Your Excellency
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Fax
- : +(632) 7361010
October 10, 2003
Calling for Philippine Agriculture Sec. Luis Lorenzo to immediately stop dangerous pesticide use by own banana plantation
Condemning the criminalization of health and environmental advocate and journalists
Dear Excellency,
This is Philipp Mimkes from the German initiative „Coalition against BAYER-dangers“. We´ve been monitorin the pesticides producer BAYER for 25 years.
We strongly call upon Luis „Cito“ Lorenzo Jr., Philippine Agriculture Secretary, to immediately stop dangerous pesticide use in a plantation run by his own company, Lapanday Development Corporation (LADECO), amidst persistent reports of its harmful health and environmental effects on a nearby village, Kamukhaan, Digos, Davao del Sur.
We also condemn the recent arrest of the prominent health activist Dr. Romy Quijano and five journalists for libel ensuing from the pesticide poisoning expose. We believe that this case has enormous public interest and should be free from political maneuvers by Lorenzo to criminalize its advocates and publishers. We´ve been cooperating with Dr. Quijano for many years and know him as an honest person.
In an article that was published in The Philippine Post last 2000, it was exposed that regular ground and aerial spraying of dangerous pesticides has caused widespread diseases and several deaths to residents of Kamukhaan since the early 1980‚s. It was also reported that the plantation‘s extensive chemical use has polluted the soil and the sea, killing trees, crops, animals and fish over the years, thereby destroying the livelihood of farmers and fishermen and miring the villagers into destitution. Further, workers of the plantation are also being paid very low wages while subjected to hazardous working conditions of having little or no protection from the chemicals being handled. These hazardous pesticides include Paraquat, Macozeb, Maneb, Carbofuran, Glyphosate and Diazinon. They have all been severely restricted or banned in other countries. Some have been classified by the World Health Organization as „extremely hazardous“ and by international agencies as possible human carcinogens and endocrine disruptors.
The investigations into harmful impacts of pesticide use by LADECO were led by a local multi-sectoral organization and Dr. Romeo Quijano, a University of the Philippines professor and a highly respected member of the global health community, being the president of the global coalition Pesticide Action Network in the Philippines. Their findings have since then been corroborated by an investigative TV show, ABS-CBN‚s The Correspondents, as well as a fact-finding mission launched by international scientific organizations such as the International POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) Elimination Network and national peasant groups such as the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.
The Kamukhaan case study was also published here in Germany, and has received wide acceptance and support from similar advocates to move away from pesticide-dependent agriculture towards more sustainable practices.
Despite this, a P12 million libel suit filed by LADECO 3 years ago was allowed to prosper against Dr. Quijano and 5 practicing journalists behind the publication of the said article (his daughter Ilang-Ilang Quijano- reporter of Pinoy Weekly; Leti Boniol- Inquirer desk editor; Danilo Mariano- ABS-CBNnews.com editor; Carlos Conde- New York Times correspondents; and Nick Legaspi- Malaya deskperson). Dismissed by the fiscal in 2001 as a case concerning public interest, it was revived last July 4, 2003 by the Department of Justice. By this time, Lorenzo had risen to political power as the DA chief, having been appointed to the post last November 2002.
The renewal of the case at the time of Lorenzo‘s growing influence in the government is highly suspect. It also clearly reflects his conflict of interest as head of the DA‚s regulatory Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority and owner of one of the country‘s largest plantations utilizing agrochemicals. In this light do we urge the appropriate committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and all other concerned government agencies, such as the Department of Health and Department of Environment and National Resources, to conduct further studies and investigation on the effects of LADECO‚s pesticide use not only in Kamukhaan but in other communities in Mindanao as well; the Department of Agriculture‘s ability to do so is seriously compromised.
We believe in the people’s rights to protect their health and environment from agrochemicals, the right to know, the right to freedom of speech, and to uphold these rights. Widespread concern has aroused here in Germany about the libel case against Dr. Quijano.
Yours Sincerely,
Philipp Mimkes, Coalition against BAYER-dangers, Germany
www.CBGnetwork.org