"Once upon a time, nature was pristine..."

A fairy tale come true
Paintings and verses by Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM, 8 to 9 evening class Mon to Fri

"Once upon a time, nature was pristine, undefiled and unspoiled. We used to live in a dreamworld of tropical virgin forest, and pure hidden springs, calm ponds, and serene lakes, with majestic purple mountains, crowned with canopied trees. That was when people took only what they needed, caught only what they ate, and lived only in constant touch with a provident earth.

In this age of environmental degradation , resource depletion and unparalleled human population explosion, how can man live and find meaning in his life with nature?" (Dr AS Cabigan - an excerpt from the introduction of The Living with Nature Handbook, by AVR  2003)

Born from the elements of nature, to the elements of art,

in imagery and fantasy;

what takes eons to shape and form, is but a season's part,

an archive out of reality.

 

Oh, let them be, let them be, school can wait

but not childhood;

they catch not the fish, but adventure and faith 

as they grow old.  

Community -  what concept have we today from that of yesterday

when things we needed were almost free,

and worked less, and spend more time with others and our family,

and thank the Creator for such bounty? 

This hidden valley, not for exclusion or seclusion,

but survival from the lust of man,

whose concept of beauty, its very own destruction,

'til everything he created is gone.  

And what prevails at the end, we may ask?

Not monuments, relics or any kind,

for through time nature takes over the task 

of rebuilding in her own design. ~

Philippine Indigenous Perfume: The Sweet Scent of Ilang-Ilang

Philippine Indigenous Perfume:  

 The Sweet Scent of Ilang-Ilang

Children love to pick its flowers, and passersby look up to trace the source of the fragrance. Imagine the sweet-scented night air around the tree. It is therapeutic after a hard day's work. In the morning before I go to work, I spend a little time under the tree, relishing the freshness of the surroundings. Here I wait for sunrise and listen to the songs of birds perched on its branches.

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

 

 Ruby gathers freshly picked flowers of ilang ilang (Cananga odorata)

which she shall place at a home altar of Mama Mary and Santo Niño. QC

Ilang-Ilang (Cananga odorata) is an important source of essential oil. Ilang-ilang oil perfume is known all over the worldwide, especially in Italy and France, two countries known for their fabulous perfumes. Remember Lily of the Valley, during the pre-war era? It was made from Philippine ilang-ilang, its oil extracted through distillation. However, there are countries which have learned the trade and became our competitors. Moreover other sources of perfume have been developed lately.

Standing Tall

The tree stands tall, it reaches more than ten meters, towering over houses and other trees and emerging through the forest canopy. Its somewhat drooping branches bear the weight of thick foliage and pendulous flower clusters that exude sweet-smelling volatile oil detected far and wide.

And yet the ilang-ilang’s flower looks unassuming. Its color is green to yellowish green when mature, its petals thick, narrow, pointed and somewhat hairy. It hangs in groups of three, six, to as many as twelve, each in different stages of development. One by one, as the flowers are fertilized by insects, their petals dry up and fall like confetti, still exuding the characteristic perfume. Fruits are formed in place arranged like a crown, then turn black at maturity after which these fall off or are picked by birds or bats.

Our ilang-ilang tree at home must have come by seed carried by bird or bat from the nearby La Mesa watershed where a towering ilang-ilang tree is visible across the subdivision. The tree is now thirty years old and it dominates the trees in the neighborhood.

Children love to pick its flowers, and passersby look up to trace the source of the fragrance. Imagine the sweet-scented night air around the tree. It is therapeutic after a hard day's work. In the morning before I go to work, I spend a little time under the tree, relishing the freshness of the surroundings. Here I wait for sunrise and listen to the songs of birds perched on its branches.

 

The many uses of ilang ilang; the tree in full bloom usually in summer

The Garland Makers

On one Sunday, a father and son came to ask if they could gather the flowers of our ilang-ilang tree. They are from a family of necklace (lei and garland) makers who live not far our place. Patrick had just finished high school and was preparing for college.

“We have been making garlands for sometime now. It is our livelihood,” Elias told me. “Our trade is seasonal. The church on Sunday is a good place to sell. Sometimes we get orders for weddings and other special occasions like during graduation.”

Ka Elias continued, while gathering flowers with a special pole. Patrick, on the other hand, gathered the harvested flowers and kept them in a bag to keep them fresh.

 Ilang-Ilang as lei and pendant

According to Ka Elias, a simple lei is made of four heads: unopened sampaguita flowers, three or four on each side on an abaca string. Two flowers of ilang-ilang make the pendant. On the sidewalk, a good pair of a lei is sold for P10.

The making of floral necklaces has given households, like that of Ka Elias, a means of livelihood. The whole family is involved, and the children get to earn some money for their own tuition and are able to help their parents.

Sometimes when traffic is heavy, I take time to talk with necklace sellers. I feel good whenever I buy garlands from these hard-working children. Here is simple economics I figured out. If an ilang-ilang tree yields flowers with a value is P200 a week on the average, that would make P5,600 a year, and this is possible because ilang-ilang blooms throughout the year. Value added when made into leis doubles this amount. And that's just from a single tree.

Happy young vendors of leis made of sampaguita, kamia, and ilang ilang as pendant. QC

Thus, ilang-ilang farms (or even those grown in backyards) could prove to be a profitable endeavor. I saw ilang-ilang seedlings for sale at the Manila Seedling Bank, along Quezon Avenue corner EDSA. On the other hand, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) may be able to teach you how oil from ilang-ilang can be extracted as natural perfume and for the manufacture of cosmetics and soap. The same department also has a technology package, through PCARRD, for the production of ilang-ilang and sampaguita.

Aside from being a livelihood for many, it may also help the country’s economy, as a dollar saver and earner with the export of its fragrant oil. And the ilang-ilang tree is good for reforesting the hillside and the upland.

Plant an ilang-ilang tree. It could be the start of a good business. If not, you will simply bring Nature close to your home. ~

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Cananga odorata, known as the cananga tree is a tropical tree that originates in the Indonesia, Malaysia, and Philippines. It is valued for the perfume extracted from its flowers, called ylang-ylang ... ylang-ylang is derived from the Tagalog, term ilang-ilang for the tree that is a reduplicative form of the word ilang.

12 Leadership Principles

Dr Abe V Rotor
 Living with Nature School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class Monday to Friday

Man of the masses - ultimate test of leadership and public service. The Ramon Magsaysay annual awards focus on achievements of outstanding citizens in the Asian region in bringing peace and understanding. No other president in the Philippines has ever achieved Magsaysay's feat of unifying warring factions, particularly the Hukbalahap, and integrating them back into the mainstream of society.


Principles of Leadership

1. Know yourself and seek self-improvement
2. Be technically proficient
3. Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions.
4. Make sound and timely decisions.
5. Set the example
6. Know your people and look out for their well-being.
7. Keep your workers informed.
8. Develop a sense of responsibility in your workers.
9. Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished.
10. Train and work as a team.
11. Use the full capabilities of your organization.
12. Trust God and mankind.

Trivia

• The six most important words: I admit I made a mistake.
• The five most important words: You did a good job.
• The four most important words: What is your opinion?
• The three most important words: If you please
• The two most important words: Thank you
• The one most important word: We
• The least important word: I

Acknowledgment: Concept of Leadership http://www.nlink.com/-donclark/leader/ldcon.html (Principles of leadership is based on To help you be, know, and do (US Army, 1973)

Global Warming spawns more floods. Be prepared always

 Assignment: Photo Essay (Flood Photo Coverage)  Essay 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class Monday to Friday

 
 It is an opportunity to document the present calamity; it is a chance to use photography to reach out for those in need, to be part of rescue and recovery operations, to share our sense of belonging in the spirit of civic consciousness and true faith. Or simply, as media students and practitioners.  Narrow down your topic.  Examples, relief operations, cleanup, emergency, human interest (saving a pet), local heroes, makeshift quarters, refugees in schools, ingenuity in action.  

                        

Discover the many good values of Filipinos in times of calamity: leadership, compassion,  selflessness, cooperation (bayanihan), and the like. Organize assignment in a folder, complete with running story, photos with caption.  No limit to number of pages.   
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As of this writing, Metro Manila, and the surrounding provinces, are experiencing the worst flood in recent memory. It is the aftermath of Typhoon Gener, exacerbated by intensified monsoon. It is another test on the magnitude of  typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng.

This article is an update of an earlier post on how we prepare, respond and recover, in times of calamity. Here a checklist to follow. 

1. Keep informed and abreast – Radio, TV, Internet, Telephone, neighbors, cellphone.

2. Know at fingertips emergency numbers for disaster, fire, earthquake, police, NDCC, DECS, DOH, others. Be emergency response conscious of evacuation sites, fire exits, hospitals and clinics,
Secure appliances and items (furniture, documents, books, toys, etc) on second floor or on safe area. Move heavy objects away from harm’s way, these include apparador, potted plants, heavy tools, etc.

3. Prepare for power cut off. Set your freezer to the coldest temperature setting to minimize spoilage if the power is cut off. Have on hand flashlight, candles, batteries, etc. Charge cellphones and emergency lights. Have enough LPG during the emergency period. Keep a spare tank. In the province be sure you have sufficient stock of dry firewood.

4. Have your car, motorbike, ready for emergency. If water rises, secure them to higher ground.
Always see to it that they are at tiptop condition.

5. Check windows and doors, walls and roofs. Reinforce and seal them if necessary. Have handy towels, rags and mops. Seal leaking walls and roof even before the typhoon season.

6. Stay at the strongest and safest place in the house if the typhoon gets severe. Keep away from flood water, electrical outlet and wire, china wares and glass windows.

7. Seal off broken window or door with mattress or sofa over as typhoon gets severe. Secure it there with a heavy piece of furniture. Draw curtains across the windows to prevent against flying glass. Release trapped pressure by allowing it to escape opposite the direction of wind. My experience is to open a window just enough to maintain equilibrium.

8. Remember that a typhoon has and eye of calm. Don’t be deceived; it may appear that the typhoon has passed. It is only half of it. The winds then pick up again, now in opposite direction.

9. When the typhoon is finally through, check for hazards - broken glass, fallen trees and downed power lines, dangerous damaged structure.

10. Observe hygiene during and after a typhoon. Make sure your drinking water is not contaminated. Boil if necessary. Make sure that food properly prepared and stored. Avoid eating food from roadside vendors. Protect yourself from WILD, acronym for Waterborne, Influenza, Leptospirosis, and Diarrhea. Include Dengue, and other diseases.

11. Give priority attention to infants, children and the elderly. Provide them with whatever measures of safety and comfort. Keep them out of danger. Evacuate, if necessary, before the typhoon strikes.

12. Get rid of breeding grounds of mosquitoes, flies, rats and other vermin. Drain stagnant pools, dispose containers with water. Dispose garbage properly. Use pesticide only if necessary. Application of insecticide, rodenticide, and fumigant needs expert’s supervision.

13. Protect yourself from toxic waste if you are living in an industrial center, these include toxic metals (mercury, lead, cadmium), hydrocarbon compounds, pesticide residues, oil spills.

14. Wear protective clothing like boots when wading in flood water, raincoat, jacket, had hard during clearing and construction, gloves, etc. Be careful with leptospirosis, a disease acquired from rat waste through flood water.

15. Protect yourself from road accidents. Chances are higher during and after a calamity because of fallen trees and poles, damaged and slippery roads, non-functioning traffic lights, obstructions of all sorts.

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16. Have your damaged vehicle repaired and cleaned as soon as possible to prevent further damage, specially those submerged in flood. So with other appliances – refrigerators, TV sets, furniture, etc.

17. Have an adequate supply of food and water for the foreseeable period of emergency.
No panic buying, please. 

18. Medicine cabinet, first aid kit.  Check regularly and replenish the needed medical supplies, principally for the treatment of common ailments, and victims of  accidents.

19. Protect your home from burglars (akyat bahay).  Don't fall unwary victim to rogues.  Bad elements of society usually take advantage on the hopeless, like refugees in a calamity. 

20. Keep in touch with loved ones, relatives, friends to relieve anxiety. It is timely to text some kind words to the the infirmed, lonely, aged.  Offer whatever help you can extend. These are times to exercise neighborliness in action. ~

 Acknowledgement: Time Magazine, Internet, author's students at UST Faculty of Arts and Letters  

Monsoon ends fruit season

Goodbye to siniguelas or sarguelas, caimito, atis, camachile, avocado and the like.  See you next fruit season - summer 2017
Dr Abe V Rotor 

Star apple or caimito (Chrysophyllum cainito) is strictly a summer fruit. When buying caimito watch out for holes made by fruit flies. The maggots are likely inside the fruit. They are small and white, jerky in movement and they catapult when disturbed.

 

, strictly a tropical summer fruit. 

Fruit flies emerge with the first rain and breed rapidly on ripe fruits of guava, mango, chico, cucumber, etc.

 
Atis (Anona squamosa) - Rain stops flowering and fruiting, and the remaining fruits in the tree are attacked by the larva of a moth that tunnels into the fruit at any stage.

Goodbye to kamachili (Pithecolobium dulce). Although it is not commercially sold, it is very popular to children on the farm and pasture. Premature falling of fruits is a result of gall attack and extreme heat and prolonged drought. The damaged fruit is caused by fruit bat. except off season

 varieties. This fruit was harvested from a nearby residential lot near La mesa Dam, QC

Tiesa (Lucuma nervosa) bears plenty of these bright colored fruits which drop to the ground when fully ripe. Its fruiting season is summer. Rambutan is seasonal, too. It's a highly decorative tree in summer. Don Antonio Heights 2, QC 
 

Watermelon, melon, muskmelon and other cucurbits are all summer crops in the open field. One strong rain can ruin an entire crop.

Other fruits which are getting rare in fruit stands.

1. Mango
2. Guyabano
3. Macopa
4. Cashew
5. Dalandan
6. Nangka
7. Avocado
8. Sampalok
9. Papaya, solo variety
10. Balimbing
11. Duhat
12. Strawberry

And many other fruits. Why don't you add to the list?


Dragon fruit; local and imported fruits

You can tell if a person is a candidate of heart attack by his features and life style.

May palatandaan ang isang tao na madaling maatake.
Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class Monday to Friday

Heart attacks have been linked to diet (eating too much fatty food), excessive smoking and obesity but also to less obvious risk factors. Old folks associate these observations to heart attack.

• Baldness – Medical research found out that a shiny spot on top of the head has been linked to a risk in heart attack three times higher than average.

• Body shape – Being overweight is bad enough, but if your fat lies more in the abdomen than the hips, you are especially prone to heart attack. Too much fat in the middle is sure sign of vulnerability to heart attack.

• Bad gums – True. People with periodontal disease have higher risk of heart attack by nearly twice. Bacteria may enter the blood and cause deadly clots.

• Foul weather – Exposure to very cool temperatures can trigger heart attacks as well as angina and strokes. Extreme hot temperature has similar effects. Summer strokes are common.

• Day of the week and time of the day – Cardiac events tend to occur most often between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays. Cardiac attack takes its toll on very busy people  who do know their limits.

A man in his middle age who has these features, who is careless to his health, and comes from a family with a history of heart attack is virtually a dead man walking.x x x

Cellsite radiation hazards 

Sustainability, but how distant, how frail!

Myth of a heaven is when we shall have failed on earth.
Dr Abe V Rotor

Spoiled landscape being converted into housing and industrial projects.
Antipolo Rizal 2014

Sustainability, but how distant, how frail!
in Maslow's hierarchy of needs - biological to social to self-actualization,
having satisfied our needs, we indulge in luxury and affluence -
progression sans end, sans satisfaction; nations believing in others
not their own, bequeathing to the future false reference,
parameters of the good life in capitalism in guise of consumerism;
how deceived, how trapped we are, senseless, powerless.

Sustainability, but how distant, how frail!
In Malthus' theory - the outstripping of the earth's capacity to feed
an exploding population, warning of the Apocalypse's coming -
oh, how man defied with tools of technology, opening new frontiers,
with industrialization the goal and pride, all nations dreaming.
and East meets West second time around, colonization to polarization,
leading to two world wars and a Cold War, oh, how deceiving!

Sustainability, but how distant, how frail!
In Einstein's theory of relativity, he defied the power of the sun,
dethroning John Newton, broke the integrity of the atom;
what a promise of unending energy, self contained, self generating
in nuclear reactors, yet found its way to build the Bomb,
and having tested it to end conflict and restore world peace, brought
to life a Frankenstein monster, and in fear, we became numb.

Sustainability, how distant, how frail!
In Crick and Watson illustration - double helix in ladders, each rung
the gene's secret - the DNA - Hallelujah, we pray;
the code of heredity unlocked, that of life, too, creators we became,
irrational, amoral, but Dolly, the sheep has opened the way:
baptizing new life lines and forms GMO, meet another Frankenstein,
the genius, dedicated (for whom?), knowing not his prey.



Sustainability, but how distant, how frail:
In the cyberspace of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Google, and Facebook,
the world is wired, tied to all its ends, satellite imaging
every minute thing and movement, seeing what we've never seen
except the soul - where is privacy, the sanctity of living?
and more than we need, heaps of infollution of images and words
and codes deluge the mind into believing and unbelieving.

Sustainability , but how distant, how frail!
In postmodernism, in which we live in a state of free fall, sans control
over more than necessity, yet we are always in search
for more; laden are our consciousness, our psyche, our feeling
in transience - globalization's new order, new birth,
where diversity leads to homogenization, to Utopia of man's dream -
myth of a heaven is when we shall have failed on earth.~

Don’t play with toads. Toads cause warts.

Dr Abe V Rotor
 Living with Nature School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class Monday to Friday

Toad aestivating

Old folks may be referring to the Bufo marinus, a poisonous toad that secretes white pasty poison from a pair of glands behind its eyes. Even snakes have learned to avoid this creature described as ugly in children’s fairy tales.

But what do we know! The toad’s defensive fluids have antibiotic properties. Chinese folk healers treat wounds such as sores and dog bites with toad secretions, sometimes obtained by surrounding the toads with mirrors to scare them in order to secrete more fluids.

Similarly certain frogs secrete antibiotic substances. A certain Dr. Michael Zasloff, physician and biochemist, discovered an antibiotic from the skin of frogs he called magainins, derived from the Hebrew word for shield, a previously unknown antibiotic. It all started when researchers performed surgery on frogs and after returning them to murky bacteria-filled water, found out that the frogs almost never got any infection.

What are then the warts the old folks claim? They must be scars of ugly wounds healed by the toad’s secretion.~
Living with Folk Wisdom, AVR

The blackbird is back - so with other threatened animals

Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog 
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio, 
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Blackbird (Martines), Drynaria fern and towering acacia tree make
 an ecological sanctuary, together with a host of other organisms 
that depend on them. Tagudin, Ilocos Sur.

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In less than a human lifetime, dozens of wildlife species have rebounded from the brink of extinction - and are establishing their territory in suburbs.  Here are twenty (20) animals that have made a remarkable comeback.

1. Kiyoaw or Oriole (a family of 4 to 6 members frequent our backyard trees, just outside the La Mesa Reservoir watershed)
2. Reticulated python or sawa (a one-meter baby sawa was ensconced in a burnay or earthen pot.) 
3. Fireflies (They can be observed on empty lots adjacent to the Sacred Heart seminary, Novaliches QC
4. Pipit (popularized ina song of the same title, local counterpart of the huming bird)
5. Tuka'k Ba-ung (bellied frog, long thought to have succumbed to pesticides.  See separate article in this blog) 
6. Skink or alibut Ilk (Twice in ten years I spotted this shiny ground lizard at home near the La Mesa watershed.
7. Gecko Lizard (Tuko or tekka Ilk., hunted for its alleged aphrodisiac value)
8. Atlas moth (biggest of all insects by wing span, threatened by the gradual disappearance of native santol being replaced by the Bangkok variety)
9. Black Bear (Prowler in the kitchen and on garbage when hungry)  
10. Canada Goose (Remember Fly Away Home ?)
11. Alligator (relative of the crocodile, we don't have alligators, instead crocodiles - they are coming back, too)
12. Gray Wolf (found in wastelands and open areas)
13. Deer (rebounded in no-hunting forests and grasslands) 
14. Wild Turkey (particularly in the US and Canada)  
15. Cougar (relative of the wolf in the US)
16. Beaver (natural dam builder of forest streams in temperate countries) 
17. Raccoon (common in North America)
18. Wild Pig (baboy ramo, alingo Ilk, one of the most popular game animals; it is a pest of nearby farms, feeding on root crops and succulents, Our native pigs are the progeny of a cross indigenous and wild genes.)
19. Rhinoceros beetle (appears like Triceratops, with three horns, apparently the male; the female has shorter horns)
20. Wildcat (In China the civet cat, counterpart of our musang, is invading homes.  One reason for its comeback is that it eats fresh coffee bean and defecate the seed which is then ground into a special blend that commands a lucrative price. 

Garden Skink; Wild Pig (baboy ramo)

This is one for the biologist and ecologist. I say, it's one for the Book of Guinness record.

Up high in a dozen centuries old acacia trees, reaching up to 10 storeys high, their boughs and branches clothed with epiphytic ferns, I found the long lost blackbirds, we callmartines in Ilocano.

I was then in the grade school in San Vicente (Ilocos Sur) when I saw the last martines bird. But here on a Black Friday on top of these towering trees, there is the lost bird, in fact several of them in pairs and families. It is like the Coelacanth, a primitive fish thought to have long been extinct, suddenly rising from the depth of the craggy Madagascar sea. Its fossil in rock tells us it is 40 million years old. And here it is - alive and has not changed! The fossil fish is alive! So with the Martines!

The blackbirds have made the towering acacia trees their home and natural habitat, building their nests on the Drynaria fern. The fern grows on the branches, reaching the peak of its growth during the rainy season when the host tree sheds its leaves, in effect allowing sunlight to nurture the fern.

The fern has dimorphic leaves. The primary ones are long and shaped like stag horn and bear sori or spore sacs, while the other kind is shaped and arranged like shingles, enclosing the fern's rhizome. Like all ferns, Drynaria undergoes alternation of generations - the spore-forming phase and gamete-forming phase. It is the sporophytic or asexual generation that the fern plant is familiar to us. It is typically made of roots, stems and leaves - but never flowers and fruits. It is for this that ferns are classified separately from seed-forming and flowering plants. They belong to Division Pterophyta.

In the dry season, the fern becomes dormant, appearing dry and lifeless from the outside, but shielded by the shingles the fleshy rhizome waits for the rain and sunlight - and the shedding of the host tree. Then almost at an instant the fern springs to life, carpeting entire boughs and branches.

Now it's the tree's turn. In summer, while the fern is dormant, it builds a new crown, and together with those of the adjoining trees form a huge canopy that makes a perfect shade. This could be one reason the friars in the 15th century thought of introducing the acacia (Samanea saman) from Mexico to be planted around churches and convents.

Not only that the acacia is the biggest legume in the world; it is self-fertilizing and self supporting, and sharing its resources to countless organisms from earthworm to humans. How is this possible?

The acacia harbors in its roots symbionts - Rhizobium bacteria that convert the element Nitrogen (N) into Nitrate (NO3). Only then can N that comprises 78 percent of the air we breathe can be used by plants to manufacture food by photosynthesis.

And with the deciduous character of the tree, dead leaves form a litter on the ground that makes a good mulch and later becomes compost - a natural fertilizer for the tree, surrounding plants, microorganisms and animals. Then as the pods of the tree ripen and drop to the ground, animals like goats come around to feed on them and in effect enrich the ground. The tree's efficient physiology and symbiotic potential with other organisms make it not only one of the most self-reliant trees in the world, but a miniature ecosystem in itself.

We see today very old acacia trees in these places, just like those around the old St Agustine church in Tagudin built in the 16th century where I found the blackbirds among the Drynaria ferns at their tops. Tagudin is the southernmost town of Ilocos Sur, some 330  kilometers north of Manila - a good five-hour drive. It continues to attract northbound tourists to have a stopover and see this spectacle, among other attractions of this old town, such as its native handicrafts, pristine seashore and progressive upland agriculture.

Going back to the blackbirds, why do we give much importance to them? Well, the blackbirds protect both tree and fern from insects and other pests, and fertilize them with their droppings. They too, are gleaners and help keep the environment clean. Unlike the house sparrow, ground fowls and the crow, they are not nuisance to the place; their presence is barely felt except for their occasional calls which sound quite sonorous but nonetheless pleasant, and their display during flight of a queer pair of white spots on their wings. I developed the liking to watch them for hours - their gentle movement, familial ways, although they do not as gregarious as pigeons, and their glossy black bodies distinct from the surrounding and against the sky. They make a good specimen for bird watching and photography.

Beyond the aesthetics about the bird, I learned from my good friend Dr. Anselmo Set Cabigan, a fellow biologist and science professor, that the martines was introduced from Guam on instruction of a Spanish Governor General to control locust infestation in the Philippines. This is the first case of applying the principle of biological control in the Philippines - and perhaps elsewhere - which was then too advance in its time. Today, biological control is practiced worldwide as part of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), a holistic approach in dealing with all kinds of pests which include pathogens.

Locust (Locusta migratoria manilensis) is a scourge to agriculture in many countries since prehistoric times. I have witnessed how a swarm of locust devour complete fields of rice and corn, and other crops overnight. During swarming the sky darkens as sheer numbers of these flying insects block the sky. And as they ride on the wind they produce a deafening hissing sound that adds terror to farmers and inhabitants.

And why was the matines bird the chosen nemesis of the locust? It clearly shows the efficiency of this predator. Actually predation is most effective when the locust is still in its non-migratory phase, specifically during the congegans - more so when it is in the solitaria phase. The bird immediately checks the pest before it develops into enormous population - and reach its swarming stage.

I believe that the triad formed by the acacia tree, Drynaria fern and the blackbirds is the beginning of an emerging ecosystem where wildlife and human settlement meet in cooperation and harmony. It is a zone where Nature re-builds spent environments and creates intermediate types, in which the role of man is basically to let nature's laws and rules to prevail. For example, doves and pigeons in public squares and plazas in many parts of the world are learning to trust people, and many people are just too happy to share their homes and other resources with them. They are planting trees and setting up more and wider parks for the wildlife.

For one, Japan now requires the greening of rooftops of buildings through gardening dubbed aeroponics, and by putting up ecological sanctuaries to attract wildlife to settle in them. In Europe on the other hand, miles and miles of hedges have evolved into a unique ecosystem, that one can no longer differentiate a well-established hedge from a natural vegetation. Also in Europe, woodlands which are actually broad strips that serve as boundaries of fields and pastures, are gaining through time higher biodiversity levels, and moving towards dynamic stability, called in ecology as homeostasis.

The Philippines is not behind. We have multi-storey orchards in Cavite, Batangas and Laguna that simulate the structure of a tropical rain forest long before the term ecology was coined. And many basins of ricefields and sumps of irrigation systems have become natural ponds.

The 38th parallel dividing the whole length of warring North Korea and South Korea – a strip of no man’s land, twenty kilometers at its widest – has developed, since the armistice in 1958, into a natural wildlife sanctuary. Today it has a very high level of biodiversity and distinct from any reservation on either side of this highly restricted boundary.

These neo-ecological zones are sprouting from backyards, parks, submerged coastlines, denuded mountains, and the like. Even contiguous idle lots – and abandoned fishponds, farms and settlements - are slowly but steadily becoming bastions of wildlife.

Truly, the case of the centuries old acacia trees where the Drynaria and the martinesbirds, and man living with them in peace and in harmony - is a manifestation of Nature's triumph. It is triumph to us and the living world. ~

Grotesque looking acacia tree clothed with Drynaria fern
towers over church and convent in Tagudin, Ilocos Sur.

Photographs taken with an SLR Digital Camera with 300 mm telephoto lens