By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
“ I wrote the above in October 2009 after typhoon Pepeng caused a massive landslide in Kayan East, Tadian, claiming 40 lives, causing so much trauma and damaging so much property. ”
I grew up in these beautiful Cordillera mountains. I’ve always regarded them as so solid, so secure, always there when I open my curtains in the morning. They have provided fresh air, food, water, shelter and everything we need not just for survival, but for abundant life. They were our playgrounds as kids, the Pilao and W mountains providing blueberries and close encounters with the cows in summer. Mushrooms and mountain lilies sprouted from many other mountains during the rainy season. In my low moments I have looked upon these mountains for solace. In these mountains, I find my God.
Cruising the mountainsides along Halsema highway is a joy but lately has brought some sadness and anger. The lush green mountains of Buguias near Tinoc have been slashed and laid bare to the elements of rain and sun to give way to commercial gardens. These defacing activities have crossed the boundary into Mountain Province territory.
Economic progress brought about by hard work and thrift has enabled the Igorot to access modern technology which facilitates work. To some people’s delight, they can cut 50 year old trees with chainsaw in 30 minutes, wipe out a field of grass with just a spray of POWER and blast big boulders to bits in seconds. Big concrete houses sprout on the mountainsides. In a short span of 10 years or less, we have changed the landscape. What is tragic is that we don’t have qualms about changing the landscape, as if it is our right to do so.
A week of continuous rains pours on us and the mountains came crashing down crushing everything in its path – lives and property were lost in an instant. Suddenly, we feel afraid. These seemingly invincible mountains can crumble after all. What happened? Are we safe in these mountains?
Do we know our environment? The laws that govern these mountains, the water, the blueberries, the cows? The laws of nature? The laws of life? Do we care to know?
How do new technologies, like concrete houses and septic tanks, impact on our environment? How much weight can a slope handle?
These are questions that matter to our health and happiness, our very lives. We need divine wisdom, courage and humility to get to the answers. We need to discover the wisdom of our ancestors – we have written records that many of our local villages are at least a century old so they must have accumulated so much knowledge and skills. How did they establish settlements? How did they regard the mountains? Water? Trees? The environment in general? They must have followed some rules.
I look forward to sincere actions of government and our leaders to address these urgent issues as we pick up the pieces and rebuild our broken communities. As individuals and families, we also need to reflect on our own lifestyles. Are we part of the problem or part of the solution?
Our continuing prayers for those who have lost loved ones and property. May God provide for those in need.
I wrote the above in October 2009 after typhoon Pepeng caused a massive landslide in Kayan East, Tadian, claiming 40 lives, causing so much trauma and damaging so much property. That was almost 10 years ago. Apparently, we, as a region, didn’t learn our lessons so I am reposting it and adding some more concerns.
This time, on September 15, 2018, it was less than 24 hours of fierce winds and rains of typhoon Ompong and it brought bigger mountains down and claimed so many lives in Itogon, Benguet. Over in Mountain Province at Dantay, a mountain slid, claiming 6 lives. All in all, the toll is more than double that in 2009. It’s scary. Apart from massive commercial gardening, we have mining and earth-moving all over. What are we doing to our own home?
I learned that there was a DENR moratorium on mining in 2009. Apparently, that didn’t stop mining. Big time mining is still around and small-scale mining has been added and become so rampant these past years. I am glad that the President ordered all this to stop. I salute Provincial Police Senior Superintendent Allen Ocden for enforcing this order in Mountain Province, otherwise, we may have had more accidents. As one small-scale miner admitted, “an-anayen mi nan bilig”. It’s deadly. Termites eat wood inside and silently so the wood will just crumble at the right time. So like termite-infested wood, our once-formidable solid mountains are now crumbling.
It is not hard to understand why mining, in all its forms, is destructive to the environment – to the land and water. I’ve seen the mining sites and it is ugly – not what God created. I’ve seen their tailings and they are murky and unnatural-looking. And who benefits from mining? Sure, sons and daughters of miners have finished school because of the mines. But then, also sons and daughters of farmers have finished school. I’ve read that mining contributes only a teeny weeny bit in our economy and yet, it is so destructive. Farming contributes so much more. And who needs all those gold and copper? Of course, we need those for our gadgets, etc. and to feed our vanity. You can name a million uses for them. But my thinking is that if the Creator placed them so deep in the ground, then it is not for us. A loving father would not keep things out of reach if these are necessary for survival. So why don’t we just wait for these minerals to pop up from the ground? If we insist on mining these mountains, then we should live elsewhere. So thank you, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu for stopping all small-scale mining in the Cordillera. Why not stop it all over the country? Storms strike anywhere, you know. We need a strong government to protect us all. All the gold in the world cannot compensate for the tragedy that happened last weekend. We pray for those who lost their lives and for their families and for those who are helping them.
Mother Earth, our home, where we all live, has become fragile. Let us handle her with care and she will also care for us. ***
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“Look at the birds in the air; they do not plant seeds, gather a harvest and put it into barns; yet your Father in heaven takes care of them! Aren’t you worth much more than birds?” Matt 6:26
