The rural place where I spent my childhood with my mother and siblings abounds with nature such as caves, mountains, rivers, streams, rock formations, forest, woods, and plains. All this had formed part of my maternal uncle’s farmlands. It’s in this place that tales of a gigantic snake had grabbed my attention.
I first heard about this as a little child, and this was from another uncle, my mother’s younger brother who was fond of hunting deer, wild pigs, and wild chickens. He narrated his experience when he went into hunting by himself, with a home-made gun for weapon.
He could hear, from a distance, the crowing of a wild rooster, so he started heading to that direction, carefully and slowly. As he got nearer, the sound of the “chicken” got louder and louder. When he got to the vicinity, he positioned himself securely, making sure he didn’t create a slight noise that could scare the rooster away. He keenly observed the environment and listened intently to whatever sound, clasping his gun with much readiness.
Crawling on the ground, behind the cover of the thicket, he heard a slight noise behind him. He turned his head quickly, and there he saw a green snake standing above him. It was accordingly so big it could even devour him with ease. Lying on his back this time, he fired his gun to this snake and that was how he saved his life. The snake fled away, and so did he; he did not venture into hunting again by himself.
Years had passed, and in my late childhood, I heard another story that resembled that of my uncle. This time, it was from our eldest brother’s latest experience. He went to work in his farm one day, busily removing the weeds from its midst. Up in the nearby woods close to the forest, his dog started barking as though it had seen danger. Curious what his dog was alarmingly barking, he straightened his body and looked uphill.
Just then, his dog ran hurriedly downhill, right to his direction. To his surprise, his dog was being chased by a very huge snake. Upon seeing that they were coming his way, his vision had blurred and he lost the strength to flee for his life. He fell like a log to the ground and lay on his back. He didn’t faint totally, though, and still had his senses intact. But he could do nothing while the length of the snake’s body was gliding on him in pursuit of his dog. It was the biggest snake he had ever seen, he told us.
A couple of weeks ago, my youngest daughter and I visited our remaining relatives there. And one of my brothers who lives there told us that an acquaintance of his just encountered a huge snake that stood high enough from the ground. Terrified, he frantically ran away, but upon seeing that the snake also fled and entered a hollow log, he piled up dried materials above it and set it afire, killing the snake in it. But this man had it that this snake, which he described as having a long beard, was as big as a gallon container, exactly like the description of others.
Could this kind of snake be the guardian of nature in that place? That I cannot tell.
DOE signs 3 wind service contracts for alternergy
Offshore wind energy, as source of renewable energy (RE), is gaining popularity among business groups who are into RE. This is attested by the recent signing of 3 additional offshore energy contracts in favor of soon to be listed firm Alternergy Holdings Corporation (AHC) by the Department of Energy (DOE).
In a statement released by the AHC it said “. . . its wind arm Pililla AVPC CORP. (PACO) has been granted exclusive rights to explore, develop, and utilize wind resource in the wind-swept Tablas Strait separating Mindoro and Antique. And, that the 3 newly awarded wind energy service contracts awarded . . . covers about 120,000 hectares.”
Accordingly, “the time span for an offshore wind project to develop and see the first wind turbine erected could take from 6 to 9 years.” Further, Altern-ergy was quoted saying that “. . . part of the proceeds from upcoming initial pub-lic offering (IPO) would be used to fund the pre-development activities of its pipe-line of projects, including the offshore wind power projects.” The corporation will be offering primary shares of up to 1.150 billion and will issue an over-allotment option of up to 115 million shares – both offers will run from March 13 till 17th, to beat the listing date on March 24, 2023.
MY COMMENT:
Each time that I read firms venturing in renewable energy, especially on tapping offshore wind energy, gives me a sigh of relief taking it as the country’s inching toward reducing its energy consumption. The Alternergy Holdings Corpo-ration should be commended for tapping the offshore wind energy resource of the country. This way, the Philippines is able to follow the climate change proto-cols of cutting down carbon emission.
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