WHILE vegetables are packed with nutrients essential to the human body, not all are a hundred percent safe to eat.

Environment group Bangon Kalikasan warned that urban-grown vegetables may be contaminated with heavy metals which are detrimental to people’s health.

Joey Papa, Bangon Kalikasan president, said some of these vegetables are grown in the urban farm inside the Quezon City Memorial Circle, a project of the local government.

He said the group has “some reservations” in keeping a vegetable garden in such a heavily-polluted area. He observed that a person cannot even breathe properly in the said area.

“Maganda naman yung intensyon (The intention is good),” Papa said of the government’s efforts to encourage urban farming, although describing the approach as “quite problematic.”

What is alarming is that the vegetables absorb too much lead coming from gasoline emissions from the vehicles in the vicinity, he said in a phone interview.

Papa expressed concern for the health of those who have been receiving the vegetables harvested in said urban farm and given away for free.

Cristina Perez, development officer of  “The Joy of Urban Farming,” a project of  QC Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, assured that urban-grown vegetables are produced through the use of organic fertilizer, which makes them safe to eat.

She said the vegetables harvested from the farm are given to excursionists who visit the 600-square meter farm to encourage them to plant even in the small pots in their backyard.

“Bukod sa meron ka nang maihahain sa hapag-kainan ay  nakakatulong ka pa sa environment kasi lumilinis ang hangin (Aside from having food on your platter, you are helping the environment because the air is cleaned),” Perez added.

Bert Mendoza, one of the project staff, said by giving away urban vegetables to excursionists will also enable them to make a comparison between crops produced by chemical-based fertilizers and those produced organically.

Papa suggested that to lessen the pollution in urban vegetable farms, there  should at least have a thick barrier of trees to protect the garden from stationary and mobile sources of pollution like factories and vehicles.

The city government, however, cleared an area in the QCMC of trees to make way for a carnival. Papa said since the city government has an urban farm project, it  could have developed the Circle to serve as a greenhouse.  “Sana yung mga puno hindi pinakialaman (I hope they leave the trees alone),” he said.

He said it would be a good idea for local government look for more reserved or “interior” places to convert into urban farms.

“Kung may makikitang ganoon, bakit hindi? (If the local government can find such a place, then why not?)” Rey Palacio, a Zero Waste Management and chemical safety campaigner from Eco Waste Coalition, said.

The Ecowaste Coalition, an environmental watchdog, earlier called for government action over the lead paint coating some playgrounds in Manila. Lead is a toxic metal and studies have shown that lead poisoning is particularly harmful to children as it causes damage to their brain and development. It could also contaminate vegetables in urban farms near the playgrounds or structures coated with lead paint.

He said  that even if the farm is moved to interior parts of the city, there is no guarantee that the vegetables will be totally free of lead.

He said  vegetables sold in the market are contaminated by pollutants in the urban air. Worse, he warned that formalin could have been sprayed on the vegetables to keep them fresh longer.

Palacio said the local government should take steps to lessen, if not eradicate the  contamination of vegetables in urban farms.

Palacio also said with pollution becoming a national concern, vegetables grown in urban farms are not the only ones that are contaminated. Vegetables in rural areas are also becoming exposed to dangerous chemicals.”When one burns plastic, chances are the crops in the nearby garden are affected,” he cautioned.

Palacio advised people to wash the vegetables with baking soda and water solution before cooking or eating in order to neutralize possible contaminants.

He said it is still best to grow vegetables in every individual’s backyard. This way the residents would know where their food is coming from.

Aside from solving the problems of malnutrition, he said backyard farming can also bring additional sources of income to families and barangays. If they reap a good harvest, they can sell these to their neighbors.

(The author is a journalism student of the University of the Philippines who is writing for VERA Files as part of her internship.)

By ELIZABETH  LOLARGA

AFTER decades of doing editorial illustrations and cartoons. Dario Noche is setting his sights higher as a visual artist.

In his show at the Conspiracy Bar on Visayas Ave., Quezon City, he reminds viewers of the body of works he has come up with in his long years in journalism. He has roughly 40 black and white illustrations and 15 in color in the exhibit, including original artwork from his Asiaweek stint.

In his heyday, he designed or redesigned publications some of which are in the annals of journalism history: Initiatives in Population, Manila Women’s Wear, Moptop, the weekly magazine Oh!, What’s Up cultural magazine, Standard Express, Jingle magazine when it morphed into Twinkle and The Manila Standard Today.

His interest in the visual arts was stirred as a boy in the province walking home from school and stopping at a place for more than an hour to look at a man working on the billboards of a movie house.

Noche recalls, “In the olden days, movie promotion was done this way. I was greatly impressed. They were to me huge murals. I was hooked. From then on, every blank paper in the house became my canvas. There was no artist gene in the family; I was the first aberration.”

He started as an architecture student at Mapua Institute of Technology but realized he couldn’t bear the math and shifted to fine arts at Feati University where his professors were mostly from the old Manila Chronicle.

Liborio “Gat” Gatbonton liked Noche’s work and recommended him as illustrator at Philippines Free Press. Although still unfinished with college credits, he was accepted.

He rues, “It was THE magazine at that time. It may have been sudden for me, but I managed. I was in the midst of the cream of Philippine journalism: Teodoro Locsin Sr, Nick Joaquin, Greg Brillantes, Kerima Polotan, Napoleon Rama, Jose Lacaba, Lorna Kalaw, Ricky Lee, J. Ser Sahagun, Danny Dalena, Alex Ngo. Most of them were very considerate. I fitted in snugly.”

He continues, “It was a time of turmoil then, internationally and right in our place of work. An unsettled labor dispute gave birth to Nick Joaquin’s Asia-Philippines Leader magazine that readily trounced Free Press.  It was from this group of professionals that I inherited the bane that few managed to ingest: coffee, cigarette, and beer. With Nick around, beer was never lacking.”

His years in journalism have been instructive. He says, “I hated the drudgery, the nine to five inhibition of the work, the flying egos. But in no other place else was my intellectual hunger sated. I learned grammar while poring over heavily edited manuscripts that were handed to me for layout. Listening to editors’ informal discussions, you had not only a glimpse of them but also learned vast literary knowledge and secrets. All these rubbed off on me, and I’m forever grateful.”

He put aside a cherished dream to be a full-time painter. Now retired from journalism, he says, “I am psyching myself up to become a painter. Earning a living is still a paramount concern. Painting was always on the back burner. My stay in the paper made me realize I was in the wrong profession, but I must admit it wasn’t a complete waste of time.”

Today he joins sketching sessions to hone his grasp of the human anatomy. His intention is to specialize in historical painting or illustration.

He explains why he is concentrating on historical paintings as his niche, “I am a First Quarter Storm participant. This awakening profoundly affected my thinking.  Former Third World countries, now recently developed nations, achieved their economic status because they have a deep sense of nationhood, culture, traditions and values. These nurtured and propelled them to impossible achievements.”

Noche bewails that “our youth today don’t have that. They grew up with wrong goals and values. Our educational and cultural system is wanting or doesn’t have a clear goal. I gave up on the older generation to ever deliver us. Maybe I figured re-educating the youth or the few remaining open-minded elders through historical paintings or illustrations can help inculcate and waken the right values hidden in our past.”

His illustration skills were also honed during his Asiaweek and Straits Times years in the 1990s. After joining many group shows in photography, illustration, graphic design and painting, he will explore sculpture through bas reliefs of historical events.

To do all that, Noche at 62 practices what he calls “moderation, restraint, physical and mental activity. Occasionally, I do weights to stay trim. I walk the short distance going home or to the market.”

He quips, “I’ve seen too many decrepit old men and some few hardy old men. I know what I will be when my time comes.”

Text and photos by SHIELA MAY ABALLA

THE first rain in the month of May is believed to be a blessing. That is why people of Gapan City considered the heavy downpour last May 1 as an additional blessing for their successful Tsinelas (Slipper) Festival celebrated that same day.

Gapan City, located at the southernmost part of Nueva Ecija in Central Luzon, is the next town from San Miguel, Bulacan going to the north. The name of the city originated from the word gapang or crawl because of the many crawling plants found there.

Aside from the production of rice, Gapan City is also popular for its production of slippers. The  annual Tsinelas Festival began in 2002 to mark the first anniversary of the cityhood of Gapan and to promote the slipper industry.

Gapan was the oldest town in Nueva Ecija before it was declared a city in August 25, 2001.

The Liwag family was the one of those who started the slipper industry in Gapan. Because of the good quality of the slippers they made, that product became popular. The number of slipper makers in the city  increased as the industry prospered.

Edgardo Tolentino, one of the people in charge of the event, said this year’s celebration of the  Tsinelas Festival was moved to coincide with the feast of the Divina Pastora or the Divine Shepherdess — the patron saint of the city, to attract devotees from neighboring towns.

Stalls of slippers already lined the city plaza one week before the day of the festival. It gave the people a lot of time to choose from the different slippers, with prices ranging from P50-P200 per pair depending on size and style.

The annual competition for the giant slipper of the town highlighted the festival. Fifteen giant slippers, seven-feet tall, competed for the title and the cash prize of P20,000.

“Di ko kasi sineseryoso nung una ‘yang pagsali diyan, basta may mai-represent lang ako, okay na (I wasn’t serious in joining the competition at first; as long as I have something to represent, it was okay),” Rolando Pascual, owner of Bagong Likha Footwear, said. “Nag-aabala rin ako, bakit hindi ko pa pagbutihin?(Since I spent time for it, so why not do my best)?”

Pascual, a slipper maker for more than 10 years now, won the first prize in this year’s competition. For three consecutive years (2006-2009), he won consolation prizes. Then he bagged third place in 2010, and second place last year.

“Kami, katulad noong mga nakaraang taon kapag nananalo kami, bumibili kami ng mga items na kailangan sa gawaan (We, like when we won in previous years, we buy items which we need for production),” Pascual said.

From the cash prizes he had won, he bought a cutter and a generator. He has not yet decided on what to buy this year.

Pascual said it took him three days to make his winning entry, spending P3,000 for materials. His expense was cheaper compared to the other contestants, who spent an average of P5,000.

A street dancing competition among students from the different barangays of the city was held the day before the festival. This was followed by a  parade participated in by devotees of the Divina Pastora. A replica of the patron saint and a child dressed as the Divina Pastora (identified as Mary Divine Lising) led the parade.

Then came floats that carried giant slippers, the city’s different bands, and pretty girls from various barangays. Some girls threw candies to the many people who braved the scorching heat of the sun to watch the annual parade.

The city mayor, vice mayor and other local officials were also seen walking in the parade. Celebrities like Diana Meneses and Enrique Gil joined the festival.

The giant slippers were displayed at the city hall after the parade.

Then heavy rains fell.

“Naisilong naman agad namin ‘yong mga tsinelas kaya maibebenta pa ‘yan (We were able to save the slippers from the rain immediately that is why we can still sell them),” Aiza Manson, a slipper vendor, said.

When the rain stopped, the slipper vendors opened their stalls again. They were open until midnight.

The slipper vendors are requesting the local government to provide a permanent location for  their stores.

The government plans to imitate the Tsinelas Avenue in Liliw, Laguna (the slipper capital of the Philippines). Tsinelas Avenue is a street where stalls of slippers can be found.

It also provides the vehicles that slipper vendors use in going to trade fairs in Manila.

Gapan City supplies slippers to Baclaran in Paranaque City, and to other provinces in northern and central Luzon like Aurora and Isabela.

 (The author is a journalism student of the University of the Philippines-Baguio, who is writing for VERA Files as part of her internship.)

Text and photos by ELIZABETH LOLARGA

BAGUIO CITY—Midwife Robin Lim, 2011 CCN Hero of the Year, once ran into an obstetrician. They compared how many babies they had delivered that day. Both helped birth three each. Lim asked the doctor, “Do you know the mothers’ names?”

Taken aback, the doctor couldn’t recall his patients’ names and admitted to never bothering to know, part of the detachment his practice requires. Lim recited the names of women she had helped deliver their babies. She had known them well since they went to her for prenatal checkups.

The doctor cried all night. His wife rang Lim, founder of Yayasan Ibu Bumi Sehat (or Healthy Mother Earth Foundation) that encourages natural birth, including those that take place in water in Bali, Indonesia, to ask, “What have you done to him?” That moment with Lim served as the doctor’s epiphany when he questioned his profession.

At a time when 918 women die yearly worldwide from childbirth or complications resulting from it, Lim finds the situation scandalous with the US investing heavily on childbirth technology and landing a man on the moon at the cost of billions of dollars.

The CNN honor made hers a popular voice. She said it was a human rights issue that “these women are being struck down at the prime of their lives.”

A protocol she wants hospitals to allow is to wait for a few minutes so the infant’s umbilical cord and the placenta can fall off naturally. This also keeps the mother from bleeding too much.

She said science has shown that it takes years for a child to reach optimum health if the cord rich in nutrients is cut too soon. A proponent of prolonged breastfeeding of up to four to five years, she said giving mother’s milk is “a gift to them that you can never get back.”

She cited Albert Einstein, also born at home and still taking a snack at his mother’s breast till age 10.

She asked individuals and organizations to “communicate, cooperate to find real solutions that the government can back up so we don’t need to lose people needlessly.” Her work empowers women to own their bodies so “they can have the lives they were meant to live.”

She has met prostituted women who get pregnant and whose “bosses” compel them to give up and sell their babies for. “It’s the most tragic thing,” this advocate against human trafficking said.

Lim met a poor young girl who became a prostitute to raise money for her mother’s cancer treatment. The mother died, but the girl couldn’t get out of the cycle of prostitution.

Lim said. “If you know how love can save lives, ask a midwife. I teach midwives to practice with love, to look into another’s eyes to say, ‘I love you.’”

She called her sister midwives “the first line of defense like our lolas, a combination of hilot and medical practitioner.”  She described herself as being “pro-women, pro-baby, pro-child, pro-family.”

In a high-risk situation, she has seen how a newborn given up for dead is resuscitated when the room fills up with midwives and relatives prodding the child with declarations of love.

A mother of eight, she manages to “chase the genie”  (her term) to put words on paper and produce books of poetry, fiction (Butterfly People) and non-fiction. Coming soon is a workbook on natural family planning to promote a lifestyle of non-violence to be published by Anvil.

She said when mothers give birth at her clinic, she sees butterflies flitting in and out. Her grandmother Vicenta Munar Lim taught her that these creatures may be fragile but they can fly. She said since then she has become “jealous of them” and saved their wings when she found dead ones.

They became her personal emblem. She explained that a butterfly begins as a crawling worm that later goes into a coffin, surviving sun and rain. One day it opens and out flies a thing of beauty. She said the human soul is similar.

Her friend writer Edgardo Maranan introduced her to a crowd at Mt. Cloud Bookshop in Casa Vallejo in this city, saying when CNN announced Lim as a hero, many countries rushed to claim her as theirs, including the US and Indonesia, but, he added, “To us she is a Baguio girl.”

Lim took nine months of non-stop writing to finish Butterfly People, likening the process to a baby’s gestation in a mother’s womb. It took nine more years to find a publisher.

Maranan was the first to read the manuscript that covers six generations with action moving in the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Hawaii. He recommended this thinly disguised biography of Lim’s family in northern Philippines  to Anvil Publishing.

She said her being Filipino by blood makes her a magical realist storyteller, adding, “It’s so Pinay to exaggerate.”

LIFE can be restored at the Marilao-Meycauayan-Obando river system (MMORS). But it will take many, many years. At the least, 10  years.  Maybe a hundred years to restore it to its pristine state, the environment activist group Greenpeace said.

As of now, Greenpeace said the MMORS (also known as the Marilao River system) is biologically dead — it has zero levels of oxygen thus life can hardly thrive in it.  It is black and methane gas still bubbles up from the water.

In 2007, the New York City-based environment group Blacksmith Institute included MMORS in the “Dirty 30,” a list of the most polluted places in the world. It found the MMORS highly contaminated with wastes and heavy metals coming from industries, such as lead acid battery recycling, gold and precious metals refining, jewelry making, and open dumpsites.

The stigma attached to the “Dirty 30” tag has not moved the polluters to change their ways.

Even Marilao Mayor Epifanio Guillermo, who has initiated clean-up drives to save the river,  is losing hope that he would be able to see it revived during his term in office, or maybe even in his lifetime.

Greenpeace toxics campaigner Beau Baconguis said, however, there can still be “life after death” for the MMORS if the government could muster the political will to stop the sources of pollution:  the factories.

Once that is done, the MMORS has a natural way of cleaning itself, he said.

Guillermo recalled the good old days of the river, which used to be his source of income as a fisherman. He said he could even see the shrimps and fish underwater. “Pag ako’y nauuhaw sa ilalim, dun ako umiinom, ganyan kalinis yan (If I felt thirsty I even drank from the river. It was that clean),” the 80-year-old mayor who grew up by the riverbanks related.

Juan Santiago, a resident of Marilao for 74 years now, agrees with Greenpeace that the only way to clean the river is by removing all industries that surround it, including tanneries and piggeries. But he said this seems like an impossible feat.

Guillermo said the Department of Public Works and Highways is allotting P1.9 billion for the dredging of the heavily silted river system.  But Greenpeace said no matter how much money, time and effort the government puts in cleaning the river, these will not suffice as long as the firms that are sources of pollution continue their bad practices.

But since it is not possible to close down every industry in the MMORS vicinity, Baconguis suggested that industries  be encouraged to use nontoxic materials in their production instead. She also said the government must focus on taking action against these polluters that dump toxic wastes in the river.

What is needed is to change the people’s mindset that there’s nothing that they can do to correct the situation, Baconguis said.

She remembers the Daraitan River in Tanay, Rizal which the Dumagats have been protecting from any industry. The river remains immaculate and a must-visit for anyone who wants to take a break from the pollution in Metro Manila.

Bulacan’s “Save Biak na Bato” campaign is one success story that can serve as an inspiration for those losing hope in reviving the Marilao River like Mayor Guillermo and Santiago.

Biak na Bato in San Miguel, Bulacan served as refuge to the Katipuneros during the Spanish regime, but a hundred years later it faced grave threats to its historical and ecological attractions.

That was when a mining company named Rosemoor Mining and Development Corp. started quarrying exotic tea rose marble that can be mined in the supposedly reserved areas. Six other companies were then seeking mining permits, too.

Environment experts warned that the continued operations would desecrate the fragile park, especially its natural springs which form part of the Angat watershed that supplies water for Metro Manila.

After six years of arduous campaign by concerned citizens and personalities, the quarrying operations were stopped and Biak na Bato again became the protected national park it used to be.

Today tourists come to Biak na Bato every day to wonder at its 100 caves and bird sanctuaries and bathe in its flowing waters.

Biak na Bato has proven that saving nature can be done; it is just a matter of the residents taking up the challenge. The people of  Marilao, Meycauayan and Obando can very well do the same.

(The author is a journalism student of the University of the Philippines who is writing for VERA Files as part of her internship.) 

ALDRIN Ortiz left his house in Nueva Ecija in Central Luzon as early as  3 a.m. on Labor Day, not to attend a workers’ rally but to be among the first applicants to line up at the Labor Day Jobs and Livelihood Fair at the World Trade Center (WTC) job fair in Pasay City.

Ortiz said he wanted to look for a job in Metro Manila because opportunities for young workers and fresh graduates  like him are scarce in his province. The 20-year-old Ortiz graduated last month from the Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM).

“Not a lot of companies in Nueva Ecija are looking forward to hiring HRM graduates like me,” he said in Filipino. “I came here [in Metro Manila] because I think I have better chances of getting hired in the city. There are a lot of restaurants (here where) I could apply.”

Ortiz was among the thousands of jobseekers who participated in the WTC event — one of the 57 job fairs simultaneously  staged nationwide by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on May 1.

Former overseas Filipino worker Martha Golez said she experienced difficulties applying for work at the WTC job fair despite the 134,982 job vacancies being offered (49,982 for local employment and 85,000 overseas).

The DOLE reported that only one out of every five job seekers who went to that event was hired on the spot by companies. The placement rate for the day-long job fair was recorded at a low 19 percent.

Only 744 out of 3,900 applicants for local positions and only 540 or less than half of the 1,320 applicants for foreign jobs were hired. The figures were based on the number of applicants who registered through the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE).

The problem in the case of Golez was her age. The 41-year-old mother worked as a household helper in the Middle East before she was forced to come home in 2008 to take care of her sick mother.

Golez lamented that she was only able to find a handful of companies at the job fair who were willing to accept and evaluate her resume.

“I think I’m highly qualified to be a nanny or a saleswoman because of my experience abroad,” she said in Filipino. “But because of my age, nearly no one is willing to hire me anymore.”

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said in a statement that jobseekers should not worry about not getting hired on the spot by companies at the job fair because employers might have wanted them to undergo several processes before hiring them.

“Selecting job applicants can be a tough challenge for employers,” Baldoz said. “They may need more time to review job applications, to go over details of their credentials, and to interview candidates.”

She added: “My advice to applicants is to be optimistic and be a little patient because there will be enough job vacancies and livelihood opportunities for everyone at the job fairs. The processing and hiring by the employers will continue after the job fair, and the DOLE will monitor that.”

Baldoz said the registrants’ applications will be closely monitored by the BLE through PhilJob.Net, its job-matching facility.

As of last year, 2.814 million out of the 40 million economically active Filipinos do not have jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES).

The agency defines economically active Filipinos as those who are at least 15 years old and are either employed or currently seeking employment.

The unemployment rate improved slightly from 7.4 percent the previous year to 7 percent in 2011 because of faster job generation, according to BLES.

The government agency said 1.156 million new jobs were created last year compared to the 974,000  figure of 2010.

Labor groups such as Kilusang Mayo Uno however noted that the decrease in unemployment rate merely corresponded to a 100,000 reduction in the ranks of the unemployed.

KMU added that the increase in the number of underemployed workers from 18.8 percent in 2010 to 19.3 percent in 2011 showed that it was low-quality jobs which accounted for the slight increase in employment.

Data  from BLES showed that the number of underemployed persons rose by 401,000, reaching 7.163 million last year.

The National Statistics Office defines underemployment as all employed persons who express a desire to: have an additional job, work additional hours in their present job, or  have a job with longer working hours.

(The author is a journalism student of the University of the Philippines who is writing for VERA Files as part of her internship.)

By EIMOR SANTOS and LLOYD REYES
Photos by VINCENT GO

JENNY Tanael, 47, is a wife of a minimum wage earner and mother of a contractual worker.

Her eldest son Juan Paolo keeps on hunting for a job each time his five-month contract in a fastfood chain expires. Sometimes it takes him six months to find work at another branch of said restaurant. In between jobs, he relies for support on his father who earns less than P 400 per day as a security guard.

Her son has been unemployed for two months now. Since Juan Paolo is turning 24 he will have to look for another company since his former employer only accepts workers 23 years and below.

Tanael hopes that at the very least, workers’ rallies like the May 1 Labor Day rally she attended can put an end to contractualization that has been plaguing workers (like his son) and their families.

An across-the-board wage increase  and an end to contractualization were among the major demands of workers aired at the Labor Day rallies all over the country. The Kilusang Mayo Uno, or KMU, is demanding a daily wage increase of P125 in Metro Manila.

One of the participating groups, the Confederation of Independent Unions in the Public Sector (CIU), said its members went to the streets primarily to halt the widespread contractualization in the country.

“Humina ang seguridad ng trabaho (Job security was weakened),” Elpidio Maramot, CIU deputy secretary general for external affairs, said.

Maramot said that some employees have worked for more than 10 years as contractuals. The reason given to them by their employers for not being regularized was that their jobs were “not essential.”

“10 years, hindi essential (jobs)?” he asked in disbelief.

Bayan Muna and Makabayan coalition president Satur Ocampo shared the same sentiment, saying contractualization is a widespread issue that has been skirted by all administrations since the time of former President Fidel Ramos’.

Some workers from other countries like Margaret Donehue expressed sympathy for the Filipino workers. Donehue is an office worker in Australia and a delegate at the 28^th International Solidarity Affair (ISA), an annual gathering of workers, trade-union activists, labor rights advocates, from all global regions, hosted by the KMU.

Donehue said she supports the Filipino workers’ struggle to increase wages and junk contractualization, saying the government has designed such schemes to deprive the workers of their rights.

On the wage hike issue, KMU chairperson Elmer Labog said that an P8 increase will not suffice.

“Lamunin nila ‘yung ocho-pesos nila kasi kapag sumakay ka ng jeep, baka ibato sa’yo ng jeepney driver ‘yan dahil one-way kulang pa’yon (They can have that P8-increase because if you ride a jeepney, the driver might throw it back to you because it is not even enough for a one-way fare),” he said.

Labog said that the politically unconscious workers tend to think that they are lucky to even have jobs even if they are being taken advantage of.

He said: “Mabuti na lamang at may trabaho kahit paano, kahit na pinagsasamantalahan na s’ya, tinitiis na lamang. Hanggang sa dumating ang isang araw na kailangan silang mulatin at organisahin, dun nila nakikita ang kanilang lakas (They think it’s good that they have jobs. Even if they are being abused they just suffer until the day that they become aware of this and become organized, then they will see their strength).”

He also said that this shows that the capitalists the administration has been supporting treat the workers not as people but as machines.

Ace Ligsay, chairperson of the University of the Philippines-Diliman’s (UPD) Alyansa student political party, said at the Labor Day rally that the problems workers face are also their own.

The party advocates the passage  of the Security of Tenure Bill to ensure security of  workers in their jobs and that they get the benefits due them as well. Ligsay said that upon students’ entry to the real world, they face problems like underemployment, unjust wages and contractualization.

Ligsay also said that the workers’ taxes subsidize their schooling as scholars of the state thus it is only fitting that they give back what was given to them.

(The authors are  journalism students of the University of the Philippines who are writing for VERA Files as part of their internship.)

By  REYNARD MAGTOTO

AS a motorist, are you tired of being caught in the day-to-day traffic and continuous oil price hike?

Then why not try biking –an eco-friendly, cheap and efficient alternative mode of transportation.

Marikina, Pasig and other cities in Metro Manila have already caught the “biking bug.”

Some local government units  are now active in advocating bicycling as a means of city transport,  according to a recent forum and mapping workshop on non-motorized transport (NMT) at the Ateneo De Manila University.

For instance, the Marikina Bikeways Project that encourages residents to use bicycles around the city is well-supported by local legislation with $1.3-million funding from the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility.

Carlota Contreras, officer in charge of Marikina Bikeways, said the local government is trying to remove all barriers to bicycling. She said: “Binigyan (kami) ng pondo kasi daw mahal yung bikeways, may ordinansa kami para resputuhin ang bicycling, may enforcement group kami (We were given funds because bikeways are expensive, we have an ordinance to respect bicycling, we have an enforcement group).”

She said Marikina  provides adequate and safe parking facilities for bikers, greater access to major transport channels, and includes bicycle lane construction in its regular infrastructure projects.

The bikeways established in Marikina are on Katipunan Road, Fortune Avenue, Gen. Ordoñez Street, J.P. Rizal Street, W. Paz Street, Shoe Avenue, Gen. Ordeñez Street to Marcos Highway, V. Santos Street, Katipunan Access Road, and on B.G. Molina Street.

For those who want to buy a bicycle, Marikina also lends money, one-year interest-free, through its Bicycle Loan Program as provided under City Ordinance 92 passed in 2004. The city offers a Bicycle Clinic every Saturday from 8 a.m.  to noon, which gives safe cycling education to young students and women.

Aside from Marikina, Pasig City, Quezon City, and even Davao City in southern Philippines have  ordinances and programs in support of bicycling.

Pasig has an ordinance that calls for the designation of bike lanes around the city and provides incentives for bikers as well as penalties for violators.

The city has a Bike to Work Loan Program, which anyone can avail of at zero interest as long as they live within two kilometers from the Pasig City Hall. It has already 250 beneficiaries.

It also has a Bike to Earn Loan Program for selected “poorest of the poor” in Pasig, who are  given the chance to have a new padyak (a  pedicab). Its Green Heart Padyak is a program of the Pasig City Environmental and Natural Resources Office that enables the poor to earn a living by using padyak in getting recyclable materials from houses.

“Ang padyak feeling ko hindi lang pang recreation at hindi lang pang bicycling; gusto namin syang i-transform for poverty alleviation (I feel that padyak is not only for recreation and bicycling; we would like to transform it for poverty alleviation),” Raquel C. Austria-Naciongayo, head of Pasig CENRO, explained.

The city of Pasig has been working with Firefly Brigade to carry out a bike plan program for city employees. The  Firefly Brigade has the battle cry “share the road” to promote awareness of bicyclists.

Ma. Isabel C. Bunao, project coordinator of Firefly Brigade, said that if people always see groups of bicyclists, they are eventually  acknowledged as part of the road system.

In Quezon City, the best places to ride a bike are inside the University of the Philippines  campus in Diliman, La Mesa Park and La Mesa Eco Trail in Fairview, according to Erwin Paala, head of the Kaligtasan Kalusugan Kalikasan (KKK) Revolution.

He also identified the Fort Bonifacio Mountain Bike Trail in Makati City and Nuvali of Ayala Properties in Sta. Rosa, Laguna as best places for biking enthusiasts.

KKK is the bicycle advocacy group that supports LGUs in their long-term bike lane infrastructure projects. It also works closely with the Philippine Red Cross in its safety programs.

“Napili ko ang mga ito dahil safe and secure ang mga ito para sa mga bikers (I chose these places because they are  safe and secure for bikers),” Paala said. “Madali lang hanapin ang mga ito (They are easy to find).”

Paala was among the NMT advocates who mapped bike shops, bike repair shops, bike hubs and other service centers at the  recent NMT forum and mapping workshop to identify the opportunities cycling presents in the improvement of public transportation.

Joel Uichico, project manager of Bike for the Philippines (BfP), said they give free bicycles to the less fortunate to reduce the dropout rate of school children in partnership with Bike for the World (BFW).

The BFW has been running bicycle collection drives in Washington D.C. since 2005 and has donated more than 61, 000 bicycles to its 10 partner agencies in eight countries, including the Philippines.

The BFW also collects used bikes and other donated bikes from abroad and restores them in new condition in cooperation of the Philippine Army. So far, it has given 70 bicycles to selected less fortunate children.

(The author is a journalism student of Bicol University who is writing for VERA Files as part of his internship.)

THE bangus (milkfish), touted as the national fish and the best of its kind in the world, is a given in the life and history of Dagupan City, Pangasinan. What is hardly known is the city has more to offer than traditional bokayo (sticky candy made of coconut strips) and bagoong (shrimp paste).

Mayor Benjamin Lim, who has rallied councilors and their constituents to his call of “Our City, Our Shared Responsibility,” says the city now boasts of the Dagupan River Cruise. Offered free, it is the first and only such cruise in Region 1.

It is proof of how he successfully applied political will and his corporate training in making fish pen owners realize how a rehabilitated river will benefit all in the long term. Once the city’s lifeblood, the river became an eyesore with a thick, milky brown color. The overcrowded fish pens and illegal shanties built on it contributed to a near ecological disaster called fish kill.

Today, there is a modest pier called Daungan Ed Dawel to mean “Dockyard of the World” with a tall white top open to all sides to allow the breeze in. The ferry takes the tourist up and down a clear running river that is about 1.5 kilometers long, with a depth of eight feet at low tide and 12 feet at high tide.

On the both sides of the riverbank stand mangroves young (five years old) and old (65 years old and above) that protect marine life. Tour guide Ed Caballero said the fallen leaves of these trees are left where they are to serve as fish food.

The dismantling of fish pens has allowed high-value fish apart from the bangus to return, thrive and swim in the river’s depths: lapu-lapu, talakitok, malaga, pompano. Juicy crabs abound and are caught by small-scale fishing from their banca or small boats and offered for sale at a reasonable price without a middle man interceding.

The Philippines has 48 mangrove species, 14 of them found in Dagupan, including rare ones endemic to the place. Ana Louise Velasco, city information officer, does not want to specify the names of unusual trees’ names for fear of poachers uprooting them.

Twenty kinds of migratory birds have also been seen flying over the river and mangroves.

There are kayaks that will be ready for use soon for those who like water sports. Coming soon are paddle boats and river taxis, the latter if one prefers to get to a destination while skipping the downtown gridlock during peak hours.

The ferry boat is modest enough to accommodate private parties of up to 30 people. The host brings in the caterer while the city’s tourism office provides chairs and tables.

Velasco said when she had visiting relatives from elsewhere, especially balikbayans, she used to be at a loss where else to bring them after they’ve eaten bangus to their heart’s content.

Dagupan’s bangus is distinguished by its narrow mouth, bigger belly and smaller fin that are all cause by its swimming in a small area and its fin hitting the bottom of the pond. Nonetheless, Velasco said, everything can be eaten, including the innards, when freshly caught and fried.

When the river cruise began three years ago, the raves poured in from visitors north and south of the country.

Dr. Westly Rosario, chief of the local office of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, saw a lot of good from the return of fauna, a sure sign that the river is alive. This development also means alternative livelihood for those whose shanties were removed.

Lim said displaced folk got seed money to start organic hog farming with pigs fed pro-biotics, not antibiotics, to make the taste of the local lechon competitive to Cebu’s and not too heavy in cholesterol.

Rosario’s office is developing different ways to prepare and bottle oysters and other shellfish. These clean up the marine environment by harvesting micro-organisms like planktons that once led to yearly occurrences of red tide and fish kill.

He gave this example of shellfish’s “cleaning power”: in a tank with 16 tons of greenish water that indicate the presence of a high number of phytoplankton, put in two sacks or even eight big cans of mussels. In 24 hours the water will turn as transparent as drinking water.

Rosario said these shellfish can later be turned into food and livelihood for marginal fishermen. This type of seafood has medicinal values and anti-inflammatory substances. BFAR is testing the overseas and local markets for tahong (mussels) cooked a number of ways: adobo, pickled, smoked or steeped in brine.

The Bangus Festival in Dagupan continues till May 5, featuring contests like 101 ways to prepare bangus apart from grilling, frying or turning it into sinigang.

By EIMOR SANTOS

MANG Ruben’s humble home resembles the Bahay Kubo  in the popular folksong by Felipe de Leon.  It is surrounded by  eggplants, tomatoes, string beans and other small fruits and vegetables. Every morning he wakes up to tend beds and pots of these veggies and some herbs like tarragon and oregano.

But a stroll outside his little farm brings him not the chirping of birds just like his childhood  days in Bicol  but the hustle-bustle of vehicles. It’s  because Mang Ruben lives in a farm inside the Quezon City Memorial Circle.

Ruben Marcellana, “Mang Ruben” to green lovers in QCMC,  is the  assistant agriculturist and caretaker of the 600 square-meter urban farm in QCMC.  The urban farm is part of the  “The Joy of Urban Farming” project of  QC Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte launched on Sept. 27, 2010.

Also called Task Force Greening, the project is in partnership with the Department of Agriculture the Department of Science and Technology and the Earth Angel Sanctuary.

Carrying out Belmonte’s Green project is a team  headed an in-house agriculturist, Mang Ruben, and three gardeners. In this  summer’s intense heat, the team has to water the plants three times a day. That requires them to stock water at night to keep the soil moist under summer’s scorching sun.

The QCMC farm has become part of the itinerary of  many schools’ field trips.

“Kahit isang araw lang, mahipo nila yung lupa (They can feel the soil even for a day),” Cristina Perez, Project Development Officer  said of the benefits of exposing city children from exclusive schools  to nature.

Perez also said the urban farm  helps the children appreciate vegetables. She hopes that knowing more about the how vegetables are produced would encourage children to like to eat them.

Many Quezon city residents  are regular visitors of the QCMC farm  and Mang Ruben is more than glad to share with them tips in gardening. He even gives out free seedlings.

Businessman Alfred Muhi from Project  8 is a frequent visitor and enjoys comparing gardening notes with Mang Ruben.

In a city where most of the residents do not have the luxury of land, urban farm advocates the use of containerized gardening, planting seedlings in recycled 1.5 liter bottles, styrofoam containers and pots.

“Through this, we can plant even in the little spaces of our house,” Mang Ruben said adding that  during stormy days these pots can easily be moved to some covered place to avoid drowning.

Mang Ruben and his gardeners also make use of vermicomposting, a process that uses worms, African nightcrawlers in particular, to turn garden and kitchen waste into fertilizer.

Instead of using commercial and chemical fertilizer, dried leaves from the park and kitchen waste from the nearby restaurants are collected to produce the organic fertilizer.

Perez said aside from producing food, the project is also contributing to the local government’s Solid Waste Management efforts.

Bert Mendoza, a member of the  project’s staff, said although the QCMC farm  is just a small part of the 26- hectare circular park, it serves as a demo farm and has inspired schools and villages in the city to have their own  urban farms.

Perez said they are holding  free seminars on urban farming and are giving out free materials to public schools and barangays. They conduct an assessment every three months.

She said within Quezon City, there are urban farms now in Barangays Mangga,UP Campus and Sto. Cristo Elementary School among others.

“We already have 25 farms all in all,” Perez proudly reported.

She would like to see Krus Na Ligas, a densely-populated barangay not so far away from QCMC which had been a subject of the United Nations urban planning project many years ago, have its own urban farm. As of now, Krus na Ligas Barangay Secretary Purificacion Agustin  said “Ang meron lang kami mga kangkungan ng mga indibidwal (All we have are some individuals’ field of swamp cabbage).”

It’s a challenge for  Quezon City barangays to turn green especially because Mang Ruben’s urban farm has been replicated in as far as Barangay Manggatarem in Pangasinan.

(The author is a journalism student of the University of the Philippines who is writing for VERA Files as part of her internship.)