Mindanao endangered

SEEING GREEN

MINDANAO is a land of lofty peaks, great rivers, lakes,

wetlands, rainforests and active volcanoes. It is home to 14

groups of indigenous people, and habitat of a wide variety of

flora and fauna, much of them endemic.

All of these are described in the recently launched book,

''Mindanao: A Portrait,'' a Philippine centennial project of the

Southern Philippines Foundation for the Arts, Culture and

Ecology (headed by Margarita Moran Floirendo) in cooperation

with the Department of Tourism and the Don Antonio O.

Floirendo Foundation and Bookmark Inc.

The book looks into many aspects of Mindanao--its history,

Islamic and Christian legacies, settler and migrants--all

discussed in 12 main chapters by as many writers. Our particular

interest in it is the chapter on ''The Promise Endangered'' by

Rene B. Javellana, S.J. who finds that Mindanao's rich

biodiversity, its rainforests, and intermingling of people,

indigenous and migrant, must be preserved.

Volcanic origins

He mentions Mindanao's volcanic origins as the cause of many

underwater hot springs; of large wetlands or marshes waiting to

be explored. ''If volcanoes have shaped the Mindanao mainland,

microscopic animals have fringed the islands with reefs and

reshaped outlying islands of unparalleled beauty.'' The work of

microscopic animals can be seen clearly on limestone hills and

an outcrop of karst (irregular limestone area with underground

streams and caverns) in the coast of Misamis Oriental and two

other provinces.

Then there is the variety of plants and animals, many of which

share with the rest of the Philippines. But there is an imaginary

boundary called the Wallace Line that marks two biological

divisions. One, the areas east of the line extending from Tim or

and passing through the rest of the Philippines; the other is the

area that takes in Palawan which harbors wildlife of an entirely

different sort.

In the midst of so much beauty, Father Javellana paints another

picture, a more disturbing one which explains why the promise

that is Mindanao is endangered.

''Early in the century,'' he states, ''the forest cover extended from

mountain to shore.'' American road builders had literally to hack

their way through thick tropical vegetation. ''Before the World

War II, 78 percent of the Philippines was forested. After the war,

38 percent remained. As of 1993, only 38 percent of the

country's primary forests were untouched, or about 1 million ha

of the original 30 million.

Degeneration

Father Javellana's statistical data goes on: ''Of these, it was

estimated in the 1980s that Mindanao had about 28,000 sq. km

remaining, and despite a logging ban, logging continues

unabated, illegal and underground.''

Father Javellana has had ample opportunity to gather his

materials for this book: he taught in Cagayan de Oro before his

ordination as a Jesuit; later he was assigned to the missions in

Cotabato. Today, even though based in Manila, he makes

frequent trips to Mindanao on different assignments and

gathering material for other books.

He decries the rampant deforestation especially when told of

how it was in the old days when the undisturbed forests

regulated climate and temperature. Thirty years ago, old-timers

recall, it was so much cooler in Malaybalay, and rain would fall

like clockwork in Davao City. They described an almost-Eden

with great old trees and exotic flowers like the jade vine and

vanda.

It is here that we find the home of the barking deer, the warty

pig, tarsier, the Philippine eagle and other wildlife not found

elsewhere. Mindanao's geographic location (below the typhoon

tract) prevents it from being hit by devastating typhoons. Its

climate makes it ideal for agriculture as its well-known banana

and pineapple plantations there prove.

Problems began when the indigenous people, the original

inhabitants, were ousted from their ancestral land to give way to

new settlers who were given titles of ownership. Not only

ancestral lands were disposed of, but old traditions were

disregarded as well.

''Like most of the Philippines, Mindanao faces the daunting task

of balancing development with resources.'' Already, as

investors come in, earth is being transformed by large tract

cultivation and exploitation. The effects are already being felt.

Siltation has limited the carrying capacity of Lake Lanao. Fish

kill has become a recurrent disaster in Lake Sebu, now rigged

with fish pens for raising tilapia.

Mercury from gold mines are polluting many waterways, and

fishermen are complaining they are catching smaller and smaller

fish. And, adds Father Javellana, Mindanao is beginning to feel

''just a bit warmer.''

Father Javellana's report is distressing in the light of the other

chapters--especially the folio of photos showing lush green

mountains, blue lakes and the beautiful people in their colorful

array, all lavished by nature on this country's second largest

island, now in danger of being lost.