DS
BUY & SELL
The First and Only Ad Paper in Palawan
August 31, 1997
THE CEMENT PLANT ISSUE:
PALAWAN:
Will Biodiverse Palawan Ever Learn the Art of Blending Development and
Environmental Protection?
By: Jane Timbancaya-Urbanek
"The well-being of humankind, its peace and security, are unattainable
unless and until its unity is firmly established."
From the Baha'i Writings
Puerto Princesa City. A controversy, one that should be interesting to
environmentalists and development workers not only in the Philippines but
all over the world, brews in urban Puerto Princesa, province of Palawan.
Fueling this controversy is the proposed cement plant for Espanola and
Quezon towns, South of Palawan. This issue has stimulated steamed-up
discussions among development workers in the government and private sectors,
polarized the PCSDS staff into the `silent' half who are for
the cement plant and the other half who came up with a public articulation
of their rejection of the project, and it has brought upon the three main
political leaders of the province accusations of
corruption due to their pro-cement plant stand. Deeper issues have surfaced
like: 1) the perennial turf war between the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR) and the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development
(PCSD) over Palawan; 2) possible amendments to the 5-year old Strategic
Environmental Plan Law (R.A. 7611); 3) questions relating to the role and
capability of the PCSD Staff; and 4) questions regarding the development
direction Palawan should take.
The issues raised by the anti-cement plant group led by Atty. Gerthie Anda
of the Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC), and Atty. Lito
Alisuag of Haribon Foundation are: 1) damage to the environment and
wildlife of the affected area; 2) dislocation and displacement of a
Palaw'an tribal community; 3) alleged non-credibility of the Canadian
company funding the project; and 4) the pro-cement plant stand of the PCSD
allegedly without studying the matter very carefully first.
Proponents of the cement plant, local leaders of the affected areas, on
the other hand contend that: 1) the proposed cement plant is `state of the
art' as far as plants like this go and that precautionary measures would be
installed to assure minimal damage to the environment and wildlife; 2)
that no tribal community will be displaced or dislocated; 3) mitigating
measures to repair and enhance via reforestation and other interventions
will be done ; 4) besides the strict in-house monitoring which will be
part of the organizational structure, the operations of the plant will be
open to strict monitoring by the authorities concerned . The services of an
anthropologist, Dr. Carlos Fernandez, a respected member of this profession
in the country, and familiar with the affected tribal community, has been
engaged by the proponents to make sure that the moves of the company
regarding the tribal folk will be sensitive and respectful of their culture.
This write-up has one goal: to bring to the larger majority the proposed
cement plant and other related issues, so that consequently, more people
could participate in the discussion and in thedecision-making process. In
line with Palawan Buy and Sell's vision of stimulating entrepreneurship
towards a better Palawan, we feel that if we could assist people realize
what is at stake, their participation would be wiser and more intelligent.
Let me tell you that it was not easy to write this. So many materials to
study, so many people to interview. The real difficulty though was resolving
one question which confronts apolitical publications like ours which
normally shies away from any issue that threatens to become very partisan,
which is: "Should we get involved in something which has become very
controversial?" And compounding the issue is that I have friends on both
camps. Palawan Buy and Sell. Published by Palawan Infolink - aims to
facilitate the flow of information to service the needs of intelligent
buyers and sellers. Sustainable development, with the proposed cement
plant as case in point, is a concept that should still be `sold' to people
not only in Palawan but all over the world, and we would like to be part of
the selling process.
Last week, I had the chance to visit the cement plant site in Espa¤ola. I
was shown by friends living there the one-hectare area where the cement
plant pier is supposed to be built, the recreation area, and the people
pointed to me the mountain of Domodoway - where the elderly members of the
affected Palaw'an tribe live. Three guys handled the pumpboat which took us
to see some areas there. I was able to converse with them and ask questions
very openly. They were unaware that I was going to write about the issue
that we were discussing, and consequently I got honest and candid answers
to my questions. Here's a sample:
Question:" Doy, pinag-uusapan ba dito ng mga taga Labog ang tungkol sa
cement plant?" ( Do the people of Labog discuss the cement plant?)
Answer: " Oo a." (Yes.) We were then passing by a mangrove area, and while
the pumpboat operator pointed to the mangrove area, he said: "Diyan nga
gagawin ang pier . (That's where they are going to make a pier).
Question: "Ano naman ang sinasabi ng mga tao rito - gusto ba nila o hindi
ang cement plant?" (What do the people think - do they like the cement plant
or not?)
Answer: " Ay kami lahat dito gusto. Ang ayaw lang ay `yong mga tribo na
matatandang nakatira sa bundok" ( We, the people here all like it; it is
just the old tribal people who live in the mountain who are against it.)
Question: "Bakit ayaw daw nila ng cement plant?" (Why don't they like the
cement plant?) Answer: " Kasi mga advisers nila ang mga taga- Haribon"
(Because they are being advised by the people from Haribon)
Question: "Halimbawa kung hindi sila ina-advisan ng mga taga-Haribon, sa
tingin ninyo gusto nila ang cement plant?" (If, for example, the people
from Haribon are not advising them, do you think they would like to have
the cement plant?)
Answer: "Ay - Oo a!" ( Yes, of course!). "Ang anak nga ni Tito Mata,
gusto." (Even the son of Tito Mata likes.) Tito Mata is the head of the
Domodoway Foundation, cited by the cement plant oppositors as the tribal
group which would be displaced by the cement plant and which they said are
strongly opposed to the cement plant proposal). He went on to say: "Ngayon
daw bumibigay na rin `yong ibang matatanda. May apat na dati ay hindi
gusto, ngayon ay gusto na rin ng cement plant" (Recently we heard that four
of the old tribal guys, who used to be against, are now for, the cement
plant). This came as a surprise, especially because most, in fact, so far,
All of the articles I have read are negative reports about the cement plant
and how the people in the affected area have resisted it.
A dear friend of mine recently asked me: "Are you for or against the
proposed cement plant?" I wanted to tease her a little bit by countering
with a "Can you rephrase your question - since it really sounds so black and
white!" But I did not. She was dead serious, and bemoaning the fact that
people she thought were conservationists and lovers of the tribal people of
Palawan have disappointed her with their stand on the cement plant. "Like
who?" I couldn't help but ask. "Like Carlos Fernandez and Fuji Rodriguez."
she answered.
Carlos Fernandez and Fuji Rodriguez are two personalities I had the chance
to know closely. I worked with Fernandez from 1974 to 1979 on a project
called Rural Transformation under the Development Academy of the Philippines
(DAP), at a time when Dr. Onofre.D. Corpuz was concurrently University of
the Philippines president and DAP president. Horacio `Boy' Morales was on
the verge of being awarded the TOYM award for government service (before he
went underground) and Jolly Benitez was on top of the Human Settlements
Project before it spun off from DAP. From Fernandez I learned a lot:
research, technical writing, editing, conference management. The learning
from him I value most though is: respect for other people's ideas and
opinions and bringing out the best in people (in this instance, his staff)
by using the "trust system". In fact, it got so instilled in me that many
years after, I tried to simulate with my own Devcom Staff at PCSDS how
Fernandez was with his staff.
From the early 1970s up to the 15th of July this year Fernandez has held so
many important posts in the government. The last was as Department of
Agriculture Undersecretary. He is one of the few Palawenos who have made it
big in government service; respected by colleagues, his expertise sought by
consulting firms and funding agencies like the WWF, EU, ADB, to name a few.
During the more than 20 years of government service - he brought a lot of
development projects to Palawan. As a native of Palawan and as an
anthropologist - he has been having, and continues to have, a "love affair"
with the tribal communities of Palawan. Fernandez, with another
anthropologist, Lenggay Lopez, seeing the plight of the tribal people in
Quezon town in the early 80s, helped them organize themselves into the
Domodoway Foundation, named after their beloved Domodoway mountain. That was
in the early 1980s, and my family and I were already residing in Palawan.
About three months ago, some of the old folks from Domodoway wrote to
Fernandez. Specifically they wanted to talk to him about two things: the
"urap" (hunger season) and the cement plant. Before he could go up the
mountain to see them, he was informed that he has to check with Haribon
first before he could see the elders in the mountain. These people
reportedly have been warned against receiving anything from the cement plant
people, and Fernandez has been identified with the cement plant proponents.
In spite of this, he was still able to get ( and they have accepted) about
30 sacks of rice to them.
Fuji Rodriguez, like Fernandez, is a native of Palawan. Both Fernandez' and
Rodriguez' parents were teachers - and very well-respected ones. They come
from old families in Cuyo, which by the way, was the center of Palawan
government and politics for many years, and its capital, before Puerto
Princesa.
Rodriguez is a U.P. Mining Engineer graduate. For many years, he worked in
Narra, Central Palawan, as top man of the Trident Mining Co., managing about
1,000 workers. In March, 1986, after EDSA, he got involved with government
as Executive Director of the then Palawan Integrated Area Development
Project Office, the management office for the $85M Asian Development Bank-
European Economic Community- Philippine Government funded project addressed
to Central and Southern Palawan. Incidentally, it was during Rodriguez's
term as Executive Director that two very significant events happened: (1)
the legitimization of the Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP) for Palawan as
R.A. 7611; and (2) bringing the second phase of PIADP for Northern Palawan,
another multi-million dollar project. Roads, bridges, ports, agriculture
projects, malaria control, agricultural credit, upland stabilization,
irrigation, and environmental protection were the interventions via these
two projects.
SEP's legitimization brought in projects like the Palawan Tropical Forest
Protection Program (PTFPP) funded again by the European Union through a
grant. It is very difficult for people who have never worked with the
government to appreciate the role that Rodriguez played in Palawan
development from 1986 to 1993 when he was replaced by Arthur Ventura as
executive director of PCSD (formerly PIADPO). Looking on as an observer, I
think the most trying and challenging task for anybody in this position is
getting along, and maintaining "functional" relationships with the
politicians.
The seeming "glamour" one enjoys presiding over a project whose budget is
about ten times bigger than the provincial government's, with all the
resources, pales against the backdrop of haggling, catering and answering to
the demands of the funding agencies, the politicians, other agencies, and
the people of Palawan. Analysts say that aside from bringing into Palawan
the SEP and the Second PIADP, Rodriguez' "other accomplishment" was having
survived at all, and for that long in that position.!
Higinio "Buddy" Mendoza, Jr., his brothers Sonny and Dave, and sister Julie
have long been known as the children of their celebrated father, Palawan
hero Higinio Mendoza, Sr., after whom the Mendoza park was named. Mendoza is
an entrepreneur - whose past involvement's include silica mining, hotels,
and resorts. At one point, after EDSA, he was appointed OIC Mayor of the
City of Puerto Princesa. The Mendoza's are well-known for their pride in
being Cuyonon. They are one of the few families who speak Cuyono very well
- which is now becoming less usual in Puerto Princesa where more and more
native Cuyonos speak Tagalog and teach their children Tagalog, and are
embarrassed to be known as Cuyonon. Buddy Mendoza sings Cuyono folksongs
very well. In fact, he was the one who wrote the third stanza of the song
Ploning as sung by the SINIKA.
On the lighter side, he is known to have had (in the past, thank God!-
friends would tease him) ambitions of becoming a movie actor. Today he is
the proud father of budding actor Matthew Mendoza, current heartthrob of
kolehialas in MetroManila. A couple of years ago, he regaled Jose Mari Chan
and his wife and some of us invited to that private party with his special
rendition of the Cuyono song "Toting" on his Cuyono bamboo flute (tipano).
The rendition was not particularly impressive, but certainly it was very
entertaining. It made everyone present weep from laughter!
I'm afraid this is a quite sketchy description of the three most conspicuous
personalities associated with the cement plant. Knowing the accusations
leveled against them for "turning against Palawan" with their having
espoused the cement plant idea, and knowing them, somehow that picture of
them as destroyers of the environment and dislocators of tribal people does
not make sense. One guy volunteered an explanation: "Kasi ang mga
nag-o-oppose na iyan, karamihan sa kanila, hindi mga taga rito". ( It is
because many of the people who oppose are not really from here). "Hindi
nila kilala ang mga taga rito". (They do not know the people here). "Sila
ang walang respeto sa kultura natin dito" (They are the ones who do not
respect the host culture). "Tapos sasabihin nila, irespeto ang kultura ng
mga tribu? (And then they say: respect the culture of the tribes?)
The NGO network in Palawan has become a force to reckon with. But a recent
series of articles written by Jerry Esplanada of the Daily Inquirer has put
the heat on them. Now they are on the spot, trying to parry accusations
ranging from infighting and bickering between members of the network,
corruption charges regarding funds from donors alleged mismanaged by some
members of the network, a condescending attitude towards local and
provincial officials, and having fanatical views about preserving
Palawan, which many development analysts view as having created an imbalance
in Palawan as far as the twin aims of the SEP are concerned - which are:
development and environmental protection.
"No one has the monopoly in caring for and loving Palawan. Loving and caring
takes on so many forms. Just because one is for the cement plant does not
mean one does not love Palawan. Since when has it become a crime for
leaders to support a project which they think will be good for the people of
Palawan?" a Socrates supporter said, reacting to very negative comments
hurled by opposition against the Palawan governor and the two Congressmen:
Vicente Sandoval of North Palawan, and Alfredo Abueg of Southern Palawan -
known for their pro-cement plant stand..
Which brings to mind an event which is indelibly etched in my memory. One
early morning, I was sitting in my rocking chair sipping coffee and enjoying
the sight of sea, mountains and mangroves when I spotted an old couple in a
paddle boat throwing their fishing lines in the spot where the previous day
we had just planted artificial coral reefs. I sent one of my staff to tell
them to fish a little farther out and to explain to them why. My girl came
back and said, "Ma'am, galit sila.(Ma'am, they're angry.) Sabi nila aalis
lang sila kung bibigyan natin sila ng pagkain." (They said they will leave
only if we give them food.)
This incident made me realize even more that one cannot dichotomize between
the poverty and environmental protection issues. It is simply impossible.
They are intertwined. Try asking a fisherman who caught a pawikan (sea
turtle) and who knows that by selling it in the market he might generate
enough income to last his family for two weeks. Will he think about the
pawikan being a rare and endangered species and return it to the sea?
The adage that you can't expect a man to think conservation on an empty
stomach still applies. A quote which is often used by the NGOs in Palawan:
"We would rather teach them how to fish than give them fish" comes to mind.
This quote has been used in training programs normally to communicate the
unwisdom of dole-outs. In fact you can carry the story a little farther by
also teaching the guy to protect the reefs so that his supply of fish will
continue. When I mentioned this to a group, one community organizer who
has been working among the tribes and who lately had been picked on by some
of the established local NGOs, indignant, said, "But who is in a position
to teach people how to fish?"
He went on, "Are NGOs who are answerable to their funding agencies,
disunited, and in some instances, openly quarreling in full view of the
people they are addressing, teach people how to fish? How can people whose
preoccupation is implementing projects which are paid for by donors be
models for emulation by their `beneficiaries'? Have they lived among the
Bataks to be able to know the lifestyle of the Bataks - feel like them, live
like them, without the amenities? So that they could know how a Batak
might learn the art of balancing between development and conservation?
"I disagree vehemently with these self-appointed protectors of other people.
These people they are supposed to protect have a right to the same
alternatives that we all have. If they wish to improve their lives they
should not be prevented from doing so by our desire to keep them in our zoos
for future study and entertainment" wrote Hugh Trudeau (Palawan Buy and
Sell: August 1-15:p 21).
Lito Alisuag says,"We at Haribon Palawan define the concept and the essence
of sustainable development within the framework of our option to work with
the marginalized sectors of our community, meaning: the small farmers, small
fisherfolk, the indigenous communities, the small entrepreneurs, workers,
women and children. We made this choice, because of our experience and our
studies that show prevailing development concepts and models within our
bureaucracy and the business circle are based on first world needs and
experiences that preach unbridled development at the earliest possible
time." (More from Atty. Alisuag next issue).
Atty. Gerthie Anda of ELAC expressed her desire to see Palawan go for
ecotourism and agriculture more than industrialization. "Given its rich
biodiversity, cultural heritage and remaining forest and marine resources,
Palawan has been declared as a wildlife and mangrove reserve, several
protected areas have been established and a special law such as the SEP was
passed. For this reason, the development of Palawan must be unique and
different from what most people are familiar with - big industrial estates,
large-scale mining, golf courses, large subdivisions."
Incidentally, Congressman Abueg and wife, Dr. Nellie Abueg just came back
from a visit to a modern cement plant in Malaysia which could be a model for
all cement plants in Asia and the rest of the world; an example of how we
could blend development and environmental protection.
And now going back to this friend who asked me if I were for or against the
cement plant. My answer is: I am for sustainable development. I am for
universal participation by the people of Palawan to decide the fate of
Palawan. I would like to share with the readers of Palawan Buy and Sell all
the information that we know and we could access through more research and
interviews. I object to any group or groups who employ varying degrees of
subtlety to promote their own interests and not the interest of the greater
majority. I also feel that the youth should know about what is going on and
look at the issue of the cement plant from all angles. Politicians should
not be cowed by groups. They should not grandstand and cater to the whims
and caprices of one group, who have become adept at the use of media and
communications. Stand up, Palaweno, and be counted as among those who
search for truth, using your own eyes and not the eyes of other people.
(Note: I have asked several people to contribute to this article: Gerthie
Anda of ELAC, Lito Alisuag of Haribon Foundation, Offie Bernardino of PNNI
(Palawan NGO Network Inc.) Ricardo Sandalo of the Palawan Tropical Forest
Protection Project (PTFPP), Arthur Ventura of the Palawan Council for
Sustainable Development Staff (who unfortunately was not around - so
Josephine Matulac, of the department directors promised to send in her
comments). I have interviewed a lot of people who requested not to be
identified. Their comments, ideas, and reactions would be tackled in the
next issue of this paper. |
