HAPPY
WEEKEND
Gina
Dizon
SAGADA, Mountain
Province – Mountains are burning and people helplessly, passively look on. The
attitude of people not to go out and put off mountain fires is pitiful and pathetic.
People are
busy and have their own preoccupations while mountains are burning. In
this, town, some people say the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources should
put off forest fires because they don’t allow people from harvesting their
trees.
People say
putting off mountain fires is the job of the DENR and the Bureau of Fire
Protection (BFP). Personnel of the BFP and the DENR put off fires and feel
frustrated people don’t help.
Some say
mountains are owned privately already so owners should put off fires. Whether
the mountain is owned privately or communally, the mountains are burned and this
affects diversity and people suffer. This includes not only
privately owned mountains in central Sagada but in the communal owned mountains
of Aguid. Burning mountains is indiscriminate.
Mountains
get scorched black and ashy and the air smells of fire smog and ash fall
floating on air. The air gets hotter. Not only the trees but also
coffee trees and other fruit trees for livelihood are burned.
Like here,
the problem is attitudinal as mountains are burned intentionally.
People say
there is need for new grass for cattle to feed on. But not all have cattle. Why
not build private corals and let the cattle stay there and feed them? People
should get zacate and feed cows and horses in their corals. This is better
than burning the whole mountain for new grass.
People say
burned mountains have mushrooms come rainy season. This is another reason for
burning mountains.
Some say they
burn mountains because these are not owned by the community but by a person. All
lands in Sagada and even in Bauko are owned privately.
So people just
drop their cigarette butts or leave kaingin debris burning till the whole
mountain catches fire.
People suffer
since there is no water and the air gets hotter due to burned plans and trees
which hold water.
The attitude
of caring for mountains is gone even if these store water
for domestic
use and irrigation. Mountains are the source of lumber for housing and for
rituals, for furniture.
Mountains
need to be protected since these are sources of water and rich biodiversity of
fauna and flora which include medicinal plants.
Life and
communities suffer when mountains are burned.
The customary
practice of putting off fire when a forest fire is ongoing is now gone. People
have gone commercial from an agricultural livelihood so they don’t care anymore
if mountains are burned.
Their sources
of livelihood here include having inns, souvenir shops, weaving, carpentry,
tourist guiding, restaurant keeping while others work in government or private offices.
In this
rustic town, life was simpler then. Now, putting off forest fires need a
coordinated system involving barangay-based anti-fire teams with the resource
support of government and strong involvement of people.
I came to
know there will be a meeting among barangay chairmen with municipal mayors and
government agencies particularly the DENR and the BFP and the government
officials to be led by the provincial office to address the problem of forest
fires.
Let us look
forward to making systems work to made mountains greener with a collective
attitude to care for nature, for life.
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