MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/26 May) – Reeling from the refusal of China to accept bananas coming from the Philippines – apparently a backlash resulting from the row over Panatag Shoal in the West Philippine Sea – a business leader in Mindanao has suggested what sounded like a desperate move. MindaNews reported that in a gathering in Davao City on Friday, Mindanao Business Council chair Vicente Lao said that one possible solution is to “try to educate our domestic market to buy Cavendish banana instead of lakatan and latundan.”
The desperation is understandable. Banana production has become a major export earner. Besides, Mindanao in particular has seen the expansion of banana plantations in many provinces. In Bukidnon, the areas devoted to banana may have equaled, if not surpassed, those planted to pineapple and sugar cane. The crop has also invaded large parts of the Davao Region.
Had the Aquino government quarreled with a smaller country with which we have no significant trade ties, it wouldn’t have made mattered perhaps. But China is China, the world’s biggest market. Common sense and national interest dictate that we should have dealt with the Panatag question in a more tactful and sober manner. The Philippines should defend its sovereignty over the disputed territory, but astute diplomacy should have prevailed over rash talk that only has worsened things between the two countries.
President and his top officials engaged the Chinese in a heated tit-for-tat in media thinking the United States would back the country’s territorial assertion.
They invoked the Mutual Defense Treaty in courting US support, including direct military involvement in the event of a shooting war. The Philippines’ bravado coincided with the holding of another round of joint military exercises with the US. It did not help that the exercises kicked off in Palawan, the province nearest to Panatag.
But will Mindanao really suffer much with the loss of China as a market for bananas?
We can view the issue from a different framework other than worrying over the decline in export earnings.
It requires looking into the downside of the growth of the banana industry, its impact on the environment and food security, among others. For instance, while the industry may have created jobs it has also meant decreasing the areas for staple crops like rice and corn. Moreover, it has displaced thousands of farmers and made them seasonal, underpaid workers with their survival linked to the uncertainties of the market.
The fallout from the territorial conflict with China on the banana industry highlights the need to pause and rethink the sanity of converting more and more of Mindanao’s prime agricultural lands into export-oriented plantations. It is high time to ask ourselves if what we really need are charts showing high export earnings that mainly benefit a few entrepreneurs or the assurance that we still have control over the future of our food sources.
Mr. Lao is telling us to buy Cavendish bananas. Sorry, but I prefer latundan and lakatan. They are more delicious and safe from chemicals. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno writes mainly on the environment, human rights and politics. He can be reached at hmcmordeno@gmail.com)
