SM and the trees of Baguio

Photo source: watwatworld.com

SM City's Baguio branch came into the limelight recently because they are cutting (or earth-balling, depends on who said them) trees around its vicinity to give way for ample parking space for its clients. I would like to give emphasis on the CLIENTS thing because thinking about it, it is really the people of Baguio who are cutting trees, not just SM. SM was just too kind to give them ample space, because they, the people of Baguio, are filling up SM City.

When I was in Baguio a few years back, the place was noisy and polluted with all type of machines running on its streets. Baguio was not as cold as I expected.

So this online protest of sort is like a wimpy cry of a child. Distant and losing ground. Baguio has abused mother nature long before. Unless of course, the real people of Baguio City really cares for nature and this protesting is not done only by outsiders.

Read this:

• Greenpeace: SM Baguio has started the "unthinkable" at the expense of trees
• Rappler: SM uproots trees in Baguio, triggers protests
• Pinoy Buzz: SM Baguio killing pine trees is just part of the problem

Saving Baguio's pine trees is just for show. Go around the place and they have been cutting them trees. This is not uniquely SM's doing.

Prayers no longer needed

When the earthquake struck in Japan this afternoon I was not minding the news because I thought it was the same earthquake that struck them yesterday and I was also too busy doing a serious project. But when I checked my Twitter account, I was suddenly transported into that place.

Frankly, I was literally shivering when I saw the online feeds and cried later when the tsunami struck in certain parts of that nation, even reaching 10 kilometers inland. Subsequent tsunami warnings were given to the whole Asia Pacific region.

I was reminded of my dear friends there in Japan and I hope they were doing fine.

Consequently, several unwanted text messages kept my phone busy, telling me to pray as if the tremor in Japan could be undone if I pray. Of course, this was a commercial action from enterprising companies and individuals riding on the disaster to gain financially. Or from some zealous Christians who could think of nothing but blame the sins of the world for the disaster.

How insensitive! Or idiotic?

I don't think prayers would help now but are rather useless. What can you do?

However, immediate actions are rather necessary for those affected like helping residents or sending monetary donations to Japan. Can you believe that there are about 400,000 Filipinos in Japan? Helping and donating are noble causes worth pursuing. These are better than kneeling down and blame people for disasters.

Good luck to all of us. 

Pictures grabbed from several website sources.

Australia is deluged (and some Philippine provinces, too)

I heard my blogger friend in Queensland, Australia, The Beancounter, is bracing for more flooding in their area. They were told to get ready for evacuations.

Anywhere in the world, calamities and disasters happened, be it natural or man-made. The difference there is the people's and the government's readiness to handle such happenings. Although I believe Australia is a first world country but still they suffer. But not as big suffering as compared to us living in the third world. Still.

I hope everyone is safe and in higher grounds today.

More in the news:

• Brisbane braces for more flooding as 90 people missing reported missing 
• From drought to flood, Queensland's woes go on 
• Photos: Australian flooding 

Meanwhile in Albay province in the Philippines (and possibly in some other provinces of the country), similar scenario is slowly dissipating inch by inch almost canceling a dream to come true.

• 'For better or for worse,' come hell or high water 
• Floods bring more misery 

All pics grabbed from various sources in the internet.

Communing with nature at City Springs

We were informed, of course.

That going there would take us a short ride to Guadalupe area and a few minutes of walking through almost dried-up river beds and hilly mounds. I thought it was just a joke. Knowing how urban Cebu City is, telling someone that the place we are going does not have electricity nor mobile signal is surely preposterous. 

But that was the case when the lovely couple Melvin and Gail Banzon invited us to their place in Kalunasan, Guadalupe for a day of camaraderie with a few friends. They called that place City Springs, aptly taken from the three-tiered springs they developed into tiny pools for an intimate chit-chat with loved ones and friends while wallowing in cold mountain waters. Even if they put concrete on the sides of the springs, you won't feel artificial about the place. The concrete, in fact, enhanced the natural setting. I wonder who was their architect.

I can see a great escape from the chaotic side of urbanization coming very soon. 

Despite the lack of amenities (there is only a main shed, a kitchen-dining area, comfort rooms with flowing water and some benches for group sessions), we are already planning to go back and experience an overnight stay there. It would be a great experience, I am sure.

And while walking back towards civilization and balancing myself on a small trail that have led us to another place and time, I was praising God for such a small insignificant patch of nature that is unbelievably within the premises of urban Cebu. That insignificant patch made a significant tap on my inner self.

Nothing beats nature in its true form. And everyone of us is thankful for that great discovery.

More on City Springs from Melvin's Facebook can be seen here .

First photo courtesy of Melvin Banzon. Last photo courtesy of Eros Cagaanan.

Ecological lessons once more

This medieval church from the Catalonian village of Sant Roma in Spain (above picture) emerged after decades of submersion in a dam project. Due to extreme drought, the water in the dam were gone and the old village emerges once more. News source and pic 

Such is the case also in the town of Potozi, Venezuela (pictured above), several hundreds of miles away from Spain when the water receded from the dam project, several mementos of a town emerged like a ghost haunting the older generation back. News source , pic source 

Meanwhile, the Magat River somewhere up north in the Philippines had people scrambling to save what is left of their fishpens due to the sudden drop of its water levels. News source 

Now let's review our lessons in ecology. Again.

The floods helped Manila clean up

I saw this article in Inquirer.net and I believe, is worth a reprint here. 

For so long, Manila and its suburbs have not done their share of cleaning up. The government agencies were inutile enough to dismiss this as a problem and focused instead on corruption, a not so alien job with our government agencies and also with the corrupted and corrupt people of the Philippines. The typhoon Ondoy became history and so was (is?) the tragedy that surrounded Manila.

Not so long time ago, the Supreme Court ordered government agencies to cleanup Manila Bay, an obvious choice because everybody could see it. But until now, they still pass the buck, blaming everyone but not everybody on who was not cleaning up and instead showed us how much paper work they already have done.

So nature did its share of cleaning up. The harsh way.

We have the most beautiful malls and dirtiest esteros

by Thelma Sioson San Juan

Philippine Daily Inquirer/Inquirer.net

ALYA CUT out the "hello" on the phone and instead sobbed straight into my ear. I could hear more sobbing than words. I finally did make out what she was trying to say: Our friend Joseph, who lives in San Juan, had to swim out of his house when the water rose up to its second story. Seeing the water rising to his knees, he decided to swim out with his loved one and only housemate—Princess, a dachshund.

They had been swimming away from his house, he doing the backstroke so Princess could perch on his chest, when the current grew stronger. He flipped to swim free style, with Princess still swimming alongside him, but they were being sucked towards the river. Joseph was able to grip a steel pole.

Glancing beside him, he saw Princess already way beyond his reach and being spun into the current towards the river.

That was what Alya was sobbing about—Princess’ death and Joseph’s near-death.

Turned out, that tragedy—no matter that we love Joseph and Princess—was not, by any measure, unique last weekend. There were far, far worse.

Metro Manila and the outlying provinces were one big tragedy. A tragedy waiting to happen.

While “Ondoy” dumped the highest rainfall in decades, still, what happened was a man-made disaster.

The past decades we’ve been building the most beautiful malls, gated subdivisions and high-rises—amid the dirtiest esteros and unkempt neighborhoods. In fact, Metro Manila is at its filthiest.

Cities have been overrun with squatters, many of these settlements in esteros—coddled by city mayors who could use their vote.

The mountains, from the north to the south, have been shaved of trees. Environment advocates have to fight tooth and nail to protect the trees, even right in the urban landscape, like Katipunan Ave. (It is ironic coincidence “Ondoy” struck as environment and waste recycling activist Odette Alcantara was being laid to rest.)

And the rivers—the Pasig River stinks. Peer down on Manila Bay and you see plastic bags, food wrappers and all kinds of debris floating.

When disaster strikes, as it did this week, you could count the government’s rubber boats with your 10 fingers. People using toy floaters to save people—this tragic sight is in a country where billions of pesos go into the pork barrel of politicians and government officials, and that’s not even counting what’s in the coffers of local officials.

Clearly, the environment and infrastructure have been suffering from sheer neglect.

Indeed, the unimpeded degradation of the environment is matched only by unconscionable corruption and greed of government. It’s bad governance that’s been our real disaster.

The nouveau riche sprucing up the house with opulent furniture and decor, but never bothering to clean up the house and unclog the toilet—that’s our “disaster lifestyle.”

Photos from deputy-dog.com (and you think your garbage is overflowing?)

Nature Strikes Back

“Nature often holds up a mirror so we can see more clearly the ongoing processes of growth, renewal, and transformation in our lives.”

Photos from Facebook: Jade Tamboon, Blacksuperchad Maglonzo, Julz Ilano, Wenzzo Pancho, Ryan Ramirez, Savann Oeurm, Atom Araullo, Rafa Dinglasan, Kathy Zablan and other unknown sources.