Baguio Midland Courier Bound Volumes at the Benguet Provincial Library

I dropped by the Benguet Provincial Library this morning. It's my first time to be there. A stack of giant volumes in one corner caught my eye. These turn out to be bound editions of the now defunct Baguio Midland Courier. 

I pulled out the volume marked 1973 and browsed through the pages. Reading the newspaper headlines from half a century ago is like cruising through history with a time machine. But if you read through the news stories, you'll realize that the world hasn't changed that much. The problems were the same. The issues were the same. Just in a different time with different characters. 

The Baguio Midland Courier published their first edition in 1947, just a couple of years after the end of the Second World War. Their last edition was published in 2024. The paper was around for 77 years.

Is the DENR really serious in protecting our mountains and forests from giant mining companies?

Hindi naman tayo kulang sa mga batas na pumoprotekta sa ating kalikasan laban sa mapaminsala at malawakang pagmimina. Lalong hindi tayo kulang sa mga departments at agencies. Meron tayong DENR. Meron din tayong NCIP for protecting ancestral lands. 

Under DENR, there are several line bureaus which include the following:

1. Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB)

2. Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB)

3. Environmental Management Bureau (EMB)

4. Forest Management Bureau (FMB)

In short, we have laws and departments, and bureaus, and commissions that should be more than enough to regulate destructive mining. Yet, here we are. Giant mining firms continue to flatten mountains and threaten biodiversity hotspots in the country. 

Ordinary folks have no choice but to set up barricades and try to stop the firms themselves. Because the system that was supposed to protect them has failed them.

Benguet lilies (𝙇𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙪𝙢 𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚) Growing on the Slopes of Mt. Kotkot in Itogon, Benguet

I saw these Benguet lilies (𝙇𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙪𝙢 𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚) during a trailrun in Itogon, Benguet yesterday. There's a good number of these plants with their distinctive white flowers growing on the steep ravines going up to Mt. Kotkot in Ampucao. You only see these in bloom for a few months during the rainy season. 

The air around them is punctured by a sweet but subtle floral fragrance. Some say their fragrance is stronger in the night-time.

This flower is called "us-usdong" by some Kankana-ey communities. It's an appropriate name because this flower is usually found in ravines or steep mountain slopes. "Usdong" is a Kankana-ey word that means to look down or to stare below. Due to it growing on a steep slope, the Benguet lily looks like it's always looking down or staring below.

Three Tourist First Aid Booths Turned Over to Baguio City

This is a tourist first aid booth worth 4.7 million pesos that was installed at Burnham Park in Baguio City. It's a project by TIEZA in collaboration with DOT, DOH, and Baguio City. The ceremonial turnover of the booth was held last July 9. In attendance was Mayor Benjamin Magalong and TIEZA General Manager Mark Lapid. 

The solar-powered booth is equipped with emergency response tools including a first aid kit, a pullout stretcher, and an automated external defibrillator (AED). It's also equipped with CCTVs for security purposes. Two more booths will be installed at Bayan Park and at the Botanical Garden. 

However, the booth has attracted its fair share of criticisms from netizens. Why is it marked as a "tourist first aid booth" with the tagline "love our tourist" painted on the sides? Does it mean it's only for tourists? Does it mean tourists are prioritized? These are valid questions. The booth is presented in such a way that people might think that it's exclusively for tourists. 

In the write-up by the Baguio City Public Information Office about the turnover of the booth, it was mentioned that the booth is for "tourists and residents". 

If everyone can use the booth, why not just call it a "public first aid booth" to let people know that anyone can use the booth whether he/she is a tourist or not. Let's not disregard the tendency of some people to not use a service because it's linked to a demographic they don't belong in.

The Formosa Lily (Lilium formosanum) Which is Often Mistaken as a Benguet Liliy (Lilium philippinense)

When I wrote about the Benguet lily (𝙇𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙪𝙢 𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚) yesterday and mentioned that it's a "threatened" species, a reader sent a message saying that she saw some Benguet lilies very recently in Mount Yangbew.

I went there this afternoon to check. Yes, indeed, I saw two lilies in full bloom there. Unfortunately, they are not Benguet lilies. They are Taiwanese lilies or Formosa lilies (𝙇𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙪𝙢 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙪𝙢). You can tell by the significant streaks of the color purple on the outside of the flower. 

According to a study on the Benguet lily published in 2023, the Benguet lily has pure white flowers. Check out my previous post about the Benguet lily to compare photos. The researchers also mentioned that Benguet lilies "are found only in stony and gravelly soils and never in red oxide soils". Mount Yangbew has red oxide soils. 

The Benguet lily and Formosa lily look very similar to each other. So mistaking the more abundant Formosa lily as a Benguet lily is a very common mistake. 

The study I referenced above was by Jennifer Paltiyan Bugtong, Rey Lumpio, and Jones Napaldet. The title of their paper is "Morpho-Anatomy and Mathematical Modelling in Lilium philippinense Baker from Cordillera Central Range, Philippines".

A Cauliflory Tree Common in the Cordillera Region

Learned a new word today: 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗹𝗼𝗿𝘆. This is a botanical term that refers to plants and trees that flower and fruit from their main stems or woody trunks. 

Even more interesting is that this phenomenon is a product of evolutionary adaptation. Basically, trees that exhibit this botanical phenomenon developed it to make it easier for birds, bats, and animals to reach their flowers for pollination and their fruits for seed dispersal.

So yes, developing flowers and fruits on their stems and trunks is the key to their survival as distinct species.

A great example of a cauliflory tree is this wild fig tree that's quite common in Cordillera's mountains. We spotted this one in Atok, Benguet. Cordilleran words for it: tebbel, tebfel, labay, ballay.

Philippine Arbor Day: We Need to Plant More Native Trees

Today, June 25, is Philippine Arbor Day. It's a day meant to highlight and celebrate the importance of trees. It's a day for raising awareness about the environment as well as encouraging individuals and communities to plant trees. 

This is why hundreds of tree-planting activities were conducted today all over the country by local government units and private organizations. According to the DENR, around 4,000,000 trees in total were planted in today's activities. 

Let's hope that these tree-planting activities focused on planting native trees, not invasive or introduced species of trees. During interactions with foresters, I've learned that many tree-planting activities in the country are counter-productive because these involve planting trees that upset a local region's biodiversity instead of enriching it. 

This point was driven home when I attended a talk by Ethan Hernandez (forester, content creator) last month in Baguio City. Hernandez pointed out the problem with these tree-planting activities that involve introduced species while highlighting the importance of planting native species of trees. 

The point is we should plant more native trees. Like this wild fig tree laden with fruits that we saw during a hike in between Pasdong and Naguey in Atok, Benguet. The Ibaloys call this tree "tebbel" or "tebfel". The Kankana-eys call it "labay" or "ballay". 

Here's a fun fact: the town of Itogon declared this tree as their "municipal tree".