TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Mayor Ferdinand Tubban cannot accept the claim of constituents engaged in kaingin or slash and burn farming that if they stop the practice, they will starve to death.
During the annual consultation and planning session for the barangays of Magnao and Guilayon held in the former barangay on April 19, Tubban firmly told officials and residents in the area to stop the practice of cutting trees and burning the flora on the mountainsides.
He said that the practice not only worsens the problem of pollution considering that plants especially trees absorb carbon dioxide but it also causes landslides and dries up water sources.
He reminded that the city already had an experience with a deadly landslide.
He also pointed out that under the development master plan of the city, the two barangays form a part of the area designated for tourism activities.
Tubban refuted the claim of resident Alex Baralin that people in Magnao will not live if they stopped making kaingins recalling that back in the old days, residents of the barangay were able to live on the yield of their coffee plantations and fruit trees.
He urged the residents of the two barangays to stop thinking that slash and burn farming is the only means of livelihood available to them and instead should explore other possibilities.
He also advised that since their current means of eking out a living is detrimental to the environment, they should prioritize livelihood in their barangay development plans.
“You could live without burning trees. It is you who could think of remedies. Think about the best alternative livelihood and let’s see how the LGU could assist you,” Tubban said.
The ZZW would learn from Magnao resident Peter Gonayon that the slash and burn farming and the burning of mountainsides escalated three years ago when the use of weedicides was introduced in the barangay simplifying and shortening the process of farm preparation.
Gonayon said that from then on, corn dislodged rice as the prime agricultural product of the barangay as it could be planted twice a year unlike upland rice which could only be planted once a year.
He added that the economic returns of corn is much better than that of rice and coffee but it led to the clearing of even the mountaintops which is used to be spared from the kaingin practice.
Interviewed after the consultations, Baralin said that he sees the point of Tubban but insisted it is impossible to grow rice or corn under trees.
Baralin also claimed that 99 percent of residents of Magnao are kaingineros.
The situation in Magnao which, incidentally, is the birthplace of Tubban’s father, Thomas, is a challenge to Tubban whose campaign platform and later executive agenda which has the acrostic SAVE EARTH is very strong on environmental protection.**
During the annual consultation and planning session for the barangays of Magnao and Guilayon held in the former barangay on April 19, Tubban firmly told officials and residents in the area to stop the practice of cutting trees and burning the flora on the mountainsides.
He said that the practice not only worsens the problem of pollution considering that plants especially trees absorb carbon dioxide but it also causes landslides and dries up water sources.
He reminded that the city already had an experience with a deadly landslide.
He also pointed out that under the development master plan of the city, the two barangays form a part of the area designated for tourism activities.
Tubban refuted the claim of resident Alex Baralin that people in Magnao will not live if they stopped making kaingins recalling that back in the old days, residents of the barangay were able to live on the yield of their coffee plantations and fruit trees.
He urged the residents of the two barangays to stop thinking that slash and burn farming is the only means of livelihood available to them and instead should explore other possibilities.
He also advised that since their current means of eking out a living is detrimental to the environment, they should prioritize livelihood in their barangay development plans.
“You could live without burning trees. It is you who could think of remedies. Think about the best alternative livelihood and let’s see how the LGU could assist you,” Tubban said.
The ZZW would learn from Magnao resident Peter Gonayon that the slash and burn farming and the burning of mountainsides escalated three years ago when the use of weedicides was introduced in the barangay simplifying and shortening the process of farm preparation.
Gonayon said that from then on, corn dislodged rice as the prime agricultural product of the barangay as it could be planted twice a year unlike upland rice which could only be planted once a year.
He added that the economic returns of corn is much better than that of rice and coffee but it led to the clearing of even the mountaintops which is used to be spared from the kaingin practice.
Interviewed after the consultations, Baralin said that he sees the point of Tubban but insisted it is impossible to grow rice or corn under trees.
Baralin also claimed that 99 percent of residents of Magnao are kaingineros.
The situation in Magnao which, incidentally, is the birthplace of Tubban’s father, Thomas, is a challenge to Tubban whose campaign platform and later executive agenda which has the acrostic SAVE EARTH is very strong on environmental protection.**
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