Trees for Knowledge

"We want to become teachers someday," say 13-year-old grade-schoolers Mercedita Ortiz and Benito Antonio, Jr. with youthful optimism.

Poverty has delayed their schooling: Mercedita is in grade 4 and Benito in grade 5. In their hometown in the foothills of a mountain straddling the eastern part of Pangasinan and Nueva Ecija, poverty is a grinding everyday reality.

Barangay Tibag, Talugtug, Nueva Ecija and Sitio Tibag, Barangay Diaz, Umingan, Pangasinan, where the two kids hail from, are among the country’s poorest villages. Lawless elements like cattle rustlers seek sanctuary there owing to the distance of the communities from access roads. Most of the 517 residents (as of July 2001) of the two areas are unschooled, undernourished and unemployed. Their only sources of income are subsistence farming, charcoal making and harvesting cogon.

A survey conducted by the HomoEco Care Valley Foundation, Inc. (HECVFI), a non-profit organization, indicated that two-thirds of the two communities’ households earn only P1,200 to P2,000 per month. About 15 percent of the residents did not have any formal schooling. Some 65 percent entered school but only around 5.4 percent graduate from elementary level. Of those who reached high school, only 1.5 percent completed their secondary education. Only one villager has a college degree–but she is a migrant to the place.

What chances, then, had Mercedita and Benito have of getting an education, much less getting a college degree?

In 1996, twin developments changed the fate of the residents in the area, particularly school-aged children. Roads connecting Tibag and Diaz were constructed and HECVFI launched the Care Valley Countryside Development Program (CVCDP). Mercedita and Benito became two of the 122 children currently being supported by CVCDP to obtain education.

In choosing Tibag and Diaz as CVCDP’s pilot areas for assistance, HECVFI stressed the two communities’ need for assistance in two aspects: saving the environment, which is a source of livelihood for the people, from further destruction and helping the residents rise above socio-economic retardation.

CVCDP’s objective was to help uplift the livelihood, literacy and health status of people residing in denuded areas like Tibag and Diaz by using funds generated from the rehabilitated and agro-forested lands.

Dr. Fernando Cariño, HECVFI president and former Regional Director of the Department of Science and Technology (dost- Central Luzon) said that this thrust came from the ecology ideas of the late Filipino nationalist Dr. Dioscoro L. Umali, which stressed the importance of rehabilitating and nurturing the country’s denuded lands.

With the help of the other prime movers of the organization–Rev. Fr. Restituto Lumanlan, svd, Dr. Jaine Reyes, Dr. Amado Galvez and Dr. Crispin Maslog–the HECVFI has regenerated 30 hectares of denuded lands and planted almost 20,000 bananas, 500 mango trees and 5,000 gmelina, mahogany and other high-value fruit trees.

The incomes generated by the foundation in this endeavor were funneled to the "Trees for Education Literacy Upliftment Project". From 2000-01, some 42 school children benefited from this project. In school year 2001-02, the number of HECVFI scholars was increased to 122, which includes Mercedita and Benito. Those who can finish high school will be given college scholarships in teaching, agriculture, computer education, environmental engineering and even theology.

"God-sent" is how Tibag Barangay Captain Dionesio Ortiz describes HECVFI’s community project. "The greening of abused lands has led to the socio-economic development of our community. Now all interested school-aged children are already in school," he reveals.

Diaz Barangay Captain Ireneo Bautista likewise has similar words of praises and gratitude: "Unlike before when almost all children could not afford to go to school, CVCDP’s Trees for Education Project has made the impossible possible."

Talugtug District Supervisor Vivencio Peria volunteers: "This is the kind of project that should be assisted by the government and other cause-oriented groups." Meanwhile, Umingan District I and II Supervisor Mary Lou Gonzales and elementary grade school teacher Myrna Ortiz-Sabatin share in the vision: "We, the teachers of the Diaz Elementary School, join CVCDP in its objective of helping mold these poor children to become literate, responsible, productive and law-abiding citizens of our country."

The foundation’s long-term objective, however, does not stop there. CVCDP has lined-up a three-phased, 15-year development plan to sustain the operation. By 2003, the foundation hopes to also operationalize the "Trees for Health" project that will bring free medical services to Talugtug and Umingan.

"It is important that we must motivate the local people for self-development. We can do this by directly involving them in the production process," Dr. Cariño says.

With the children’s enthusiasm about school, CVCDP foresees more children availing of the program. However, current earnings cannot sustain the expected rise in financial needs because farming operations are still done manually. It is thus important to expand the area of operation and mechanize farming in order to generate the funds needed to sustain the increasing number of scholars.

"For nature’s sake and for future generations to come, we ask fellow lovers of the environment to support our crusade," appeals Dr. Cariño.