Malunggay and 9/11

Yesterday, I crossed back to Cebu from Negros, taking a pump boat from the port of Sibulan, six kilometers north of Dumaguete. It was a short 25 minute trip to Barangay Liloan in Santander, the southernmost town of Cebu.

I couldn’t wait for the closing ceremonies of the Dumaguete workshop on biotech for local development. Another closing session was waiting for me in Toledo City, where GMs of electric coops worked in groups to develop action plans.

It’s been a while since I had to shuttle between two workshops. I felt a bit like a talent doing “lagari.”

Biotech and malunggay

I enjoyed the lively presentation of the DA’s biotech road map by Dr. Vivencio Mamaril of the Bureau of Plant Industry. The mayors and their technicians agreed to extend the session past lunch hour.

The Negros island LGUs have passed a resolution banning the introduction of GMOs into the island. So why hold a workshop on biotech in Negros? Isn’t GMO biotech?

That was the useful clarification that came out from the discussions. Of course GMOs are the product of biotech. But biotech is not just about GMOs. For example, there is biotech for biofuels. In fact, the DA’s road map argues that the more promising road for the Philippines is the application of biotech to the “natural ingredients” industry and market.

One example of this is in malunggay extracts. In fact, a company that has patented the process has a ready market that needs a 15,000 hectare supply of malunggay. Even if we discount the hype that usually accompanies any new promotion, the claims made for malunggay are impressive.

It is “perhaps the most nutritious vegetable available in the planet,” according to Dr. Mamaril. “The malunggay has seven times the vitamin C in oranges, four times the calcium in milk, four times the vitamin A in carrots, three times the potassium in bananas, and two times the protein in milk.”

In addition to nutritional qualities, the malunggay has medicinal uses, external and internal. Its seeds can be used for water purification, and its oil can be used for cooking, cosmetics, and lubricants.

Breast-feeding Filipinas know that malunggay increases lactation. Negros Oriental Governor Macias, who is a doctor, even attributes his family’s longevity to malunggay. Dr. Mamaril perked up the men in the audience by adding that malunggay also increases sperm production.

I didn’t know that the model for propagating malunggay that the DA wants to use has been developed in Nicaragua. That introduced a different association with Nicaragua in my mind, which still remembers the years of the Sandinista revolution.

9/11 Movement

Another different association awaited me in Toledo City. When I arrived after the four-hour land trip from Santander, some GM participants greeted me with what I sensed was a mischievous twinkle in their eyes. I had no time to ask them, but found out the reason soon enough.

When I entered the session hall, Fr. Silva informed me that the assembly had elected me as president of the “September 11 movement.”

I was not totally surprised. He had talked to me sometime back about helping set up an advocacy effort for the consumers of electricity and for the electric cooperatives. It turned out that during the discussions on the proposed action plan, the GMs felt that they needed additional allies in the areas of consumer education and advocacy.

But why the name of September 11? Why link it to 9/11, which is associated with the 2001 attack on the twin towers in New York?

“That’s not the reference,” they explained. ” For NEA and the electric coops, 9/11 is associated with the date when Fr. Silva finally accepted the post of NEA Administrator, after refusing previous offers from three presidents.

He gave up the NEA post a few years later, preferring to concentrate on training the electric coop directors, managers, and staff and exercising his “moral influence” to push for needed reforms.

Even without EPIRA, reforms were needed to insure that the ECs serve their member consumers. After EPIRA, the need for reforms is even more urgent.

“We need to develop an informed constituency for reforms, beyond the officers and staff of the electric coops,” they told me. I reminded them that I had already taken up the cause of electric consumers and coops since 2002. But I agreed with them on the need for a more active and effective advocacy movement.

Just before dinner, NEA Administrator Bueno took me aside. She reminded me that 9/11 is also the birthday of Ferdinand Marcos, and asked: “Don’t you have any problem with that possible association?”

I reminded her of my “MAREMAR” framework. The program on rural electrification did start during the Marcos presidency, and the target year for energizing all barangays is 2009 under the GMA presidency.

Citizen’s advocacy on key national issues must engage the government of the day. But our advocacy must have a more strategic perspective that spans previous and future governments.

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