THE LITTLE LOST SEEDS

by: Yolanda B. Botigan/ March 1992

In the midst of a twilight

I sat down alone, forgotten

Eyes wide, mind set

Tracing towards an unknown plight.

Quiet place – I took strength to stand

At a glance

A teary child, alone, I spied

Like me, another lost seed, I sighed.

Deep a feeling froze inside

Trembling, I slowly took a little stride

Alone, dirty, hungry, tired and helpless

Why? Where? Hopeless?

Who are you? Nobody.

From where are you? Nowhere.

Then lost like me, you are

Yes, just existed and no more.

Growing little seeds --- lost

Beauty of life, dispossessed

Unnamed tomorrow, scattered

Even just a single light

In darkness, little lost seeds …

Grow but groping

Eat but begging

In clothes but unclothed.

Yes, lost, they are

Lost, lost, lost

Will they ever be LOST?

I Am An Igorot

this is just a reprint..... still searching for the name of the original author

I am an Igorot. Take a good look at me. Look at me for I defy the distortions heaped on my image by fellow Filipinos. Look at me for I defy those who have heard of me but have not seen me. Look at me for I am a living proof that defies the inanities of those who seek to degrade my integrity. Look at me for I am a part of you; and you, a part of me.

My skin, the fair and tender Benguet Lily that blooms in May, at the slightest touch of the first rain, hundreds of eyes relish on its sweetness whenever I pass by.

My shape, the graceful contours and the splendor of the eighth wonder of the world – Our Banaue Rice Terraces. And my youth, the greenness of the pines, of the forest and of the lush vegetation that in turn speak of the vitality and the strength of my people.

Look at me for I don’t hide behind the deceptions of cosmetiques – Look at me in my entirety, for I am poor, yet so rich in virtues as purity, honesty and simplicity.

Many centuries ago, my brave forbears set out to discover new horizons that to them meant sunshine and promise. Along the broad span of plains and valleys, hills and mountains, seas and rivers, they finally stumbled into a vast stretch of mountains. On these mountains lurked, the fear of the unknown yet over them was the promise of fertility.

At last, here was the land that was to be theirs, the land that they gave to me, and the land that I will give to my children so long as we exist in this part of the earth.

Over the years, my fathers toiled the early hours of dawn until darkness. Naked as the soil where they trod, they withstood the burning heat of the sun and the biting cold of the mountain winds. With few weapons but with the stoutness in their hearts, they fought the adverse forces of man and nature. With patience and perseverance, they created the forest and dug deep into the earth for the wealth that it hid. With inherent sense of beauty, they built a culture so rich, as their tools were so crude and ugly. Today, other people would wonder how my mother, lacking in all facilities that one finds in modern textile factories, but with the use of sticks and bamboo reeds, have fashioned so intricate a material as the cloth, that I wear. Still, it puzzles many that with no formal schooling my mother wove such rich designs and blended so beautiful the colors that no doubt would stand among the finest works of art.

Bare of tools and armed with ingenuity and resourcefulness, my fathers carved out of deep walls of these mountains, a magnificence that was to astound the world. Amidst our rice terraces is the skill, which surpasses many of man’s engineering feats. Amidst the beauty of our rice fields, our farms and our mines, which we have nurtured for ages with our sweat and blood, is proof of the ingenuity of my people. Amongst my people is the pride, which I must cherish with fervor as long as I live.

Who will speak for my fathers who have fashioned beauty out of these mountains and brought progress into this land? for my fathers who have contributed so rich a cultural legacy to this country?

Today even as alien cultures have seeped to the very core of our way of life, who will stand up for the quest of a true Filipino identity, unblemished by foreign tastes and idiosyncrasies? Who will answer the question of who is “the most Filipino among the Filipinos?” Truly, it is I. I am an Igorot!

Still, as the truth of the past is slowly unfolded, it saddens me and my brothers that here remains some callous hearts that would refuse to see the light. Truly, this is man’s inhumanity to man. What do I have that makes me anathema to writers of books and magazines? What have I done that has earned me the contempt of my own people?

I possess nothing but virtues which man has extolled over the centuries. That is what I possess. I have nothing but courage in the face of danger, fortitude – in my duties, patience in life. That is what I have. I have done nothing but toiled hard from the bowels of the earth until, such time as when prosperity flowered from my sweat and labor. And I have done nothing but defend to the last breath every inch of the ground which my fathers rightfully claimed their own. That is what I have done.

Over these rugged slopes and mountains, these fields and rivers my toils and struggles, my colorful heritage and my heroic past, I cry out with rage and indignation, “Rise up you souls of my immortal fathers and we will challenge the wisdom of this society. Rise up my unsung heroes and help me shout into the heavens … Give me justice which you have so long denied me. Bring me the glory that was mine, and give me back the honor to my name!

"I Am An Igorot"

(A Reprint from "The Cordilleras and Behind" by Dtj)

I am an Igorot, son of parents in whose veins
flow Malayan and Indonesian blood. I was born
and reared amidst the mountains and hills,
covered with sturdy and verdant pines, that
sway and dance with the mountain breeze, beside the
mountain streams. This part of the country, the
mountain provinces I have learned to love and
called my home.

I am an Igorot. In my veins run the immortal
blood of my gallant, peaceful and freedom
loving forefathers. Blood borne by them, who openly
defied the authority of Spain, in the year
sixteen hundred and one. Again, it was the
blood that also freely flowed in the bloody
battlefields of the world famous Bataan and in
the rocky bastions of Corregidor.

That blood is immortal. It is the self-same
blood that flowed in the hearts of my
grandfather, father, uncles, cousins, and
nephews, who formed the might, 66th infantry.
Blood that watered the wild lilies of the
treacherous mountains. Some of them died,
fighting that I may be what I am now, a free
man, living in a free country governed by the
principles of democracy.

I am an Igorot, a proud one. I am proud of my
noble, brave, peaceful and hardworking
ancestors. Proud of the mountains and hills,
rivers, trees, and of the lilies that adorn the
forests which were given by Him above to mine.
Proud of the canao, and of the custom and
traditions handed to me from generation to
generation. Proud to beat the gangsa and to
hear the ravage sounds of the solibao.

I am proud too of my Christian status and
education, brought about by the pioneering goal
of the occidental missionaries and teachers.
Proud to be in an integral part of the Republic
of the Philippines.

Though in educational, economic, social and
political aspects, I may be far behind. Though
in high society, I may be frowned upon. Though
all and all, I may be called a barbarian. Still
I shall shout aloud that all may know and hear,
that I Am An Igorot.

Biofuels or Food?

I believe that BIOFUEL PRODUCTION is a worldwide CRIME to humanity!

We produce GMO's to solve global hunger but the irony of it all is still hunger!

I hope you understand how the two statements above are related!

The Sting Of Death

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:55 NIV.

“For the wages of sin is death...” Romans 6:23 NIV.

“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned - ” Romans 5:12 NIV.

Death is an irreversible cessation of biological life that people generally are afraid to face though everyone is destined to finally leave this world with it. For believers in Christ, death is the separation of the soul from the physical body. Everyone knows for a fact that someday our mortal bodies will soon return to the ground but when that time comes though, we do all the best to defy it.

Last February 14th this year, everyone in my workplace was shocked to hear a news that one of the employees (who was actually my former supervisor when I went on study leave) met a car accident and was critically injured. I witnessed how he fought for life. He tried to be strong. He was so aware of what was going around him and of what was being done with his body especially the medical drugs that were injected into his system. He tried to speak in answer to my greeting when we visited him in the hospital. His spirit to live was so strong. Nine days after the accident though, everyone got even more shocked when news spread that he died. He was quoted to have said a day or two before his death that he was so afraid and was so nervous. Death of a loved one is always difficult so that I felt the gruesome struggle of his family in the hospital, during the wake and until the burial.

On the 7th day of the wake, another fellow employee also died of complications leaving our whole Institute mourning for them.

When death strikes in the family, it becomes the worst stage each one has to face. For a believer in Christ though or the saved, death ushers him in the presence of God. Jesus also died. Adam, the first man, also died. Only the difference is Adam died because he was a sinner, and Jesus, who had never sinned, chose to suffer death as a substitute for sinners (Hebrews 2:9, 14-16). In Matthew 28, Jesus triumphed over death and sin and showed His power by rising from the dead on the third day. Because of Christ, death is a defeated foe.

For the non-believer in Christ or the unsaved, death is an end for the chance to accept God’s gracious offer of salvation. “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment...” Hebrews 9:27 NIV.

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain..." Revelation 21:4 NIV. How sweet would it be when that time comes for all believers in Christ to enjoy. We shall look forward onto it.

Michael Bronson in BibleHelp.org estimates that there are 153, 000 people who die every day in the whole world or 56.0 million every year. Of this number, how many souls are sure to go home to God and how many would end up the opposite?

I suggest you all to visit the website: http://www.gotquestions.org

Biofuel Euphoria

I was in static smiles one trip home to the province from Manila upon seeing several plant shops along the stretch of Bulacan to La Union of Jatropha seedlings on sale! Will this Jatropha case ever bring the Philippines to wonderland if ever her dream comes true?

It's so obvious that Filipinos are now very desperate to escape from the pit of poverty in the country with either thousands regardless of status in life on exodus to many parts of the world in quest for more glitters to fill the pocket while others grip to sorts of money-making including this Jatropha biodiesel craze in the offing (albeit not only poverty that moves other Filipinos abroad but mere greed).

While researchers and scientists all over the globe are in the zenith of commercializing GMO's and biodiesel crops, Filipinos from all walks of life now talk about the Jatropha curcas L. or commonly known as "tuba-tuba" in Tagalog (Ilocanos call it "tagumbao" or "tag-tagumbao") as another big time source of money. Jatropha is from the family Euphorbiaceae and has a genus of approximately 175 succulents, shrubs and trees. It originates from the Carribean and was spread as a valuable hedge and medicinal plant to Africa, Asia and India by Portuguese traders. It is a weed in Brazil, Fiji, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Panama, Puerto Rico and El Salvador (Holm, et. al. 1979).

Jatropha is an introduced plant species into the Philippines and it hardly grows just anywhere in the country. The seeds is known to be a source of biofuel which according to studies if used will not be as hazardous to the environment as compared to the effects of ground fuel that we import.

For a long time, sewage, biodegradable wastes (i.e. kitchen left-overs, garden wastes, etc.) and swine wastes had been used as source of methane as bioenergy for cooking.

Now, aside from this Jatropha, research studies have also proved other agricultural crops that can be extracted for biodiesel oil. The U.S. has its corn while Europe has its flaxseed and rapeseed and Brazil has its sugarcane.

The Philippine government has alloted a P1B investment in biodiesel production primarily for Jatropha and half of the funds came from the Philippine National Oil Co., an alternative development corporation (PNOC-NDC). Half also came from the National Dev't. Co. This fund is mainly for developing marginally landless farmers who are supposed to benefit from the opportunity to grow biodiesel feedstocks including sugarcane, cassava, maize, soybeans and Jatropha.

According to Bioimpact and PNOC and to quote, "Most of the planned biofuel plantation are located in Mindanao where the country's poorest provinces are, where refineries with a capacity of 60, 000 to 240, 000 tonnes will be built at the center of growing areas with a 30, 000 to 120, 000 has. respectively."

While talking some time ago with some graduate students in the Chemical Engineering and other BioSciences field at the University of the Philippines Los Baños, we haven't escaped issues re: crazes that suddenly brought biofuels to the limelight driving politicians even to lick on the bowl of this euphoria. Some foregin students in the university have tried to study biofuel from our coconuts and came out with very attractive results. But the question is, should we allow our coconuts to be exploited more for biofuel when on the other end we direly need it in the food industry? The ratio of the Philippine population to its viable landmass is far not enough for support! Which is more on the priority list? This issue brought concern to some research organizations so that further campaign on this knowledge is restricted albeit investigations on coconuts as source of biofuel per se are still on the top list. At this time, jittery researchers continuously hover upon the chase like vultures to find an alternative commodity that which brought Jatropha curcas to the cinema of Philippine bioresearch.

In January 2006, Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law R. A. 9367 or otherwise known as Biofuels Act of 2006 with the following mandates: a) A minimum 1% biodiesel blend into all diesel engine fuels, which increases to 2% after two years; b) a minimum 5% bioethanol blend into all gasoline fuel distributed and sold in the country within two years going up to 10% after 4 years. This law promotes the use of alternative transport fuels consistent with the Declaration on East Asian Energy Security ratified by the 16 heads of state of the Association of SEAN and its dialogue partners during the 12th ASEAN summit held on January 10-15, 2006 in Cebu City. In addition to the mandate, this Act aims to develop and utilize indigenous renewable and sustainably-sourced clean energy sources to reduce the country's dependence on imported oil and lower the amounts of toxins and pollutants in the atmosphere.

All this scenario then bred opportunists to sell Jatropha seedlings although they don't know exactly what is the plant and how it can produce fuel energy to run engines.

I thought all the while though that there's no need anymore for these seedlings to be produced and sold by private growers either in big or small-scale because a big chunk of the pie was alloted purposely for the production of such species!

Are all these discoveries that we so go euphoric about would uplift our economy or would it just spin the country the other way around? Is the Philippines a viable place for Jatropha biodiesel production? How much funds and non-bio energy do we have to spend before a liter of ready to use Jatropha biodiesel oil will be produced? Is it not better to use the alloted funds to rehabilitate the dwindling coconut industry or improve the copra production rather than starting a Jatropha industry from zero? The group tasked to steer this new venture has to hire foreign experts/consultants and which requires an amount of fees. Besides, they themselves travel to Jatropha growing countries like India and the South Americas for seminars and other related concerns. Their expenses is not a joke on the budget! There are so many questions that until now have unclear answers. And I'm not the only one who is cynical about this issue.

Recently, I even chanced upon a headline aired on TV that the Philippine malunggay or commonly called horseradish tree and scientifically known as Moringa oleifera Lamk. is also a plant that can be extracted for biofuel albeit plants generally, if not all, produce oils in different amounts and for different purpose.

The Philippines is just again hitting through this biofuel craze and is making the word/s "biodiesel" and "biofuel" a hot lingo even to the commonest citizen who have vague understanding of this topic while opportunists in the uppermost echelon of the government have already gulped and are enjoying their chunks of share in the supposed wholesome budget particularly for the said research.

The Powerful Tongue

"The tongue is but three inches long, yet it can kill a man six feet high." - Japanese Proverb

"One thing man hasn't been able to tame is his own tongue. It can cause the most uncontrollable evil in all creation and can spread the deadliest poison. If not disciplined and controlled, one minute it can praise and bless God and the next minute it can curse those created in God's image.'' - Inspired by James 3:8,9.

True, the tongue is just a small piece of flesh in the human anatomy, yet how many morals have it destroyed? It is a muscle part of the digestive system yet many times it becomes a double-edged sword that violently quells the values of an individual. How many dreams, decisions, reputations and even families have it slayed and hurled into the fiery furnace of doom?

From elite brains to morons, this piece of flesh doesn't choose whom to wreck or regard. It is not even learned nor educated. It just flaggelates anytime when jerked.

And have you ever wondered yourself of the time when you became either the hero or the villain in the battlefield of the tongue? How many times did you become the villain or the hero? Did you feast upon your triumph?

It is such a tragedy that man easily embraces the deceptions carefully woven by the tongue into the norms of society today that psychologists would even justify as a favorable response. This sets me then to wonder that if as long as a man lives (that includes me of course), how much is the ratio between the correct usage of his tongue to its grave misuse.

It's not surprising though that the first misuse of the tongue happened at the Garden of Eden by the earliest couple of human beings which had since then been passed from generations to generations. Unfortunately, the misuse was thoroughly bred through the years giving birth to multiple deceits, debaucheries, treacheries to name a few.

If we want however real change and live in a world of honesty and Godly ways, where then do we divide the line and promise to use it in pious ways. How do we guard it from the imps around and cease from hissing?

Taming the tongue is a task so huge to undertake and one way to conquer its deceptive powers is to acknowledge that we are sinful and need to sincerely repent and totally turn around for change. The evil powers of the tongue must not be allowed to prevail.

"Such a tiny flicker it begins, sets many mountains into flames. Friend or foe this li'l creature power it so keeps." - Yolanda B. Botigan