Text by Stephen J Pedroza | Pictures and Infographics by Anthony Jacob Karagdag
Xavier Science Foundation and Northern Mindanao Import Facility – Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation (NMIF-Shell) signed a Memorandum of Agreement for Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES), an environmental system intended to rehabilitate and preserve the forest resources in the upland areas wherein the members of the indigenous people communities will be rewarded for being the forest managers.
“As we grow as a company we also take with us the development of our neighbors and the community around us,” said Marlon Dejadina, project manager of NMIF- Pilipinas Shell.
“We have a strong commitment to protecting the environment and for sustainable development,” he continued. This engagement of the petroleum company forms part of their corporate social responsibility.
NMIF-Pilipinas Shell has imparted Php662, 858 for the project intended for recuperating 10 hectares in Mt Kalatungan in Talakag, Bukidnon, apportioned for 5 years.
“Together we can heal the land back to life and free our people from the threats of these calamities and disasters,” said Orlando R Ravanera, regional director of the Cooperative Development Authority – X, in his speech during the MOA signing.
CDA has supported PES and incorporated its principles to the cooperatives where they can allocate financial support for the preservation of the environment through their Community Development Fund (CDF).
Among the representatives from different institutions who also joined the MOA signing are Engr Mansueto Dela Peña, chairman of the Regional Cooperative Development Council; a representative of Ruth Tawantawan, regional director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-10); Atty Rene K Burdeos, regional director of the Department of Local and Interior Government (DILG-10) and chairman of the Cagayan de Oro River Basin Management Council (CDORBMC); Fr Saturnino S Lumba SSJV of the Archdiocese of CDO; and Roel R Ravanera, executive director of XSF.
Rewarding scheme for Mt Kalatungan
PES has been piloted within the ancestral domain of the Miarayon–Lapok–Lirongan–Tinaytayan Tribal Association (MILALITTRA), which is among the 12 lumad communities in the protected area of Mt Kalatungan.
XSF, a CDO-based NGO focusing on agricultural development and research, acts as the fund manager of the program ensuring an efficient flow of resources from the donors to the beneficiaries. As of this report, the project has accumulated more than Php1M.
Sustines Magallanes, XSF-PES project head, encouraged everyone to support this “rewarding mechanism” and help raise the awareness against ecologically degrading human activities.
“Illegal logging is a crime against humanity,” he said, adding that it is everyone’s responsibility to reforest the highlands in the region to avoid disasters in the low-lying areas, which includes Cagayan de Oro City.
Evidently, during the lash of Typhoon Sendong in December 2011, most water which came down and ravaged CDO originated from the headwater tributaries in Bukidnon.
‘Proactive corporate social responsibility’
“We are thankful to Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation for making a meaningful and sustainable contribution through PES in Mt Kalatungan. What they did is a proactive demonstration of corporate social responsibility,” said Analyn B Mejares, technical officer of Valuing Ecosystem Services Together (VEST), the social marketing arm for PES.
VEST targets five sectors to take part in this ecological undertaking, namely, the corporations, cooperatives, the academe, religious groups and the households.
“We encourage other corporations to do the same and recognize that environmental sustainability is an integral part to doing business successfully and responsibly,” Mejares added.
The 5-year community development master plan of MILALITTRA aims to reforest 832 hectares, while 816 hectares will be allotted for agroforestry.
“Gidahum ug gidamgo namo nga ang kalasangan sa Miarayon mubalik aron dili na mubaha pa diri sa ubos,” said Datu Dungkoan “Rio” Besto, MILALITTRA chairman.
(It is our hope and dream that the forest of Miarayon will be restored to prevent further flooding in the lowlands.)
