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Kamayan para sa Kalikasan
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September Forum Consensus Social Acceptability, a serious requirement THE LIKELIHOOD of cell site an- tennas posing health hazards to surrounding communities has remained controversial after arguments and information from two parties clashed over the dialogue table at last month’s session of Kamayan para sa Kalikasan. It boiled down to the matter of “whose facts are we going to believe,” according to the session synthesis. But one consensus point was upheld by all: the “social acceptability” requirement for projects that affect the community |
Forum Topic for September:Deep
Ecology education needed to instill Love for Life, for Nature As
harassed Biology students ask about names and terms, ‘Kailangan
ba talagang i-memorize yan??? "HITTING two birds with one stone” has been a widely-used expression to describe a doubly productive move. And if the matter of environment sensitivity is ever brought up on this, the retort would be that “It is just an expression!” Maybe it is. But it doesn’t help deepen our children’s, or even our very own, love for Nature, if it is there at all. Love for Nature, Love for Life – is this part of our environmental concern? Wouldn’t it be enough to conserve the environment so that the needs of next-generation humans would not be compromised, the logic stated in our definition of “sustainable development”? |
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EDITORIAL BOXED FEATURE: SPECIAL MESSAGE: COVER QUOTE:
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Our own bodies are 'Walking Synergies' of Life
You are invited to the Lambat-Liwanag Conference on Deep Ecology and Harmony with Nature “Nature is a nourishing and wise circle. Like babes in the womb, we are being nourished within that circle this very moment, as we breathe in the oxygen the circle provides for us. Outside of this circle we cannot survive. We live not as detached individuals, but as womb-mates — cooperative parts of the Whole.” --Bill Cane, author of Circles of Hope. |
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“LOVE ALL LIFE” symbol in SanibLakas booklet, Seven
Flames for Holistic Synergies,
2000. |
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Our own bodies are all ‘Walking Synergies’ of Life! THIS editorial begins with a surprise quiz on Biology. After all, serious environmental conservation advocates are expected to know their Biology so we can know the natural environment, the better to try and conserve it. Okay? Here we go… (1) True or false: we breathe so that our lungs can live. (2) True or false: we eat and drink so that our stomachs can live. (3) True or false: organisms are simply cells clustered together. (4) True or false: we ought to save the environment mainly because if we don’t we can’t have life-support systems to survive on. Ready? Call a friend? Sure na ba kayo? It’s all false. We don't need to have blood flowing in our bodies if (1) and (2) were true. We breathe and eat and drink so that all our cells can breathe and eat and drink. Yes, they all do that every moment, and the blood delivers supplies up to the most far-flung living cells of your cute little toe, and collects all the garbage, too! Organisms,
including us, are not simple clusters of living cells like cell colonies
are, but harmonious mega-team-ups of diverse types
of cells, all
formed into teams
of tissues,
organs and systems. And these systems make up a harmonious
symphony of interdependent vibrancy more amazing than all the Swiss
watches and microprocessor-chip computer boards combined. And these
gadgets don’t grow like organisms do. Left alone, our bodies can
even heal themselves of wounds and all sorts of forms of dis-ease.
This applies to humans and all other organisms on this living
planet. Marvelous, shouldn’t we think so? How come
we almost never say so?
How come we behave like we really don’t think so?
Our bodies are all “walking synergies” forming part of a much bigger harmonious team-up, the great symphony we call “Nature,” where no plant or animal exists just to be another organism’s supper or plaything. Nature does not exist just so humans could eat, drink and be merry! |
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Forum Topic for September:Deep
Ecology education needed to instill Love for Life, for Nature As
harassed Biology students ask about names and terms, ‘Kailangan
ba talagang i-memorize yan??? "HITTING two birds with one stone” has been a widely-used expression to describe a doubly productive move. And if the matter of environment sensitivity is ever brought up on this, the retort would be that “It is just an expression!” Maybe it is. But it doesn’t help deepen our children’s, or even our very own, love for Nature, if it is there at all? Love for Nature, Love for Life – is this part of our environmental concern? Wouldn’t it be enough to conserve the environment so that the needs of next-generation humans would not be compromised, the logic stated in our definition of “sustainable development”? Deep ecology goes beyond that very prudent but narrowly human-centered paradigm, and calls for respecting -- really loving -- Life in all its biodiverse incarnations. Can this make a dent when even just “sustainable development” sounds like an abstract hi-fallutin’ term? Can education make Filipinos of all ages really care more for the Life within their own bodies and the Life in the natural environment with which their bodies interdepend? What would be the role of parents, of formal educators, of opinion and policy leaders? What approaches should we use? This
and closely related topics will be discussed during the 151st
session of Kamayan para sa Kalikasan on September 20,
which would have a more active role for all the participants from
the
formal
and informal education sector, the environmental and religious
groups and outdoor-oriented associations, and local government
councils. As we prepared this issue of Kamayan
para sa Kalikasan Journal, the
following have confirmed participation as resource persons: Evelyn Quijano, education
officer of the Justice and Peace for Integrity of Creation
Commission of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the
Philippines (JPICC-AMRSP); Mariano Aycocho Jr., public relations officer of the
family ministry of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Makati; and our
very own Marie R. Marciano, president of Sanib-lakas ng Inang
Kalikasan (SALIKA). Expected
to be discussed in the forum is how Biology is being taught in the
schools. This subject has apparently been a pure-memorization ordeal
being suffered by batches upon batches of students who have grown to
dislike or even hate it. Harassed students of Biology, for example, would look at a long list of scientific names of species, and rhetorically ask, ”Kailangan pa bang i-memorize ‘yan?” Wouldn’t the study of this and the other lists (like “phylum-this” and “phylum-that”) have “more life to it” if the students had earlier come to appreciate and value biodiversity as a vital stabilizer of symbiosis in the wonderful Web of Life? Wouldn’t the study of anatomy and physiology be more exciting as a continuing discovery and amazement that our bodies are walking synergies of various totally-interdependent systems (respiratory, circulatory, digestive, etc.). made up of all those teams of organs, tissues and specialized cells? The Forum participants are expected to engage in lively discussion over his and similar questions. They
will also be asked to sign up for the Love Life Philippines, a campaign
and services network now being organized by SanibLakas Foundation
to be assisted by an academe-based task force with a parallel mission.
The formation of such a task force is expected to be mandated by the Lambat-Liwanag Conference for Deep Ecology and Harmony with Nature, set to be held the whole day Saturday, September 21, at the University of Sto. Tomas Medicine Bldg. in Sampaloc, Manila. The
conference is jointly convened by the Lambat-Liwanag Network of
Centers for Empowering Paradigms, UST-SRC, and UST Center for
Contextualized Theology and Applied Ethics. This is the fourth paradigm-specific conference of the network, which groups UST, Philippine Normal University, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, University of the Philippines Manila, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, and the Asian Social Institute. (See announcement below.) |
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September Forum Consensus: Social Acceptability, a serious requirement THE LIKELIHOOD of cell site antennas posing health hazards to surrounding communities has remained controversial after arguments and information from two parties clashed over the dialogue table at last month’s session of Kamayan para sa Kalikasan. It
boiled down to the matter of
“whose facts are we going to believe,” according to the
session synthesis. But one consensus point was upheld by all: the
“social acceptability” requirement for projects
that
affect the community has
to be
taken
more
seriously
by all
concerned. Department
of Health (DOH) Director Agnette P. Peralta and Smart Communications
Project Management Chief Salvio S. Valenzuela presented
assurances that cellsite antennas are safe and that the firm has
been meeting all requirements of the law. On the other hand,
University
of Sto. Tomas Social Research Center (UST-SRC) Director Ernesto
R. Gonzales, SRC researcher Edgar Yu, Pateros community leader Gilda
Orate-Junsay and Antipolo-based realtor George
Dadivas
aired
their apprehensions citing
documents, newspaper clippings and testimonies from a local
family. Both sides presented “evidence” in such forms but no
clear resolution on the controversy was reached. Still,
this forum session, with others in attendance also joining the
discussion, reached consensus on the need to clarify and enforce
official policy on the “social acceptability” requirement on
projects
that affect local communities, with this requirement being
deemed “vital.” Valenzuela
declared in the forum that “social acceptability” was attained
by securing all the permits required by the local government for the
tower to be built. He presented documents including one that
quoted a DENR office saying cell site antennas were excluded in
the coverage of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) system,
which is the context of the “social acceptability” requirement
imposed by the DENR, and saying the matter belonged to DOH. But
Gonzales revealed receiving a document from the DENR Environment
Management Bureau, which, in effect, contradicted this claim of no coverage
of these antenna projects. SRC
received by fax a copy of a letter prepared by Director Reynaldo
Alcances, Chief of DENR-EMB’s EIA Division, for signing by EMB
Director Julian Amador. The document, which does not carry
Amador’s signature but has already been assigned a reference
code, “EMB-0207442120B.” It says in part: “Based on the site
inspection conducted by EMB-EIA technical staff on 17 July 2002,
for cellular communications tower project located at M. Almeda st.
Sto. Rosario, Pateros, Metro Manila, the said project was constructed
without securing an environment compliance certificate from the
DENR.….In
view thereof, please submit your verified written explanation
within seven days from receipt hereof on why no penalty should be imposed
against you.” It was addressed to Valenzuela who represents Smart.
On
the matter of getting “social responsibility, which the amiable
Smart official had said was done by securing all the permits
required by the local government, forum moderator Ding Reyes pointed
out in his synthesis that “social acceptability” entails
conducting an information and consultation drive among the people
directly, and “not only getting the nod of the mayor or barangay
officials,” and requires that the people give their “informed
and educated choice” after a balanced info drive. Dadivas
told the forum that the real estate industry has been sensitive to
the presence of these towers, treating land where they are located
as risky and therefore of lower value. Valenzuela explained that
more and more towers have to built in order to decrease the power of
each one, which the moderator likened to speakers in a “piped-in
music” setup. Ms. Orate-Junsay and Dr. Gonzales pleaded that no
more such towers be built in Pateros. “Ours is a very small
town,” Gonzales said, “and we feel we already have much more
than our fair share of these towers.” It was one of the best-attended sessions of Kamayan para sa Kalikasan. Participants in that session exceeded 60 and the latecomers had to sit and eat at tables outside the function room. One such room is being reserved every month for the forum since March 1990, and all the food is served free-of-charge courtesy of Kamayan Restaurant owner Vic-Vic Villavicencio. |
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Poem: Love
All Life! Life
is a magical gift, that has
been so lovingly… breathed
into the quiver of each cell and of each of its replications; breathed
into the unique beauty and majesty of each life form, with all its
cells, tissues, organs, and systems in synergy; breathed
into the preservation and natural adaptations of the life forms,
owing to their valuable and unique places in the dynamic tapestry of
symbiosis; and breathed
into each incarnation that is passing on a magical but fragile flame
from generations of parents to generations of offspring, and
innately possessing individual dignity and rights equal to that of
all other incarnations of all other life forms. Blessing as we do, with our appreciation and abiding concern, indeed with our Love, all these life forms and all their incarnations and homes, We
choose freely and firmly to exalt and preserve all Life, to partake
of the symphony of the food web only with prudence and respect, and
to speak and act against killing and infliction of pain without any
urgent and noble necessity, and we choose freely and firmly to exert
all efforts to shine this Love All Life! message into the minds,
hearts and behavior of all that we can reach, foremost of all deep
within our very own selves. Ding
Reyes, January 2000 [second among the Seven Flames for Holistic
Synergies]
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June
29, 2002 / PNU:
