A t-shirt of The Freeman which i proudly wear carries the line “Age Does Matter”. After all, this paper is over 100 years old. The beautiful Joan Collins, one of the more colorful stars of the television series Dynasty as Alexis Colby, has a different view of age. Collins, now Dame Joan of the Order of British Empire, says “age is just a number. It's totally irrelevant unless, of course, you happen to be a bottle of wine.”
Let me attempt to reconcile the thoughts on “age” of The Freeman - it matters and Dame Joan, - it’s irrelevant, because both perceptions, non-tangential to each other, have their weight in gold. A focused discussion which took place more than three decades ago is my reference point. The event should be considered an incident wrapped by age. Then Senator John H. Osmeña, (now with the Lord), as the host and organizer of the assembly, collated the attention of all of us, participants, on the topic “Impending Water Crisis”.
Osmeña warned that the rapidly increasing population of Metropolitan Cebu, on one hand, and the diminishing supply of water, on the other hand, was a disaster soon to happen. He wanted all those of us attending “to do something”.
“Something” meant that all government officials should adopt measures to prevent the disaster. Water conservation, instead of political maneuvering, should be their constant topic. No idea is ever foolish if it is aimed at ensuring that one’s water faucet keeps flowing. The senator stressed that funds should be allocated firstly to improve the dam in Jaclupan, Talisay City and secondly to make sure that the forested area along the Mananga River be fully protected, the idea being that the green cover helps water conservation.
Osmeña made it clear that he assembled the forum not just to mobilize government agencies but to instill in the minds of attending individuals in their personal capacities that they, too, need to share their efforts to address the impending disaster. The senator struck my conscience hard that I worked on his water crisis warning in the earliest opportunity I had to buy a piece of land in the mountain. Even if it is very small in area, I imagined that planting trees thereon, no matter how few, could contribute somehow to the conservation of water. To approximate my objective, I spent great time, available and unprogrammed money and huge human effort to nurture my plants. In order that the young plants would survive in the few years from planting, I dug 2 open wells from which I drew water. Today there are more than 300 Tugas standing while some of my 300+ Mabolo trees are bearing fruits. I have also harvested Caimito, Chico, Guyabano and Macopa fruits.
Sen. Sonny Osmeña’s dire warning began to manifest few months ago. Because we did not heed his call in the past decades, we are inconvenienced by lack of water presently. In October last year, the yield of my corn harvest was lower than expected. I could not water the plants as i desired because then the water levels of my open wells were much lower.
Today, just months after, the earth is parched. And there is no more water in my open wells. The remaining grass is dead brown and many of the leaves of my otherwise robust trees have become brownish in color.
Frankly, only few trees grow in the parcels of land surrounding my farm. It seemed that no vegetation has helped conserve water. With an absent protective forest cover, the large natural stream of the river that borders my property is gone. Without doubt, the old age of Osmeña’s warning mattered and had we harkened to his alert, Dame Joan’s bottle of wine would really be irrelevant.