Green and Go

I was about to resign after a year of being a member of the club. I felt it was not stimulating enough (attending meetings: eat, listen to speakers, then go and that’s it). It seemed then it was not worth my while. But every time I hear and sing the Rotary Club of Manila Hymn at regular meetings, it makes me feel energized and raises my interests and feelings for the club. President Susing Pineda is now my 6th President and PE/Dir. Jackie Rodriguez will be my 7th.

Fortunately, the centennial anniversary celebration gave me an opportunity to get involved and serve the club so far. I was assigned by President Susing Pineda and PDG Obet Pagdanganan to head the committee on tree planting in a meeting where I was just a second fiddle or “saling pusa”. When offered the job I could not say no as PDG Obet Pagdanganan said, “hulog ka ng langit Pare” (God sent). “Bola” (insincere praise) or not, I accepted the job, though, with some hesitations.

As time went by and after the Barry Rassin Tree Planting and Wreath Laying Ceremony at Rizal Park and the recently concluded Okada Road Tree Planting kick off, I now realized the assignment I accepted is not a joke. It’s not a small job (hindi biro biro). Though we were quite successful in these 2 projects, they were just mere ceremonials, complete with photo opportunities and no actual tree planting yet. By the way, the Okada Road is now fully planted to Palo Maria after about 2 weeks from the ceremony.

The biggest challenge, actually, is how to realize the goals and objectives of the Committee which are to plant trees and regreen the country. It’s indeed a huge job (not biro biro). With encouragements and inspirations from dedicated environmentalists and the passion for trees in PE/Dir. Jackie Rodriguez and VPE/PAT Hermie Esguerra who had pledged some sums of money (your chairman pledged an amount too) and others, especially, President Susing who pledged to help in any way. I strongly believe RCM can make it. With these pledges, the project will have good amount of resources, money and talents to start with.

The Philippines, as a site for tree planting, is blessed with good soil, lots of rains and sunshine, an ideal setting, indeed, for trees. However, sadly, it is frequented by typhoons numbering to about 25 every year. The problem is you may have grown trees to mature size but when they are hit by strong typhoons the question is, can they survive? Or when trees are just starting to grow, can they survive droughts? I’ve just recently planted some tens of thousands of trees in my plantation and it’s been almost 3 weeks now without rains. If it does not rain in another week, only God knows if they will survive. Also, ideally, planting season occurs for only 3-4 months in a year. Timing is very important. So if you missed it, then you have to wait for the next year/season. These are the realities of tree planting in the Philippines. You need luck and/or prayers for better weather aside from the regular maintenance you do to trees.

Our tree planting project is, indeed, a big project, a big challenge and with great expectations, perhaps, fit only for the brave. But, as the RCM hymn goes, we RCM members are “Bold and Daring” and nothing can prevent us from pursuing projects as huge, as hard and as challenging as tree planting.