(Editor’s note: The new tourism ad won’t apply to many lawless towns in Mindanao. Authorities offer incredible alibis about our forest as noted by the author.)

MANILA,Philippines — On world TV – CNN and BBC – we see tourism commercials about Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore. Malaysia’s ad, “Truly Asia,” is about the shortest line that attracts tourists by the millions yearly and earns US $18.3 B. The ads don’t deliver sad reminders to tourists like abduction for ransom, cheating cab drivers, street muggers, and dips.

‘Fun’ but ...

Our country offers 1,001 attractions to budget tourists and backpackers, but there are parts of our national territory that don’t speak well for “more fun in the Philippines.” Here’s why: 1) Last month Australian Warren Richard Rodwell was kidnapped in Ipil town, Zamboanga Sibugay. Last week, Rodwell, looking pale and haggard, stammered on video asking for US $2 M as price for his release. He appeared like reading slowly from a script.

Abductions at will

2) In July, a US citizen, Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann, her 14-year-old son, and a Filipino relative were abducted in Zamboanga City. They were released on different months, but it was unclear if ransom was paid, in addition to claims that her son managed to escape.

3) In September, Luisa Morrison, a Pinay married to a British national, was abducted in, yes, in Ipil town again.

4) In March, Randelle Talania, 9 was abducted in the town of Titay.

Lawlessness

An American consultant in Manila said: “The area where these incidents took place has become lawless.” The PNP refers to the abductors as bandits linked to Islamic extremists of various terrorist groups.

Red on the map

According to a risk consultancy firm in Manila, the abduction of foreign nationals attract the most attention from foreign visitors. In most cases, the negotiations for the release of victims “are quietly done and not reported to the authorities.” There’s a need to: 1) identify places in Mindanao where danger to foreigners is a continuing high risk, 2) pursue without letup known Islamic extremists engaged in this trade, and 3) tell any or all foreigners to avoid places indicated by a red color on Mindanao’s map.

12 sawmills in North Cotabato

The 12 sawmills padlocked in North Cotabato the other day were the same facilities closed by the authorities last year. In four or five previous articles, I hinted that open season for illegal logging “has no definite end.”

Cutting and stripping logs into small sizes require noisy cutting machines that create sound/noise equivalent to a jet blast at takeoff.

Faster than sound

At night this sound travels fast, far, and wide. To be more specific, the speed of sound is generally defined as, 1,088 feet (332 m) per second or one-third km at sea level. People in any town five km away can hear the high-pitched sound of a cutting blade’s teeth in less than 15 seconds. With wind assist in the town’s direction it’s considerably faster.

Faster than Mach 2.5

We often hear or read Mach 1 or 2 as the speed of a jet plane per hour. Mach 1 means 746 mi. (1,194 km) or speed of sound in one hour (named after Ernst Mach, 1838-1916, a Czech-born Austrian physicist). Some fighter jet planes travel faster than Mach 2.5 or 1,866 mph (2,985 kph).

Hearing problem

If the sawing machines in seven sawmills could not be heard in a town of 25,000 to 35,000, it stands to reason that the forest rangers/barangay officials themselves would adopt the same alibi or hearing problem, and that all of them, including children, badly need 35,000 plus hearing aids, courtesy of the “friendly” loggers.

The only cause?

By analogy, it can be said that most of us, about 98 M now, are hard of hearing. If this sickness has been universal in the country since the 1950s, it can be said that this is the very cause of the rain forest decimation, not the CORRUPT bureaucracy and dumb population. (Comments are welcome at roming@pefianco.com).