Manila Bulletin, Philippines : Living with the whale sharks

10/06/2003

Living with the whale sharks

By Lynda B. Valencia

For the past five years, every January to May, the pace of life speeds up in this otherwise sleepy town of Donsol, Sorsogon about 600 kilometers southeast of Manila.

Under the initial agreement of Mrs. Paculdo and Mendoza, NQMI will provide 200 bamboo seedlings. The arrangement is to donate about 200 seedlings, but the lady lawyer stressed that NQMI is willing to donate more if the need arises.

According to Mendoza, the bamboos will be a big boost to the cause of Save the Lamesa Dam Watershed Project which started as early as 1999. Mendoza took note of the fact that when they decided to take the cudgels in rehabilitating Lamesa Dam four years ago, almost 50 percent of the total land area of 2,700 hectares were denuded. At present, about 70 percent of the area have undergone reforestation.

According to him, with the good survival rate of 90 percent, a total of 42 Philippine species of hardwood have been planted at the dam watershed. These include kamagong, banaba, molave, narra, dao, amugis, talisay and many others.

He said that the ABS CBN Foundation intends to reforest about 1,200 hectares of the dam. Bantay Kalikasan has a 15-year contract with MWSS to manage the said forest/dam. He likewise gave emphasis to the importance of rehabilitating the dam as it serves as a water reservoir for Metro Manilans.

The Lamesa Dam project is the third for Bantay Kalikasan. Prior to this, they were involved in Yes To Clean Air Campaign which solicited 5 million signatures, and Hot Line, where in the public can report environmental abuses and they assist the government in pinpointing these cases.

For his part, lawyer-businessman Nereo J. Paculdo, NQMI chairman and chief proponent of the nationwide Bamboo Propagation Foundation, expressed hope that other deserving individuals and groups will join NQMI bamboo propagation project as he explained that the bamboo is the easiest, fastest and the most economical means of reforestation, environmental rehabilitation and enhancement of the fertility of productive farmlands from erosion, among others.