Communities in banana farms gear up versus aerial spray ban

They are an assortment of farmhands, basic health providers, agrarian reform beneficiaries, small growers, laborers, truck drivers, dockhands, cultural minorities, religious groups, members of cooperatives and just plain housewives regionwide who have things in common: their livelihood is dependent on the continuing viability of Mindanao’s export banana industry and as die-hard fans of Manny Pacquiao.
“It is high time that we should also take up the burdens of the banana companies as they stand their ground against the onslaught of lies and half-truths against the lifeblood of the industry, the aerial spraying with antifungals,” declared Datu Leonardo of  Sitio Camocaan’s Mamamayan Ayaw sa Kasinungalingan.
Leonardo said that “it is high time for the people to put their foot down and appeal to the decision-makers in Manila that the right thing to do for them to be able to make the right decision on the issue is to come to Davao and see for themselves the truth about aerial spraying.”
Meanwhile, chairperson Renante Bangoy of the 911 Save the Banana Industry Movement, called on member-organizations to refrain from making any incendiary statement as  “any act or statement of militancy will be used by their detractors to raise more funds from abroad.” 
Bangoy said they expect such detractors to malign them as paid hacks of the banana industry, but the fact remains that “there is not a single community around banana farmlands in Mindanao that is supporting their anti-spray ban other than the nine employees they deployed to solicit signatures, like the Capenda sisters of Buhangin.”
“No one can deceive half a million discriminating, opinionated and highly-literate people” said Bangoy as he lauded efforts of the Kabataang Hagonoy, Subasta GKK and Youth ASK Movement of Panabo City in clarifying to the grassroots the issues on the aerial spraying of low-dose fungicide as an agricultural practice in the Philippines.
Bangoy also told local media that “they are optimistic that the World Health Organization will find that the practice poses no risk to people’s health and the environment and announce to the world that there is no need to ban it. [Jean Birondo/DevComm Panabo]