Missing trees and sunbathing rice grains

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

 

LAST November 5, Atty. Judith Morden and I drove through the whole stretch of Villasis, Urdaneta, Binalonan and Pozorrubio, and by our own physical count, the remaining trees along the Manila North Road (MNR) did not add up to 500. There were so much less after the typhoon, and WID Coordinator Yolanda Salcedo Sia said, she saw a healthy tree cut during or immediately after the typhoon, coinciding with a “pruning operation”.

The first cluster we saw from where we came from was on Tree No. 2, located before Sumabnit Elementary School in Binalonan. There was another cluster near Bugayong Integrated School. There were four clusters up to Alipangpang, Pozorrubio, but the clusters are composed of less trees, much less than before we saw it, during the tie a ribbon activity last September 27.

We inspected the stretch for a 3km and 5km run respectively for November 14, the date set for the “Run Tree, Run Free” activity and also to tie ribbons to the remaining trees that we have not completed to tie ribbons to, along the MNR. There was this noticeably clear sky, visible where it was hidden by the foliage before, and we knew right away, some of the trees we tied ribbons to, were certifiably missing.

We were sad to see the vast expanse of the road, with a balding mountain staring in front of us, and a mountain on our right, exhibiting scooped areas and scars. We cannot afford to be angry, we need sobriety to look at where we are going, so we focused on the road, and witnessed to our delight, the rice grains, sunbathing on the road just widened, reclaiming space, while a backhoe stands by, watching to kill another tree. So now, we know that there is no appropriate response to the need for an appropriate facility to dry grains in District 5. I was told that a facility like that was procured, but it is the kind that can only process big volumes of grain, appropriate for the volume harvested in Nueva Ecija, but inappropriate for Pangasinan farmers harvesting smaller quantities. So who uses these agricultural facilities then? Again, I ask, “If development was the reason for road-widening and investment in top-of-the-line agricultural facilities, for whose development was it, in real terms?”

 

SHY SHOOTS

06 November 2015 7:59 a.m.

the road is clear of buses and cars
it is clear of foliage that used to hide
the balding mountain
and on the right side, another mountain
scooped out of life, bearing scars of abuse,
also balding, like everything else is balding
in District 5, where mountains vanish
and where a river stopped to flow,
in farms where it used to flow,
and now empty itself in a secret place,
among the backhoes.

the rice grains sunbathe on the road
beside the ogling backhoe
eagerly waiting for the next tree
to cut, when no one is looking
or praying for the next typhoon
to provide a reason
because the girdle un-girdled
and the trees have new shoots
shooting shyly, nourished by the rain

a new life smiles sweetly
in the company of confirmed assassins
eagerly waiting in the wings
as the birds contemplate on two choices:
to flap their wings
in anticipation of a new branch to perch on,
or to take an inevitable flight

the backhoe stands by, patiently

waiting for smoke signs

a voice, from the god on a rampage,

sucking water from a drying river

cutting shy shoots from a balding mountain.

(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)

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