peace and glory, 
all that mankind has to gain.  ~

---

Basi Revolt 1807 - Paintings by Esteban Villanueva

April 6, 2014, 5:48 am

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Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid 738 DZRB AM with Ms Melly C Tenorio 8 to 9 evening class, Mon to Fri

The Basi Revolt took place in the Ilocos Region to protest Wine Monopoly imposed by the Spanish government upon the makers of this prized wine once exported through the Galleon Trade plying Ciudad Fernandina (now Vigan City) and Europe via Acapulco, Mexico (1565-1815). Scores of Spanish soldiers and Filipinos were killed in a series of battles, but the revolt ended on September 29, 1807 with the capture of its brave leaders. Fourteen big oil paintings depicting the Basi Revolt in series are displayed at the Vigan Ayala Museum located in the original residence of Filipino martyr, Fr. Jose Burgos. The painter, Don Esteban Villanueva was an eyewitness of this historic event. Today, the Basi Revolt lives on with the fine taste and tradition of this unique product standing among the best wines of the world. Nine of the paintings are posted here.  

San Vicente IS Series: Once the seat of many native games and sports.

April 7, 2014, 3:44 am

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Living with Nature - School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) 
with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 Evening Class, Monday to Friday

Summer is season of games. Although many native games have been forgotten or lost in the proliferation of modern games and toys, and migration to the city or abroad, San Vicente is considered as a seat of many of these games truly Filipino. These are some games played on the patron saint's feast day celebration, the last Tuesday of April, and in barangay fiestas.   

1. Carabao race –  I would tell joke in a puzzle, “What is the first car race?”  The children of my age then would think of Ford or Chevrolet.  Sirit?  “It’s car-abao race.”  It’s a corny joke, more so today.  But if you haven’t seen one.  Go to Paombong, Bulacan during the fiesta of San Isidro Labrador, patron saint of farmers. 

(Carabao race, local sport in celebration of town fiestas, and patron saint of farmers and workers, San Isidro Labrador) Photo credit Images Internet 

Ask the old barrio folks of San Vicente IS, and they will give you a vivid idea on how the sport was played in their time - and mine. It is like horse race, with the “jockey” riding without saddle and harness.  So there’s a lot of skill needed to stir the animal to the finish line, galloping wildly.  

Carabaos are known to be very docile. They say, you won’t be able to reach your destination on time with a carabao even if you use a horse whip.  And don’t ever force the animal cruelly. In Thailand a carabao in the middle of a race broke away and attacked the spectators hurting dozens of them. An animal is still an animal however tame it is.  The biological instinct is unpredictable.As far as I remember there was never any accident of that kind in our town, so with the adjacent towns - Sta. Catalina, San Ildefonso, Bantay that often participate in the race. 

2. Tug-of-war.  It may be a parlor game, but wait until the big boys get hold of the rope. Better an outdoor game then, and be sure the rope is strong. It is a game of strength, but one in unison, so that it needs cooperation and skill.  Here are some hints to win the game. 

Choose the members of the team for strength and stamina.  Distribute the members of the team evenly; the right handed and left handed in their proper positions on either side of the rope they feel most efficient. Keep distance to maximize individual strength with the strongest ones up front and at the rear as anchor. Distribute resistance with both feet solidly anchored on the ground. Do not allow the rope to sway; keep it steady. Anticipate surge and counteract spontaneously.  Be sure your hands are protected, say with gloves or hand towel. Be wary of sudden release by your opponents, you’ll end up into a pile.

Brothers form teams and sometimes they are pitted against each other, if only to make the game exciting -   my brother Eugene on one side, and I on the other. 

3. Catching piglets (bi-ik) in mud.  It takes a day or two to prepare the arena or pen, some 5 by 5 meters square, or bigger in area, and secured with interlink wire or wooden fence.  To make the game exciting the ground is puddled like a rice field ready for planting. A smaller pen is made next to the big pen.  

Native piglets are preferred, they are sleeker and "wild" making the game more fun. 

The piglets – some five or more are simultaneously released per batch of contestants. It is a game of two or more contending groups.  It could be a one on one contest in the final stage. The rule may be that he who catches the piglet either gets a prize or takes the animal home – like in the movie, Babe, a story of a piglet won from a fair by an elderly farmer who reared it to become a “sheepdog” and earned its place on the farm.

It’s a messy game; it is full of wit and skill.  It is in catching the piglets and putting them into the adjoining pen within the prescribed time frame that determine the winner. Imagine the winner standing on stage receiving his prize – or piglet.  Can you recognize him?   

4. Sack race.  This is one of the most popular events for kids in our plaza. Open the empty standard jute (or plastic sack) equivalent to one cavan. Put both feet inside it, pull it up and hold the brim tightly with both hands without allowing it to fall as you frog-jump to a designated post, go around it and return.  Now it’s your partner’s turn, and then the next’s, similar to a rally race.  The group that completes the course first gets the prize.  The game is easier to describe than to play it.  Try broad jumping in quick succession with both feet ensconced in the sack. I would rather run for a kilometer instead.  But surprisingly many people are adept to the game; it really needs practice and honing the skill. 

5. Palo de sebo (bamboo pole climbing).  It is tricky – how can you climb a bamboo pole twenty feet tall covered with animal fat or vegetable oil?  Because there was no rule to prevent a participant to devise his own technique, we would coach our contestant to pocket wood ash and applies it as he inched upward until he reaches the top and gets his  prize.  

6. Spin top (trumpo) – Our town is famous for furniture making, so that the lathe machine (pagturnuan Ilk) makes the best tops in town. Everyone could easily recognize a top made in San Vicente. There were spintop tournaments held on certain occasions and we would send our best players to Vigan, the capital. To be a good player, first you must be accurate at a target.  Then there is the real tournament.  You should be able to demolish your opponent’s top, by puncturing or chopping it into pieces. This is why the wood used in making tops is molave, better still kamagong, the hardest wood. Exhibitions are part of the game. For example whose top makes the loudest humming sound?  How balanced and stable is the spinning of your top?  How long will it keep on spinning before it finally dies out?  Then there is the skill to “capture” a spinning top and continue it spinning in your palm. 

But how do you make a top by hand, that is without a lathe machine?  I’ll tell you how.  Cut a fresh branch of guava or isis or Ficus, the one that produces sandpaper like leaves, around three inches in diameter. With the use of a bolo shape one end into a round peg, and drive a 2-inch nail through it, leaving half of it to become the shank. Smoothen the surface, and make it even and balanced as you rotate it by hand. Shape and severe the upper part of the top with a saw or sharp knife. An immature wood when it dries up has a tendency to crack. That’s why you have to look for a seasoned branch; the harder it is the better, and the more durable is your top. For the spinning rope, get a pure cotton thread, numero cuartro, that is ¼ of an inch, and a meter long. Sometimes we would twist two thinner threads to make the standard spinning rope.

7. Kite dog fight – Gladiator kites fight it out in the sky, but  it’s the string that is the target more than the kite itself.  This is how we did it in our plaza in San Vicente where we used to play kite come harvest time, in the months of October and November.  At that time there was no nylon or monofilament, so it was the good old cotton thread, “numero viente” we used, which is the standard for kite string then.  We would pound glass finely and mix it with egg yolk, then coat it on the kite string.  When it gets dry the string is like sandpaper (papel de liha).  Here we go.  The opponent’s kite and our kite are flown simultaneously. And when both kites are sufficiently stable in the air, we bring the two kites at striking distance, until the strings get entangled.  Now the fight is whose kite falls – or which string breaks. Most often it is the string that spells victory.  You can imagine the loser running after his kite across the fields,  over fences and making sure no one gets first and retrieve it.  A loose kite is everybody’s. 

8. Pabitin  It is a portable trellis around two square meters tied at the corners to a common string, and is laden with many goodies.  The setup is usually attached to the ceiling or a tree branch with a pulley of sort, enabling the game master to pull it up and down. The game is actually for children of the same age and ideally of the same height. The rule of the game is that the one who reaches and grabs the item is his. And he is supposed to leave and give chance to the other participants. It not unusual for a parent to carry a young contestant to reach for the pabitin. Followed by elder children. And if the moderator is not strict, expect something unruly to happen.  The game ends up into a free-for-all, and what remains of the pabitin is but a skeleton of bamboo sticks and crepe paper.  
For fiestas and local parties the pabitin is popular even to this day. It is characteristically Filipino.  And why not?  Imagine how attractive it is up there hanging even before the start of the party.  Every one would be eyeing which item to get.  It’s apple to the eye – and remains so until the game leader declare the start of the game. The string moves and the pabitin slowly goes down, down and meet a pack of contestant shrieking, jumping,  their arms instantly doubling in length. 

9. Puto seko eating - Have you tried eating the powdery stuff without water, then whistle to signal you have won? It is a unique game and if you are not careful enough you will surely choke, so that it is discouraged among the very young and the sickly. Puto seko is made of rice flour, molded and dried. The contestants line the stage and on signal start eat a prescribed number of pieces. The first to finish all and produce a clear whistle wins.

10. Jack-n-poi– It is an old game, possibly originated from China, which is used to resolve conflicts like head or tail. It is quite an intellectual and witty way. Here two or more persons play the game. Stone (clenched fist) defeats scissor (forefinger and middle finger open) but it loses to paper (palm open). Paper on the other hand submits to scissor. By law of elimination, the one who survives wins – or faces the consequence he may not like. We, kids on the farm, resolved work like taking the goat to graze, or cleaning the pig sty – and such chores we would prefer someone doing it for us.

11. Kara Krus – Also called buntayug (Ilk), this is more of gambling than game. We kids secretly played kara krus without our parents' knowledge. And we would bet our meager allowance. The rule is simple. A pair of coins of the same denomination, say 10 cents or 50 cents in our time (recently larger denominations up to 10-peso coin are used), are tossed into the air. On falling to the ground, a pair of heads (tao) makes a winner, while a pair of tails or bird - meaning the eagle symbol - makes a loser. A head and a tail means you have to repeat tossing the coins. It is purely a game of chance but foul play (daya) is not unusual. Be sure the coins face opposite each other before tossing them into the air, and they must be tossed high enough so that they bounce and settle freely on the ground. The game could turn into a bad habit and could breed future gamblers.

12. Egg cracking - Thick shelled eggs usually win.  Hold a chicken egg in your palm, with the smaller end up. The opponent's egg is brought to challenge, the smaller end strikes. It's as simple as taking the cracked egg as your prize. This contest was popular during semana santa. You can win a basket full of cracked eggs.  Use guinea fowl egg instead of chicken egg. But this is given to veteran contestants.  
   
Other games and Sports 

• Hand cannon war (palsuot)
• slingshot target (tirador)
• Foot race (different categories) 
• Stilt race 
• Bao (coconut shell) race 
• Sipa 
• Patintero 
• Hide-and-seek 
• Agawang buko (local rugby with green coconut) 
• Chinese garter jump 
• Spider gladiators 
• Rhinoceros beetle gladiators

These photos show the details of a composite wall mural at the Philippine National Children's Hospital, Diliman Quezon City. The mural, and other paintings about children and Filipino culture, can be viewed at the lobby and along the corridors of the hospital. They are open to the public. Those familiar with native games and sports will find these murals refreshing - and nostalgic, too.

The details of this mural provide a guide for young artists. Note the simplicity of style and colors in capturing the happy moods, and the natural and fleeting actions of children at play.

                                                             NOTE: Distortion of the figures is in the photographs, not in the mural.

Write down the names of these games (and dances) in your local language as shown in these photographs. Describe how each one is played in your country, if applicable. Describe those indigenous to your own country or region. ~

Palm Sunday - Nemesis of Palm Trees and Cycads

April 7, 2014, 7:58 am

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Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM 8 to 9 Evening Class, Monday to Friday

Faithful of the Christendom wave young fronds of buri, a threatened species; and oliva or Cycad, a highly endangered species, in observance of Palm Sunday. 

  

More than ninety percent of the palaspas are made of the buds or immature leaves of palm trees principally buri, anahaw, and coconut. Coconut trees are purposely stripped for palaspas and their heart is made into fresh lumpia.  Otherwise the trees are left to die in the grove.  As a consequence the destructive rhinoceros beetles, and pathogenic fungi breed in them, and build populations that destroy many standing trees.   

Buri, on the other hand is already a threatened species in the Philippines and in most tropical countries. The leaves are woven into mats, bags and other handicrafts. It is the young tree that is harvested for palaspas, ending the tree's potential life span of fifty years. It is not easy to propagate buri because it bears nuts only once it its lifetime - just as it's going to die. 

Survivors of  Palm Sunday takes time to recover.  It takes months to normally recover, and if harvesting of nuts is every two months, the affected trees may yield only half as much.  But then Palm Sunday comes next year, and every year thereafter. Thus we wonder if ever the tree will live a productive life of twenty to thirty years. 

I have a coconut tree at home.  We have been harvesting buko nuts every two months since 1979 when we moved into the subdivision - that's a good thirty three years (plus 5 years earlier). On the average our harvest is twenty nuts per bunch or forty buko nuts per harvest - that's four hundred pesos at 10 pesos each, city price.  Gross value per year is P2,500, based on six harvests. All these come from a single coconut tree.  

Coconut farmers may be getting more, plus the value of midribs for walis tingting, leaves for sinambong basket, woven mat, activated carbon from the shell, coir for cordage, dusts for the garden, and of course, firewood.  We have not mentioned tuba, lambanog, suka, muscovado, pulitiput, as cottge industry products from coconut. Then the ecological importance as windbreak, and companion crop of orchard trees, and a variety of cash crops.  When planted all together we see a farm model envied the world over - storey cropping.  The model is easily a 3-storey cropping to 7-storeys, one for the Book of Guiness. 

It is irony when faith collides with reality, when the spirit and body are separated by blind devotion, when the future is made bleak by one celebration, when the faithful turns into a bandwagon when unity and cooperation is already established, when faith becomes a stumbling block to a better life. 

Oliva (Cycad) is a living fossil, older than the dinosaur; now it is in the list of threatened species, in other places, it is placed as endangered. Usually the whole crown is harvested for Palm Sunday's palaspas, causing the plant to starve and die. 
Lower photo shows symbionts (fern, moss, lichen orchid, including insects and fungi) that live on the trunk and peduncle of the cycad, thus forming a community we may call as localized ecosystem.  

On the other hand Palm Sunday is key to progress, to the preservation of nature, and healing of our planet. It can be made more more meaningful by planting palm trees instead.  There is good sign here.  In other countries there are churches where the people bring seedlings of palm trees, cycads, and other plant species as well. The seedlings are blessed the same way the palaspas is blessed.  There is one big difference, and this is the key.  The faithful bring back the blessed seedlings in be planted in their homes.  Others join community tree planting in plaza and parks, along roads and highways.  Others organize replanting of destroyed forests, and reclaiming wastelands. Because the seedlings are blessed there's a accompanying   responsibility and concern for their growth. Subsequent Palm Sunday celebrations in one particular feature, are held where Palm Sunday seedlings were previously planted.

The Lord will be very happy of this development.

For the last fifty years I have been campaigning in saving the palms and cycads on Palm Sunday,  starting as a student. Throughout my career as radio instructor, columnist of local magazines, and university professor, I have been consistent with it.  There are more and more people who agree with the idea and have joined the campaign. This is encouraging.  But it has not broken ground yet, as these photos here will bear me out.

Talking with the clergy, I asked apologetically, "Father, is it possible to have only the green and mature palm - not the bud leaves (white), blessed? And not the oliva, too?" The religious ambiance soon engulfed the air and the conversation led into the story of the passion of Christ. ~

Trees are not only the biggest living things; they are probably the oldest, too.

April 7, 2014, 10:59 pm

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Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid 738 DZRB AM with Ms Melly C Tenorio 8 to 9 evening class, Mon to Fri

Sequioa grandis (redwood) found in California is 110 meters or 362 feet tall, and more than two thousand years old. It was already standing tall and bearing cones during the time of Christ.

  Comparison of the earth's unique creatures and structures, starting with human.                  

 The Redwoods make a virtual spiral staircase to the moon

 Researchers appear like bark beetles on a giant Sequoia, California 

We find tall trees in many places, although they can't be compared in size and height as the redwood, oak, and certain species of pine and cypress.

Here are pictures of local trees I took that have reached considerable height.

Kapok or cotton tree (Ceiba pentandra). Diliman, QC
You can find bigger and taller Kapok tree in the UP
campus, and UPLB, Laguna.

Calumpang or bangar in bloom, Fairwiew, QC

Anahaw (Livistona rotundifolia) can get real tall.
So with buri palm. UST campus, Manila

Acacia (Samanea saman), Balaoan, La Union

Dita (Alstonia scholaris) is taller than the UST main building,
sans its tower. Another dita tree, also in the botanical garden,
is even taller. Both are more than 100 years old. 
Eucalyptus tree, St. Paul University QC campus.
Eucalyptus trees are tall and lanky. 

We are losing our big and old trees as we continue to destroy our forests and woodlands. Let's change our uncaring attitude towards trees. Let as start at home, and in our community. Let's protect trees along highways and roads, on the farm, watershed and coastlines. This is how we can help arrest global warming and cushion the impact of pollution, erosion and siltation. Trees make the green umbrella of the earth that protects life.

Let us preserve our trees. They are our heritage. They are living monuments that speak of our values, our culture and history not only as Filipinos but people of the world. Above all, it is perhaps the highest expression of respect and devotion to Mother Earth and our Creator.~

Acknowledgement: Wikipedia, Internet for Redwood photos

San Vicente IS Series: The Gentry Home - Cradle of Career and Skilled Citizens

April 7, 2014, 11:43 pm

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Mural painting and Verses by Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid 738 DZRB AM with Ms Melly C Tenorio 8 to 9 evening class, Mon to Fri

Painted from memory and inspired by the artist’s townmates of San  Vicente,

 Ilocos Sur* Painting, courtesy of the family of the late Mr and Mrs Sixto Rojas.

The Gentry Home 

Traditional and modern are at a crossroad of confidence, knowing where one came from and where the other is going - because it is a gentry home;  

The past and present are kept in unity and harmony, preserving the foundations of a temple strong and committed - because it is a gentry home;

Where knowledge is honed into skill, skill into livelihood, living into joy and contentment in simplicity - because it is a gentry home; 

Seasons come and go with ease, at kind and rough times, in good and poor harvest, celebration to life itself matters most - because it is a gentry home;

Three generations live under one roof in an era of "grands" - grandparents and grandchildren, and strong shoulders between them - because it is a gentry home;  

Culture is as old and strong as the molave, as practical as the mandala, as efficient as the caleza, as romantic as the alug and stream - because it is a gentry home;

Laughter is pure, tears dry fast, curse unheard, then how are differences settled? Hush, hush - and the sun is up again - because it is a gentry home;    

Time and space are patient, there's no sense of hurry when the mind can think in peace and quiet, so with the heart - because it is a gentry home; 

Culture shines in music and fine arts, in a Cleopatra's sofa, tidbits of Spanish, footsteps stop in observance of  Angelus - because it is a gentry home; 

Tenants deliver the landlord's share in grain, sugar, fish - all that nature provides, keeping the bond of trust alive - because it is a gentry home;   

Too spacious the sala and rooms are, or as empty as the length of school year, and when it's vacation time the atmosphere is alive again - because it is a gentry home;  

Time flies like passing wind, the kite now an airplane, the caleza a car, dwelling an apartment - and condominium - yet it stands there, the gentry home; 

Changing of the guards, diplomas hang side by side with memorable portraits,
moods happy and sad called nostalgia - here in the gentry home;  

Infinity, thou art boundless, eternity fleeting, permanence crumbling: yet life couldn't have been spent better - were it not in the gentry home;

From up, down to earth a tired angel comes,  through the smog, finds the city a jungle; it's eerie dark - save a beacon seeping through a gentry home. ~   

*San Vicente IIocos Sur is known for carpentry, sculpture and carving,  painting, music, zarzuela and comedia,  (stage plays), that the town was once dubbed " Little Florence" of Renaissance Europe.  The town later became known for diversified farming of high value temperate crops from cabbage, onions to cauliflower and Virginia tobacco, for which the town also gained the name "Taiwan of the North," after pre-industrial Taiwan. 

But the most important contribution of the town is the premium it places on the education of the children. The home is recognized as a cradle and a workshop for growing up, which is the basic unit of society. The modelling of a gentry home is based on this philosophy.  It is this home that gave to the world many career and skilled citizens this small town proudly produced and continue to produce.  Like an old nest the gentry home is fading from the landscape, giving way to modern ones.

But somewhere out there - we can only surmise - the gentry home is being rebuilt, and only one who grew up in such a home is capable of doing it.  ~   

San Vicente IS Series: A Boy's Diary - Sunrise on the Farm

April 9, 2014, 6:52 am

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Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Staying put on the farm - is that all you aspire for?

Virginia tobacco was introduced in the Ilocos region in the fifties as cash crop soon after rice is harvested.  It gives a profit ten times over that of rice or corn. 


“Buy me a tractor,” I asked by dad, “And I will not look for a job. I’d rather stay with you on the farm.”

“Is that all you aspire for?” My father replied. It was the turning point of my life. I left the farm and went on to pursue my studies, later joining the government service, and after early retirement, becoming a university professor.

Dad is now long gone and only my sister is overseeing the farm. One time while visiting the farm, I asked my eldest son, Marlo, “Do you like to stay here and manage the farm?” He fell silent and I did not utter another word.

2. I stopped schooling to be with my dad.

 I stopped schooling in Manila, so I went home to San Vicente, arriving there on a Sunday at dawn. Instead of directly proceeding to our house, I dropped at the church through the main door. In the distance a man was standing, stooping, his nape showing the marks of old age. I wondered who the man was, and to my surprise I found out he was my dad. I did not know he had grown that old. I said my prayers, and left with a heavy heart.


It was at home that my dad and I met after the mass. He knew it was not yet school vacation, but he was very happy to see me. I did not tell I saw him in the church that morning. Later I told my plan not to continue my studies anymore because I wanted to be with him. He just felt silent.

Old Quirino Bridge across Banaoang Pass,mural by AVR 2012 

The following morning he prepared our two bikes. “We are going to Banaoang,” he said in an aura of confidence. Banaoang is a mountain pass through which the mighty Abra River flows, where bamboo from the hills are sold in quantity. We were going to build a flue-curing barn.

The going was easy at first, but the distance and the uphill part were exhausting. Dad gave up before we reached our destination. “Get a rope and pull my bike. Let’s go back home.” He sat down in the shade of a mango tree. When we were rested we slowly pedaled back home. Both of us were silent the rest of the day.

I stayed with my dad until the end of summer working in the tobacco barn we put up. I went back to Manila the following school year to continue my studies. I always pass the highway dad and I once took, and there under an old mango tree, I would be seeing a man resting in its shade, stooping, wrinkles on his nape showing old age.

3. I shot an arrow into the air and it fell on a newspaper

I was 4 or 5 years old. Dad was reading Manila Bulletin on a rocking chair. I was playing Robin Hood. Since our sala is very spacious (it has no divisions), anything on the ceiling and walls was a potential target. But something went wrong. In physics a crooked arrow would not follow a straight line, so it found an unintended mark – the center of a widespread newspaper. The arrow pierced through it and landed on my dad’s forehead, almost between his eyes. He gave me a severe beating with my plaything as he wiped his forehead, blood dripping. I did not cry, I just took the punishment obligingly. Dad must have seen innocence in my eyes. He stopped and gave me a hug.

Toy bow and arrow (Internet)

4. I shot my finger with an airgun.

I bought an airgun from a classmate of mine in high school at the Colegio de la Immaculada Concepcion (CIC Vigan) for fifty pesos, a good amount then, circa 1955. I was loading the pellet, when I dropped the rifle, and on hitting the ground, went off. The bullet pierced through the fleshy tip of my left forefinger. I tried to remove it but to no avail, so I went to the municipal doctor. There was no anesthesia available, and when I could no longer bear the pain, he simply dressed the wound and sent me home.

My wound healed with the lead pellet to stay with me for the next five years. Had it not been for my playing the violin, I would not have bothered submitting to operation. And it was providential.

Dr. Vicente Versoza, our family doctor in Vigan, performed the operation. A mass of tissues snugly wrapped the pellet, isolating its poison from spreading out. He told me how lucky I was, because there are cases of lead poisoning, specially among war veterans who bore bullets in their bodies. I remember the late President Ferdinand Marcos. Was his ailment precipitated by lead poisoning?

5. I can “cure” a person who is naan-annungan.

An-annung is the Ilocano of nasapi-an. Spirits cast spell on a person, the old folks say. The victim may suffer of stomachache or headache accompanied by cold sweat, body weakness or feeling of exhaustion.

Well, take this case. It was dusk when a tenant of ours insisted of climbing a betel, Areca catechu to gather its nuts (nga-nga). My dad objected to it, but somehow the young man prevailed.

The stubborn young man was profusely sweating and was obviously in pain, pressing his stomach against the tree trunk. Dad called for me. I examined my “patient” and assured him he will be all right. And like a passing ill wind, the spell was cast away. Dad and the people around believed I had supernatural power.

There had been a number of cases I “succeeded” in healing the naan-annungan But I could also induce – unknowingly - the same effect on some one else. That too, my dad and old folks believed. They would seek for my “power” to cast the spell away from - this time – no other than my “victim”. What a paradox!

When I grew older and finished by studies, I began to understand that having an out-of-this-world power is a myth. I read something about Alexander the Great consulting the Oracle at Siwa to find out if indeed he is a god-sent son. “The Pharaoh will bow to you, ” the priestess told him. And it did happen - the pharaoh kissed Alexander’s feet. A year later the great warrior died.  He was barely 33.

6. Manong Bansiong, the kite maker
Kites always fascinate me, thanks to Bansiong, nephew of Basang my auntie-yaya. He made the most beautiful, often the biggest kite in town. His name is an institution of sort to us kids. But remote as San Vicente was, we had the best kites and the town was also famous for its furniture and wooden saints.

The kite - La Golondrina or Swallow  which Manong Bansiong taught me to make is still fresh from memory 60 years after.  It is the same design of my youngest son's winning entry to the UST kite flying tournament.  

Manong Bansiong made different kites: sinang-gola, sinang-cayyang, sinang-golondrina (in the likes of a bull, a bird with outstretched wings and legs, and a maiden in colorful, flowing dress, respectively). His kites were known for their strength, stability, beauty, and their height in the sky. In competitions he would always bring home the trophy, so to speak.

Because of Manong Bansiong I became also a kite maker of less caliber, but being an endangered art there is not much variety of kites flying around. The kites I make are not common, and they probably exude the same feeling to kids today as during our time.

I made kites for my children when they were small. Kites fascinated my late first-born son, Pao. It was therapy to his sickly condition. We would sit down together on the grass for hours holding on to the kite, the setting sun and breeze washing our faces.

Painting from memory -  Joy of Kite Flying  (mural detail) AVR c. 2005

 When my youngest, Leo Carlo, took part in a kite competition at UST, I helped him with the sinang-kayyang. It did not win. But in the following year and the year after Leo Carlo became the consistent kite champion of UST, and so he carries on the legend of Manong Bansiong. 

7. Draining a fishpond with centrifugal pump

We were perhaps the first in town to own a centrifugal pump, a three-horsepower Briggs and Stratton with a two-inch-diameter pipe. Which means, we can now irrigate whole fields, or drain fishponds.

One summer when the water was low, dad decided to use the pump in our one-hectare fishpond by the estuary in Nagtupacan, a coastal village of San Vicente. He put me in charge of the operation. I was a high school sophomore then. I stayed with the pump in the shade of nearby spiny candaroma (aroma) trees, sleeping under the stars at night. I learned that high tide followed by low tide occurs during the day, and repeated at night. That means the pump must overcome high tide that pushes water from under the fishpond and through the base of its dikes.

What we thought to be an easy operation probed to be an unending battle. Finally we gave up. We lost, but not entirely for we were able to harvest some fish from a drained area. Above all, I learned a lesson, which I was to use in my teaching in the university. On the part of dad, he told me, “Machines are no match to the enormous power of nature.” A few years after, the machine broke down, so told dad in his letter. I was then in Manila earning a college degree. That night I imagined the spiny candaroma and the stars and the tides.

8. Blackout and A Blue Baby
Basang, my auntie-yaya used to recount this story on how I came into this world. It was Japanese invasion. At night no lights were allowed for fear of the Japanese bomber planes. The whole town plunged into a blackout when I was born. It was October 22, 1941. The partera (midwife) worked under a flickering candle. I came out a blue baby, hind first (suni). And knowing I did not have any chance to live, the carpenters in my father's furniture shop started making my coffin.

But there was an old woman, Lela Usta (Faustina Ramos), a good neighbor and distant cousin of my dad who did not believe I was dead. She bundled me up and kept me warm by blowing over my kuppo-kuppo (bumbunan) with her breath as she chewed ginger. An hour had already passed and the kind old woman, now covered with sweat and tears, noticed a faint pulse, and then heard a faint sound. She continued on until I started to breathe. Not for long, I cried and drew the small crowd to a cheer.

Shhh.... my father cautioned everyone, and I, too, stopped crying.

9. I remember the Japanese
It was in the last year of the Japanese occupation that memories of World War II became vivid to me. In desperation the enemy killed anyone on sight in exchange for their apparent defeat. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were soon to be erased virtually from the map. I was then four years old. According to psychologists, at this age impressions become lasting memory.

Japanese soldiers invaded Vigan on 10 December 1941, simultaneous with other landings  - Aparri, Camiguin, and later Lingayen, which then paved to occupation of the entire country.  


Vigilance was the game. Far ahead of time one should be able to detect the enemy. Fear gripped the neighborhood and the whole town. We hid in a dugout shelter made of solid narra slabs several meters away from our house. Trees and banana plants hid it from view. At one time, I wanted to get fresh air, but my yaya, Basang prevented me to do so. Japanese soldiers were around the place. I heard them chase our geese and chicken. Then I heard my favorite goose, Purao, pleading - then it fell silent. Instinctively I rushed out of our hideout, but Basang pulled me back just on time.

Before this incident Japanese soldiers entered and ransacked our house. Two confronted Basang who was then wearing thick shawl and holding me tight in her arms. In trembling voice, she was saying repeatedly, “Malaria, malaria,” and begging the soldiers to take anything and leave us. One took all our eggs and started eating them raw, pitching the shell at us. One hit me straight on the face and I squirmed. Basang apologized. The soldier shouted. Then the other came back with a stuffed pillow case and signaled the other to leave, but before leaving he gave me a hard look.

It is a face I still see today, cold as steel, lips pursed into a threat, brows drawn down like curtain over flashy eyes. How I reacted on the wicked face, I don't remember. I must have just stared coldly. But deep in me grew a resolved never to be afraid of the Japanese or an aggressor for that matter.

10. My mother lifted my mosquito net – it was her ghost!

It happened in Manila in a rented apartment along Laong Laan street. There she was standing tall and smiling at me. She was all dressed in white. I immediately sat on my bed frozen with fear and shouted, “Go away, go away!” Manang Herning, my cousin, then a high school teacher who was sleeping in the adjacent room was startled and comforted me. My mother’s visit was almost real. The fact is, I never saw her in real life.

Mom died when I was around two years old. She died of hemorrhage after giving birth to a younger sister who also died a few weeks later. It was the peak of the Second World War and the Japanese had occupied the islands. Vigan, three kilometers from our hometown was a major garrison of the enemy. Many people were killed or captured. No one was safe. There was very little food. There was no doctor or nurse. There was fear everywhere, people fled to safety in the mountains at the Western edge of the Cordillera. Dad and our family decided to stay put, and made a dugout not far from the house, a sort of tunnel to the fields.
This was not the first time I noticed my mother come – at least in my mind. It was one night at home in San Vicente when I was preparing to go to Manila to pursue my studies. I was trying to snatch a few hours of sleep. I slept on the floor beside dad who was sleeping on his favorite bed. For years I used to sleep near him because he had a poor heart and he would snore very loud and then suddenly stop. I thought it was not safe for him to be alone.

I clearly heard footsteps of old fashioned shoes in the sala. Someone was casually walking around. I thought it was my sister, Veny. “Manang, is that you?” I peeped and saw her fast asleep, so with Dad. Suddenly I noticed through the mosquito net a tall figure in white making her way across the room, moving as light as the wind, followed by the sound of footsteps fading out as she disappeared through the backdoor. There was an ensuing silence. I knew it was time for me to go, and told myself that my mom just came to see me off and bid good luck. I related to dad and Manang what happened and they both agreed mom came to say goodbye.

I dedicated my studies in memory on my mother and since I graduated she never appeared again. But I always remember her in my prayers.

Twin Forests: Models in Studying Forest Evolution

April 9, 2014, 7:55 am

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Twin Forests: Models in Studying Forest Evolution 

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Here are two paintings I started and finished together is a given time frame: a scenario of millions of years ago, while the other is a scenario of a fast vanishing ecosystem. They depict two stages of forest evolution, between them is a great divide of time and space. The primeval model is a rock face overgrown by bryophytes - mosses, liverworts and hornworts, while the other model (lower photo) depicts an undisturbed forest, remnant of the virgin tropical rainforest. These paintings grace the residence of the artist-author where workshops for children on Nature are conducted every summer. ~

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Palm Sunday - Nemesis of Palm Trees and Cycads

April 9, 2014, 8:31 am

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Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM 8 to 9 Evening Class, Monday to Friday

Faithful of the Christendom wave young fronds of buri, a threatened species; and oliva or Cycad, a highly endangered species, in observance of Palm Sunday. 

  

More than ninety percent of the palaspas are made of the buds or immature leaves of palm trees principally buri, anahaw, and coconut. Coconut trees are purposely stripped for palaspas - and their heart is made into fresh lumpia.  Otherwise, the trees are left to die in the grove.  As a consequence the destructive rhinoceros beetles, and pathogenic fungi breed in them, and build populations that destroy the standing trees and surrounding crops.   

Buri, on the other hand is already a threatened species in the Philippines and in most tropical countries. The leaves are woven into mats, bags and other handicrafts. It is the young tree that is harvested for palaspas, ending the tree's normal life span of fifty years. It is not easy to propagate buri because it bears nuts only once it its lifetime - just as it's going to die. 

Tree survivors of  Palm Sunday take time to recover, in fact months. If harvesting of nuts is every two months, the affected trees may yield only half as many nuts.  But then Palm Sunday comes the following year, and every year thereafter. Younger trees are more vulnerable, many die after the young leaves have been stripped. The remaining bud is purposely harvested for fresh lumpia. In reality, no one would purposely destroy his own coconut tree. He just wakes up and finds his tree destroyed.  It is like bamboo shoot (labong). The owner would rather protect the shoot until full maturity in a year or two and gets much higher value. For the surviving trees we wonder if they will ever live a productive life from five to fifty years, or more.  

We have a coconut tree at home in QC.  We have been harvesting buko nuts from it every two months since 1979 when we moved into the subdivision - that's a good 33 years. We harvest each time 20 to 40 nuts worth P200 to P400 computed at P10 pesos each - buko and mature nuts. The gross value per year is P1200 to P2400 from six harvesting. All these come from a single coconut tree growing all by itself.    

Coconut farmers may be getting more, plus the value of midribs for walis tingting, leaves for sinambong basket, woven mat, activated carbon from the shell, coir for cordage, coir dust for the garden, and of course, firewood.  We have not mentioned tuba, lambanog, suka, and a variety of delicacies. Then there is the tree's ecological importance as windbreak, riprap of shorelines, and companion crop of orchards and gardens.  When planted all together we see a farm model envied the world over - storey cropping.  Our coconuts make a 3-storey to 7-storey farming model, one for the Book of Guiness. 
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It is ironical when faith collides with reality, when the spirit and body are separated by blind devotion, when the future is made bleak by one celebration, when the faithful turns into a bandwagon, when faith becomes a stumbling block to a better life. 

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Oliva (Cycad) is a living fossil, older than the dinosaur; now it is in the list of threatened species, in other places, it is placed as endangered. Usually the whole crown is harvested for Palm Sunday's palaspas, causing the plant to starve and die. 
Lower photo shows symbionts (fern, moss, lichen orchid, including insects and fungi) that live on the trunk and peduncle of the cycad, thus forming a community we may call as localized ecosystem.  

On the other hand Palm Sunday is key to progress, to the preservation of nature, and healing of our planet. It can be made more more meaningful by planting palm trees instead.  There is good sign here.  In other countries there are churches where the people bring seedlings of palm trees, cycads, and other plant species as well. The seedlings are blessed the same way the palaspas is blessed.  There is one big difference, and this is the key.  The faithful bring back the blessed seedlings in be planted in their homes.  Others join community tree planting in plaza and parks, along roads and highways.  Others organize replanting of destroyed forests, and reclaiming wastelands. Because the seedlings are blessed there's greater resolve to take good care of the plants. Subsequent Palm Sunday celebrations in one particular feature, are held where Palm Sunday seedlings were previously planted.

For the last fifty years of my life I have been campaigning in saving the palms and cycads on Palm Sunday,  starting as a student. Throughout my career as radio instructor, columnist of local magazines, and university professor, I have been consistent with it.  There are more and more people who agree with the idea and have joined the campaign. This is encouraging.  But it has not broken ground yet, as these photos here will bear me out.

The buri palm is now among the endangered species 

Talking with the clergy, I asked apologetically, "Father, is it possible to have only the green and mature palm - not the bud leaves (white), blessed? And not the oliva, too?" The religious ambiance soon engulfed our conversation and led us to the biblical account on the passion of Christ. ~

DON'T CUT THE PALM TREES, PLEASE DON'T! Resolution on Palm Sunday

April 9, 2014, 8:39 am

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Let's plant coconut seedlings instead.
Dr Abe V Rotor

Coconut seedlings offering for Palm Sunday (Domingo 
de Ramos) to be planted in the home and community. 

Just for a single day - Palm Sunday - more coconut trees are killed directly or indirectly, than all the coconut trees destroyed by Typhoon Yolanda!  Let us stop the carnage.  (A yearly campaign led by Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid, 738 DZRB AM 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday) 

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April 10, 2014, 2:07 am

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 Apostles for the Environment
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]

Graduate students in Environmental Science pose with their professor ( second from right) on a field lecture on the university campus.  Drynaria fern clings on camphor tree at the UST Botanical Garden, filtering sunlight, dusts, and radiation, and storing water and building organic matter for its own use and that of its host tree.   

UST Botanical Garden is the oldest plant sanctuary in Manila, originally specializing in pharmaceutical plants.  

University of Santo Tomas – The Graduate School First Semester, 2012-2013

Environmental Science – Professor: Dr Abe V Rotor   

1. ADIVOSO, Angelica Cyril Cruz  “AC” Faculty, College of San Benildo, Cainta, Rizal,

2. ARENAS, Minerva C “Mines”  Faculty, Nueva Ecija High School, Cabanatuan City

3. CALIPJO, Arleen M “Arlene”  Faculty, Cavite State University, Silang, Cavite          

                                   

4. CHAO, George Y “George” Faculty, College of Engineering, UST

5. DE GUZMAN,  Romualdo B Jr “Jun” Faculty, Bataan Peninsular State University

6. DELIMA, Precila C “Precy” Faculty, Isabela State University,  Cauayan City, Isabela

7. DEMAUSA, Mary Joy C “Mary Joy” Staff Laboratory, University of the East, Caloocan

8. MANUBAY, Frederick Ray A “Fred”  Faculty, High School,  UST

9. ORDOñEZ, Maria Manuela P  “Marie” Faculty, San Sebastian College,  Recoletos, Cavite City

10. PANGANIBAN, Citadel  Faculty, Lyceum of the Philippines University, Batangas

11. SANTOS, Hetdiliza  A “Hydie” Faculty, Navotas National  High School

                       

12. VILLANUEVA, Laarni M “Lani”  Faculty, Lyceum of the Phil U,  Batangas

Apostles for the Environment

1. When spring comes without stir, “don't go gentle into the night,” rise and find out where have all the birds gone that herald the new season, and the new beginning of life.

2. When the monsoon ends too soon, summer sets early, the land scorched, the rivers and ponds dried up, warn of the coming of a severe El Niño, a cyclical phenomenon.

3. When algal bloom in make-believe proportion spreads in lakes, sound the alarm of fish kill coming in order to avert losses and hunger, and to save the ecosystem. 

4. When people move to cities in exodus, convince them, advise government, it is a tender trap that takes them away from the real Good Life on the countryside.

5. When clouds simply pass over the landscape, take the lead to reforest the hills and mountains, restore the watershed with a million and one trees.

6. When flood sweeps the land taking with it lives and properties, and eroding soil fertility, be part of rehabilitation and planning; believe that flood can be tamed.

7. When you find an abundance of lichens of different types on trees and rocks, and fireflies at night, assure residents of the pristine condition of their environment, and help them in preserving it.

8. When and where wildlife areas are shrinking, backyards and idle lots can be developed as alternative wildlife sanctuary, initiate this as a community project.

9. When asked what vegetables are safe from pesticide residues and chemicals from fertilizers, promote native species like malunggay, kamote tops, gabi, saluyot, and the like, they are also more nutritious and easy to grow. And promote natural or organic farming, too.

10. When asked of Nature's way of maintaining the ecosystem, explain the role of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms, composting, symbiosis, and the like.  These  natural processes and cycles have been taking place even before the arrival of the human species.

11. When additives are found in food - MSG, Nutrasweet or any artificial sugar, salitre in sausage, sulfite in white sugar, melamin in milk, formalin in fish, warn the public against taking these, initiate through legislation and campaign to ban these additives.

12. When children spend too much time before the TV, on computers, and other gadgets, offer alternatives more favorable to their upbringing and well-being by getting close to nature like camping, gardening and other outdoor activities.

13. When old folks talk about traditional wisdom and values, demonstrate native skills, listen and translate them into useful applications, disseminate these in school and through extension. 

14. When animals are restless, reptiles and rodents coming out of their burrows and dens, fish attempting to escape, fowls noisy, suspect the coming of a force majeure such as  earthquake.  Be alert to face possible consequences, and to extend assistance.  

15. When epidemic threatens an area, say bird flu, hepatitis, dengue, cholera,  initiate community cooperation with health and other institutions to arrest the spread of these diseases.

16. When a child has little concern about the environment, teach him, guide him to explore the beautiful world of nature, and make him realize his importance and his role in maintaining a balanced environment.  

17. When there is a worthy movement to save the environment, such as Clean and Green, Piso sa Pasig, or any local campaign, lead and extend your full support.

18. When there are farms and fishponds neglected or abandoned, find out how these are put back to their productive conditions, or converted into a wildlife sanctuary.

19. When at rest or in confinement for health reason, explore natural remedies with herbals, through  pet  therapy, aromatherapy, and other proven remedies, in  consultation with your doctor.  

20. When in doubt if civilization is disguised evil, which is the root of war, poverty, environmental degradation, and the like, remember that it is also civilization that is responsible in building the great institutions of mankind, so that it is the obligation of each member of society to maintain the integrity of these institutions – indeed a noble mission to lead.

21.  When appreciating the vastness of creation such as the seas, valleys, mountains, and entertain the idea that their resources are unlimited, view these in their  microcosm like a pond or hill - for what can happen to this minuscule could be the same on a larger scale and proportion – be the prophet, but not of doom.

22. When you shall have found success in scholarship, wealth, power, family, etc., the task of integrating all these for the purpose of sharing with those in dire need, and for posterity and sustainability, becomes a greater challenge, indeed  this is the price of success. 

     

23. When devoting your time and energy and talents to the service of community and environment as dictated by your profession and as a good citizen, do not neglect your obligation to yourself and family, and by so doing, build a model on which you are looked up to by those you serve.

               

24. When hope dims in this troubled world, with continued disregard to protect Mother Earth, human abuse and indifference in pursuit of economic gains and affluence, violation of order and harmony of society, degradation of values, “don’t go gentle into the night” – be the sentinel ever vigilant, the guardian ever righteous, for opportunity awaits you in your greatest hour. 

25. When on a fine Sunday morning you hear birds in the trees, fish splashing in a pond, and plants blooming, say a prayer of praise and thanksgiving in music and verse, painting, or simply through reflection of the magnificence of creation. ~

NOTE: To my students in particular, please recruit twelve (12) followers from your family, community and organization, who believe and are willing to carry on the tasks we have set. Send the list with basic info through  avrotor@gmail.com or through the Comments of this Blog, or through Mail. These 25 tenets serve as guide in your recruitment and selection.  This invitation is open to all viewers here and abroad.

Practical and Safe Way To Control Pests

April 11, 2014, 8:54 pm

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Dr Abe V. Rotor

Entomology – the science of insects – is a subject I love to teach. But before I take up the subject of controlling insects, I would like to emphasize beforehand that insects in general are extremely useful to mankind and the environment. Contrary to what many people think our world could not be any better without insects.

We would be missing honey and silk, fruits and vegetables which insects pollinate, fish which feed on them, and the Monarch butterfly that meets us at the garden at sunrise.

On the other hand, we detest the presence of their destructive kin: the cockroach that roams and spreads disease, ticks that spoil a dog’s lovely look, caterpillars that defoliate our favorite tree, or simply the buzzing of a mosquito that interrupts a good rest.

If these negative traits are not enough to take arms against these pests, think that the most ferocious animal on earth is not the lion but the mosquito. With the diseases mosquitoes carry they have brought unimagined deaths and sufferings to mankind. It is said that death due to mosquitoes alone surpasses that which all wars in history have caused. Their most prominent victim is Alexander the Great who died of malaria on the banks of the Tigris-Euphrates River.

So here are strategies of war against our insect enemies.

A. Natural Resistance

There is perhaps no substitute to natural resistance – that which is carried by the genes in a plant or animal - in combating a pest or disease, and in surviving under harsh environment. Where do these genes come from?

Even before scientists came to the conclusion that resistance (and also susceptibility) is hereditary, early farmers were already adopting the principle in plant breeding and animal husbandry, these being the foundation of the first Green Revolution that brought agriculture to its golden age in the last millennium.

It is evolution that brought desirable genes together in a species. “Survival of the fittest,” Darwin’s general formula is the gradual pooling of these genes through time, thousands if not millions of years. This also explains why varieties and breeds native to a place are more resistant than their introduced (non-indigenous) counterparts. Wittingly or not, man has caused the elimination of resistance genes, even as he chooses those that directly contribute to his economic welfare.

In order to gain from this knowledge, one may look into the adoption of these two measures.

1. Choose plants and animals that are genetically adapted to the place. They have the natural resistance to pests and diseases, as well as unfavorable conditions prevailing in the area.

2. Maintain physiologic resistance by enhancing soil nutrients and proper cultural practices. Healthy plants have less pest and disease problems. This is also true with animals. This leads us to the next practical technology.

B. Proper Cultural Practices
If you see farmers planting and harvesting their fields at the same time, they are actually practicing a practical means of minimizing crop loss. Not only that the damage caused by a pest is spread out over the whole area, the insect’s life cycle is controlled, thus eliminating the possibility of pest and disease outbreak. There are of course other advantages of cooperative farming such as communal irrigation, mechanization and collective marketing which are the answers to the problem on economics of scale.

A key to control pests is to eliminate their breeding places, such as uprooting infested plants, or pruning affected parts, and then burn them. Plant trap crops ahead of planting time to attract the potential pest. The trap crop is then rouged and burned thus eliminating the threat. Eliminate weeds because they serve as alternate host. Now we understand why fields are left vacant after harvest and during summer. This allows the soil to rest, and to break the life cycle of pest and diseases.

C. Biological Control

It is a common practice to remove unsightly cobwebs. But come to think of it. We are destroying natural insect traps built by spiders. Inside warehouses spiders prey on weevils and moths that destroy grains and other commodities. So with mosquitoes and flies at some corners of the house. No radar system or other echolocation instruments can detect the fine web, which makes this indigenous trapping devise.

On plants stalk the preying mantis that snatches its victim with one deadly grasp. The spotted ladybug overruns a colony of aphids and has its fill, unless the red ants guarding the aphids come to the rescue. A nest of hantik up in the tree has an army by the thousands. They swarm on intruders and large preys such as caterpillars.

Under the microscope one could examine the unsuspecting Trichogramma. Mass culture and dispersal of this parasite wasp has benefited sugar and corn planters since its discovery in the fifties.

Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt, has become the most popular entomophagous bacterium against Lepidopterous pest which include rice stemborers and cornborers. Applied as inoculum, Bt can cause widespread epidemic on these pests on the field.

D. Practical Pest Control at Home

Here are pest control techniques you can adopt at home.

1. To control furniture weevil and moths destroying the felt and the wood of the piano, place a dozen well-dried black pepper (do not crush) in the piano chamber near the pedals. Pamita is a good repellant and has a pleasant smell.

2. Coconut trees whose shoots are being destroyed by rhinoceros beetle (Oryctis rhinoceros) can be saved with ordinary sand. If the trees are low, sprinkle sand into the leaf axils. Sand contains silica that penetrates the conjunctiva, the soft part of the body where hard chitinous plates are joined.

3. Bean weevil destroying stored beans, especially mungo, can be control by mixing a little ash of rice hull (ipa’) with the same principle as in rhinoceros beetle.

4. To get rid of nematodes in the soil, incorporate chopped or ground exoskeleton (skin) of shrimps into the soil, preferably mixing it with compost. Chitinase is formed which dissolves the cover of the egg and the body of the organism. Use poultry dropping to reduce nematode population.

5. To control cucurbit fruit fly, cover the newly formed fruits of ampalaya and cucumber with paper bag. Bagging is also practiced on mango fruits. Use newspaper (1/8 of the broadsheet) or used paper, bond size. Roll the paper, two inches in diameter, insert the young fruit, fold at the top and staple. Bagged fruits are clean, smooth and light green. Export quality mangoes were individually bag on the tree.

6. To discourage goats in nibbling the trunk of trees, paint the base and trunk with manure slurry, preferably their own. To keep termites away from mud-plastered walls, use termite soil (anthill or punso).

7. Raise ducks to eat snail pest (golden kuhol) on the farm. Chicken and birds are natural insect predators.

8. An extra size mosquito net can be made into a mini greenhouse. Here you can raise vegetables without spraying. You can conduct your own experiments such as studying the life cycle of butterflies.

9. There are plants that have repellant properties. Plant them around the garden. Examples are lantana (Lantana camara), chrysanthemum, neem tree, eucalyptus, madre de cacao (Gliricida sepium), garlic, onions, and kinchai.

10. To scare birds that compete for feeds in poultry houses, recycle old balls, plastic containers, styro and the like, by painting them with two large scary eyes, imitating the “eyes” on the wings of butterflies and months. Hang them freely where birds frequent the area. To scare off birds in the field, dress up used mannequins. They are more effective than the T-scarecrow. Cassette tapes tied along the field borders produce sound that scare maya and other pests.

E. Insects as Food
One practical means of insect control is by gathering them to supplement nutrition. Gathering of insects for food is not only confined among primitive societies but is still one of the practical means of controlling insects. Anyone who has tasted camaro’ (sautéed mole cricket) would tell you it is no different from a crustacean. Well, insects and shrimps belong to the same phylum – Arthropoda.

Locust may destroy crops, but in a way bring food to its victims. During a swarm, locust is gathered by the sacks and sold for food and animal feeds. So with gamu-gamu (winged termites) at the onset of the rainy season, which is also the time of emergence of salagubang, another insect delicacy. Other food insects are the grubs of kapok beetle, eggs of hantik, larvae of honeybee and cheese maggots.

F. When is a pest a pest?

When we see an insect, instinct tells us to kill it. It should not be. A caterpillar is a plant eater, but the beautiful butterfly that emergence from it is harmless. In fact it is an efficient pollinator. Hantik ants make harvesting of fruits very inconvenient because of their bite and sting, but they guard the trees from destructive insects. Houseflies carry germs, but without them the earth would be filled with dead bodies of organisms. They are nature’s chief decomposers working hand in hand with bacteria. Termites may cause a house to fall, but without them the forest would be a litter of fallen trees.

It is natural to see leafhoppers on rice plants, aphids on corn, bugs in the soil, grasshopper on the meadow, borers on twigs, fruit flies on ripening fruits. These organisms live with us under one biosphere. And if the rule is for us to dominate them, for all we know they have been dominating the earth for millions of years, even before mankind was born.

There is no way to escape pesky creatures. Conflict arises where their populations overrun our crops, spoil our stored products, and threaten our health and welfare. We have set thresholds of co-existence. As long as they do not cross this line, I think it is all right to be living with them, to ponder at the beauty of their wings, the fire they carry, the song they make, the magnitude of numbers, or simply to marvel at the mystery of their existence. ~

UST GS: Friendly Insects

April 12, 2014, 8:34 am

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By Dell H. Grecia

Women’s Journal

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid

DZRB 738 AM, 8 to 9 Evening Class, Monday to Friday

Dr. Abe V. Rotor and Ms. Melly Tenorio, 

Before you grab the fly swatter or reach for the can of Baygon or Raid, think of creepy crawlies as part of Nature’s healing system. Here, read on and learn why some insects are here to stay.

Like herbal plants, some insects possess their own medicinal value. Or so says out friend, Dr. Abe V. Rotor of the University of Santo Tomas and St. Paul University, Quezon City.

           

Bee sting, for example, cures arthritis and rheumatism. In fact, the number of doctors and clinics that use bee venom as an alternative medicine is increasing in the United States and other parts of the world.

            The treatment is as simple as introducing the excited bee over the affected area, say, the knee or elbow. By holding the struggling bee with forceps, its posterior needle is aimed at the infected area. Once the needle is deeply imbedded, the bee is removed. In the process, the sting with the attached poison sac is torn off, resulting in the insect’s death. (This is the same reason a male bee dies after mating with the potential queen during nuptial flight). The poison sac contracts rhythmically, as more poison flows into the affected muscles and nerves.

A. The Mealy Bug

The mealy bug (Dactylopius coccus), which produces cochineal, is another insect that has medicinal value. It is presently cultured commercially in the Honduras, Canary Island, Mexico, Peru and Spain.

            Extensively used as dye, cochineal was later discovered to possess properties that allay pain. It is reported to be effective as well against whooping cough and neuralgia.

B. Fly Maggots vs. Deep-seated Wounds 

     During the First-World War, relates Dr. Rotor, a certain Dr. W. S. Baer noticed that wounds of soldiers who had been lying on the battlefield for hours did not develop infections such as osteomyelitis, as compared with wounds treated and dressed promptly after they were inflicted.

            The reason: the older wounds were found to be infested with maggots. These maggots are larvae of flies; commonly houseflies and the blue bottle flies. The adult flies can detect the smell of blood. They deposit their eggs around the wound, anticipating that their larvae are assured of food provided by the injured tissues.

            This led to the practice of rearing maggots under sterile conditions and introducing these surgically clean maggots into wounds to eat the microscopic particles to putrefied flesh and bone. The practice, however, ended with the introduction of modern drugs and surgery. To show how effective this practice was, a survey revealed that 92 percent of 600 physicians who had used this treatment reported favorably about it.

            A renowned researcher, Dr. William Robinson, was able to isolate a substance from the secretion of the maggots which he believed to have a healing effect on infected wounds, acting like antibiotics. This material – allantoin - soon became commercially available, as its importance began to be recognized.

            Allantoin is a harmless, odorless, stainless, painless, and inexpensive lotion which, when applied to chronic ulcers, burns, and similar pus-forming wounds, stimulates local- rather than general- granulation. Thus, it is of special value in treating deep wounds such as bone marrow infection, where the internal part of the wound must be healed first.

            Allantoin solutions cannot be as efficient as using living maggots in the treatment of bone infections, however. This is because the maggots actually eat out the necrotic tissues and kill the pus-forming bacteria by digesting them. In the process, the maggots continuously secrete minute quantities of allantoin in their excreta to the very depth of the wound, especially where the use of surgical instrument is limited if not dangerous.

            With the advent of computers and other gadgets, modern medicine (except, perhaps, in very remote situations) has finally shelved the practice of using maggots on wounds, and it is likely to remain there.

C. Cantharidin: A Cure-All Drug and Aphrodisiac

      Dr. Rotor explains that Dr. Rufino Gapuz, also a professor, discussed in his class a way to harness and calm down a cow that is in heat so that she can be brought to the corral for breeding. This was in the sixties, when artificial insemination was something new in animal science.

            There is an injection that comes from the blister beetle, the so-called Spanish fly or Lytta vasicatoria. This insect occurs in abundance in France and Spain, a relative of the American blister beetle.

            The beetle carries in its body cantharidin. It was used as folk medicine during the 19^th century for all sorts of ailments and also much as an aphrodisiac. At present, it is used in treating certain diseases of the urinogenital system and in an animal breeding.

D. Ant Secretion

      With the decline in the effectiveness of antibiotics as a result of increasing resistance of pathogen, says Dr. Rotor, the search for more potent ones has widened into various fields, which today include plants, fungi, and protists - monerans notwithstanding.

            One potential source of antibiotics is the green tree ant, a member of the large order of insects Hymenoptera to which bees and wasps belong. Like their relatives, the green tree ants - locally known as hantik - live in colonies. This social behavior enables them to grow in numbers of hundreds or thousands in a single colony, which can remain active for a long time. Other than its reported antibiotic property, the leaf nest of the green tree ant relieves inflammation when bandaged on the affected area.

            According to Walter Linsenmaier, the green tree ant is famed as a weaver ant, not on account of its architecture that consists merely of a pile of leaves pulled, but because of their method of working. When fastening two somewhat separated leaves together, these ants line up on the edge of one of them, holding onto it with legs stretched full length behind them and, working together, pull up the other leaf with their mandibles.

            Meanwhile, other ants, with the spinning larvae in their mouths, weave the leaves together. If the distance between leaves is too great for an ant to bridge the gap, the ants form ladders; these not only make it possible to pull the leaves closer together, but also serve as a bridge of the weavers. The larvae secretion may be extended inward to strengthen earlier ties and provide lining to the brood. It is this secretion that reportedly is an effective remedy against wound infection and inflammation.

 E. New Frontiers

Dr. Rotor has listed down some new frontiers in the insect world as cures to various pathogens, to wit:

·         Anti-venom and poison antidotes are derived from Hymenopterans. Many victims die of insect bite every year that there is a need to develop a ready source of anti-venom vaccine and antidote. Can insect venom also apply to other kinds of poisoning?

Predatory Crane Fly (Tipula)

·      

   The secret of hibernation among insects can serve as a model for cryonic science in humans. To cross the vast space in future interplanetary travel, man will have to defy time and aging. One means is through planned hibernation.

·         Parthenogenesis is an unusual reproduction of immature insects without the benefit of sexual reproduction. Could this “virgin birth” apply to higher animals and humans? When threatened by lack of food and inclement weather conditions, aphids reproduce even before reaching full maturity and without the involvement of gametes.

·         Insects highly- resistant to putrefaction such as among Dipterans may be the key to cancer prevention and treatment. Blue bottle fly maggots can survive acidity up to 10 percent. Hence, they are found to breed in vinegar and fish sauce substrate without apparent harmful effect to the process and end products.

·         The burning and obnoxious secretions of certain insects, particularly Hemipterans, have yet to be developed as repellant against other pests.

·         In the case fireflies and glow worms, the substance luciferin emits virtually 100-percent light without emission of heat. This substance has many possible uses in industry and medicine as tracer.

·         The high protein content of certain insects like termites, silk worm larvae, and grasshoppers (three to four times higher than beef, milk and eggs) has great promise in the development of high-value food. Protein capsules, for example, can be made convenient for those who lead busy lives.

·         Chitin of insects is the envy of plastic manufacturers. It is much stronger, yet very much lighter. Its many uses include the control of nematodes using chitin preparations. Chinese doctors recommend insect exoskeleton as a remedy for a hundred and one ailments.

Dr. Rotor concludes that insects, the most numerous and oldest of all animals on earth, have reasons for their existence. Although they are generally regarded as notorious destroyers, the truth is that our well-being hinges much on their presence and persistence. They are part of Nature’s healing system.

Gems in Your Backyard

 Your backyard may be full of “gems,” if it is planted to various vegetable., ornamental and herbal plants. A mini-pond tilapia , catfish (hito), or the so-called pangasius can also add to the riches of your garden. And your joy will surely increase when harvest time comes.

            But there are other gems in your backyard, which you may not be even aware of. These are the different insects which live in your garden.

            My friend Dr. Abe V. Rotor, an entomologist by profession, recently shared with me a good lesson on insects, we would certainly miss nature’s sweetest sugar (honey), finest fabric (silk), and mysterious fig (Smyrnafig).

            We would be having less and less of luscious fruits and succulent vegetables. As such, we would not have enough food to eat because insects are the chief pollinators. They also serve as cheap food for fishes and other animals. They are a major link in the food chain, the columns of a biological parthenon.

            According to Prof. Rotor, without insects, the earth would also be littered with the dead bodies of plants and animals. Insects are the co-workers of decomposition, along with bacteria and fungi, as they prepare for the life of the neat generation by converting dead tissues into organic materials and ultimately into inorganic forms, thus helping bridge the gap between the living and the non- living world.

            Ecologically, Dr. Rotor explains that insects are the barometer of the kind of environment we live in. A pristine environment attracts beneficial insects, while a damaged one breed pests and diseases.

A. Insects Dominate the Animal World

Insects are our best friends. They are little helpers in our vegetable gardens- pollinating flowers and preying on pests.

Prof. Rotor relates that we cannot escape from insects: good or bad, beneficial or harmful. In terms of species, there are seven insects out of ten animal organisms on earth. Insects comprise 800,000 kinds, including their relatives- lobsters, shrimps, spiders, ticks, centipedes, millipedes and scorpions. Phylum Arthropoda would then comprise 80 percent of all animal organisms. To compare, plants make up only half a million species.

            How have these minute insects outlived such giants as dinosaurs and mammoths? What is the secret behind their longevity?

            Ants, termites and bees, according to Prof. Rotor, are the so-called social insects. Their caste system, intact and strict, has long been regarded as a model of man’s quest for a perfect society. It inspired the building of such highly autocratic civilizations as the Egyptian and Roman Empires, and the monarchical Aztecs and Mayans.

B. Insects are Good Defenders     

Take the case of the butterflies and moths. Prof. Rotor says their active time is not only well defined (diurnal or nocturnal), but their food is highly specific to a plant or group of plants and their parts. Their life cycle allows either accelerated or suspended metamorphosis, depending on the prevailing conditions in the environment. This is a feat no other animal can do more efficiently. The young of a dragonfly called nymph is as fearful a hunter in water as the adult is in the air. Apparently this is this is the reason behind its legendary name.

            The praying mantis, on the other hand, carries a pair of ax-and-vise. A bee brandishes a poisonous dagger, while a white tussock moth is cloaked with stinging barbs. A stink bug, for its part, sprays corrosive acid on eyes or skin. The weevil has an auger snout, the grasshopper grins with shear-like mandibles, and the mosquito pricks with a long, contaminated needle.

            The beetle, according to Prof. Rotor, brings us to the medieval age. A knight in full battle gear! Chitin, which makes up its armor called exoskeleton, has yet to be successfully copied in the laboratory. Same with the light of the firefly, which is the most efficient of all lights on earth.

            Imagine that: aphids, scale insects and some dipterans are capable of paedogenesis. That is, the ability of an immature insect to produce young even before reaching maturity!

            Indeed, King Solomon was wise, Prof. Rotor affirms, in halting his army so that another army - an army of ants - can pass. Killer ants and killer bees destroy anything that impede their passage, including livestock and humans.    

C. Insects Are the Best Acrobats

Because they are small, insects can ride on the wind and current, find easy shelter, and are less subjected to injury when they fall. Also, their small size requires relatively less energy than bigger organisms do. All of these contribute to their persistence and worldwide distribution. Insects can even survive major disasters, Prof. Rotor adds.

            Insects, like the crickets, are “musicians.” While their sounds are music to the many of us, they are actually coded sounds similar to our own communication. Cicadas, beetles, and grasshoppers have their own “languages.”

            Termites and bees, on the other hand also have their own language, which comes in the form of chemical signals known as pheromones. It is because of them that we are now studying pheromones in humans.

D. Love of Nature, Love of God

As you work in your backyard, nature invites you to be loving; when loves dwells in you, then you begin to feel the spirit of God.

            My friend Prof. Rotor was so engrossed in his study of insects that he was inspired to compose two verses for a praying mantis:

                                                                     Mantis

           

      Praying or preying you’re God sent,

          You pray for rain, you share our peace;

      You prey on the pest that feeds on crops,

           Two lives have you all in one piece.

      Your friendly gaze is for a man’s grim

           Kneeling in the art of the strangler,

      Yet a friend you are to the farmer,

           So welcome, shy, friendly killer.

*In memory of the late Dell H Grecia, veteran journalist and TV commentator.