UNDER ATTACK
Alarm raised as coconut infestation hits Iloilo
A major battle is in the offing in the Province of Iloilo with First District Board Member Macario Napulan calling the situation "impending invasion."
In a privilege speech, Napulan bared a widening infestation problem he dubbed as within "catastrophic proportion" already,
In fact, Napulan said it has already affected more than 100,000 coconut trees in 24 out of 79 provinces in the country.
"The sad part of this story is that, it has already attacked Iloilo Province. First seen to be exact last September 4, 2007 in the town of Cabatuan along the road going to the airport and has infested around 564 coconut trees to date," Napulan in his privilege speech said. "Probably brought to our province by the ornamental Royal palms planted along Iloilo Airport highway."
The enemy, Napulan continued, is an alien insect called coconut leaf beetle scientifically known Brontispa Longissima Gestro.
"They feed on young coconut leaves, kill the young spears and prevent the palm from bearing fruits and eventually kills the entire tree," he continued while adding how "there is so much at stake."
"One in four hectares of the total land farmland is under threat and this means 324 million coconut trees could be destroyed. No less than 25 million persons directly or indirectly dependent on the industry also face a bleak future unless Brontispa infestation is controlled and eradicated."
The invasion as Napulan noted, is even worse than the threat posed by Muslim terrorists.
"In its heyday, the Abu Sayyaf never threatened these many people. It is high time to declare war against this deleterious beetle. It is an enemy that is much fearsome, virulent and merciless than the Abu Sayyaf," the First District Board Member ended. "The Brontispa Beetle is the new face of terror. The havoc that human terrorist can do is diminutive compared to what these pests can do."
According to Napulan the pest was "presumably" introduced to the country in early 2004 following the importation of ornamental plants.
Initial reports of infestation was along the famous Bay Walk strip of Roxas Boulevard in Manila. More were then spotted in young palms growing in Candelaria, Quezon, Bay, Laguna and San Vicente Lipa City and the entire stretch of Silang to Dasmariñas highway in Cavite.
In fact, Napulan's report continued, Boracay Island has been invade and began to destroy planted palms in beachfront resort as well as coconuts growing in the island.
"Aklan is the 24th province in the country to be infested by Brontispa. Palms and coconuts in Boracay Island are in their different stages of infestation. Station 2's palms, coconuts are 90% damaged, Station 1 is 20% and Station 3 50%. Some 3,000-coconut trees along the beach in Boracay Island are estimated to be infested by Brontispa," grim scenario as bared by Napulan added.