Chinese Painting: Fantasy Landscape

Painting and Verse by
Dr Abe V Rotor 

Raging fire and cool jade

marble of blue and ebony

jagged mountains ascending

colors not of earth

nor water nor sky

creatures by imagination

carved, floating, flying 

landscape of far away

in imagination, in myth

not on earth 

not in heaven 

not by man -

yet called

man, heaven and earth  ~

Fantasy Landscape (15.5" x 43") acrylic on canvas. 

circa 2007

Growing Threats of Biological Warfare

Growing Threats of Biological Warfare
Remembering 9/11 seventeenth anniversary 
Dr Abe V Rotor

 

 As an aftermath of the catastrophic 9/11 bombing of the Twin Towers in New York, the US Postal Service ordered gloves and masks and irradiation systems for key mail-sorting facilities in Washington, New York and New Jersey, but questions as to whether these measures to prevent anthrax from spreading via mails are effective or not remain unresolved. Does zapping letters and packages with radiation really kill anthrax spores? What is the downside to irradiation? Are the postal workers really protected from anthrax and other biological warfare germs?

- As a precaution the US government has accelerated the delivery of 40 million doses of smallpox vaccine to add to the 15.4 million doses already stored. These will be enough to inoculate every American. One drawback is the possibility of side effects of the vaccine particularly to those receiving other medical treatments such as chemotherapy.

- African killer bees (Apis mellifera scutellata) claimed to have escaped from a laboratory have interbred with the domestic species creating an equally deadly hybrid that now threatens the US after spreading throughout Brazil, Central America and Mexico. A colony is made up of some 70,000 ferocious bees with the queen bee reproducing up to 5,000 a day to maintain this enormous population.

- E. coli is a familiar intestinal parasite. Naturally occurring outbreaks of Escherischia coli typically the result of fecal contamination in anything from hamburgers to swimming pools, sicken hundreds of thousands of people each year. What really trigger the outbreak of E. coli? What caused the epidemic that hit Tokyo three years ago?

As I ponder over these scenarios I remember when I was a child seeing many people who were survivors of smallpox epidemic. The center of the epidemic was a town whose population was decimated. The mere mention of its name rings the sad memory of the early 1900s’ disaster. Lapog became virtually synonymous with the name of the dreaded disease. It was later renamed San Juan (Ilocos Sur).

My father told me that of the eight siblings in the family, only two of them survived the disease. Uncle Leo who was the oldest miraculously survived, and my dad who was the youngest was born after the epidemic had subsided.

In my mind I still can picture the faces of a dozen survivors. Pockmarks cover their faces, and may also cover the body, arms and legs, including the ears, nose, eyelids and lips which become somehow disfigured. Fingers and toes are deformed in serious cases.

But I remember how these survivors continued to live normal lives. I remember them as happy and hardworking in spite of the traumatic experiences they went through. Psychologists say there are many survivors of tragic experiences who find the new lease in life a new opportunity. Stories on how whole communities rise with these survivors uplift the spirit. I saw this miracle happen in the family and community I was brought up. Many people in many places I believe, can overcome painful experiences with this kind of spirit.

Conquest and Diseases

Christopher Columbus and his men allegedly introduced syphilis in the New World. The meeting of East and West during the era of colonization also resulted in the exchange of diseases. James Michener’s novel, Hawaii, relates how smallpox caused death and sufferings to the natives. To the novel’s principal character, the Reverend Hale, it was a manifestation of God’s wrath on the sinful and the non-converts. While this incident helped him in his mission, the end proved that the English missionary was wrong - that God is not a God of vengeance. Whole settlements in the New World just perished to indigenous diseases that were unknown in their countries of origin. Scientists explain that these pioneers lacked the natural immunity to the diseases, in the same manner that diseases introduced into the Old World killed many people similarly because they did not have the natural resistance. This is the basis why for many years until recently, the World Health Organization and many countries required the vaccination of travelers against certain diseases as a requirement in obtaining passports and visas.

These are of course incidents that we can dismiss as force majeure or historical events, which our faith and culture may accept. But what about in the case of war when man is pitted against man, nation against nation?

Man’s Inhumanity to Man

How different it is to think about war. Since biblical times war has always been associated with inhumanity – man’s inhumanity to man. It is the antithesis of culture, of civilization, the very institution that is supposed to eliminate this treat to society. Ironically war has plagued every civilization, and many a great civilization has been the center of human conflict like the epicenter of an earthquake. According to the historian Gibbon twelve great civilizations that include the Greek and Roman civilizations fell because of war. They never recovered again.

History is not replete of the fact that the more civilized societies have been the cause of the loss of peace, if not the whole destruction of the less civilized ones. The great Spanish conquistadors forever destroyed the great civilizations of the Aztecs and the Mayas, in the same way that the pioneers in the West forever destroyed the American Indians.

Early Biological Warfare

Carthage (PHOTO) a thriving agricultural and trading center during the times of the Roman became swamp and subsequently into desert that we know today. How did this happen? The invading Romans drew saltwater into land flooding settlements and fertile lands, thus finally putting to end the powerful enemy.

How The West Was Won, is a story of the destruction of the American Indian civilization which had been flourishing for many centuries. The natives fought fiercely at the European invaders and defended their “nation” for years. But the pioneers knew exactly the key to their victory over the powerful Indian tribes - to annihilate the buffaloes, millions of them that roamed the Great Plains or what is known as the prairies. Because buffaloes provided the Indians their basic needs from food to shelter, famine ensued and the great American Indian civilization was ultimately reduced into marginal settlements. Buffalo Bill is reported to have killed more than three hundred buffaloes in a single day for which he earned his name and “reputation.”

What if China’s threat to send one million Chinese to fight and die in Vietnam had come true? I heard of this story during the Chinese-Vietnam conflict that preceded the Vietnam war. Should such unthinkable strategy happen, the task of burying the dead alone, more so in controlling pestilence, would certainly render the enemy country defenseless and economically bankrupt. On the part of the triumphant country it shall have somehow reduced pressure on its burgeoning population and rid the misfits. Many believe that war is a purification process of a society. Definitely it is not. The Germans lost thousands of scientists in World War II. Many soldiers who died in the Vietnam War were among the finest of the youth of their time in their respective countries.

Agent orange was used as defoliant to flush out Vietcong guerrillas from their stronghold in jungles during the Vietnam war.  

But man has not had lessons enough. And war in its most ugly form using chemicals, biological agents, nuclear and ultramodern tools, is with us and it is all over the world now. For nuclear arsenals alone, the world’s total stockpile has the capacity to kill three times the whole population of the world. The world is witness to the recent wars in Iraq, Bosnia and Macedonia, Uganda and Angola and Afghanistan. It is happening with the Tamil Guerillas in Sri Lanka, along the Pakistan-Indian border, the Basques guerillas, the IRA in Northern Ireland, and other parts of the world. It is happening in our home ground with the Abu Sayaf and the NDF-NPA. War has many faces indeed.

War Without Borders

Something unexpected and different happened. On September 11, 2005 year the World Trade Center, a 110-storey twin-tower was erased from the skyscraper map in matters of minutes shortly after two planes commandeered by terrorists smashed into the superstructure signaling the vulnerability of our present system of capitalism. It challenged the economic powers of the world, particularly America.

The world woke up into a new age hitherto unpredicted - the age of Terrorism and the birth of a new nation without political boundary, but an invisible organizational network with its tentacles reaching global proportion.

This time intrusion into the enemy’s territory or defining the place of battle does not follow the conventional rules anymore. In fact there are no specific rules when we refer to the modus operandi of terrorists. Scenarios of war have thus changed after the September 11 attack.

This article concentrates on the tools of biological warfare. Here are some of them.

First there is anthrax, the most serious and the first to hit the headlines after the bombing of the World Trade Center. It leads a dozen of similarly devastating epidemics of biological warfare potential.

Second, there is an attempt to revive bubonic plague that killed one-third of the world’s population in the Middle Ages. It was the Japanese who experimented in the making of bubonic flea bombs intended to spread the plague in major USA cities. The project was to breed the fleas which harbor the plague bacteria in its body, then scatter these to infest rats and other animals in the target area where they in turn multiply and transmit the pathogen to the residents. The bomb was successfully tested in China with hundreds of Chinese succumbing to the bubonic plague bacteria. Preparations were then made to attack the US. But the US had decided to drop the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bubonic flea bombs were never used. Japan hastily removed all the evidences of its evil experiment even before its surrender to the US.

Third, the threat of influenza (PHOTO) which killed several millions at the first part of the twentieth century in the US and many parts of the globe has caused alarm as early as the 1980s after discovering a new strain of virus, a hybrid of the chicken and human influenza viruses. Based on the ratio of victims with the population in the first epidemic, scientists are looking at the possibility that some 60 to 100 million people could die of the new influenza virus strain should it strike in our times. In spite of utmost precaution to stave off the epidemic, scientists believe that we are not yet off the hook.

Biological warfare intends to use germs with historical epidemic background. Here is an outline of the basic facts about these most important potential epidemic diseases.

Anthrax

• Also known as malignant pustule, malignant edema or woodsorters’ disease

• Most common in South America, Australia, Africa and Russia

• Highly infectious disease of animals, occurring especially in cattle, sheep and other ruminants, horses and mules as well.

• Transmitted to humans through contact with any part of the inside or outside of the animal carrying the infectious agent

• Caused by Bacillus anthracis whose spores which are resistant to disinfectants and heat, may remain infectious even after 15 years in soil. Grazing animals can accumulate spores contained in the droppings of infected animals

• Humans acquire the disease through cut or wound of the skin, by eating infected meat, or by breathing in the spores contained in the dust emanating from the sick animal’s hide or hair

• Skin infection characterized by severe itching and appearance of boil, usually on the arm, face and neck. The inflamed area grows into an ulcer called a malignant pustule, which eventually bursts and produced a black scab. Fever, nausea and swelling of the lymph glands are accompanying symptoms

• Internal anthrax acquired through inhalation results in acute pneumonia. When infected meat is ingested symptoms of acute gastroenteritis occur

• Anthrax is effectively treated with antibiotics. Immunization against the disease has been made possible through the use of vaccine. Effective livestock management is key to the control in the spread of the disease.

Bubonic Plague

o Known as the Black Death in the Middle Ages which ravaged Europe and Asia

o In some places as many as two-thirds of the entire population died

o So-called from the blackening spots which broke out from the skin during the course of the disease

o Characteristic symptoms are fever and swelling of the lymph nodes mainly the groin and armpit

o It is caused by the plague bacillus (Pasteurella pestis) which is transmitted from sick rats (Rattus rattus norvigicus) to humans by flea bites (Xenopsylola chopis)

Small pox

• Highly contagious, often fatal that once ravaged mankind in epidemics. Just one infected person could cause the virus to radiate from a family to a neighborhood to a city in a matter of months.

• Smallpox cannot be treated effectively once symptoms begin. 30 percent of those infected will die.

• WHO declared the eradicated of smallpox in 1980. Routine immunization for protection against the disease was stopped as early as 1971.

• First signs: chills and high fever, severe headache and backache, followed by rash which eventually covers the entire body and turns into pus-filled blisters

• The blisters in turn dry up to form scabs which very often leave pockmarks.

• The disease may be accompanied by vomiting, convulsion and diarrhea Complications include other skin infections such as boils and abscesses, ear infections, pneumonia and heart failure

• Disease is not transmitted by animals

• Disease has been eliminated through world wide vaccination programs, although a mild form still exist in Ethiopia

• The disease has been largely eliminated by extermination of rats. Antibiotics such as oxytetracycline, streptomycin and chloramphenicol are effective in its treatment

Other Potential Bio-Warfare Organisms

There are many organisms that can be used in biological warfare. A terrorist attack aimed at crops and livestock would be less dramatic but might cause more disruption in the long run.
Potato Blight – also called late blight, a worldwide serious disease of potato and tomato in cool humid countries caused by a fungus, Phyhtopthora infestans In Ireland 30 percent of the population starved to death, died of typhoid fever that followed - or emigrated during the period 1845 to 1860. Tomato blight caused by the same fungus destroyed 50 percent of the crop in Eastern US in 1946.

Rust Fungi - There are species of Puccinia affecting cereals and among them which is Puccinia graminis tritici consists of 200 such races to which wheat varieties are differentially susceptible. Although rust fungi are host specific and can only complete their life cycle in the presence of alternate host such as barberry in wheat rust, the potential fore biological warfare is great to consider that cereals comprise the staple of the mankind. The narrowing down of varieties for commercial cultivation exposes greater danger of rust diseases to spread out into epidemics.

Salmonella - In 1984 a cult in Oregon set off a wave of food poisonings. Gastroenteritis caused by natural contamination and careless food handling afflicts millions and results in 5000 deaths each year. Salmonella is a large group of rod shaped bacteria that invade the gastrointestinal tract, among them typhoid and paratyphoid germs.

Antibiotics are recommended to combat Salmonella infection. A recent incident happened in Rizal when hundreds of children who ate spoiled spaghetti were hospitalized. The religious group, which sponsored the feeding program, admitted fault to the incident. A similar case also happened two years ago. The owner of seven-eleven apologized for the incident and paid the victims.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease – The disease affects hoof animals from hogs to cattle. Its natural occurrence is worldwide and we have our own season in the Philippines that is during summer. Although the pathogen is not transmitted from animals to humans, losses incurred are usually heavy with the infected animal economically worthless.

Like in the case of mad cow disease, and chicken flu that affects humans, the infected animals are destroyed to prevent infection. Quarantine and an extreme sanitation program are the best defense in curbing the spread of the disease.

Mad Cow Disease – It is called bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE that has been determined in 1996 to infect humans in the form of a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD). Eighty people in Britain have died of CJD and there is no data to show how many more will die because there are initial signs of acquiring the disease are not clear and that the gestation period of the virus before it reaches the brain is up to 15 years. It originated in Britain crippling the country’s giant cattle industry, then spread to the European and now it has reached Japan threatening some 4.6 million cows.

Other biological warfare agents include potato beetles, which Britain suspected the Germans for dropping small cardboards bombs filled with the beetle pest on English potato fields. In the 1980s Tamil militants threatened to target Sri Lankan tea and rubber plantations with plant pathogens.

HIV-AIDS – So far 17 million have died and at least 25 million may follow. The heart of the epidemic is at the lower quadrant of Africa. AIDS is anti-Darwinian – it is society’s fittest who die, not the frailest, thus leaving the children and old behind. But recently more and more children become victims. There are 3.7 million children who have died of AIDS and AIDS has orphaned 12 million children.

An estimated 8.8 million adults in Africa are infected with HIV/AIDS and in the seven countries in Africa 1 out of 5 is living with HIV and 3.8 millions Africans are infected every year. There are 36 million adults and children in the world living with HIV/AIDS. Bioterrorism may be eyeing at the spread of the disease in the industrialized countries through the blood donation and immunization channels, other means notwithstanding.

Ebola (PHOTO, EBOLA VIRUS) – It is a highly virulent disease caused by a virus that originated in Africa infecting human and primates. Much of the information about the disease is a mystery but one thing sure is that it is almost one hundred percent fatal once a person gets the virus.

Contact of any kind, and even only through inhalation, the virus can be acquired in no time. One incident showed a member of a religious congregation who had been treating ebola patients suddenly died. Ignoring warnings other members attended her funeral. One of them got the virus and died later.

African Giant Snail (Achatina fulica) – brought by the Japanese to the Philippine during WW II. Pest of garden and field crops. Damage can lead to crop loss and consequently starvation. The pest persists to this day but seldom develops into epidemic proportion. The introduced Golden Kuhol thought to provide livelihood on the farm became a major pest affecting more than 50 percent of our lowland ricefields.

Protection Guidelines

Here are guidelines to protect yourself.

1. Keep distance from possible sources of biochemical materials such as spores of the deadly anthrax. Be wary of suspicious parcels.

2. Get help from authorities to get rid of suspicious looking materials. Curiosity kills the cat.

3. Be familiar with the locations of Bomb Shelters. Such shelters are found in big cities like New York, Tokyo and Tel Aviv. We do not have one in Manila, but there are places and buildings you can find temporary shelter in case of attack.

4. Don’t loiter in centralized air-conditioned places like malls. Avoid crowds and busy streets if you can.

5. Early symptoms should be treated immediately by a doctor. Anthrax for example has flu-like symptoms.

6. Keep resistance high all the time. Good rest, balanced diet, regular exercise are key to resistance against diseases.

7. Don’t be a victim of psychological war. Terrorism thrives on it. We have yet to coin a word for biochemical phobia.

8. Like Boy Scouts, remember “Always be Prepared” – for your own protection. Equally important be prepared always to help other people.

On September 11 (9/11) many people thought Third World War had started. Well, the big wars we know started small. In our modern world an all out war is likely to employ all kinds of warfare – chemical and biological – and worst is the use of nuclear weapons. There are no defined borders and everyone is a potential victim. It will be difficult to detect the enemy and the tools of war he will use. The “morning after” exposes further destruction. Nuclear weapons have long years of half-life. It means radioactive materials will continue to kill, to make people sick. Even to this day, there are people in Japan where the atomic bombs were dropped 45 years dying due to radioactive fallout.

This is also true with bacterial spores. They have the capacity to re-infect and cause a second or third wave of epidemic. Even after the white flag is raised, still many people continue to get sick and die – physically and psychologically. In many cases it is beyond medicine to cure – or science to explain.

In early 1960s I was part of a research program at UPLB, then UP College of Agriculture, in promoting modern agriculture to farmers. Among the farm chemicals I handled were herbicides. By coincidence the US was developing a chemical called Orange Agent that I found out later was to be used in Vietnam. While this chemical can maim or cause death, its intended use is as a defoliant. By spraying the chemical trees lose their leaves, in fact their entire crown. When this happens a jungle would easily catch fire and in no time spreads out flushing the Vietcong guerillas from their hideouts.

It was my first encounter with biological warfare. The memory does not only linger, it has remained fresh.


==========================

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERFECT BIO-WEAPON

The "perfect biological weapon" would have these characteristics:
· Be infectious and contagious in a large percentage of those expose
· Cause severe long-term debilitation or death of the infected organism
· Have few available antidotes, preventives or cures
· Be easily deliverable to the area or population targeted
· Have low likelihood of causing damage to those using the agent

THE USUAL SUSPECTS
Some candidates for use as biological warfare agents include Anthrax, Smallpox, Viral hemorrhagic Fevers (Ebola, etc.), and Pneumonic Plague.

Evolution of bio-warfare agents using nanovirus

Living with superstition builds character.

Living with superstition builds character. 

People are generally superstitious, especially those of the older generation. We relate many events to supernatural causes. We act according to beliefs we inherited from our ancestors. Superstition may not rule our lives but it serves to sharpen our consciousness, build our character, and help preserve our culture. Mythology is important in every culture and it influences other cultures as well.  Greek mythology is the leading example. 

      

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Forego your trip if a black cat crosses your path – it is bad luck.

2. Don’t clean the house at night, more so, if you sweep the dirt out of the door. You drive good luck away, (Lalabas ang suwerte.)

3. If you get lost in the wilderness, reverse your shirt, so that you will be able find your way back.

4. Tikbalang (Filipino version of a centaur) comes out when it is raining while the sun is out.

5. Three persons in a picture means the one at the middle will die.

6. A mole (taling) on the sole indicates the person is a wanderer (gala’).

7. A mole (taling) located along the path of tears means the person is going to be widowed.

8. Bride must never try her bridal gown before the wedding; the ceremony might not push through.

9. Don’t hang on the window; you court bad luck.

10. Itchy palm means you are going to have money.

11. Keep your fingers close together and if light seeps through between them, it means you are not frugal.

12. Singing while cooking means you are going to remain a bachelor or spinster – or marry someone much older than you.

13. A victim of maternal impression (paglilihi) loses pep (sigla) and may even get sick.

14. If a pregnant woman is in labor, never sit at the center of the stair.

15. A comet in the sky means war is coming.

16. Eat raw eggs to enhance easy delivery of your baby.

17. A pregnant mother should not eat eggplant, else her baby will have dark complexion.

18. One who cries every time she cuts onions means she does not love her father- and mother-in-law (biyanan).

19. Taking a bath immediately after ironing clothes will make you sick of leprosy.

20. If a pregnant woman eats eggs, her child will be born blind.

21. Full moon causes abnormal behavior. People who are affected by this belief are called lunatics.

22. Beware of Friday the 13th, you might meet an accident.

Kapre, a hairy black monster, lives in this old balete tree.

UPLB Mt Makiling, Laguna on the way to the Mud Spring.

There was a report that the tree bleeds with blood! 

23. No two siblings should marry within the same year, otherwise their marriages will not be successful.

24. When someone gives you a footwear as a gift, be sure to pay him any amount in order to break the omen that you will be “kicked” or pushed around.

25. When the pregnant wife skips or walks over (laktawan) her husband, the husband will bear the burden of paglilihi (maternal impression).

26. If you want a person to be sad and to cry often, give him or her a handkerchief as a gift.

27. One who is about to be wed must remain at home to avoid accident.

28. Avoid having your feet pointed at the door while sleeping.

29. Prepare rice cake like suman and tikoy on New Year so that good luck will stick around.

30. When planting be sure your stomach is full, so that you will get good harvest.

31. If you accidentally break a glass or china, get a similar one and break it, otherwise bad luck will haunt you.

32. Breaking a mirror means “seven years itch.”

33. If you dream you lost a tooth, it means is bad luck. To break the omen, silently go to a tree and tell your dream so that it will be the tree that will suffer.

34. Needle bought in the afternoon is likely to rust.

35. A birthday celebrant must take extra precaution against accident, so with a new graduate. 

Image of a white lady taken by a CCTV camera

36. The bride should not look behind while marching the aisle, otherwise the wedding will not be disrupted.

37. The number of steps of a stair is based on the alternate oro (gold)-plata (silver) formula. Aim for oro in the last or highest step.

38. Wearing bright clothes, especially red, on your birthday makes the day happy.

39. After the wedding the man must exit first from the church so that he will not become a henpeck husband.

40. Don’t give your loved one a necklace, otherwise your relationship will not last.

41. Don’t allow your friend to remove your ring, otherwise you will quarrel.

42. Kill a chicken for a new born baby as an offering.

43. Sweeping or cleaning the house while a dead relative is in wake will lead to the death of another member of the family.

44. Eating jackfruit during menstruation is prohibited otherwise the woman will get sick and even die.

45. When planting sitao (string bean), place a comb on your hair to induce the production of abundant long fruits.

46. Eating chicken cooked with squash will cause leprosy.

47. A woman on her menstrual period should not visit a garden or orchard otherwise the plants will become sick or die.

48. To know if it is true jade, it remains cool even if the body is warm.

49. Beware of the werewolf. Man can turn into a wolf, and vice versa.

50. Eight (8) is a lucky number; 8 is infinity. It means money will circulate.

51. Four (4) means in Chinese C or death. Every time you reach an age with the number 9 or 4, take precaution; you are prone to accident.

52. Don’t cut fingernails at night; it’s bad luck.

53. In Chinese marriage, the woman walks backward led by a relative to be delivered to the bridegroom.

54. If a child keeps spitting, it will rain.

55. If you point at the moon your will suffer a cut.

56. Babies smile at angels we don’t see.

57. Fixed marriage at birth is good luck.

58. Chinese calendar is late by two months – New Year is in February.
Chinese age starts one year at birth.

59. Palm lines may change, so with our lives.

60. Blessed palm on Easter Sunday is hang at the door for good luck.

61. First cut hair and fingernails of a baby must be kept in a book so that he will be intelligent.

Indeed there's really a white carabao, and it glows at night in flickering light. 


62. Wearing black is symbol of mourning; to the Chinese it is wearing all white.

63. Among the Chinese, miniaturized house, car and the like, go with the departed to assure him of a happy afterlife.

64. In a Chinese temple, you offer food to the gods, and then eat it after. This is not the case in Filipino custom; just leave the food offering (atang).

65. To the Chinese, paper money goes with the dead; it will be converted into real money in afterlife.

66. Light candles outside of the house during All Saints Day in deference to of the souls of the dead and the unseen.

67. When you happen to encounter a funeral entourage, throw some coins in respect of the dead.

68. Don’t stand in front of a gate if you are pregnant.

69. If by mistake it’s the bride that hands over the arras to the bridegroom, expect that she will be the breadwinner.

70. Diamond studded wedding rings do not make a perfect relationship.

71. When blessing a new vehicle, sprinkler fresh blood of chicken in tires and engine to bad omen of accident.

72. Place some coins in the foundation of buildings and other structures during ground breaking ceremony to make them strong and withstand time.

73. Children are sacrificed in making bridges and other infrastructure.

74. Bury placenta with rosary and pencil so that the child will be both intelligent and God-fearing.

75. Palms with crisscross lines (rapas Ilk) means the person is cruel.

76. Palms with netted lines means the person has an unorganized life (magulong buhay).

77. Shake (pagpagin) the items such as clothes after a customer had left without buying any, to break bad luck.

78. Place money in a bed pan (arinola), so that it becomes plentiful.

79. Babies that fall from their cradle do not suffer injury, thanks to their guardian angels.

80. When you give a wallet as gift be sure you put a coin or a money bill in it so that the wallet won’t run out of money.

81. When transferring to a new house carry with you 24 oranges, salt, water, and rice.

82. Jade stones around the wrist of a baby indicate his condition. If they turn light in color the baby is not well.

83. When transferring a dead person into the house, be sure it is head first; when taking him out, it is feet first.

84.Bed must not face the door, otherwise the sleeping person will become a victim of bangongot.

85.Don’t bump the coffin while carrying it; it is bad luck.

86. Pour water at the doorway once the coffin has been taken out.

87. Wash face and hands after the dead has been laid to rest.

90. When coming from a wake have a stopover somewhere and do not directly go home, otherwise the spirit of the dead will follow you.

91. The wishbone of a chicken makes a wholesome game for two. Wish comes true to the one who gets the common stem of the Y-shape bone.

92. One can determine the sex of the baby by the poise and shape of the pregnant woman. If rotund, it’s going to be a girl; if pointed, it’s going to be a boy.

93. During labor, if the pain is bearable and continuous, it’s going to be a girl; if labor pain is intermittent and intense, it’s going to be a boy.

94. When leaving the dining table ahead, those who are still eating must rotate their plates, otherwise they will remain bachelors or spinsters. (The belief is silent on the fate of the married ones.)

95. Couple to be married the following day must not see each other the night before.

96. When Friday comes don’t talk about the supernatural, such as kapre, dwende, and the like.

97. Never buy a cat; it will not be a good mouse catcher.
 
98. If a cat sneezes it’s going to rain. But if it sneezes three times, everyone in the family will catch cold.

99. A cat that has its back towards the fire means a typhoon in coming.

100. Unfortunate events usually happen on full moon.

Christ at the Road Side

Christ at the Road Side

Dr Abe V Rotor

This photograph was taken from a car traveling along Sudipen, the last town of La Union before reaching Tagudin, Ilocos Sur. The huge statue stands on the high bank of a wide river dividing the two towns. Through the years, the river has eroded its banks, and now threatens the safety of the place.

It amazes me at the fine craftsmanship of this obra maestra of local artisans.  The statue's assuring pose and aura momentarily attracts passersby to make the sign of the cross, or even genuflect  before proceeding to their chores or trip. I was among them. 

Agro-Ecology: That’s What Practical Farming is All About

Agro-Ecology: 

 That’s What Practical Farming is All About

Dr Abe V. Rotor

The Ifugao Rice Terraces and Machu Picchio in Peru (lower photo) are farming models of Agro-Ecology, many are as old as the Egyptian civilization and that of Ancient China.

“Farming is a way of living,” says the dean of farm management in the Philippines, Dean Felix D. Maramba, quoting Eugene Devenport who said that farming is not only a business, but a mode of life. “Sometimes the business is the prominent feature, so successful that life seems to run on one long sweet song. Sometimes the business runs so low that life is a bitter struggle.”

The farm and the family home is intertwined; in fact they are one. Anything that affects the farm as a business also directly affects as a home. The farm operator is the head of the household and the bulk of the farm work is done by the members of the family. The farmer is the farmer 24 hours a days, on weekdays as well as on Sundays and Holidays.

The children are brought up in close contact with nature. They develop an appreciation of the manifestations of the Creator through living things and their order. The farm boy does not have to wait until he is grown up before he can work and share family responsibilities. He is brought up early in the family business. In this way he will learn the value of industry and a sense of proprietorship early in life. The work habits and resourcefulness developed by farm children are kept throughout their lives.

Composting is a regular feature of farming and gardening.

This old school of Dean Maramba  may not be the model progressive farmers are looking for today, but definitely the better farmer is the entrepreneur who grew up with farming and pursued training in technology and farm management, and has gain the confidence and skills in transforming the traditional concept of a farm into an agribusiness and therefore, he has a better chance in dealing with the complexities of world of the agriculture and business.

Make the correct decisions in farming.

Farming is no easy task. It is full of decisions - decisions based on socio-economic principles, and guided by rules of conduct and natural laws and of society. These are 10 guidelines in decision making.

1.      Surplus labor resources of typically large rural families should be directed to labor-intensive projects, such as integrated farming. 

2.      Hillside or upland agriculture requires the cultivation of permanent crops, preferably through mixed cropping, such as intercropping of coconuts with orchard trees and annual crops.

3.      Coastal and river swamplands should be preserved as wildlife sanctuaries, and should be managed as an ecosystem, rather than an agricultural venture.   

4.      Wastes can be recycled and converted into raw materials of another enterprise. Farm wastes and byproducts of processing can be processed biologically into methane, organic fertilizer, and biomass for vermiculture.

5.      Productivity of small farms can be increased through pyramidal or storey farming.  Batangas and Cavite farmers are well known for storied multiple cropping.

6.      Poor soils can be rehabilitated through natural farming, such as green manuring, crop rotation and use of organic fertilizers, all integrated in the farming system. Corn-peanut, rice-mungo are popular models of crop rotations. 

7.      Cottage industries are built on agriculture, guided by profitability and practical technology.  It is time to look at the many agro-industries, from food processing to handicrafts.

8.      Tri-commodity farming maximizes utilization of resources, such as having an orchard, planting field crops, and raising fish and livestock on one farm.

9.      Cooperative farming is the solution to economics of scale, these to include multipurpose and marketing cooperatives of farmers and entrepreneurs.   

 Sampaguita, Philippine national flower, is now cultivated like tea on large scale. 

10.  Since the number of days devoted to farming is only one-­third of the whole year, livelihood   outside of farming should be developed. Like a sari-sari store, a small farm cannot afford to have too many hands.  Other opportunities should be tapped outside of farming by other members of the family.

Always go for natural food

 The rule of thumb is that, it is always preferred to eat foods grown under natural conditions than those grown with the use of chemicals.  These are criteria to know if  a food is natural?

·        It must be fresh, or freshly packed

·        It must be free from pests and diseases

·    There are no harmful chemicals and artificial additives, including antibiotics residues.  

·        Food must not be tainted with radiation

·        Natural food excludes the so-called junk food.       

·        It has been processed by natural means such as blast freezing, sun drying and the like.

·        Packaging materials are safe to human health, animals and the environment.

·  It meets standard organoloeptic test (taste test) and nutritional value requirements.  

There are many kinds of vegetables you can choose for backyard and homelot gardening.

Native vegetables - patani, alukong or himbaba-o, eggplant, and amoalaya make the best Ilocano pinakbet. 

There are many vegetables to choose from: leafy – malungay, talbos (kalabasa, kamote, sayote), kangkong,; Stem – asparagus, bamboo shoot; flower– katuray, squash flower, cauliflower, broccoli, himbaba-o (alokong); fruit – ampalaya, squash, cucumber, green corn, sayote, tomato, eggplant, green papaya, pepper; root – Gabi, kamote, ube, tugui, ginger, onion, garlic, carrot, radish; seed – patani, sitao, white bean, black bean, cowpea, green pea, chick pea, pigeon pea, peanut, linga (sesame), paminta (black pepper) 

Malunggay is the most popular tree vegetable in the tropic. In the province no home is without this small tree at the backyard or in a vacant lot. The leaves, flowers, juvenile pods and young fruits of Moringa oleifera (Family Moringaceae) go well with fish, meat, shrimp, mushroom, and the like. It is one plant that does not need agronomic attention, not even weeding and  fertilization, much less chemical spraying.  You simply plant an arms length cutting or two, in some corner or along the fence and there it grows into a tree that can give you a ready supply of vegetables yearound.  What nutrients do we get from malunggay?

Here is a comparison of the food value of the fresh leaves and young fruits, respectively, in percent. (Marañon and Hermano, Useful Plants of the Philippines)

·        Proteins                                 7.30             7.29

·        Carbohydrates                     11.04             2.61

·        Fats                                        1.10             0.16

·        Crude Fiber                           1.75             0.76

·        Phosphorus (P2 O 5)              0.24             0.19  

·        Calcium (CaO)                      0.72             0.01

·        Iron (Fe2O3)                        0.108            0.0005

Owing to these properties and other uses, rural folks regard malunggay a “miracle tree.” Take for other uses. The root has a taste somewhat like that of horse-radish, and in India it is eaten as a substitute to it. Ben oil extracted from the seed is used for salad and culinary purposes, and also as illuminant. Mature seeds have antibacterial and flocculants properties that render drinking water safe and clear. 

From these data, it is no wonder malunggay is highly recommended by doctors and nutritionists for both children and adults, particularly to nursing mothers and the convalescents.

Get the best from your favorite fruits

1.      Be keen with the appearance, smell, feel – and even sound – of the fruit before harvesting or buying it. There’s no substitute to taste test.though. Develop your skills on these fruits: mango, musk melon,  soursop or guyabano and its relative, sugar apple or atis.  Also try on  caimito, chico, siniguelas, and such rare fruit as sapote.

2.      To ripen fruits, rub table salt on the cut stem (peduncle). Salt does not only facilitate ripening, it also protects the fruit from fungi and bacteria that cause it to rot. You can use the rice box-dispenser to ripen chico, caimito, avocado, tomato, and the like. Wrap the fruits loosely with two or three layers of newspaper before placing them inside the box. As the fruits ripen they exude ethylene gas that hastens ripening. 

3.      Bigger fruits are always generally preferred. Not always.  Native chico is sweeter and more aromatic than the ponderosa chico.  Big lanzones have large seeds. Bicol or Formosa pineapple, although not juicier, is sweeter than the Hawaiian variety. Of course we always pick up the biggest mango, nangka, caimito, watermelon, cantaloupe, atis, guyabano, and the like. 

4.      There are vegetables that are eaten as fruit or prepared into juice. Examples are carrot, tomato, green corn, and sweet green pea. Asparagus juice, anyone? Try a variety of ways in serving your favorite fruits. nangka ice cream,  fruit cocktail in pineapple boat, avocado cake, guava wine. Enjoy the abundance of your favorite fruits, consult the fruit season calendar.

Engage in cottage industries, such as home made coconut virgin oil.

The price of this “miracle cure” has soared and there is now a proliferation of commercial brands of virgin coconut oil in the market.  The old folks show have been doing this for a long time. One such person is Mrs. Gloria Reyes of Candelaria (Quezon) who makes virgin coconut oil. This is the step-by-step process.

1.      Get twenty (20) husked, healthy, and mature nuts.  They should not show any sign of spoilage or germination. Shake each nut and listen to the distinct sound of its water splashing. If you can hear it, discard the particular nut.  

2.      Split each nut with a bolo, gathering the water in the process. Discard any nut at the slightest sign of defect, such as those with cracked shell and oily water, discolored meat, presence of a developing endosperm (para). Rely on a keen sense of smell. 

3.      With the use of an electric-driven grating machine, grate the only the white part of the meat.  Do not include the dark outer layer of the meat.  

4.      Squeeze the grated meat using muslin cloth or linen to separate the milk (gata) from the meal (sapal).  Gather the milk in wide-mouth bottles (liter or gallon size). 

5.      Cover the jars with dry linen and keep them undisturbed for 3 to 5 hours in a dry, dark and cool corner.

6.      Carefully remove the floating froth, then harvest the layer of oil and place it in a new glass jar. Discard the water at the bottom.  It may be used as feed ingredient for chicken and animals.

7.      Repeat the operation three to four times, until the oil obtained is crystal clear.  Now this is the final product – home made virgin coconut oil.   

Virgin coconut oil is a product of cold process of oil extraction, as compared with the traditional method of using heat.  In the latter coconut milk is brought to boiling, evaporating the water content in the process, and obtaining a crusty by-product called latik.  The products of both processes have many uses, from   ointment and lubrication to cooking and food additive. There is one difference though, virgin coconut oil is richer with vitamins and enzymes - which are otherwise minimized or lost in the traditional method.   

Get rid of waste by utilizing them.

Agricultural byproducts make good animal feeds, as follows: 

·        Rice straw, corn stovers and sugarcane tops, the most common crop residues in the tropics, contain high digestible nutrients, and provide 50% of the total ration of cattle and carabaos. 

·        Rice bran and corn bran are the most abundant general purpose feed that provides 80 percent of nutritional needs of poultry, hogs and livestock, especially when mixed with copra meal which is richer in protein than imported wheat bran (pollard). 

·        Cane molasses is high in calorie value. Alternative supplemental feeds are   kamote vines for hogs and  pineapple pulp and leaves for cattle. 

Here is a simple feed formula for cattle:  

• Copra meal 56.5 kg; 
• rice bran (kiskisan or second class cono bran) 25 kg; 
• molasses 15kg; 
• Urea (commercial fertilizer grade, 45%N) 2.0kg;
• Salt 1.0kg; and 
•  Bone meal 0.5kg.  

  Weight gain of a two-year old Batangas cattle breed fed with this formulation is 0.56 kg on the average,

These are byproducts which have potential feed value: These are byproducts or wastes in the processing of oil, starch, fish, meat, fruit and vegetables. The abundance of agricultural by-products offers ready and cheap feed substitutes with these advantages.  

• It cut down on feed costs,
• reduces the volume on imported feed materials,
• provides cheaper source of animal protein,
• provides employment and livelihood, and
• keeps the environment clean and in proper balance.

Protect nature through environment-friendly technology.

One example is the use of rice hull ash to protects mungbeans from bean weevil. Burnt rice hull (ipa) contains silica crystals that are microscopic glass shards capable of penetrating into the conjunctiva of the bean weevil, Callosobruchus maculatus.  Once lodged, the crystal causes more damage as the insect moves and struggles, resulting in infection and desiccation, and ultimately death. 

Ducks raised on rice paddy to control Golden Kuhol and other pest 

This is the finding of Ethel Niña Catahan in her masteral thesis in biology at the University of Santo Tomas. Catahan tested two types of rice hull ash,  One is partly carbonized (black ash) and the other oven-burned (white ash).  Both were applied independently in very small amount as either mixed with the beans or as protectant placed at the mouth of the container. In both preparations and methods, mungbeans – and other beans and cereals, for that matter – can be stored for as long as six months without being destroyed by this Coleopterous insect.  

The bean weevil is a cosmopolitan insect whose grub lives inside the bean, eating the whole content and leaving only the seed cover at the end of its life cycle.  When it is about to emerge the female lays eggs for the next generation. Whole stocks of beans may be rendered unfit not only for human consumption, but for animal feeds as well.  It is because the insect leaves a characteristic odor that comes from the insect’s droppings and due to fungal growth that accompanies infestation.  

             Rice is substitute, and a better one, to wheat flour.

Of all alternative flour products to substitute wheat flour, it is rice flour that is acclaimed to be the best for the following reasons:

·       Rice has many indigenous uses from suman to bihon (local noodle), aside from its being a staple food of Filipinos and most Asians.

·        In making leavened products, rice can be compared with wheat, with today’s leavening agents and techniques.

·        Rice is more digestible than wheat.  Gluten in wheat is hard to digest and can cause a degenerative disease which is common to Americans and Europeans.

·        Rice is affordable and available everywhere, principally on the farm and in households.

Other alternative flour substitutes are those from native crops which are made into various preparations -  corn starch (maja), ube (halaya), gabi (binagol), and tugui’ (ginatan), cassava (cassava cake and sago).    

     

Lastly, the local rice industry is the mainstay of our agriculture.  Patronizing it is the greatest incentive to production and it saves the country of precious dollar  that would otherwise be spent on imported wheat.

Let’s aim at unifying agriculture and ecology into agro-ecology.  This is what practical farming is all about.    

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