Youth camp to help save Banaue Terraces

MANILA, Philippines - Cagayan Rep. Jack Enrile helped organized a three-day youth camp in Ifugao to restore the Banaue Rice Terraces.

The youth camp, which kicked last March 8, included travel to and sight-seeing at  the rice terraces and the Banaue Ethnic Village, immersion with the farmers, discussions, cultural presentations and fun games.

A concert dubbed Banaue.Pamana.Alagaan capped the youth camp yesterday and featured Aiza Seguerra, Escola de Samba de Manila and Tado Jimenez.

Jack noted that raising awareness on the damage sustained by the Banaue Rice Terraces from years of neglect, as well as exposure to typhoons and landslides will help start the snowballing of support for efforts to restore the terraces to their pristine form.

“What we are trying to do with the help of local organizations in Banaue is to revive the community spirit — termed by the Ifugaos as badchang — to gather support for the restoration of the Banaue Rice Terraces which is one of our national cultural treasures,” Jack said.

“The task of restoring and preserving the Rice Terraces does not rest on a single government agency or the local government unit alone. My personal appeal to everyone — whether you are a native of Banaue, or an office worker in Makati, or a tourist from Germany — is for us to be part of this effort and help preserve one of the worldís wonders.”

Jack said those who cannot join the trek can also make a contribution to restoration efforts by tweeting online about the Banaue Rice Terraces and using the hash tag #1k4RT. He explained that the hash tag simply means “1,000 reasons to help restore the rice terraces.”

The lawmaker said his decision to organize a tour to Banaue as part of grassroots efforts to save the rice terraces was a product of a recent experience by several friends who made a volunteer trek to Batad — one of four other similar terraces in Ifugao.

“Some of my friends who came back after volunteering in Batad were really glad they did it. And this is really a one-of-a-kind experience that one should really take if he has the chance. Their experience did a lot to convince me to join the efforts to save the Banaue Rice Terraces,” Jack said.