I WAS truly saddened when I read the news of a reef complex twice the size of Manila decimated by poachers off the coast of Cotabato.
It sent shivers down my spine how misguided and greedy miscreants can actually destroy in a short time what Mother Nature had carefully nurtured for dozens sometimes even hundreds of years.
I am not an environmentalist fanatic but I try what I can to help the environment. Most people would think that the last thing on a soldier’s mind is the environment but I beg to disagree.
Because if it weren’t for Mother Nature’s generosity, a lot of us would not survive.
During my younger years as a soldier, we would often find ourselves in the middle of “nowhere,” meaning areas where lush flora and fauna were in abundance more than people or man-made structures.
To survive meant relying entirely on what Mother Nature could provide us: water from the river, food from plants and other bodies of water, meat from animals roaming the forest and sometimes even medicine from the herbs growing wildly. It was a hard life but it was a little bit easier not to be too frustrated about our lack of equipment or budget for necessities because all we could do to compensate was look to Mother Nature’s array of supplies.
We respected her (Mother Nature) because we also knew that as much as she cared for us, her wrath could also wipe us out as swiftly and as cruelly as the bullets of a well-armed NPA squadron.
She is also an excellent trainer because special units like the Scout Rangers were often trained to survive under the harshest weather conditions. In fact, units like the Special Warfare Group of the Philippine Navy are actually more confident if they operate in bad weather.
I like to think that Filipino soldiers are among the best in the world when it comes to survival in the wild because our knowledge stems not only from survival instructors but from hundreds of years of wisdom handed down by our forefathers who were able to tap into the secrets of Mother Nature.
Even in the cities, the wonders of healing herbs have began to seep into the consciousness of even the slickest city slicker and sometimes even in our slums, the albularyo takes the place of the health center doctor.
I can go on and on about how Mother Nature has been good to the soldier and that is why I am truly disheartened at this obvious disrespect and utter disregard for nature’s bounty. She has always been generous but Man in his unmitigated greed always wants more.
I truly hope that these scalawags are caught and punished with the full force of the law. But after I read what miniscule punishment they could have for this wanton destruction, I am now on my hands and knees praying that life imprisonment and/or the death penalty be an amendment to the law.
http://www.malaya.com.ph/may26/news8.html
