Something happened on the way to Mt. Kanlaon

I never had a more astonishing sight as Tuesday afternoon when I viewed the videotapes of mediamen scaling their way to the buffer zone of the Mt. Kanlaon National Park.

Earlier, environmentalists had denounced the alleged work on the area by the Philippine National Oil Company-Energy Development Corp. before the Memorandum of Agreement with the Sangguniang Panla­lawigan and the provincial government.

The funny thing. Mediamen who tried to access their way into the buffer zone found themselves besieged by a lot of difficulties, including tiny bloodsuckers called locally as “Alimatok.”

Several of the group, especially the women, turned back when the going got rough. The less slender members of the media team opted not to go through the ordeal of latching on trees before they could haul themselves up the muddy and slick upland slopes of the buffer zone.

And Carla Cañete of Negros Battalion admitted later that although her white jacket remained untarnished, she agreed that her lower pants were turned muddy when she had to slide down over muddy soil and the slippery cogon grasses.

My niece, Antonietta Lopez and daughter Mate, agreed that going up was no for members of the provincial board. Especially the not too young members, such as board members Mae Javellana of the fourth district.

“If they want to append the requirement of members of the Oversight Committee being present during the work on the geothermal dig project, they better be prepared to shed off extra pounds and develop their stamina to be able to climb up the mountain,” quipped both.

Tooks as we call Antonietta, nervously recounted to me her experiences with the jungle leeches. “It was terrible to find out that they had already stuck to portions of my body while we were just climbing,” Tooks said.

Mate, on the other hand, admitted that she gave up the climb soon after she found out that there were only a few trees she could hold on to for support.

“The boys, however, went through the exercise,” the female media persons admitted. Carla was laughing as she recounted what they had encountered into their climb to the buffer zone which they found out had not been touched by the PNOC-EDC.

PNOC-EDC said it will only utilize 12.5 hectares of the 169-hectare buffer zone for geothermal dig. It is allowed by RA 9154, or the Mt. Kanlaon National Park Law. That area represents only one percent of the total park area.

The group of reporters was accompanied by Erwin Magallanes, senior supervisor of the Northern Negros Geothermal Power Plant Environmental Management department.

The mediamen also noted that some of the tall trees had been tagged as such by the PNOC-EDC and plans are to divert the proposed roadway whenever feasible. To avoid their being cut down.

To mitigate the effects on the environment, Roy Gerona, the head of the civil work on the buffer zone, said they will use backhoes instead of bulldozers. This will help protect the environment.

And the PNOC-EDC also have already started planting endemic trees on 40 hectares of the 125 hectares they have committed to reforest within the buffer zone of the park.

And they are planting only saplings which are already one meter high.

That enlightening trek by the mediamen may spur the SP to reconsider some of the “non-doable” conditions they want to impose on the permit to the PNOC-EDC. Like for example, the presence of members of an expanded oversight committee in the work area to supervise the workers.

Edwin Delilah of The Sunstar-Bacolod and Joe Liboon of Sunshine Channel TV pointed out that only a handful of the SP members could qualify to go up the buffer zone.

Their ordeal was unforgettable for the mediamen. And the chances that it will almost be impossible for some of the aging SP members to negotiate the terrain will make them reconsider some of the things they had attached to the permit which they intend to submit to Negros Occidental Gov. Isidro Zayco for inking into an agreement with PNOC-EDC.

Greenpeace in trouble

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas was furious. He lashed out at the foreigner members of the Greenpeace boat, Green Warrior, who allegedly participated in the protest against the proposed coal-powered plant in Barangay Ignore of the city.

“They can say their piece but there is a limit to what they can do in other countries,” was how Mayor Treñas pointed out. He said they city government will file the complaint with the Bureau of Immigration if needed, against the Greenpeace foreign complement.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez had also lashed out at the foreigners who joined the protest action which included dumping coal in front of the Metro Bank branch in Ignore. The bank is reportedly bankrolling the capital outlay for the coal plant project.

The justice secretary directed the STD regional office to investigate the incident and determine the papers of the foreigners and their involvement in the protest action. It’s worth watching for more developments.

ADDENDUM. The battle for the hearts and minds of the villagers of Guihulgan City, Oriental Negros, continues with the military and the Karapatan locked in a propaganda war. It worsened Tuesday when policemen raided the house of a woman leader of the Kapunongan Alang sa Mga Gagmay na Mag-ama of Barangay Linantuyan, of that city. And with a search warrant by Judge Kennedy Buka, Guihulgan policemen and soldiers raided the residence of Mrs. Lourdes Baloy and purportedly found a .38 caliber revolver with ammunition and subversive documents. Baloy is facing grave threats and extortion charges before the City Prosecutor’s Office. Karapatan Negros, also condemned the raid and charge that it was a forcible entry into Baloy’s house by Army soldiers headed by a certain Cpl. Silpao. Linantuyan residents and those of two other villages Monday staged a protest march that denounced the atrocities of the New People’s Army and that included extortion and revolutionary taxes as well as harassments and liquidations of several local residents. That has become an interesting confrontation to determine whether local residents have the right to ban entry into their area of militants and suspected members of the CPP-NPA. Linantuyan, incidentally, had been tagged by the military as part of the guerilla base of the NPA in Guihulgan City.