A Basket Full of Mushrooms + Ampalaya Leaves

A BASKET FULL OF NATIVE MUSHROOMS with Ampalaya leaves at the center. Clockwise from Top Right: Singapore Mango, Althea Layne Salvanera with Pomegranate, papaya, cacao and lemon - all grown and harvested in Calayan.

THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH through the Calayan Infirmary, Rural Health Unit and other LGU offices had, over the years, conducted information dissemination, nutrition related training programs and cookfests with the objective of attaining a healthier family through proper diet. In his speech this morning at the culminating activities of the Nutrition Month celebration, Dr. Pantaleon Pacis, our BTTB in Calayan, stressed the importance of having more fruits and vegetables on the table in order to win the battle against malnutrition. The parade of fruits and vegetables around Poblacion this morning by elementary pupils is a way of bringing into the psyche of every parent the awareness that the doctor wanted to impart.

Our Municipal Health Officer, Dr. Mark Colleen Calban, believes that no one can go hungry or mal-nourished if every household has its own backyard garden with veggies and other fruit bearing trees – which is not a far-fetched idea because no one is too poor to be deprived of a lot where he can plant green leafy vegetables or legumes. In an earlier interview with him at Spirit FM Calayan, Dr. Calban observed that from the less fortunate come the malnourished. While food rationing is one way of alleviating the abject condition of the poor, it is not a practical solution to the problem. Truly, every individual, rich or poor, should be guided by the saying “Give me a fish and I will eat for a day; teach me to fish and I will eat for a lifetime.”

Another plausible cause of malnutrition in Calayan could be traced to the real-life drama where parents sell their catch from the sea, mushrooms from the wild, the produce of their garden and the poultry to the town proper in exchange for bread, hotdogs, canned goods and noodles. Soda and chicheria are given to the children as pasalubong. Liquor is a regular part of the main dish and cigarettes for dessert from sunrise to sunset.

It's no wonder that an Ilonggo who once visited Calayan while we were at Banua beach said, "You are millionaires but you don't know what to do with your wealth." referring to lack of foresight or maybe technical know-how of the islanders in tapping the riches of the sea.

Some people today have not quite adjusted from the Galleon trade practices where early Filipinos exchange their Golden Salakot for a small box of unwashed ukay-ukay