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While
the headlines, for the past 10 days, continued to center
on the searing “power” controversy that is the Manila
Electric Co. (Meralco), much of Pangasinan is still
without electricity, and residents in that
rice-producing province continue to grapple with the
effects of Typhoon Cosme, such as rain-drenched—and
possibly spoiled—rice. And the unkindest cut of all: the
seeming lack of government presence.
The
devastation wrought on Pangasinan is very much manifest
in Dagupan City, where electricity is yet to be fully
restored, and with the only hum of business activity
evident in the generator-fed hotels such as Star Plaza,
as the rich encamped in the hotel suites where there are
whirring electric fans and lots of water. The economic
impact of the typhoon can be seen in the lack of
jeepneys that used to ply the after-dark routes from
Dagupan City to all other points in the province, such
as the towns of San Fabian, Mangaldan, Calasiao,
Bayambang, San Jacinto, Manaoag, Binmaley, Aguilar and
Lingayen.
About
one in four of the houses in the coastal town of San
Fabian had detached roofing materials and wind-blown
sidings, with residents unable to do anything beyond
huddling together in the unaffected portions of their
houses to pass the night as the rains continued to pour,
especially during the first five days of Cosme’s exit
the other Saturday. Overnight, family members became
carpenters as skilled labor became scarce owing to
demand.
Not only
was skilled labor as scarce as government presence; even
construction materials conspired. Rivets, which used to
come by easy for 60 centavos apiece, overnight saw their
prices balloon to P1 per, and with the “needy” in queue.
The catastrophe that is Cosme metastasized into a
crisis, a tribute to the economic truism that where
there is a crisis, there are opportunistic elements that
prey on the disadvantaged, more so when the government’s
vaunted check mechanism has similarly been blown away by
Cosme.
It is a
good thing that there are charging stations at Victory
Liner station in Dagupan City that allowed for
communication lines between the affected families and
their relations in Metro Manila and even to far-flung
OFW (overseas Filipino worker) communities to go on.
These charging stations collected fees of P10 per
one-hour charge for the cell phones of the harassed
residents of Pangasinan, whose economy was hard hit by
the typhoon.
There
are two telltale signs of the economic crisis in
Pangasinan: a kilo of bangus that used to fetch P100 per
kilo was going for P25 per kilo; while galvanized
roofing materials, which went through the roof, can be
seen being ferried from outside sources such as Metro
Manila. And there is a third, too. Remittance fees
remained at P85 per P1,000 and P400 per P3,000, as if
the consumption of power and the servicing of the
remittance of the P4,000 entails much, much more than
that of a P1,000. Now, if the government only makes its
presence felt in the high remittance fees, Cosme’s
devastating presence can be considered a blessing in
disguise by OFW families.
Holcim’s
environmental play
A
Filipino innovation, engendered by the Holcim Foundation
for Sustainable Construction, is now the focus of
interest from other countries due to its capability to
accelerate coral restoration, especially in endangered
marine ecosystems. The Filipino innovation, which won
the silver award in the Asia-Pacific segment of global
cement giant Holcim’s environmental focus in 2005, is
being touted as the next solution to the restoration of
destroyed coral reefs. Coral reefs provide haven for
diversity in fish and other marine life.
Consisting of eight outstretched octopus-like legs and
made of cement, the Filipino innovation provides a
faster environment for coral reefs to grow due to the
presence of calcium carbonate in concrete. The Filipino
team was able to demonstrate the efficacy of the
concrete in a controlled test in Duka Bay off Misamis
Oriental. Now, other countries have taken notice, such
as Sri Lanka and Palau. In commending it, the awards
committee said the “success of the project lies in its
innovative focus on the marine ecosystem,” as well as
“its positive impact on the natural surroundings.”
Holcim,
which started its business 90 years ago in the Swiss
village of Holderbank, Canton Aargau, has been investing
in environmental concerns as part of its global focus on
sustainable construction. The Swiss giant, which has
four cement plants in the country, has also been earning
precious foreign exchange for the country by way of the
intensified export thrust of its products. The company
is deep into community-building efforts in the areas
where its cement plants are located: in Bulacan, Misamis
Oriental, La Union and Davao.
One
other environmental project of Holcim is the
reintroduction of sea urchins in the coastal community
of Balaoan, La Union. In this “go-green” project, the
company partnered with the University of the Philippines
Fishery Research Institute in spawning sea urchins in
the area. What the company funded was a concerted
hatchery it termed as a “sea-ranching” program to raise
sea urchins and have them reintroduced in La Union. This
is expected to help the fisherfolk in the area by way of
increased incomes due to their sea- urchin harvest.
The
emerging consensus on environmental concerns in the
global business community stems from the environmental
degradation that has spawned killer hurricanes like
Katrina in the
United States
and Milenyo and Reming in the Philippines. For this
matter, the government needs to refocus its efforts on
environmental concerns so that it would not need to
worry that its lack of presence can be highlighted when
a typhoon such as Cosme comes a-visiting.
E-mail: hugagni@yahoo.com |
