Love the Mangrove (15 Reasons)

I love the mangrove for its rich biodiversity - flora and fauna, protista and monera - in chains and webs.
Dr Abe V Rotor
 
 

Mangrove reforestation attempt to restore the shoreline ecosystem in Guimaras after the oil spill disaster in 2006. To this date the ecosystem has not been restored.

I love the mangrove for building a natural wall against tidal waves and tsunami, at the edge of the sea; 

I love the mangrove for providing a nursery for fish and other aquatic life, weaning them to the open sea;

I love the mangrove for rip-rapping the shores and banks against erosion, and building soil in the process;

I love the mangrove for its rich biodiversity - flora and fauna, protists and monera - in chains and webs;

I love the mangrove for filtering the salt and dust in the air, and buffering noise into sweet sound; 

I love the mangrove for the legends and tales it holds - of fairies and mermaids, of pirates and treasures; 

I love the mangrove for its unique life cycle - self-regenerating, self-fertilizing, needing no cultivation; 

I love the mangrove for the countless valuable materials it gives, from timber, to firewood, tannin, to medicine;

I love the mangrove for keeping the surroundings cool, freshening the air, absorbing carbon in the air;

I love the mangrove for its mixed stand of vegetation by layers, making a distinct forest of its own kind;

I love the mangrove for being the home of migrating birds coming and going every season of the year; 

I love the mangrove for being the home of rare species, heretofore barely studied and identified;

I love the mangrove for its resistance to pollution, and ability to help nature's housekeeping;

I love the mangrove for its being a natural tourists' attraction, field laboratory, and educational center;

I love the mangrove for its humility and persistence, even in a most hostile environment; 

I love the mangrove for what it is, without it, there are species that cannot survive, humans among them;

I love the mangrove for being part of creation, for every living thing has a purpose on earth. ~ 

A wild orchid growing at home - Cymbidium Finlaysonianum

Dr Abe V Rotor 

  Inflorescence of C Finlaysonianum; close-up of  flower.  

Growth habit of the indigenous epiphytic orchid, and pods

It is a native orchid. I found it clinging on a fallen branch of a big tree in Mt. Makiling forest. Being an epiphyte I tied it on the trunk of a talisay (Terminalia catappa) at home in Quezon City. It was not difficult for the new transplant to find a new home - in our home. It is because just across the wall at the back of our house is the sprawling La Mesa Watershed. It must be the "forest climate" that approximates that of Mt. Makiling in Laguna, that this native orchid got acclimatized easily.

Among the five Cymbidium species, C. Finlaysonianum is the most widely distributed throughout the Malaysian area, It was collected by Finlayson in Chin-China in the ninetieth century. It was dedicated to him by Lindley, who originally described the plant in 1832. There is also a close relative, Cymbidium atropurpureum, its name taken from its dark purple flowers. Because of its closeness to C. Finlaysonianum in all morphological aspects, botanists consider it to be a variety of the latter.

The leaves of this species are leathery and coarse, 35 to 40 inches long and 1.5 to 2.5 inches wide. The raceme is pendulous, about two to four feet long and many-flowered. The flowers are two inches in diameter, sepals and petals rather narrow, long, and colored dull tawny yellow with a reddish-brown median line. The labellum is three-lobed, the center lobe being whitish with a yellow disk and purple-crimson apical spot.

Unlike most domesticated and hybrid orchids that bloom any time and for long periods, I observed that this wild orchid is sensitive to photoperiodism. It blooms usually in summer - in March and April - and the flowers last about two weeks. I like the characteristic mild fragrance especially in early morning.

Orchids are among the easiest plants to propagate, vegetatively that is, either by tillers (shoots), or by tissue culture, a specialized laboratory procedure. This compensates for the extreme difficulty in propagation by seeds. The seeds of orchids are the most difficult to germinate. Even if they do, survival rate is very nil. It is because the viability of orchid seeds is very short and difficult to monitor.

I have yet to succeed in germinating the seeds of C Finlaysonianum. Even if I fail, I am delighted to have a wild orchid luxuriantly growing in my home - its home. ~~

Reference:  Philippine Orchids by Reg S Davis and Mona Lisa Steiner

The Return of the Tree Frog

Many organisms disappeared since modern agriculture was introduced beginning in the sixties, among them a  curious looking tree frog.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Common Tree Frog (Polypedates leucomystar)

The Common Tree Frog (Polypedates leucomystar) has an arboreal habit, but now and then it comes down to feed on insects, and even visit nearby homes. This is how I encountered this living specimen one hot summer afternoon in a most unlikely place - the bathroom. As I was about to cool off, I found company with this unexpected creature perched on the shower head apparently enjoying itself.

The last time I remember seeing a tree frog was when I was a farmhand. In Ilocos we called it tukak uleg or snake frog, because it is a favorite prey of snakes, and its distress cry sends instinctive warning to anyone who is in the vicinity. Sometimes it is called banana frog because it resides at the axil of leaf stalks where water from rain and dewdrops accumulates and make a series of miniature ponds. It is not unusual to find a frothy egg mass hanging up in a banana tree. Here the eggs hatch into tadpoles, and being larvivorous, feed on mosquito wrigglers and plankton organisms until the become frogs. Here they subsist on insect pest and worm. It is a classical example of biological control which benefits farmers and residents in the area.

Chemical pesticides were unknown to us and the farmers then. Many organisms disappeared since modern agriculture was introduced beginning in the sixties, among them scores of species, including this curious looking tree frog. Once I compared this cadaverous and clumsy creature to Ichabod Crane as described by its creator, the father of short story in America - Washington Irving!

"If your vocabulary is limited, " I overhead my dad saying, "use analogy." So I tried. And Mrs Leonor Itchon, my literature teacher in high school nodded wryly after my recitation amidst subdued giggling among my classmates. Well, I may not have received a good grade, but the tree frog helped me become a biologist.

The bathroom encounter with my long lost acquaintance - the tree frog - that hot afternoon won't make a movie, but at least my son, Marlo and I, were able to document a biological renaissance. I had just made a review of Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls which at the end of the novel warns us, "the bell tolls for no one; it tolls for thee."

Maybe not, as long as creatures we thought to have been lost forever are coming back alive. Hail to the tree frog - new-found long-lost friend of man.~

Ed Nanquil's Works for Art and Thinking

Paint and draw and unleash the power of imagination and creativity.    

Dr Abe V Rotor

Still Life

Your favorite fruits do not only fill and satiate;

they take you by your other senses deeper,

drawing out thirst and hunger that grow farther

 in fullest expression and milder character,

to see the world not in things sensual and ephemeral, 

but in the mind and spirit eternal.           

Nature's Art 

If proportion and balance were strict basis of form,

style and design lofty and grand,

then what is art?  What is art in water and rock? 

in a growing shell, in shifting sand?

Only Nature knows, she is the beginning and end

of all art, earlier than man and the world; 

for the elements of art are not what we perceive, 

they are the very foundation of Creation.  

Good Life

Take me to where my ancestors lived,

healthy and free and happy,

away from the city of poverty in riches,

and riches in poverty.       

NOTE: Mr. Ed Nanquil is one of the pioneer followers of Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid.  Melly and I congratulate  Ed for sharing his talents with these inspiring works which we are sure will benefit our listeners to the radio program (738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday), simulcast with the Internet - Living with Nature School on Blog (avrotor.blogspot.com).

Lesson: Living with Nature School on Blog; former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

A Field Trip to a Nature's Mural

"Art is the greatest human expression of beauty, thoughts, feelings and spirituality that connect man and his Creator." avr

Wall Murals by Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature Center

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Off from their bikes near a mural of nature,
they sought in its shadow relief  and rest,
in make-believe comfort from adventure,

in imagery though passing and brief.

Faithful to the sense of vision and imagination,

these murals are alive with happy children;

Wonder how long they last as the kids grow up,

as colors and memories fade 'til they're gone.

and the lesson lost with the sinking sun.

"One for all, and all for one, " cried the musketeers 

of Alexandre Dumas classic novel;

who's the enemy today, who are the brave knights? 

if ever the cry's still heard clear as a bell. 

The bell that tolls for the dead in the battlefield,

 victims of calamities and injustice; 

Now a chime in the  once beautiful landscape.

dirge for a natural world we will all miss.  

A natural world reminiscent in murals 

on the wall asking how long they shall last;

like a puzzle of the mirror on the wall,

and the bell for whom it tolls for none but us. 

The rays of building archives cast over us 
through the arts
as it has always been in the past; 
yet this is not the rational of the arts, 
which is the highest human expression
of beauty, thoughts and feelings
and spirituality
that connect man and his Creator. ~

VIOLIN AND NATURE - an experimental approach to music

Dr Abe V Rotor

Music must be elevated from the level of entertainment and expression of skills to one that brings the listener to a state of catharsis, relieving him of the stresses and tensions of daily living. Music therapy is now recognized as part of alternative medicine. There are musical compositions that bring about the so-called Mozart Effect, named after Amadeus Mozart whose compositions are acclaimed by scientists to be the most therapeutic of all musical compositions, even among his contemporaries in the classical and romantic schools.

This article is the result of a research conducted by the author with his class at the UST Graduate School as respondents to the hypothesis that the combination of Violin and Nature sounds has therapeutic effects to the listener. And if so, how? What aspects of our body physiology, mind, psyche, and spirit are affected? In what ways, and how do we measure such effects?

Cover of tape, later copied into CD. Shorter versions are available: Violin and Birds, Violin and Waves

Can auditory art be developed by converting word to music, and re-create the sound of nature to accompany it? The idea is to find a compatible blend of science - the prosaic and formal, with humanities - the entertaining, cultural, and the sounds of nature, definitely a rare experience that takes place in the inner vision of the mind. Violin and Nature is a CD recording or 32 extemporaneous popular and semi-classical compositions played on the violin by the author with accompaniment of birds, insects, wind, waterfall and running stream.

People say, “ Relaks lang” or “just do it” as part of daily conversation. Either it is taken as advice or compliment, the message is clear: life today is growing tenser. “ Take it easy” has a reassuring note that everybody must learn to live in a stressful world.

Both the poor and rich are subject to different forms of stress, so with the city and village dweller. Ironically, stress does not spare growing affluence. In fact, it persists invariably throughout life, virtually from womb to tomb.

The idea of dealing with tension or stress is how one is able to reduce it effectively so as to enjoy life and get rid of its complications from headaches to various psychosomatic symptoms- and eventual health problems, if it is not checked on time.

One proposal is the use of therapeutic effects of music and nature, thus the rationale of this experiment that employs the combined soothing sound of the violin, and the harmony of nature.

Music is well known to reduce tension. Pipe-in music increases work efficiency in corporate offices, takes out boredom in otherwise monotonous assignments, and fosters proper attitude and disposition, when correctly applied. In fact, scientists have established the biological basis of music by being able to increase the production efficiency in poultry and livestock with the use of background music. The key is the reduction of stress in the animal. The same result has yet to be established in plants.

A stressful life builds tension in the body. Headache, wakefulness, palpitation, indigestion, trembling and many other symptoms, which wear away the life force, accompany tension. Tired nerves need rest and quiet, as nature needs time to recuperate her exhausted energies.

What is tension? It is the effort that is manifested in the shortening of muscle fibers. Physiologists compare muscle tension with “neuromuscular relaxation” to differentiate popular interpretation of relaxation as amusement, recreation, or hobbies. To be relaxed is the direct physiology opposite of being excited or disturbed.

Neurosis and psychoneurosis are at the same time physiological disturbance, for they are forms of tension disorders. Therefore, the key to treatment lies in relaxation.

Who are victims of tension? Everybody is a candidate. These are models of tensed individuals: the “burnt out” housewife, the tagasalo in the family, the gifted child, the dominant lola, the authoritative patriarch. These persons themselves are not only victims of tension; they spread tension among people around them.

Multitudes long for a better life, but they lack courage and resolution to break away from the power of habit. On the other hand, many escape from the harsh realities of life by taking alcohol and drugs.

Hypothesis

The whole idea of relaxation is in disciplining the body to budget life’s energies, and to immerse oneself to relaxing moods. Music and nature are a great inexhaustible source. Plato and Confucius looked at music as a department of ethics. They saw the correspondence between character of man and music. Great music, they believed, is in harmony with the universe, restoring order to the physical world. Aristotle on the other hand, the greatest naturalist of the ancient world supported the platonic view, which through the Renaissance to the present dominate the concept of great composition. Great music has always been associated with God’s creation.

Nature on the other hand, produces calming effects to the nerve. Sightseeing, picnic and camping are a good break to prosaic city life. Different from ordinary amusements in the park or theater, the countryside is one arena of peace and quiet. Features on TV and print media provide but an alternative scenario. Today “canned” Nature is being introduced in many forms such as traveling planetarium, CD-ROM Nature Series, Ecology Village, and the like, to illustrate the growing concern of people to experience the positive effects of Nature in an urban setting characterized by a stressful modern life.

This experiment is based on the premise that the combined effects of music and Nature help reduce tension in daily living, particularly among working students in the city.

Conceptual Framework

A- Tension tends to dominate the body to relax, resulting in tension build-up in the muscles;

B- Music (violin solos) and Nature’s sounds( birds, running stream etc.) make a composition which provides a rare listening experience in varying intensity; and

C- The experience enhances relaxation, reduces tension and its physiologic effects in the individual.

Methodology

The Violin and Nature recorded in compact disc (CD) was then presented for evaluation to students in Research Methodology at the UST Graduate School on two aspects, namely, the content of the tape and the perception of the respondents. Physiologic response was determined by measuring the pulse rate before and after listening to eight sample compositions from the tape for thirty minutes.

These are as follows:

1. Serenade by Toselli (semi- classical)

2. Meditation, from the Thais by Massenet (classical)

3. Lara’s Theme (sound track of the movie, Dr. Zhivago)

4. Beyond the Sunset (ballad)

5. Paper Roses (popular)

6. A Certain Smile (popular)

7. Fascination (popular dance music)

8. Home on the Range (country song)

Respondents Profile

This is the profile of the 42 respondents, which made up one class in research methodology. They are predominantly female students (81%), employed (86%), with ages from 21 to 29 years old (76%).

Content Analysis

The respondents counted eight tunes or pieces, of which 5 are familiar to them. They identified three non-living sounds (running stream, wind, and waterfall, aside from the violin), and two living sounds (mainly birds).

Physiologic Response

The average pulse rates before and after listening to the tape are 79.47 and 73.29 per minute, respectively, or a difference of 6.18. Statistically, the difference is significant, thus confirming the relaxing effects to the respondents after listening to the CD.

Perception

The ten criteria used in rating the perception of the respondents are ranked as follows, adopting the Likert Scale. Note: A scale of 1 to 5 was used, where 1 is very poor, 2 poor, 3 fair, 4 good, and 5 very good.

Criteria Rating Rank

1. One has the feeling of being

transported to a Nature/Wildlife scene. 4.48 1

2. Listening to the tape creates an aura

of peace and serenity. 4.39 2

3. The composition is soothing to hear,

Has calming effect on the nerves. 4.24 3

4. The composition creates a meditative

mood. 3.95 4

5. It brings reminiscence to the

listener of a past experience. 3.64 5

6. It helps one in trying to

forget his problems. 3.59 6

7. One has the felling of being

transported heavenward, to Cloud 9. 3.55 7

8. There is tendency to sleep while

listening to the composition. 3.52 8

9. It brings about a nostalgic feeling. 3.19 9

10. The composition makes one

sad and melancholic. 2.55 10

Analysis and Interpretation

The means the first three criteria fall between good and very good, while the others, except the 10th, are between fair and good. This finding supports the positive relaxing effects of Violin and Nature.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Listening to Violin and Nature slows down pulse rate significantly, thus reducing tension, and brings the listener closer to a state of relaxation. The effects are measured as based on ten criteria. Topping the scores which are classified Very Good are:

1. One has the feeling of being transported to a Nature /Wildlife Scene;

2. Listening to the tape creates an aura of peace and serenity; and

3. The composition is soothing to hear, and has calming effect on the nerves.

There are six other parameters that support the hypothesis that the CD is relaxing. This is different from its effect of bringing nostalgia, sadness and melancholy that received the lowest scores and rankings.

However, there is need to improve the quality of the compositions, and their recording. It is also recommended that similar evaluation be conducted on other age groups and people of different walks of life who are similarly subject to stressful life and environment. ~

Life in a Passing Review

Life in a Passing Review

"Life’s a journey but once in time and space." avr

Painting and Poem by Dr Abe V Rotor

 Scenery of a happy life acrylic on canvas

(58” x 34”) by Dr Abe V Rotor, 2019

Life’s in the seasons passing and returning;

How familiar when we are young, how we miss

When old we grow, leave the place for another.

Oh, how we love the seasons like passing breeze.

Life’s in the sea, unfathomed and mysterious;

How familiar the changing tides and beaches,

The waves rolling incessantly with our dreams.

Oh, how we love the sea the life it teaches.

  

Life’s in the rocks rising from the ocean deep;

How familiar their shapes, their majestic height,

Deep within the secret of life’s origin.     

Oh, how we love the mountains in pure delight.

Life’s in the endless sky, deep blue or in gloom,

How familiar faces and figures in shroud,

The sun’s chariot takes us to Mount Olympus;

Oh, how we love the sky, praise we sing aloud.      

Life’s a journey but once in time and space;   

How familiar our goal likened to a mirth

In a scene imagined, redeemed from the Fall.

                           Oh, how we love to re-create life on earth. ~     

Dr Juan M Flavier: "Doctor to the Barrio" Leaves a Legacy

Special Topic in honor of the late

Dr Juan M Flavier, Health Secretary and two-time senator.  President, International Institute for Rural Reconstruction.  True Filipino, hero.
Dr Abe V Rotor
-------------------------

Former health secretary and senator Juan M. Flavier. FILE PHOTO

Quoted from Doctor to the Barrios
" Dr Flavier is one of those rare persons who is actually at home in the barrio and among the leaders of the nation.  In one day he may spend the morning discussing methods of family planning with barrio women; in the afternoon, he may confer with mountaineers from Vietnam about land reform; in the evening he may be found working with the Department of Social Welfare on strategy for national development." Quoted from the back cover of his first book Doctor to the Barrios 1970, New Day Publishers. Before his second book, My Friends in the Barrio, came out four years after, Doctor to the Barrio's printing reached 24,000 copies, and was translated in Indonesia and other countries. To date, 44 years after, Dr Flavier's books (7 major ones) are still in great demand.     
------------------------
Quoted from My Friends in the Barrios 
Dr Flavier introduces the reader to some of the friends in the barrios - and soon they become his friends also.  They come alive as, with deft, down to earth strokes, the authors paints them on his canvas of rural life.  Readers discover the answers to such intriguing questions as "Do eggs die?" "Why does operating a poultry lead to having many children?"  "How does a rural swain woe his girl?"  "Who gets rich in rice production?" "How do you explain the IUD in the barrio?"
----------------------
Quoted from Back to the Barrios
"For the sophisticated Metro Manilan or any other city-bred reader the stories about his friends in the barrios that Dr Flavier relates in his books are refreshing.  We can all achieve fresh insights by every so often, going back to the barrios." 
---------------------
Born in Tondo, Manila on June 23, 1935, Flavier grew up in Baguio City where he attended his elementary and secondary years. He attended medical school at the University of the Philippines where he graduated in 1960.


Shortly after he obtained his medical degree, he chose to be an educator through the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) and the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR), organizations which served Filipinos in the provinces through education and training. He later led the organization from 1977 to 1992.

As health secretary, Flavier introduced effective public health campaigns such as curbing smoking and combating HIV/AIDS.

After leading the PRRM and IIRR, Flavier was designated by former president Fidel V. Ramos as the health secretary. By being the health secretary, Flavier was known as “Mr. Let’s DOH It!” which was derived from the DOH campaign slogan under his term.

He instituted campaigns such as the “Yosi Kadiri” campaign, ‘Sangkap Pinoy”, a campaign addressing micronutrient malnutrition, and the “Oplan Alis Disease”, a nationwide immunization campaign.

Under his helm, the Department of Health became an active government agency and became the number one government office under the Ramos presidency.

Flavier is a two-termer senator who championed health and rural development issues.

After serving as the nation’s health secretary, Flavier won as a senator in 1995. As a neophyte senator during the 10th Congress, he was recognized as the senator who attended the most number of committee hearings and did not incurred any absences in Senate sessions.

He won a second term as senator and served until 2007.

Some of the landmark legislations he authored and sponsored include: the Traditional Medicine Law, Poverty Alleviation Law, Clean Air Act, Indigenous People’s Rights Act, Anti-money Laundering Act, Dangerous Drugs Act, Philippine Nursing Act, and the Tobacco Regulation Act.

He was once called an “agent of Satan” by Manila archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin.

When he was the health secretary, Flavier implemented the first anti-HIV/AIDS campaign in the country. Part of his campaign includes the distribution of condoms to Filipinos. Due to this particular effort, he was described by then Manila archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin as an “agent of Satan”

Sources: Reprint from the Internet; Inquirer archives, Senate website, DOH website
-----------------------------------------------
Here is a typical story characteristic of the style of Dr Flavier as a storyteller.  It is picturesque, a travelogue to a real setting, and meeting real people on the grassroots.  The writer's seeming light style, humorous and witty, lessens the seriousness of the topic, yet retains the objective for which the story is written. It is an interesting approach to Philippine literature today, which I personally endorse as 
an important component to Popular Literature, a chapter in a forthcoming book Philippine Literature Today (by Rotor AV and KM Doria, C & E Publishing Co.)

The Power of the Camatchile
Juan M Flavier

It was a fairly common situation. The couple wanted to stop bearing children but so far their children were only of one sex. So they kept having one more hoping the next would be of the opposite sex.

           

One family reached thirteen offspring in an attempt to have a boy. Another couple had eight boys in a row while trying for a girl.

This is the reason why beliefs about how to procreate a particular sex are rampant. As a farmer said to me, “If you discover how to enable a woman to deliver a child of a particular sex, you will become a millionaire and make family planning more acceptable.”

One of the most common beliefs is that each of the two ovaries gives rise to a particular sex, the right for males and the left for females. Following this belief, the woman is advised to recline on the side according to sex desired after the sex act to enable the sperms to gravitate to the correct ovary.

Another popular advice states that a woman will bear a male if the husband is always tired from work. If the husband has ample time for physical rest then the offspring will be a female.

Still another notion states that the sex of the child depends on whether the sex act occurs before or after midnight.

In a sense I had this problem as my wife had three boys in arrow. We had agreed to have just one boy or one girl. But as I explained to my friends, “My wife did not cooperate!”

Since my wife has a caesarean operation at each delivery, we decided to stop on the third try for a baby girl. I was content to say, “I have two boys and one son!”

Then five years after our youngest son, someone made the mistake of telling my wife that one would have a girl if a couple has had three boys in a row in the Philippines and goes to a cold place like the United States. I was persuaded by my wife to try out trip to America with my family and true enough, the fourth and last was a most welcome baby girl!

To this day, I still have to live down the incident in the hospital. I was so overjoyed with the baby girl. When asked whether the child was a boy or a girl as I got out of the delivery room, I answered with the immortal words, “It’s a baby!”

Of course, when I went to the barrios, my farmer friends eagerly inquired about the secret formula. I had to give some explanation, so I invented one.

There is a simple secret,” I would say. “The trick is to make a baby on the top of camatchile tree.” Camatchile (Pithecolobium dulce) is a common barrio fruit known for its profuse spines and small fragile branches.

“That’s difficult,” the farmers would growl.

“Well, if you want a baby girl badly enough, then you have to do the difficult,” I usually answered and we would all laugh.

One day, Dencio happened to pass by our house.”Naku, duktor, talagang epektibo iyong sistema ninyo (Wow, doctor, your system is really effective)!” he literally shouted to me even before we could exchange greetings.

“Which one?” I inquired.

“Remember the camatchile system? I tried it. Now I have a very healthy girl after five boys in a row,” Dencio explained excitedly.

I was more dumbfounded than pleased. I had only made up the system as a joke and here was Dencio verifying its efficacy. But more surprising was how he could do the impossible. For him and his wife to climb a spiny fragile tree!

“How did you do it?” I asked with avid curiosity.

Dencio stopped a moment as though considering whether to reveal the secret or not. “I cheated a little,” he confessed reluctantly.

“Tell me about it,” I urged.

“I knew we could not do it on top of the camatchile tree,” Dencio explained. “So I cut off a camatchile brach and placed it under our bamboo bed. It is effective, I tell you. We have a girl!”

I have since stopped telling about the camatchile system to the other farmers lest I be credited with powers beyond my fertile imagination.~ 

A quiz on allergy: Identify if fact or myth. (Please share this lesson to your family and friends)

Children who have been breastfed are less likely to have allergies. - fact or myth?
Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Children who grow up on the farm are at much lower risk to allergy than children in the city.

Uncontrolled sneezing, a common symptom of allergy, may cause embarrassment and even accident . 

2. Infants on the farm have fewer allergies than those who grow up in sterile environments.

3. Children who grow up with a cat in the house are less likely to develop allergies or asthma. 

4. Very few pet owners are allergic to the animals they love.

5. Children who have been breastfed are less likely to have allergies. 

6. Milk, soy, wheat, egg, peanut, fish and meat comprise the most common food allergies.

7. Most reactions to food are not allergic in nature, but rather intolerance, that is, there is no allergic antibody involved.

8. Babies exposed late to cereal grains have higher risk to cereal allergy, especially wheat.

9. Regular use of “foreign” materials (e.g. nail polish remover, contact lens, metals) can eventually cause sensitivity and reaction to the products.

10. Allergy can induce strong and unwelcome mental and emotional reactions, such as altered perception or inappropriate changes of mood.

NOTE: These above statements are all based on facts.~

Angels just pass by, my friend.

Angels just pass by, my friend.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Dr Anselmo Set Cabigan, Ph.D. examines the flower of the enigmatic pongapong (Amorpophallus campanolatus) at the former St Paul University Garden QC.  Pine saplings in Lipa Batangas,  On-site lecture in biology at the former SPUQC Museum

All the years, to describe you, let me count the ways:
But first, admit your age, and heed the one who says.

Our roads crossed time and again - perhaps the eighth,
Under any umbrella, any fort of service and faith;

A tree you planted, its boughs filled with children,
In its shade, old and young call each other brethren;

A field of grass undulating in whispers and in song
Of hopes and dreams among the beloved throng;

A plow, you're the man behind a home and nation,
A computer, cyberspace its eye and its bastion.

Nata to leather, fruit to wine, microbes to food,
Work of a goodhearted genius working under the hood.

Busy feet, busy hands, bound in thought and sinew,
Work, work, work - whatever may be your view.

And play? And jokes? You've got a lot, too.
Cracking one, and I saw how a whole class blew.

Child of Nature years ago, but never getting old,
Though your hair is vanishing, laurels in its hold;

The span of time and space, your now sit on its shed,
Furrows on your forehead, your vision dims ahead.

If for any reason you keep on searching, never tiring,
It's because the stars shine far out into the morning,

And ideals and truth are not the same, are they?
There are no answers - yet you wish there may.

In a perfect place and time, here and beyond SPUQ,
Angels just pass by Sel, we can only guess they do.~





Dedicated to Dr. Anselmo Set Cabigan (left), a good old friend. 
He and the author retired from government, and the academe.