Bulang and cockfarms

12 March 2012.

The pics below were taken in Igbaras, Iloilo yesterday (11 Mar 2012) at the two cock farms of Jun Evidente. We swung to the cockpit in Guimbal, Iloilo, an unexpected turn after our hosts -- Jun, wife Carol and son Alexis -- informed us that they had two entries in the one-cock derby. Both entries won though they did not qualify for the "fastest kill."

We placed our bets and won. The amount of our winning is a secret though.

As we toured the cock farms, one lesson popped into my head: cockfighting may constitute cruelty to animals which is already banned in several countries. But cockfarms are among the earth friendliest farming systems in the world. A farmer, like Jun Evidente, retired engineer at Boeing, has to avoid pesticides so to protect the chickens. Further, as done in other cockfarms, the land becomes green with vegetation notably fruit trees.

A farmer has to preserve grasses because these are eaten by the birds. In the case of June Evidente's farm in Signe, Igbaras, Iloilo, it has become an orchard of mangoes interspersed with coconuts. Cock shelters known as "teepees" line the spaces between mango hills.


Evidente's farm on the slope of Brgy. 5 is newly established and has no orchard yet. But it is expected to turn green in five years.