By Bernie Lopez eastwindreplyctr@gmail.com Permission is granted to re-publish with credits and notification. Disclaimer – the views in this article are those of the author’s alone.
The syndicate from PCA-UPLB elements advocating for a deadly super-toxin banned abroad, Starkle (Mitsubishi product) to arrest a coconut infestation by the cocolisap, backed down last year due to severe protests. Now they are back with a vengeance in a presscon held at PCA on February 11, 2015.
They claim that out of 54 ‘hot spots’ or highly infested areas, there still remains nine today, including Bae and San Pablo in Laguna, Calatagan and Lemery in Batangas, etc. They however did not present scientific evidence or quantitative data to prove their claim. Some farmers in fact said their investigating team were arm-chair personnel who never climbed the trees and could not substantiate their claims.
There is thus a suspicion that this is a repeat of last year when they gave exaggerated reports to justify the P170 million Starkle project of the PCA as a ‘last-resort’ solution, when the infestation was actually effectively being neutralized by a parasitoid which preyed on the cocolisap with no or little intervention and money involved. They were silent about this in their presscon and focused on Starkle, the ‘hero’ against the pest.
Entomologist Mario Navasero, lead researcher of the National Crop Protection Center of the UPLB was the discoverer of the comperiella unifasciata, the arch-enemy parasitoid of the cocolisap. He presented his findings at the Pest Management Conference in Cebu on May 7, 2014. Why is the pro-poison group, which attended that conference and are fully aware of the effective parasitoid, ignoring and suppressing this information? Is it because of big bucks in Starkle to the detriment of the entire coconut industry? Once foreign buyers find out we are injecting into the coconut trunk this banned chemical on a large scale, our multibillion foreign market will disappear.
Meanwhile, the proponents of the cheaper safer non-toxic organic solutions are poised to launch their counter-presscon to give a rebuttal to the allegations of the pro-poison group. It is a war between expensive government poison solutions against cheap non-government organic solutions.
President Aquino, his agricultural czar Kiko Pangilinan and DA officials have consistently ignored the protests against this deadly poison. We are again appealing to the general public to join the out-cry against Starkle, which was mysteriously approved quickly by the FPA with very little validation.
We should have a street protest in front of the Japanese Embassy against Mitsubishi, the silent powerful multinational which sells banned chemicals. We should stop giving Mitsubishi mega-projects in energy and infrastructure until they withdraw Starkle, which may kill our agriculture. Something that would destroy our multi-million peso coconut industry feeding countless of marginals is completely unacceptable. Bernie Lopez eastwindreplyctr@gmail.com
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Lord, we are the clay You are the Potter form us and mold us to Your image Lord, we are the sail You are the wind bring us home to Your shore eastwind ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ then shall the eyes of the blind be opened the ears of the deaf cleared then shall the lame leap like a stag and the dumb sing streams shall flow in deserts and rivers in steppes the burning sands shall become lakes and parched earth springs of water
Isaiah 35:4-7
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