One of the fringe benefits of having many elder siblings is one’s likelihood of becoming an object of teasing at home. That seems to be the case, as always—the younger ones are vulnerable to the older ones’ teasing provocations.
As the youngest in the family with ten siblings in all, I have had those innumerable moments of being jokingly annoyed by my older siblings, mostly brothers—we only have one sister. When I was yet young as a child, moreover, I could not determine the truth from a joke. I always took things seriously, then.
While soundly together sleeping with Mano Segun, (a brother next to me) one sunny afternoon, we were roused from sleep by two of our older brothers, aged roughly 8 and 12 years old. I was just around 3 years old, then, and Mano Segun was more or less 5. There were just four of us in the house that time; I noticed upon waking up.
Amid the afternoon silence and our appetite to sleep further, they tearfully broke the news to us: Mama accordingly left for Manila together with a friend and is not coming back anymore. At hearing this, I felt as though my world had collapsed. Attached extremely to our mother as a Mama’s boy, I knew I would be helpless without her, and would never survive.
My mind suddenly shifted to these two older brothers as my last hope for survival. But then they continued: “The two of us are also leaving you behind. We will also leave for Manila.”
Mano Segun and I sat next to each other in complete silence, occasionally exchanging glances, our faces painted with utter sadness. The news was too much for us to bear, beyond our childish comprehension. The thought of Mama leaving us pained me intensely. How could she do it to me, to us? Why would she abandon us, without even informing us beforehand? How unfair! Didn’t she love us anymore? Me, in particular?
“It’s time for us to leave, we might miss our trips,” our elder siblings continued. “There’s a left-over food in the kettle, you just eat it should you feel hungry.”
Having said this, the two of them got out of the house and disappeared from our sight, leaving us speechless, confused, sad, scared, shocked, pained, discouraged, furious, deprived, depressed, etc.
After exchanging glances with each other, Mano Segun and I broke into tears, crying hysterically at the same time. The emotions that we could not hold back anymore exploded into the air and broke the afternoon silence in that remote, isolated house of ours standing at the foot of a forested hill.
Later, when our crying somehow subsided, I urged my brother who, like me, was still fresh from babyhood. “Kan-na, Manoy, pangaon kita hin bahaw.” This, I said, in hopes of surviving what I thought was a rough time ahead.
But from the branches of the tree standing nearby, we heard bursts of laughter. They came from our older brothers who were supposed to leave us. They just climbed up the tree. How they enjoyed watching us, their little siblings.
That made me stop crying further. I felt so embarrassed and ashamed, pretending to be quickly at play. But when Mama came home from the farm late in the afternoon, we reported them for their foolishness, and they got scolded for real, almost to the point of being beaten. How I enjoyed listening to the sermon.
ADB approves $3.8M to protect Phil Coral Reef
In a much welcomed move by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), specially to us Filipino marine biologists, is its recent approval of “$3.8 million worth of support for the development of insurance for the restoration, conservation and management of coral reefs in the Philippines and three other countries in ‘Southeast Asia and the Pacific.”
ADB was quoted saying that “the project involves the development of climate risk financing and insurance solutions to protect coral reefs in the Philippines, Indonesia, Fiji and Solomon Islands.”
The ADB’s initiative is likely part of the Asia Pacific Climate Finance Fund (ACLIFF), the latter is extending $2.5 million for the project, while the Global Environment Facility through the Challenge Program for the Adaptation Innovation is financing $1.3 million.
This is a boost to finance efforts to protect the coral reefs considered as first line of defense to seawater surge, tsunami and similar natural behavior instigated by climate change, too. The destructions on coral reefs are both natural- and man-made, e.g. dynamite fishing, muro ami fishing method, use of poison/toxic substances in drawing out fish from coral habitats, boat anchors dropped in docking areas, etc.
Having been a frequent diver, I have witnessed how the coral populations in Boracay Island and Puerto Galera (Batangas and Manila Channels) have been broken, destroyed with steel anchors. Unreported is the status of the coral stands in Sogod Bay Southern Leyte. Hope that the Southern Leyte State University handful of marine biology researchers sustain the study of the undocumented coral population in Sogod Bay and its adjoining marine waters.
The Late and fellow marine biologist and a good friend Dr. Edgardo Gomez (a coral expert), left a legacy by “re-growing/ rehabilitating the coral population” in the Hundred Islands, Pangasinan – an area that I had done diving collection and ecological study of the marine macroalgae/ seaweeds. Hope that the younger generation of coral students maintained and sustained Dr. Ed’s noble project.
MY COMMENT:
There are only few practicing Filipino coral researchers who should be in involved in projects to preserve, conserve and maintain the country’s coral reefs. Also, as member of the Coral Reef Triangle, the Philippines need to play a bigger role in the protection of the corals in Southeast Asian waters.
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