Church leads protest caravan vs. aerial spray

KORONADAL CITY -- Anti-aerial advocates in South Cotabato on Tuesday held a prayer caravan and protest action to show opposition to aerial spraying of chemicals to banana plantations in the province.The caravan and prayer rally coincided with the declaration by Pope Francis of September 1 asWorld Day of Prayer for Creation.Spearheaded by the Diocese of Marbel, the protest march was attended by environment and peace advocates from South Cotabato's municipalities opposed to aerial spraying activities of multi-national firms.Organizers stressed that aerial spray is harmful not only to the environment but the humans as well.The caravan started in Gen. Santos City and ended in the upland town of T'boli, South Cotabato.Father Guillerme Joy Pelinyo, director of Marbel diocesan social action center, said the number of participants who joined the protest action simply show many are against aerial spray.He reminded the people of South Cotabato that as God's creation, everyone should do something to protect the environment.Ester Dilam, about 60 years old and one of the thousands ofparticipants, speaking before the crowd gathered in front ofSan Lorenzo Parish Church compound, said he was puzzled why the local officials of T'boli have been very quiet on the issue of aerial spraying. Nakakabinging katahimikan (deafening silence) of local officials is quite amusing, she said in Filipino.Dilam then urged the local officials, including the town council, headed by Vice Mayor Grace Silva to act now to prevent aerial spray before anyone could be killed due to the chemicals used in applying insecticide to banana plantations.She revealed that animals and hogs owned by people leaving near the banana plantationhave mysteriously died.Dilam suspected it was due to insecticide sprayed by a light plane across the plantation.