(Last of two Parts)
PALAYAN CITY – A turnaround has happened to Sitio Bacao. In 2015, the Bacao Ecological System and Technologies Inc. (BESTI) was formed through the initiative of Fr. Chito Beltran who replaced Fr. De Guzman as the point man of the diocesan project.
“It was registered as a nonstock, non-profi t organization to make the operation in the place without legal impediments,” said retired Judge Virgilio Caballero, elected BESTI chairman.
The group entered into an agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for a reforestation project in the place.
The DENR called upon its Ecosystem Research and Development Bureau (ERDB) to give full support for the greening of the mountainous terrain.
In a way, the DENR is casting its lot in extending full assistance to the place under its social forestry program following sad experiences encountered in many of its programs for ecological development.
It may be recalled that the government, through the DENR or its predecessor-agencies, launched, among others, the Communal Tree Farming Project, Contract Reforestation, Community Forestry Program, Integrated Social Forest Program, and Community-Based Resource Management Program.
All of which were meant to “enhance ecological stability and improve the socio-economic condition of forest occupants and upland farmers.”
They involved huge funding drawn from domestic, foreign governments, and non-government organization for financial assistance.
The common whisper was that many of the trees planted “were either intentionally burned down or razed to the ground through carelessness” while others were cut down for charcoal-making.
The Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer in Northern Nueva Ecija, for one, even commented that among their biggest headaches year in and year out is about the frequent incidences of forest fires up in the Sierra Madre Mountain range.
Other hushed-hushed comments indicate that the forest fires may had been intentionally set in order for some people to clinch another earning contract for a reforestation project.
None, however, was proven to be true nor some persons haled to prison for doing such misdemeanor if ever there were such incidences.
DENR-BESTI pact
An agreement with BESTI, with the tribesmen engaging to carry out the reforestation project, was a calculated gamble that the DENR willingly entered into.
“Different kinds of forest trees – mulawin, narra, kalumpit, apitong, tanguile, saplungan, palosapis, katmon, narra, caballero, banaba, bignay, lauan, batino, hagakhak, and many other kinds – were planted five meters apart on the hillside and on the mountain tops,” Caballero said.
“Many of them were tissue cultured seedlings provided by the ERDB,” he added.
Men and women, including the youths, helped in planting. To date, about 800 hectares were planted to forest trees. Cogon and talahib covers were being cut down to convert them into roofing materials.
The remaining 200 hectares are for fruit trees, for planting rice, corn and vegetables and for other purposes deemed fit in the area.
“The DENR pays the tribesmen P7,000 per hectare for the planting and upkeep of the area,” Caballero said.
He said the whole place is constantly guarded by 30 bantay-gubat (forest guard) and trained firefighters are always ready to respond when called upon.
They use horses to roam the place, even the mountain tops, and they have radio communication sets to call for help in case fire broke out in some areas of the plantation area.
“They also water the plants and apply fertilizer, with the water being fetched from the river down below,” Caballero said.
“Cutting of trees is a mortal sin known to every tribesmen and the “taong unat” (non-Aetas) who have also opted to settle on the place. Lea Soria, 33, one of the tribe members, said they get compensation for doing works within the project area. “We are paid P334 per day,” she said.
“Okey na okey po talaga ang buhay namin ngayon dito (Our life here is okay),” she added.
Beltran said that only recently, the tribesmen harvested and sold string beans from their tended communal garden, grossing a gorgeous P200,000.
They are now into tending off -season tomatoes and chili pepper plants, he added.
“They sold the vegetable in churchyard during Sundays and in various markets during market days,” Beltran said.
“They were grown organically. They used only powdered pungent chili, powdered soap and water in driving away insect pests. For fertilizer, they use sawdust and animal manure,” he added.
For their rice production, Beltran said they have contacted rice technicians to improve their technology.
“Their harvest is still dismal – only P60 cavans per hectare,” Beltran said.
“But when told that they can increase their harvest up to 150 cavans per hectare using modern rice husbandry, they became stirred up and are raring to try it,” he added.
Convergence of assistance
Other great things are going the way of Sitio Bacao’s development.
Recently, government and private agencies met for what they term as a “convergence approach” for the holistic development of a community.
“We have developed a five-year plan for the total development of Sitio Bacao and the improvement of the lives of people inhabiting it,” said Dr. Eugene Baltazar, director for extension services of the Central Luzon State University (CLSU) and lead convener of the inter-agency planning group.
“For one thing, it will be developed as an eco-tourism showcase. Other concern is how to make the tribesmen self-reliant in the future.”
Many provincial and national government offices have come forward to extend their share based on their respective expertise, Baltazar said.
Representatives of the Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) promised to improve the road condition going into the interior community.
She said top pomologist Bernardo Dizon was invited to train the tribesmen in planting adapted foreign varieties of mango trees whose fruits can later be made into dried mango candies or as mango puree.
One pressing concern, though, is the sad state of malnutrition obtaining among the children as well as many adults in the community.
“One solution is to carry out a milk feeding program under the sponsorship of the DSWD and the Philippine Carabao Center,” Baltazar said.
“But for the longer term, dairy carabao raising will be introduced among the farmers in the place, after all abundant carabao feedstuff can be grown in the area. With it, it will result to a two-prong benefit – daily income for the milk yield and improvement of the nutritional status of the children in the place,” she added.
Beltran said a big multi-purpose hall, dubbed as “Bulwagan ng mga Katutubo sa Pilipinas” has been set up in a strategic place in the community.
The hall serves as venue for retreat-workshop, ecological classroom for learning and serving, seminar and planning, and as laboratory for students who want to engage in enhancing the ecosystem.
The building is provided with a water system, kitchen for food preparation, dining hall, comfort rooms and spaces for beddings.
One other big undertaking to be carried out, Beltran said, is a Balik-Handog sa Kalikasan” (return off ering for nature’s sake) project.
Under it, the public will be asked to give donation for the planting of fruit trees of their choice to an Aeta family which will nurture it.
Each donated plant will bear the name of the donor to identify it and for them to appreciate it later on.
“We are almost there … in turning a once barren area into ‘Back to Eden Greening’ of sort,” Beltran said.
He added: “And, we want Bacao to be known as a place where God unites men and nature”.
