Ode to a tree that wears a veil

Photos and Verse by Dr Abe V Rotor


A veil to shield the sun,
A veil to keep from rain,
A veil to buffer the wind,
A veil to hide the view around,
A veil to muffle sweet sound.
When you wear your crown.

A veil to let the sunshine in,
A veil to welcome the rain,
A veil to dance in the wind,
A veil to view far beyond,
A veil to free those in bond,
When you lose your crown.

A veil to clothe the naked,
A veil to comfort the lonely,
A veil to feed the hungry,
A veil to house the lost.
A veil to welcome the dawn,
When you gain back your crown.

NOTE: These photos were taken at a time when this acacia tree was in its deciduous stage giving the epiphytic liana a chance to grow luxuriantly without harming the host tree. Soon new leaves will form as summer approaches, and the liana once more becomes dormant. It will resume vigorous growth come next deciduous period. Acacia trees shed off their leaves completely once or twice a year. Ateneo de Manila University QC campus.

Dr Romualdo M Del Rosario: builder of beautiful gardens and museums

Dr Romualdo M Del Rosario: builder of beautiful gardens and museums

"The Garden is a microcosm of the Lost Paradise here on earth." AVR 
By Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
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



Dr Romualdo R del Rosario (second from right, in barong) and author (left), discuss the details of the Grains Industry Museum (Farmers' Museum) in NFA Cabanatuan just before its formal opening to the public in 1984. Dr Del Rosario, then assistant director of the National Museum, served as consultant to the project. He also served as consultant to the former St Paul University QC Museum and Eco Sanctuary (cataloged as having more than 300 plant species before the garden was reduced into a park, and hedged by tall buildings). 

 Doc Del in his younger days at the former NFA Museum in Cabanatuan.  The artifact is an indigenous pinawa (brown rice) hand mill.  With him is a member of the Museum's working group.   
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Among Dr Del Rosario's obra maestra are the internationally famous La Union Botanical Garden (Cadaclan, San Fernando,La Union), the UST Botanical Garden (formerly Pharmacy Garden), and the De La Salle University garden at Dasmariñas, Cavite. And not to mention the satellite museums of the National Museum, two of which I visited in Pangasinan and Palawan.  As a scientist and former assistant director of the National Museum he is keen at giving importance to natural history, and aesthetic and functional beauty of parks and gardens as integral part of homes, establishment, offices, in fact, whole communities. Presently he is acclaimed the foremost ethnobotanist in the Philippines, have guided scores of students at the UST Graduate School as well as other schools to pursue this specialized field of biology and related sciences. As one of his students I researched on the ethnobotany of Maguey (published in the UST Graduate Journal).  I joined him in a number of field research, the most challenging of all was to climb to the summit of Mt Pulag in Benguet, the highest mountain of the Philippines after Mt Apo in Davao.
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Think of a living gene bank.

No, it's not the IRRI's germplasm bank of rice varieties and cultivars. Or CIMMYT 's similar bank for wheat and corn where seeds are kept under strict controlled conditions away from the natural environment. It's not the commercial plant collection of Manila Seedling Bank either.

Dr Romualdo del Rosario's concept is one that is natural - plants of different species living together and arranged into a garden.

Here the plants form a wide range of diversity, and with other organisms, from protist to vertebrate, form a community. And through time, an ecosystem - a microcosm of a forest, grassland, desert, the upland and lowland, in varying combinations and designs. This garden is indeed a living gene bank.

Visit the La Union Botanical Garden perched on a gentle hillside covering several hectares, with the fringe of Cordillera on the east and a panoramic view of the San Fernando Bay on the west.

Here you will find a piece of the biblical Garden, where Nature and man in cooperation and harmony try to restore the beautiful scenarios of that garden imagined in the writings of Milton and Emerson, in the paintings of Rousseau and our own Amorsolo, and the scientific pursuits of Darwin and Linnaeus.

As trail blazer, Doc Del as he is fondly called, pioneered with the support of the local government to set up a garden not so many people appreciate. I am a witness to its tedious step-by-step development until after ten years or so, the garden became a center for field lectures, thesis, hiking, or simply a place of solace and peace. To the creative, arts; the religious, reflection.

The garden is an answer to our dwindling bio-diversity. It is a sanctuary where man's respect for Creation, in Dr Albert Schweitzer's term "reverence for life," becomes the neo-gospel of prayer and faith.

Sunken center of the La Union botanical Garden, on-the-spot painting by the author.

UST Botanical Garden, Manila

The garden is a workshop with the Creator. It is one roof that shelters the threatened and endangered. It is a sanctuary for recovery before setting foot outside again.

Here is the living quarter of organisms, countless of them, that miss the eye, yet are discreet vital links to our existence and the biological order.

A single acacia tree as shown In this painting is a whole world of millions of organisms - from the Rhizobium bacrteria that live on its roots to birds nesting on its branch. And beetles under the bark, goats feeding on ripe pods, people resting in its shade or promenading.

These make but one small spot in the garden that speaks of the philosophy of naturalism of Schweitzer, EO Wilson, Attenborough, Tabbada, Cabigan, and the late botanist Co. One aspect of the garden opens to the scholar an adventure of a lifetime: Edwin Tadiosa's research of mushrooms earned for him a doctoral degree.

One consideration a garden is a living gene bank is its ethnicity. Doc Del is the leading authority on ethnobotany of the country today. It is a less familiar field although it is among the earliest, tracing back to Aristotle's Natural History as the guiding force in keeping the integrity of Nature-Man relationship, even to the present time.

Ethnobotany is the mother of pharmacology. Medicinal plants are part of Doc Del's formula of a garden. Not that familiarity is his aim, but accessibility - that by being familiar with a particular plant, one can have access to it wherever it may be found growing. Any place then is a potential source of home remedy of common ailments.

Go to the garden and you will find lagundi, sambong, bayabas, makahiya, okra, pitogo, takip-kuhol, oregano, and 101 other medicinal plants, domesticated or wild. It is nature's pharmacy house.

It is E Quisumbing's source of materials for his Medicinal Plants of the Philippines. the rich three-volume Useful Plants of the Philippines by W H Brown. It is this field that Dr Juan M Flavier as senator sponsored a law in promoting Alternative Medicine which now benefits millions of Filipinos particularly at the grassroots.

Go to the garden and you will find flowering and ornamental plants that constitute the main attraction of any garden. Here botany is transformed into the science of flowers, the secret of green thumb, colors and fragrance speak more than words, silence rides on butterflies fluttering, and music is hummed by bees, and fiddled by crickets and cicada.

Go to the garden and relive life on the countryside. The song Bahay Kubo enumerates some two dozen vegetables, and speaks of simple, happy and healthy lifestyle. A residence without a garden is akin to city living condition. With almost fifty percent of the population ensconced in big towns and cities. we can only imagine how much they have lost such a pleasant niche.

Go to the garden with magnifying glass, not with the aim of Sherlock Holmes but with the clinical eye of Leeuwenhoek, father of microscopy. Start with the moss, the lowly earliest plant occupying the lowest rung of the evolutionary ladder. They are living fossils in austere existence on rocks and trunks of tree. Doc Del wrote a whole chapter about the Byrophytes - the moss and its relatives in the Flora and Fauna of the Philippines book series.

Have you seen a field of moss under the lens? It's a setting of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids movie. See the movie if you haven't. Everything is so big you are a pygmy in the like of Gulliver in the land of Brobdingnag, a sequel to Gulliver in the Land of Lilliput. Imagine yourself either in one of Jonathan Swift's novels.

You may wonder why primitive plants are so small, you may miss them in the garden. If you were on top of Mt Pulog second highest mountain in the Philippines after Mt Apo where Doc Del, my classmates and I, climbed in the late eighties, you'll be amazed at the giant bryophytes forming beards of gnarled trees and curtains hanging on rocks, and spongy layers cushioning your steps.

Thus, the garden is a representation of much bigger models. The Sequoia or Redwoods of California for example cannot be duplicated anywhere, but at the UST botanical garden where Doc Del is the supervising scientist and curator, you will find yourself dwarfed by the towering dita (Alstonia scholaris) the same way you would feel under the redwoods, or the emergent trees on Mt Makiling.

Go to a garden and feel you are part of creation in Eden's finest time. The garden has a humbling effect, it has the touch of TLC - tender, loving care, it is the womb of Mother Nature, its nursery, in her own life cycle in which each and every thing, living or non-living, undergoes a continuous and unending series of birth and death - and perhaps even
re-incarnation. ~

- An On-the-Spot Painting at the UST Botanical garden by the author, with the tallest tree Alstonia scholaris, locally known as dita. as principal subject.

Morning at the UST Botanical Garden

It is misty, it is foggy, here at the garden,
or it must be smog in the city air;
and the early rays pierce through like spears,
yet this is the best place for a lair.

But the artist must be provoked, challenged;
for peace can't make a masterpiece;
only a troubled soul do rise where others fall,
where ease and good life often miss.

This lair is where the action is, the battlefield,
where pure and polluted air meet,
where a garden in a concrete jungle reigns,
where nature's trail ends in a street.

Art, where is art, when the message is unclear,
colors, colors, what color is blind faith?
what color is rage, what color is change?
colors be humble - black is your fate. ~




A spray of red and pink in the tree top,
either it is autumn's onset,
or the season had just passed us in slumber,
yet too early to hibernate

Catch the sun, borrow its colors and shine
that you may be filled with grace divine;
for your life is short and your flowers ephemeral,
that makes you a mythical vine.

There is no such thing as emptiness, for memories linger;
the bench is warm, whispers hang in the glen;
spirits roam, the past comes around in them to haunt,
to scare a bit to remember them, now and then.


Golden shower at the UST Botanical Garden

In the garden you will find the legendary Pierian Spring  - the secret of long, healthy and happy life.  Visit the beautiful gardens and museums that were shaped by the genius and skill of Dr Romualdo M del Rosario. Many people can make a garden, by few can give life to it as a living gene bank.  Many may think of putting up a grand museum, but only few can make a museum of the people where they identify themselves and the culture to which they are proud of.  Count on a calm and humble man, scientist and narturalist - and friend - Doc Del. ~

Communion with Nature - Ten Ways

Dr Abe V Rotor

Twin Jaira and Julia on a walk at People's Park, Tagaytay, August 21, 2015

Overlooking nature's majestic caldera*

this twin in a rare experience;

half-sky, half-water, half-land kingdom 

a fairytale of the eighth sense.

* A caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land, following a volcanic eruption. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters. Tagaytay was formed by this geologic phenomenon.

 Splendor on the Grass, Sky Ranch Park, Tagaytay,
August 21, 2015

Splendor on the grass at twilight
laughing with the stars;
who cares about rain and wind,
time like this is scarce.

  

 Tagaytay overlooking Taal Volcano,  August 21, 2015

Grand Dad and Marchus the only two in the world,

theirs the time, space and stillness;

let the world go round unceasingly to others,

save this ephemeral togetherness. 

   

Sunken Pier, Puerto, Sto. Domingo, Ilocos Sur

Behold! a jellyfish as looking glass

unfolds a third world scene:

half terrestrial, half aquatic,

solid and liquid in between,

third matter in colloidal form -

strange the world is ever seen. 

 

Baby sitting: Fluppy, angora rabbit at home

Here is seeing the world in dreams;

half awake, half asleep,

on two planes -  fantasy and reality,

rather than counting sheep,

to unload life's burden at the end of day -

a heaven sent li'l rabbit.

 

Tamboili shells, former St. Paul Museum

I'm standing on the world's narrowest isthmus,

among archives and fossils of history,

where I can hold the Pacific and the Atlantic

oceans half the world apart and free;

I cross the time and distance barrier

with these chroniclers singing to me

the unending roars of the tides,

tides on the street, tides of the sea.  

Rare walking stick insects, Museum of Natural History, UPLB Laguna

Dragons in fairy tales and religious fictions -

they are fierce, they're enemies of mankind;

in fossils and movies they scare the children;

little do we think of them friendly and kind,

devouring pests, singing lullaby in dull air;

misjudged, they're harder and harder to find.

Baby orangutan, Avilon Zoo, San Mateo, Rizal

Monkey on my back, that's what people say

when what we say logic we lack;

genes may vary, yet the same to this day,

indeed, a monkey on our back.

Viewing telescope, Mall of Asia, Pasay Metro Manila

Yes, creatures but man, are getting fewer, farther apart;

changing the old game with art of glass and steel;

where you can't get near, when you can't touch and feel,

technology comes to fill, yet empty still. 

Parakeets,  Safari World, Thailand

Lovely, friendly -  kindest words ever be,

whereas their kin are wild and free;

lucky in man's judgment these pair  may be

if only we understand their plea

for freedom to the wild, to their ancestry

and away from the artificial tree.   

The Two Worlds of the Gordiun - House Sparrow

"I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn."

Henry David Thoreau

Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School on Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

   House sparrows (Passer domesticus)  frolic in a pool left by rain.  

Gordiun, that's how we call this bird in Ilokano, almost a password for us kids in our time with slingshots worn necklace style, our pockets bulging with carefully picked gravel stones. We were "soldiers of fortune" when the gordiun is fat at harvestime, and how we relished it grilled in today's term, and how we raided its nest and took its young. 

This bird together with other Passer members  are products of co-evolution in rice territory - their life cycle jibes with that of rice - the traditional varieties that stay in the field for the whole monsoon season. And then comes October.  By then they number to hundreds, thousands over the horizon. What makes it worse is the gordiun is related to the maya, equally if not more destructive. raiding ricefields about to be harvested, stealing  grains from the mandala and the garung - a giant circular basket to keep threshed palay as buffer stock in today economic term. 

That's why our old folks allowed us to carry this deadly improvised weapon, traced to the history of David, with the enemy a hundred times more than a single Goliath - more elusive, more mean, more intelligent. 

Like its counterpart in the rodent world - the rat - the gordium has likewise learned to live with humans, but never, never allowing itself to be domesticated - unlike the cat and the dog.  Not the gordiun, not the rat as well - two stubborn co-inhabitants in man's dwelling.  And the wonder of it all is that they can adjust to modern living, and in fact to today's postmodernism.  They live in cities among high rise and shanties, the rats on garbage, and the gordiun on food waste and pest.  

We were the Mark Twain kids of the fifties - the likes of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer.  Like them we were abandoned by time - shall be say, age - and ambition, industrialization, and exodus to the city. We have surrendered our weapons, so with the adventure and fun we were supposed to hand over as heritage to our children and the younger generation of today. 

Pavlov is undoubtedly correct when we talk of the resilience of instinct, its ability to cope with fear, deprivation and aggression for the sake of survival of the species as a whole.  That's how the gordiun - and all animals for that matter - succeed in adapting to the changing environment. 

But there is something strange going on, not anticipated by the great psychologist; similarly Darwin did not foresee the impact of modern science and technology: the steady annihilation of species to the point of extinction   In fact hundreds of species of the estimated millions have permanently perished, and more in accelerated pace will follow suit.

I look back at my Gordiun - the one that refuses domestication, the one that plays the most skillful hide-and-seek game, the most challenging target of our slingshots, the one that lives  up to 20 years among humans - not in the forest though, the one that never migrates in neither habagat nor amihan - unlike the migratory birds of the north coming down south and returning after winter. And the one that is the symbol of joy and being carefree, yet the epitome to bonding as family and flock.  

I have long dismissed the gordiun's destructiveness.  In fact I explained to farmers and housewives, the birds do more good in housekeeping - picking morsels, ridding the place of vermin.  They are part of the food web and therefore help in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem. They are insectivorous and predators, and they keep weeds population down that would otherwise compete with our crops, by eating their seeds during the off season. It is for this matter that their dispersal all over the world in all continents except Antarctica was assisted by man because they are excellent biological agents.  In general we have learned to accept them, as they have learned the same.  

A change of human attitude crept in when the gordiun's population has dropped from the flock we used to watch and admire, the chorus of songs though inferior to the canary, and by their very presence alone that keeps us company. This is what is happening all over the world because of pollution, global warming, loss of habitat, pesticides, and the like.

I watched a gordiun lost its way and ended up in our sala trapped.  It was raining hard and I said, you can stay here.  Restless, it rammed against the wall and ceiling, then perched nervously on the curtain looking at me long and hard.

Suddenly I became a boy once more - this time without the dreaded slingshot around my neck.~

Photo Credit: Google, Wikipedia

Mysterious Faces and Figures in the Woods

Dr Abe V Rotor

Light in the Woods AVR, 1994
Acrylic Painting, 36" x 48” by AV Rotor, former St. Paul University Museum, QC

After the old St Paul museum (SPUQC) was phased out to give way to a "modern" one last year, some mysterious events - real or imaginary - have been observed on the murals, paintings and other artifacts that were the original centerpieces of the legendary museum established in 1994.

Among them is the appearance of mysterious faces and figures, such as this case: Mysterious Faces and Figures in the Woods.

The original story - The Face of Christ - Image or Illusion was written in 1995, the year when school guests discovered a figure on a painting appearing as the face of Christ. (Please see reprint below.)

This painting was the first item to grace the newly opened museum to mark the celebration of the tricentennial of St Paul of Chartres or SPC, the congregation of the Paulinian sisters who run the school. It inspired me to write a book, Light in the Woods, using the painting's photo for its cover. The book was dedicated to Pope John Paul II on his visit 1n 1995 on the occasion of World Youth Day. Cardinal Jaime Sin, Fr James B Reuter and Sister Teresita Bayona, then college president, endorsed the book, and presented it to the Holy Father.

Published by Megabooks, 1995, dedicated to Pope John Paul II,
on his visit to the Philippines, in celebration of World Youth Day.

For fifteen years the painting, popularly known to the Paulinian community as The Face of Christ, found a permanent place in the museum until 2011, when the museum was totally renovated. The painting lost its original home. So with seven murals, and other items, which were transferred to other places on the campus. I had just left SPUQ then, due to old age and poor health - after fifteen years as professor and caretaker of the museum.

I sat down and looked at the painting for the last time. It evoked a mysterious feeling, as I touched the trees, the running stream, the rocks, and finally, the image. His eyes were moist, so with mine. I said, "Goodbye." He just looked at me. For a long time. I took a photo of the icon, and whispered, "Thank you," and left, never to see the old museum again.

I compared the photo I took last with previous photos. Why, the painting has not changed at all! Until ... on closer examination I was surprised to see hidden images other than those I saw before. Perhaps, I have grown old to see images the young is not so keen to observe. Perhaps, my perception is more of parting than welcome, memories rather than action. Memories are best preserved with tranquility, humility and peace. It is easy to settle down by the fireplace.

But the painting, I realized, has a message to our troubled world as can be seen from these mysterious figures. It's more than a face, it is more than a piece of art, it is more than the museum and the school community. The depth of these message is a measure of man's awareness of his relationship with his Creator, of his obedience and devotion, his concern for his fellowmen and the deteriorating environment. It is a test of man, the human being.

Uppermost pair of eyes in the painting, biggest of the three pairs

Middle pair of eyes, most prominent and patheticLowermost. All three pairs of eyes have a common expression of sadness.There is something strange in them after a longer look - compassionate.

Cross lying on the ground, as if it is broken and abandoned
Man and a woman emerging from the thicket toward the source of light

Reclining lady (center) beside a tree on the rocks (facing right),
with other figures around.

Standing human figure with outstretched arms, facing right.
Note light flooding his face and body.

Profile of a well-dressed human figure, facing right

Human figure stripped and tied to a tree, facing left.
There is a similar figure on the other tree.

Original Story 1994:

The Face of Christ - Image or Illusion?

“It inspired a soul to write a book
That touches the eye and heart;
This little light in a hidden nook
Shines where good and evil part.”
- A.V. Rotor, Nymphaea: Beauty in the Morning, 1996

“Did you see the face of Christ?”

“Where?”

"On a painting.”

"What is this they are talking about, " I asked Sel.

We went to the Audio-Visual Room, spent a moment of silence as we searched for the Face on the 36" x 24" landscape painting. It was painted and a month ago, and presented it in a seminar-workshop at then St. Paul College QC. The theme signifies unity and cooperation among faculty and staff members.

"Can you see it?” I asked.

Sel traced the outline, his finger touching the rough canvas.

"Can you see it?” He threw back the question.

"I see a different one,” I countered and traced the figure differently.

Silence fell again. We exchanged notes and soon enough we were looking at the same face.

Were we seeing The Thing, or only imagining it?

I recalled a story, Images of Illusion. A man was viewing an antique painting and saw himself as one of the torturers of Christ.

“Impossible,” he raged. How could it be possible for the painter to have composed a scenery combining a biblical event and a future character? He demanded the art gallery an explanation.

What is illusion?

In metaphysics, the workings of the human mind have been the subject of research and discourse from the time of Plato who coined “psyche” or mind or soul, to Kant whose theory of Existentialism remains as the binding force of man and his Creator which is a fundamental doctrine of major religions. Lately, Jung's primary idea of a person as a whole, and not as assemblage of parts, gave rise to the modern concept of holistic personality. Jung’s work as a psychoanalyst was to recover the lost wholeness of personality, and to strengthen the psyche through the process of psycho-analysis and psycho-synthesis.

What Jung was saying is that the mind is made up of three levels: the consciousness, the only part of the mind that is known directly by the individual; the personal unconscious which is the level of the mind that adjoins the ego: and the collective unconscious which he inherited from his ancestral past. All three levels are always in a dynamic state. They are never static like a rock or a tree.

When one is afraid of the dark he is expressing the collective unconscious. If he is afraid of the dark because he may be kidnapped, he is expressing the personal unconscious level, an experience which may have been created by distraught thoughts or brought about by personal conflict or raised a moral issue before. In the dark he may be "seeing” a would-be kidnapper at the slightest suggestion.

Now where does the first level come in? His conscious awareness is put to test in such a situation. He then makes to fullest use his four mental functions, which Jung called thinking, feeling, sensing and intuiting. Depending on the development of these faculties from the time of his birth to his present age, the individual tries to overcome - or enhance - the other two leve1s of the mind which at that moment has caused in him fear.

What I am saying is that a mental image may arise from the interplay of the three levels of the mind. First, there is the “model” or an archetype from which the consciousness makes something out of it. This, in turn, is pictured or deleted in the mind through consciousness.

When Sel and I stood before the painting searching we had different archetypes in our mind. But people who have been raised in the same environment and had undergone similar training have many common archetypes from which images can be similarly patterned.

Suppose one does not readily take from the mind's bank a suitable archetype?

“I don't see anything.”

“Face of Christ, you said?”

"What are you talking about? I can only see trees and a stream flowing through them.”

"I still cannot figure it out.”

These observers, based on Jungian psychology, did not have the archetype at the moment to suite the picture they are looking for.

Quite often discussions may ensue while viewing the piece with someone taking the role of a teacher, or one insisting of seeing another thing.

Again, according to Jung, archetypes can be enlarged or reinforced so that they can surface with the help of the consciousness. However, this may not always work.

“I can see it now.”

“Yes, there it is. There is a bigger one beside it. No, actually there are three faces.”

“There is Blessed Virgin Mary at the center.”

“But it looks like a resurrected Christ.”

“See the trunk at the right? Scourging at the pillar.”

"My God! There's a devil clinging on Christ's nose.”

Now, now, the painting is getting overloaded,

As the painter I wanted to put it back to its real and down-to-earth perspective. It is a forest landscape, all right. The trees are the symbol of strength and unity; the flowing stream is life; the rocks are the obstacles we encounter in life; the light rays penetrating through the forest is hope and guidance; the forest itself characterizes the present world we live in; and the central perspective of the painting leads us to the attainment of a common vision and goal.

As I was about to leave, a very young boy came along with his mother. His eyes were bright and his face radiated the innocence of a child.

"Do you see the little cross, mama?” He was pointing at a orange figure, an empty cross laid upon a rock. Then he scanned the whole piece and quickly pointed at things none of us had earlier seen.

“Here is the Holy Family. Here is baby Jesus. There you see angels. You can count them, 1, 2 3, 4, 5, 6..."

“There are thirty-three trees, I was told," interrupted his mother.

"Those are children playing, mama - there under the trees and on the rocks."

I stood beside, speechless. I realized I only read Plato, Kant and Jung. l did not consult the Greatest of them all. ~

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE; Dr. Abercio Valdez Rotor and Dr. Anselmo S Cabigan were classmates and co-workers in the government, and academe. They have known each other for the last 50 years. The painting was made possible from a poem composed by Dr Cabigan, “Into Your Light” which Dr. Rotor interpreted using acrylic paint on canvas. The painting was presented to faculty members who attended a seminar workshop in 1995. The original painting has been transferred from the former St. Paul University Museum, QC for security reasons and better access to pilgrims.
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References: Light from the Old Arch, by AVR, UST Publishing House 2000; Nymphaea: Beauty in the Morning, AVR, Giraffe Books 1996;Light in the Woods, AVR, Megabooks, Megabooks 1995.

Oh God, there's no mistake!

Former Title: The Duhat and the Watermelon

Dr Abe V Rotor

                                      

Duhat or Java Plum (Syzygium cumini), Family Myrtaceae; and
pakwan or watermelon (Citrulus vulgaris), Family Cruciferae

Wearily I walked one summer day,
The sky was as the sea is blue.
And thought, “Water must be nearby.”
And so I walked on to where it lay –

A hill rose, a tree stood untold,
Old were its branches but full;
By measure of my thirst and hunger,
Its fruits were the sweetest of all.

With bare hands I cupped the manna,
And feasted on it with no choice,
Then laid down under the tree’s shade
Yearning still for a greater fill.

Thus I searched beyond for more gifts;
And on a crawling vine did appear
Big, big fruits, but bigger was my lust,
And I had my fill at last.

“A full stomach makes the head light,”
My father used to tell me then,
“From thoughts to dreams they go wild,
Seeking for other dreams.”

I dreamt I asked God something trivial -
Why so small are the duhat fruits;
And the watermelon, frail and crawling,
Bears the biggest fruit on earth.

“There must be some mistake,” I said
And waited for any response.
“There must be reason in faith,” I implored.
But only silence that I heard.

All of a sudden I woke up in a jolt,
A berry had fallen on my head,
Whether by Sir Newton’s law that it fell,
Or a Darwin’s finch came to tell.

I raised my hands to the sky and cried
In atonement and in praise,
“Oh God, Oh God, there’s no mistake,
There’s no mistake.” ~

The Case of the Goat that Ate Plastic

Dr Abe V Rotor

No digestive enzyme – not even gastric acid – is powerful to break down plastics, no matter how long the material is subjected to this natural solvent.

The goat was pregnant for too long and was getting thin the owner sent for the butcher.

Guess what we discovered?  The bloated stomach was stuffed with plastics – pieces of containers, wrapping materials and grocery bags. One cannot imagine why the animal devoured plastics instead of grass other than due to hunger. After all, goats are not choosy when it comes to food.  Outside the wide range of plant species they can eat, since they are omnivorous, they yearn for almost anything sweet, salty, oily or spicy.

Curiously, an inventory was made from the animal’s stomach. Found in it there were cellophane used for sweets like bocayo, peanut butter, and candies, thin plastic bags for retailing bagoong alamang, patis, toyo, cooking oil, ice drop and the like. The largest are grocery convenient bags for meats, fish, soft drinks, fruit juices and cooked food. Some of these materials still bear traces of the product trade names, indicating recent ingestion. Plastics earlier ingested were discolored, but nonetheless are undissolved and intact. As the stomach twists and turns, the larger plastic materials envelop the smaller ones, forming a mass stuck up in the rumen (or large first compartment of the stomach) like clothes in a overloaded washing machine. 

The stomach of ruminants is designed to store large amounts of food. The food is consumed rapidly with a minimum of chewing, before it is swallowed. This reduces grazing time while it enhances large intake. Then when the animal is resting, the raw ingesta is brought out for re-mastication. At this time, digestive enzymes are mixed in with food before final digestion.

The stomach muscles incessantly contracting and squeezing, in a process called peristalsis (successive waves of involuntary contraction along the walls of the intestine, forcing the contents onward). Digestive enzymes dissolve solid materials into pulp (chyme), which is a thick soup material which later goes to the small intestine. Here, the nutrients are assimilated by tiny and numerous, tiny finger-like protrusions called villi.  The remaining contents then move to the large intestines, where they are retained for a while before being excreted as feces.

  

Why does the stomach retain the plastic materials?

We know that goats and other ruminant animals like sheep, cattle, zebra and gazelle, have very efficient digestive systems. This is needed for them to subsist on more than just high-fiber food such as grass and roughage. Their chambered stomachs retain food much longer than man can, or fowls, and pigs. This explains why the excreta of ruminants yields well digested fiber.  This is not the case with the excreta of animals with simple digestive systems such as pigs.  Birds and chicken although they break down shells and stones in their gizzards, cannot fully digest cellulose. Perhaps the only creature, superior to ruminants in cellulose digestion, is the termite.  Termites have living protozoa in their stomachs that break down wood cellulose even in its tough form, lignin. Without this symbiont, termites will certainly starve and die. There has been no known successful experiment, however, to determine whether termites can digest plastics.  

The implication is that no digestive enzyme, not even gastric acid, is powerful enough to break down the cellulose in plastics.  This is classical proof of the non-biodegradability of plastics.

The question is asked: Can’t ruminants eliminate unwanted materials in their digestive system either by regurgitation or excretion?  The answer is no. In the first place the movement of the stomach and its chambers (rumen, reticulum and omasum) are not governed by the central nervous system. The mechanism of rumination is involuntary. It is the coarseness of the feed that stimulates the walls of the rumen to contract so that the material is brought out for re-mastication. Animals, which feed on soft and non-fibrous diet like alfalfa, ruminate less than those that depend on roughage.

  

Plastics Camouflage Appetite

It is likely that the plastic materials line the surface of the rumen in a way that produces insufficient stimulation to expel the ingesta for re-mastication. Another effect is that the animal experiences false fullness, camouflaging true appetite. This means that because the animal is not hungry, it eats less, consequently, becoming malnourished. Thus, the goat that ate plastic was emaciated, yet had a bloated stomach.  Yet this does not discount the possibility of slow poisoning due to the slow disintegration of secondary metabolites.

       

The other reason why goats cannot eliminate the plastics through excretion is obvious. Unlike large livestock, their feces are dry and nodular (small and round-shaped), barely the size of coffee beans.

The first completely synthetic man-made plastic, Bakelite, does not burn, melt or dissolve under ordinary solvents. As an additive, it makes almost any material strong, durable and light.

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What is plastic?  How are plastics differentiated?

1. The first plastic was made by Alexander Parkes in 1862, after whom it was named: Parkesine.  Actually it was an organic material derived from cellulose. Once heated, it could be molded, retaining its shape when cooled.

Because of its high cost of production it was shelved until the later part of the 19^th century when celluloid made a debut as replacement for ivory in making of billiard balls.  To prevent the explosion of the highly volatile celluloid, camphor was added leading to the development of thermoplastics.

2. Soon, the first completely synthetic man-made plastic was formulated by a New York chemist, Leo Baekeland, hence the name Bakelite. This material does not burn, boil, melt, or dissolve under any commonly available acid or solvent. It also retains its shape. Bakelite could be added to almost any material, making the new substance more durable, light, heat-resistant and shatterproof.  War machinery and automobile manufacturing made use of this new product to great advantage.

3. Other forms of plastics were then discovered.  These include rayon (man-made silk), and cellophane (the first glass-clear, flexible and waterproof plastic). These materials have many uses today.

4. By 1920, the “plastic craze” spread out. Du Pont, one of the leaders of the industry developed nylon, replacing animal hair in toothbrushes.  By 1940, the world saw the development of acrylic, polyethylene, and many more polymers, which replaced natural materials such as cotton, fiber, wood and steel.

5. DuPont later introduced Teflon, favored for lining cooking utensils for its acid and heat resistant while its non-stick properties make the utensils easy to clean.

6. Dow, another plastic manufacturer, on the other hand, came up with polyvinylidene chloride, better known as “Saran”, a perfect material for food packaging and storage.

7. Polyethylene, introduced in 1933,  is currently the largest volume plastic in the world for making soda and milk bottles, grocery bags, and plastic food storage containers. This is the kind of plastic the goat ate and which made her sick.

8. There is virtually no end to the discovery of other forms of plastics.  We have plastic putty developed by Velcro.  This material is similar to rubber, but has a 25 percent higher rebound power. Its property of not being able to maintain a constant shape is compensated by its high flexibility, stretching many times its length without tearing. Initially, it was used in the manufacture of toys, but now many potential uses are seen.

A World Without Plastics?

Today’s world is incomprehensible without plastics.  Plastics contribute to our health, safety and peace of mind.  They are part of our dwellings, cars, toys, appliances, even body parts such as heart valves and prosthetics. There are countless uses in all aspects of our lives.

On the other hand, the biggest dilemma with plastics is its proper disposal. It has become a major waste handling challenge all over the world. While we see its virtually endless uses, we are also witness to its accumulation exacerbated by its inability to biodegrade.  As a result, its rate of accumulation is alarmingly enhanced, creating an issue of concern to environmentalists, and citizens of the world.

 Plastic Garbage

In a recent field trip along the coast of Morong, Bataan, in the Philippines, students from the UST College of Pharmacy were surprised to see plastic material strewn by waves along the shore.  A cursory examination revealed the following materials:

1.     Plastic sack which has replaced the jute or gummy sack

2.     Nylon rope and filament, which have replaced Manila hemp and cotton threads. Filament is used for fish net.

3.     Plastic simulated leather used in shoes, canvas and bags. There are other kinds of artificial leather.

4.     Styropore for packing and containers, replacing banana leaves, straw and paper.

5.     Foam mattresses, slippers and furniture. Natural sponge is now a rare commodity. Foam has replaced coconut coir and kapok.

6.     Plastic bottles, jars and containers.  Glass is still the best material when it comes to food storage.

7.     Plastic sachets, bags and wrappers have largely taken over the use of paper and cardboard.

These plastic materials are familiar to us.  We see them at home and on store shelves. They are evidences of our modern, throw-away culture.

  

Trapped Fish Fry in Plastic

While gathering the garbage to help clean up the shore, the author’s students found trapped fish fry in plastic bags. Wanting to find out how this happened, we looked for clues.  The plastic bags, flushed down the river, or thrown by unscrupulous residents and promenaders became homes for young, marine species. Since these materials are not edible seaweeds or seagrass, they become entrapments to the fry. Causing their death through starvation and asphyxiation.

We have seen plastic materials stuck at the bottom of reefs preventing juvenile seaweeds from developing.  Plastics also trap the polyps of corals, and microsopic zooplankton eliminating a major food source for marine life.

That evening, along the shores of Morong, we asked ourselves what each can do to rid the shores of plastics. While we reflected in silence, the tranquil waves washed ashore a plastic bottle.

Here are things we can do with plastics.

1.     Re-use plastic bags and bottles at home.  Remember that plastics are durable. Be sure to clean them properly before using.

2.     Gather plastic bottles and unserviceable plastic wares for recycling. Arrange with cart pushers, or your nearest junk shop for their regular collection. Do not attempt to re-melt plastics.  The process is not as simple as you think.  Don’t burn to dispose them, either.  Burning plastics emits smoke and fumes deleterious to health.

3.     Do not use plastic if you can help it.  Use paper or glass containers. This is also advantageous to your health.  Do not use plastic containers for soft drinks, vinegar, salt, patis, toyo.  Strong solvents tend to chemically alter in the presence of plastics. Studies that show that some plastics that are carcinogenic.

4.     Keep plastic materials away from your bedroom.  As plastics age, they emit gaseous substances which may cause allergy, asthma and other ailments when inhaled. 

5.     Patronize products that use non-plastic containers, wrappers, bags and utensils.

6.     Be part of a community environmental project.  Attend seminars and workshops that talk about the environment.  Read about ecology; learn to be a leader in this area; know about re-cycling, values formation, and the like. Be an ecologist yourself.

    

 Nata Laminate – Potential Plastic Substitute

Now, this one is for the Guinness Book of Records.  Shoes now are made from nata de coco. At St. Paul College QC, Dr. Anselmo S. Cabigan and his advisee Amparo Arambulo developed shoes made from nata laminate.  The laminate is actually compressed nata de coco, dried and layered into ply, then subjected to the usual tanning procedure. It is cut and made into shoe soles, actually worn by students quality test. Nata laminate is stronger than leather. It gives a good finish and it looks like leather.

In another research, nata was made into surgical thread.  Since nata is a natural product (a capsule of the bacterium, Leuconostoc mesenteroides), it is soluble.  It may be a good substitute for expensive commercial absorbable surgical threads.

Nata laminate is also a potential substitute for special paper, such as sheepskin, and an exotic material in making wallets, bags and belts.  Unlike plastic, nata laminate is biodegradable. It also offers to save endangered animals from being butchered for skin.

The case of the goat that ate plastic, and fish fry trapped in a plastic bag can spur us to develop a second generation of biodegradable plastics. This is the essence of good stewarship of this planet, for our own good, as well as for those who will follow us.

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