A biological treasure trove and a mystical energy center

One of the country’s biological treasure-troves is also believed to be a mystical energy center and place of healing. Yet, in return for all that it has blessed its admirers and belie-vers with, Mount Banahaw has received only disrespect and abuse.

Ironically, the very people who venerate it are among those who desecrate it. Last year, 11 truckloads of garbage, left by visitors numbering up to half a million during Holy Week, were collected mostly in the puestos, or the sacred spots. Four fires, traced to unattended candles, broke out.

These conditions, plus the dwindling water supply, prompted the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) for Mount Banahaw to declare the mountain off-limits to visitors in order to save it from further destruction. Only those participating in conservation efforts will be given access.

Early this month some 90 employees of Smart Communications, Inc. were among the first visitors to Banahaw since the ban was imposed. Coming mostly from Metro Manila, with a few from South Luzon, they trekked the lower areas of the mountain to plant trees-and sow goodwill.

Assisted by 10 farmer-guides, they broke up in 10 groups and spread out across four hectares on the southern slopes at elevations of 1,000-1,500 meters, carrying seedlings of ram-butan and an endemic tree called "liputi."

The activity was organized by Smart’s Public Affairs and Human Resources departments as an activity under Connecting Communities, a corporate social responsibility program that supports community-based groups engaged in socioeconomic development projects through the use of wireless telecommunication facilities and services.

Smart’s NGO partners for the project are the Luntiang Alyansa Para sa Bundok Banahaw, Tanggol Kalikasan, with the support of the Foundation for the Philippine Environment (FPE), a grant-making institution of environmental organizations.

Among the employee volunteers who signed up were the members of the Smart Mountaineering Club, led by Jiovanni Cid and Apol Cortes.

"Your timing is perfect. There is an urgent need to rehabilitate Banahaw, to replant the denuded areas," said Roberto S. Vidal, barangay captain of Concepcion Pinagbakuran, Sariaya, Quezon, during the welcome program.

Banahaw is believed to be the largest watershed area in Southern Tagalog. Eight rivers traverse it, and five groups of hot and cold springs are found at elevations of less than 150 meters.

Water from the mountain benefits some 1.5 million people, according to Jay S. Lim, program officer of Tanggol Kalikasan’s Banahaw Watershed Project. "That’s why it’s called volcan de agua," he explained during the welcome briefing. Banahaw is an extinct volcano, but it could still erupt.

Smart Public Affairs head Ramon Isberto said with the tree-planting, the company was expanding its involvement in environmental preservation. "We started with extending communications support for fisheries and marine resources," he said.

"This tree planting activity is our initial foray for terrestrial conservation sites and so far, employee volunteerism response has been positive. It’s something Smart employees can easily identify with and participate in."

After two interruptions caused by a heavy downpour-quite typical on Banahaw, the local folk said–the volunteer farmers accomplished their mission. A total of 623 seedlings were planted.

It was a modest contribution to the rehabilitation efforts, but one that Smart employees were proud to make, considering Banahaw’s importance to Philippine biodiversity.

According to a report of the Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Priority-setting Program (PBCPP), ours is one of the 17 "megadiversity" countries, with more than 52,000 described species. More than half of these are found only here. This means, the report says, "Philippine biodiversity is part of our global heritage."

Unfortunately, Mount Banahaw is one of the 206 priority conservation areas identified by the PBCPP, with a "very high" importance, the third highest rating.

Overall, the Philippines is one of 25 global biodiversity hotspots, with "418 species listed in the 2000 International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species." Moreover less than six percent of the original forest cover remains.

Secondary growth has increased forest cover to 20 percent, according to the FPE. Still, this is only half of the 40 percent needed to maintain our natural ecological balance.

The magnitude of the crisis requires that each and every Filipino does his or her share. As the PBCPP report stresses: "No single organization or individual can make the campaign to save the Philippine hotspot successful. Only by building a critical mass of ardent biodiversity advocates will the biodiversity crisis become part of the national consciousness..."

Count Smart employee volunteers in.