Apeco's agri technopark / Red Cross saves lives

Two weeks ago, the Agriculture/Environment section of this newspaper came out with an article about the biotechnology program of the Department of Agriculture that aims to develop and promote the natural ingredients industry.

The article said this industry has become a $400-billion global market that carries a huge potential for Filipino farmers and investors who may want to venture into this very promising business. A very positive development in this regard is the fact that there is greater awareness now among people all over the world about the advantages provided by natural ingredients obtained from plants and herbs, particularly in health and wellness products.

There has been an explosion of information about the advantages of using ingredients derived from plants, as against synthetic and chemical ingredients. Food manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies have been quick to capitalize on this.

Who has not heard, for instance, about the use of lagundi and sambong in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products? Or of sour broth prepared from tamarind that comes in handy, ready-to-use sachets? Or of the purported beneficial effects from virgin coconut oil that has now become an export product? Even the guyabano has now been touted to provide a host of medicinal benefits against certain ailments.

The article drew my interest because I have been using the anti-cough preparation from lagundi, as well as the ready-made sour broth from sampaloc for my sinigang dishes. I have also been producing guyabano (also called Soursop or Graviola) tea whose raw ingredients I grow in my garden in Cavite, that’s well received by friends and those who frequent the Farmers’ Village at the Elliptical Circle in Quezon City on weekends.

Related to this, it is not surprising to learn that the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority has made the development and promotion of natural ingredients a major undertaking. It has set aside a vast area in the ecozone for the Apeco Agri Technopark in its 12,900-hectare site in Casiguran, Aurora.

Apeco president and CEO Malcom Sarmiento Jr. said the Agri Technopark was established precisely for the development and promotion of biotechnology that is focused on the production of natural ingredients. He said they intend to work hand in hand with the Department of Agriculture for this purpose. He said he personally met with officials of the Agriculture department to explore ways by which the two agencies can collaborate in this endeavor.

“We can actually provide the missing link in the DA’s biotechnology program by offering vast areas for production and processing structures. In addition, we can also throw in some very attractive tax benefits and incentives which are spelled out in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) for the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Act of 2010,” Sarmiento stressed.

“The promotion of biotechnology and the production of natural ingredients is a major plank of Apeco. We see natural ingredients as essential elements for use in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, as essences in perfumery and as food additives,” Sarmiento pointed out.    

He said they are particularly excited about the livelihood and job opportunities that the natural ingredients industry will offer to farmers and residents of Aurora and adjacent provinces. “We are talking here about an industry with a global market roughly estimated to be worth $400 billion.”

The establishment of the Agri Technopark, Sarmiento said, is in line with the concept of a “Green Ecozone” that will feature “green” sustainable development communities and will employ architecture, energy and technology which are all described as “green.”

These advocacies, he said, are intended to complement the development of an environment-friendly human habitat and commercial-industrial areas in the whole of Aurora, particularly in the Casiguran site of Apeco. He said that as a natural resource area, the Agri Technopark, is also covered by the protection provided by the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Ecozone and Freeport Act.

The possibilities of biotechnology are indeed great. Hopefully, Apeco and the Department of Agriculture will soon come up with concrete agreements that will draw in the investors in this undertaking.

There is basis for a positive outlook in this regard in view of reports that the Philippines is now considered one of the 10 fastest-growing economies in the world and, according to the latest assessment of the prestigious Union Bank of Switzerland, “remains in a sweet spot with a lot of room for investments.”

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An average of 20 typhoons hit the country each year, usually between May and October.

But the cycle in recent years has changed. Either typhoons come back-to-back leaving a trail of destruction — Ondoy, Pepeng and Santi in 2009 and Pedring and Quiel in 2011 — or they are not unanticipated at all — Sendong struck one week before Christmas in 2011.

This year, residents of Manila were caught off guard when torrential rain poured down on the capital for 72 hours, swamping the low-lying areas, flooding major roads and shutting public facilities. The deluge created vast lakes in portions of the city, more than 400,000 people had to flee their homes and seek temporary shelter elsewhere.

Margarita Morales, a resident of Barangay Bagong Silangan in Quezon City, was one of them. Late in the evening on Aug. 6 she lay awake, unable to sleep due to the unusually heavy rain. Sometime around midnight she heard a loud knock on the door, and a voice telling her to leave her home quickly as the floodwater was rising fast.

Margarita recognized the voice. It was that of Ching Serencio, one of the 143 Red Cross volunteers living in their barangay. (‘Red Cross 143’ is an initiative of Philippine Red Cross chairman and CEO Richard Gordon that aims to reinforce Philippine Red Cross’ presence in all 42,000 barangays across the country. Under the project, the National Society aims to recruit and train 44 volunteers, comprising a team leader and 43 members from every barangay.)

Margarita, together with four children, rushed to an evacuation center higher in their village. A few minutes later, her house was washed away as the riverbank burst.

She and her children stayed at the evacuation center for five days and returned to salvage what was left in their house. There was nothing. “I can’t imagine what could have happened to myself and my children had we we failed to flee our home ahead of time,” Margarita says.

Barangay Bagong Silangan in Quezon City is flood-prone as it lies beside a river which overflows when there’s heavy rain. The growing number of Red Cross volunteers in the village — there are currently 30 — are always on the alert when there’s a storm coming or any type of bad weather.

“As Red Cross volunteers in this barangay, we make sure that the residents here do pre-emptive evacuation to save more lives in times of disaster,” Ching Serencio says. At the height of the heavy rains, she went house-to-house blowing her whistle — which volunteers use to signal evacuation — informing people in the barangay which evacuation site to go to.

“I may not have been able to save anything from my house except the clothes we were wearing when the floods came, but I will forever be thankful to Mr. Gordon, Ching and the Red Cross, for the early warning to flee our home,” Margarita says.

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