Kabayan, Benguet. In the wake of the recent chopper accident in Jr. Pulag that claimed a toll of 8, the people of Kabayan, Benguet deemed it proper to perform an age old tradition that would curb future accidents in the area and give peace to the souls that got carried with it. Though the wreckage site was properly identified to be Mt. Mangingihi in Eheb, Tinoc, Ifugao, the area is still part of the long strip of Junior Pulag shared by the people of both provinces.

Celebration in the city started as early as 8am of April 22, 2009, with a parade that saw real people support  the Earth Day cause. It was an event set purposely for the awareness and protest on the hurried pace of environmental degradation and destruction. All over the world are headlines shouting about global warming, forest denudation, water scarcity, garbage pile-up and such others that always go back to one thing…the inability of people to care about this space and time we live in.
 

child of the universe

For a long time the tunnels of the minesites have always been closed to the public. For reasons of security, the need to be covert is a necessity. For "gold is always heavy..." and the lures are plenty. The smell of the ore is enough to drive people crazy, out of necessity, or for greed, and it does not choose the victim. Everybody knows well of the temptations of gold, for even in the beginning when it was first discovered it has driven a lot of people to the brink of hostility and violence. The good fortune that a few lucky people attained and put into good use are swell stories. On the other hand at the opposite are dark tales of betrayals and eventual downfalls, mostly because of greed. The big and huge companies are not spared this luck and curse, they too have their shares of these. But like everything in this earth, something comes to exhaustion....even gold.

Dark Oreproducing Tunnels

To work the worms for industry seem like a game for kids. But after seeing the "worm dormitory" in Lomon, Kapangan I knew better.

a tray of cocoons