41% of All Filipino Families Lack Access to Clean Water

March 22nd was World Water Day which is an annual United Nations observance to highlight the importance of fresh water. In the Philippines almost half of all families lack access to fresh water. Let's take a look at some statistics compiled by National Water Resource Board executive director Dr. Sevillo David Jr.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/20/23/11-million-filipino-families-lack-access-to-clean-water-nwrb

Some 11 million families lack access to clean water in the Philippines, an official said on Monday. 

These families are forced to rely on "unprotected" deep wells, springs, rivers, lakes and rainwater, said National Water Resource Board executive director Dr. Sevillo David Jr.

(Almost 11 million families do not have access to clean water yet. The water source for 11 million families is almost unsafe.)

The Philippines is home to some 26.3 million families, according to 2020 government data.  

Lack of sanitation has also forced some families to defecate in the open, risking water contamination and diseases, David said. 

11 million out of 26.3 million is 41%!!!  Do these people pay taxes? Those taxes should go to projects like providing fresh water but they have been left out in the cold by the government which they are forced to support. Open defecation does indeed taint the water supply and I have gone through the stats showing how many people die each year from diarrhea due to tainted water. One wonders how Filipinos survived for thousands of years before the Spanish came. Did Lapulapu take a dump near his water source?  

Water supply also often becomes an issue during the dry season, he noted.

(We have enough water supply for now. But the PAGASA says El Niño is looming.) 

El Niño is characterized by below-normal rainfall conditions, which could lead to dry spells and droughts in some areas of the country, according to the state weather forecaster. 

(We need to prepare for this as it could affect our water supply, particularly in our farms.)

Asked what the government is doing to solve water issues, David cited President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos' order to create a water resource management office.

(This office will be in charge of coordinating various government agencies which have water programs and activities. More than 13 agencies have a role or have a program on water and our President wants to have coordination to provide security and relief to the needs of our countrymen.)

David's statement comes days before World Water Day, celebrated every March 22 to raise awareness on the water and sanitation crisis. 

Of course the government's answer is more bureaucracy.  Let's take a look though. 

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/01/23/marcos-oks-new-water-resource-management-office

President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has approved the creation of an office that will manage water resources and ensure sufficient supply, Malacañang said on Wednesday. 

Marcos suggested that the new Water Resource Management Office's (WRMO) first task "should be reducing the country’s reliance on groundwater and deep wells, as well as managing surface water supply," the Presidential Communications Office said. 

"We have sufficient... there’s enough water in the Philippines hindi lang natin ginagamit, tinatapon natin,” Marcos said.

(It's not being used, we're wasting it.)

The new body will also ensure that other agencies would follow a plan for waste management. 

"That’s why we have to strengthen the mandate of the Water Management Office. We have to bring them (agencies) together so that they are all following the overall plan,” Marcos said. 

"This new Water Management Office, it has to be cohesive in the sense that kailangan ‘yung recommendation ng management office sinusundan," he added. 

(The recommendation of the management office should be followed.)

Who is distributing the water now? Who is not following the overall plan now? This is all malarky. Marcos wants to create another bureaucracy which won't do anything except cost the taxpayers more money and be another conduit for corruption. But the question remains. How did Filipinos survive on clean water before the Europeans came and why can't they do that now? Almost half of all Philippine families do not have access to clean water and the government's response is to create another bureaucracy? Ridiculous!

Old Man in Leyte Outperforms Government By Planting 10,000 Trees

One old man in Leyte is doing more for typhoon disaster prevention and environmental protection than the inutile Philippine government.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1121468

For eight years now, a 65-year-old man in Matalom, Leyte has planted about 10,000 mangroves along a coastal area at the back of his house.

Gary Dabasol, jobless, has been planting mangroves in Punong village because he was worried of the danger of big waves especially during typhoons.

In doing so, he just gathered mangrove seedlings along the coastline in their village. Among the mangrove species that he planted include miyapi, pagatpat, and bakawan.

“I'm glad that I was able to inspire people, I hope that they will also follow what I am doing. I also want to contribute to higher marine production by cultivating a spooning area for fish, crabs, and shrimps and other species," Dabasol said in an interview on Wednesday.

The story of Dabasol was shared by netizen Dan Niez from Hilongos town, who visited the coastal area of Matalom last week to unwind.

Niez said the last time he went to the area several years ago, the place was just an open space along the shoreline.

He was surprised that during his visit last week, there are full-grown mangroves planted along the coastline.

“When I posted it, many people reacted especially millennials and praised Tatay Gary for what he did. I think they were inspired, and I hope they are inspired because planting 10,000 mangroves is not that easy,” Niez said.

“I hope that the government will also help him because what he did is extraordinary. It is not usual for one person to have this kind of initiative," Niez added.

Right now there has been typhoon after typhoon hitting the Philippines and the Senate and everyone else are wondering what can be done? This man is showing what can and should be done to prevent flooding during a typhoon. Doing a Google search for "philippines deforestation floods" and thousands of results show up. Here is one from 2005:

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2005/11/10/306119/deforestation-one-major-causes-rp-floods

"If FAO/CIFOR concluded that in those countries deforestation is not a cause of flooding, such findings do not hold true in the Philippines where forest degradation has gone from mild to severe, from 70 percent forest cover in 1900 to barely 18 percent in 1998," said Anabelle Plantilla, executive director of Haribon Foundation (www.haribon.org.ph), the country’s foremost environmental non-government organization in the forefront of issues for more than three decades. 

According to Norman Myers, author of the Primary Source, Tropical Forests and Our Future (1992), "the forests exert a sponge effect, soaking up moisture before releasing it at regular rates… The multi-storied structure of the forest, together with its vast amount of foliage, helps break the impact of a tropical downpour." 

He added that "the region where deforestation is most advanced is Southern-Southeast Asia, and it suffers (from) floods that increase in rage and intensity year by year." 

It seems as if nothing has been done as 15 years later conservation groups are calling for the same thing: reforestation.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1361520/group-says-protection-of-forests-must-be-core-of-disaster-response

Restoration and conservation of the Philippines’ existing forests, from rainforests to mangrove forests, should be at the core of the country’s disaster risk reduction plans, according to the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB).

Noting that deforestation caused massive flooding in Cagayan Valley due to Ulysses, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade on Sunday said planting trees would soon be mandatory for public transport cooperatives and individuals seeking franchises or licenses.

In a meeting with President Duterte and other Cabinet officials, Tugade said a regional director of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) had suggested that members of cooperatives must plant 500 trees before being granted a franchise.

He said the Department of Transportation (DOTr) was closely coordinating with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and local government units in identifying areas for reforestation.

Transportation Secretary Tugade says it will be mediator for public transport cooperatives and individuals seeking franchisee to plant 500 trees before they are granted a franchise. Where will these trees come form? The Department of Agriculture? The DOA donated 1,500 trees for the local INC to plant back in 2017 and those trees are all dead now because nobody maintained them. Who will maintain the trees these franchise seekers plant? 

Even if these groups plant 500 trees each it will likely all go to waste somehow. Maybe the Philippines needs less government programs and more men like Gary Dabasol. Look at what he did all by himself.

https://www.facebook.com/nowinleyte/posts/225676302223133

All it takes to succeed it initiative and determination. The government could do these kinds of things too but they don't. That is a result of more red tape and corruption.

Iglesia Ni Cristo Tree Planting Is A Total Failure

Six months ago I published an article about Iglesia Ni Cristo engaging in a tree planting activity in the area.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2017/08/iglesia-ni-cristo-plants-trees-and.html

They bussed in a few hundred people some from at least two hours away telling by the destinations written on the jeepneys in which they arrived. All morning they busily planted little saplings. 

This is the field in which they planted their grove. It's hard to tell but in the background are many, many more bamboo sticks protecting tiny saplings. They must have planted at least a hundred saplings in this field. By noon they were gone and apparently they never came back to tend to the trees because today, 31 January, 2018, this is what the field of trees looks like:

Where is the mini-forest? Where are the hundreds of saplings they planted?  Here is a close up.

These trees look like overgrown underbrush. Many of them are even choked and tangled by weeds. In fact all the trees are practically indistinguishable from weeds!

One or two of them look fairly robust and like they might make it but that is purely a chance occurrence and not because anyone has been tending to them.  

What a complete waste of time it was to bus out hundreds of people to plant trees when no one even bothered to follow up on them. There is an INC congregation in the squatters village where they planted these trees so there is no excuse that someone was not assigned to tend to these saplings. A few bamboo sticks were lying about broken but no sign of the saplings they were protecting.

What was the point of this activity? All around the world the INC goes out and plants trees. What for? Do they think they are noble environmental champions? How is bussing in people from two hours away to plant trees no one will care for a good thing for the environment? Bussing them in means more pollution in the air and more energy wasted. The saplings the INC killed through neglect could have flourished in someone else's hands and field. And let's not forget about the litter they left behind which was not an environmentally friendly thing to have done. There were more people than trees planted which means bussing in hundreds was completely unnecessary and only done for the photo-op. If the INC cares about the environment why not just have the local congregation plant and care for the saplings? Because pictures and video of hundreds of people congregating for a tree planting activity is good PR.

This neglected field of weedy trees is very much reflective of the soul of the Iglesia Ni Cristo which is a spiritually bankrupt organisation feeding its members only lies and heresies.

I cannot speak for their efforts elsewhere but this tree planting activity is a total failure.