AN INVASION OF ARMY WORMS

I prefer not to point fingers and throw blame in the midst of a national problem, but there is something that I want to clarify first of all, before we proceed with the discussion of this topic. I want to be clear about the fact that army worms (harabas) are in truth and in fact invasive species, and we failed to detect them when they first arrived, and worst than that, we also failed to stop them when they started spreading. As a matter of fact, we did not hear any announcements from the government about their arrival, and we only knew about their presence in their country when they started devastating the crops of our farmers. We also did not hear from the government about how the possible ways that these pests could have been stopped, since science is now telling us that these are controllable. I do not want to play the game of “I told you so”, and that is why at this early stage, I want to send the message to the government to become more serious and become stricter in finding and eradicating all kinds of invasive species, and that means both flora and fauna, both plants and animals, including invasive marine life of course. Which agency should be responsible in finding and eradicating these invasive species? I say that the LGUs should always take the lead at the local level, supported by the DILG, and backed up by DA, the DENR and the DOST. We should declare an all-out war against these alien invaders. IKE SENERES/02-09-2024