Deforestation

Deforestation affects us all. Deforestation is a major cause of flooding, landslide and climate change according to Greenpeace International.

Deforestation

           Illegal logging, slash and burn farming (kaingin), land clearance and charcoal mining (pag-uling) have damaged millions of hectares of Philippine forests. According to studies it takes more than 100 years to rehabilitate them. The destruction affected the country's rainforests and other biological ecosystem. People involved in these activities justified themselves and based their arguments on their economic status.

Uling  House

Open pit use for burning woods

Two years ago, I had a conversation with a local public official in Mindoro and I quoted what he said “Ang mga mamayan dito sa lugar natin ay nakadepende lamang sa pag-uuling at sa pagputol ng mga punongkahoy, maaring mawawalan sila ng kabuhayan oras na ipagbawal na ito.” After two years, charcoal mining (pag-uuling) is strictly prohibited in our municipality in Oriental Mindoro but people can still produce and trade “uling” if they acquire special permits released by DENR and local government. Pag-uuling is still rampant in our area.  I can present many evidences regarding this claim.  Ang pagpapatupad ng total ban sa pag-uuling ay hindi gaanong nagagawa dahil madali lang naman kumuha ng special permit lalo na kung malakas kanf koneksyon. Nakakabahala ang bagay na ito sapagkat laganap na naman ang mga pagbaha, tumitindi ang problema sa climate change at landslide na patuloy na naranasan dahil sa unti-unting pagkakalbo ng mga kabunduhan at pagkaubos ng likas na yaman.

Deforestation

Discoloration of Swamp (may be related to climate change)

Deforestation

I hope that the good governance of the President Noynoy Aquino will cover issues on deforestation and pay attention at least on climate change issues related to forest degradation as he address global agenda for climate change. - Shernan

The Joy of Giving

      We often think that success depends on focusing on ourselves. But this simply isn't true.

One of the seven Rivers we crossed to reached the Village

       Last January 3, 2011, an opportunity calls for us to have a visit in an underprivileged community of Sitio Matucao, in Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro for a gift-giving activity. The village is a 45-minute to 1-hour walk away from our home. We all trekked our ways up the hill to Mountains and crossed about seven rivers.The Keep Hope Alive team (composed of my siblings, cousins and friends) was able to view gift-giving in different angles, especially of the fun and adventure. The trip was uneventful, just beautiful scenery, great people, sun, laughter, and gentle camaraderie. We may fail to give the villagers something for the long run but we achieved our purpose in sharing our blessings and showing a minute act of gratitude for the year of blessings and provisions. Our giving is never to people or things but rather it is to God. Giving is not something you do when things are going well but it is a lifestyle.

The Team

The team with my supportive father

First stop: Uncle Judy's house

Holding young coconut trees to be planted by my father

      Also, it was very fulfilling to see families appreciated our gifts as they had with them their smiling faces. It’s a very innovative way to mobilize personal resources for worthy activities without the conventional tedium of donation and fund-raising.

      I realized giving takes you out of yourself and expanding beyond your limitations. You cannot give with joy if you have not first given yourself to God. And when you go around planting blessings, you harvest blessings yourself! They grow and multiply.

Mangyan beneficiary

Cousin Apple and John

A local villager doing her laundry works beside the clear river.

Siblings with their house in the background

A local farmer handed gifts by Ptra. Eve

Checking a mother with her daughter.

      The joy of giving means that I give purely because it is my way of expressing my passion and love for the things I believe in and my gratefulness to the God who made me a steward over His resources. - Shernan

Mother Carabao with her charming daughter

“Sometimes the joy of giving has the amazing potential to surpass even the most strongest of feeling known to humans. Because when you give, you love; and love, I’ve experienced in my life is the purest of emotion.” – Gulab Ram [1960 - May 14, 2004]

TATAY (Father)

         Whenever I would come home every vacation from Manila, I would always find my father waiting at the bus terminal to pick me up; ready to bring me home. He would always extend his warm regards with his hands. Most of the time, however, his efforts went unnoticed.

           I grew up in a remote area in Mindoro. When I was a kid, there was no electricity except the generator that worked for three hours every night. Fresh clean air, blue skies, clothes drying in the sunshine, peace and quiet, seclusion away from the hurried "what can we go buy at the mall?"-type of life.  Not the life for everyone. But it was for us and all our critters. I wouldn't want to miss a single day of it. During weekends or harvesting time, me and my siblings were going to the farm riding our carabao and "karusa" (cart) to help my father and play in the haystack afterwards.    If someone were to ask me what experience has shaped my life and personality the most, I would say, without hesitation, growing up on a farm. 

           They said I was one of his favorite sons, because he's always talking about my achievements, but I was never close to him. I spent most of my childhood days without him at my side. I was a little bit uncomfortable whenever he was around. He was also a silent-type but disciplinarian.  I have experience a lot – physically and emotionally, whenever I would commit mistakes or silly things that made him mad.  I never heard him saying a lot of words, as my mother always do. He’d rather sit at the corner and calculate on papers or fix something with his machinery tools. 

       When I was in High School, I never told him how I did in my academics, the name of my teachers nor my classmates, nor my crushes and love interests. I thought they would not interest him at all. That was what I thought then. I never tried reaching to him because I feel awkward to do so. Those were the days before I realized his sacrifices and hard-works.

(Farming with SUKOB, Our favorite carabao)

(My Father with his brothers and friends during one of their typical drinking sessions)

       One afternoon, when my father became drunk after an occasional drinking session with his fellow farmers after his usual rice field routines, I heard him telling his friends how proud he was to have a son like me. He almost narrated all my academic and extra-curricular achievements. I heard all those stories directly from his mouth. From that day, my perception about my father started to change.

(The usual weekend day with my siblings back then)

        No other experiences this world can offer even come close to watching the sun set over the mountains while carrying harvested coconuts with my father, smelling blooms as they drift up from the dike bottom or saving a baby goat from sure death. These are things you can't appreciate until you've experienced them. These are the things life on a farm with my father is made of.

(Our Backyard Rice fields)

       One day, while watching TV show about farming. I urged to ask him about the show, which I think he knew a lot. He eagerly and earnestly shared what he knows. Each time I ask him questions, he never failed to satisfy my curiosity. His eager countenance changes as he briefly recounted his experience in farming. That afternoon talk made a vivid impact in my memory.

(My father's Hand Tractor)

(My father)

As years passed, my father exerted silent effort to prove his being father to us. He was both a quite ordinary and yet, remarkable man, hard-working father who spent so much time in farming to provide us with foods and other necessities. I commit mistakes or do bad thing sometimes, but I never heard anything from him, not an angry look or a harsh word. His understanding and acceptance mean a lot to me.

        Before I graduated college, I finally realized how much my father means to me. I was a Sunday service – a father’s day special. That day I learned that he was suffering from hyperthermic attack for several days. I was anxious of his condition because I knew how much he worked hard in the farm every day. I was afraid because I knew I had never done any significant thing for him. I never fully expressed my appreciation and love for him. On that moment, I promised myself to give my best effort in showing how much I owe him. I made a phone call for him for the first time and asked about how he was doing and his condition. From that day, I always bring something for my father; material things or anything that would make him feel valuable. Last Barangay election, despite my loaded work schedule I chose to go home to support my father’s candidacy. Thank God he won.

        Now, whenever I would come home, I would find myself holding something for my father as he looks out at the bus terminal to pick me up - things that cannot be replaced by any possessions or riches in this world. More than the material things I have for him, the love and the warm embrace are worthless expression of how much I love and appreciate him. Perhaps, the wall between us is completely torn down, and I can finally say to ORIE FADRI GAMOL, “I Love You, Pa”. You are my hero and my secure foundation. Happy Birthday.

(ORIE FADRI GAMOL, my beloved father)

The Philippine Carabao Center (PCC)

We visited the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) in the Science City of Moñuz, Nueva Ecija, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture. This center was created in 1992 to promote researches and studies about the Carabao in the Philippines sponsored as a bill by President Joseph Estrada in 1992. 

The facilities were initiated for the study of the super water buffalo breding that could produce 4 to 18 liters of milk/day using gene-based technology. Philippine Carabao Center is now into massive cloning of embryos of a superior breed of Carabao following the unsuccessful transfer of the first batch of the cloned Carabao embryos early this year. The PCC’s target is to come up with the first genetically superior buffaloes using the cloning technology, but scientists said the statistically most probable, yet they least expected, happened, as the first batch of the clones experienced early embryonic death. We have seen breeds and cross-breeds Carabao. 

The center has different species of the dairy type from India, Bulgaria and some countries like North and Latin America. One of the things I remembered on our trip to PCC was watching the Carabao on their milk-collection area. It was a fun experience and Carabao milk, meat, and hide were just few things we had seen there. 

I invite everyone to visit the PCC to see Carabao breeding process and milking  in progress. The Center is also ideal for Educational tour and Research. -Shernan

Little Elephant’s Story

      One upon a time there lived a little elephant in the far, far away jungle. But this little elephant was not a good boy, and he was never listening to what his mother was telling to him. She was always saying : ” Be careful where you are going and don’t wonder around, because jungle is not the safest place to be!”, but he didn’t care a lot about what his mother’s talking. And, than one day he went to the river and the crocodile caught him. Little elephant tried to run away, but it was to late, the elephant already got him. He started to yell, and good thing was that his mother and father heard…not only they heard the little elephant’s screaming all the family did, so they all run to the rescue, and saved little elephant. From that day, this little elephant never was a bad boy and listened to his mother and became fine and big elephant! Always listen to your mothers! vedrisha 

Things I want to do Before I Die (My Bucket List)

All of us have dreams -- the wildest of which our own dreams cannot even fathom. We long to see more, learn more, and travel more. Imagine being able to say at the end of your life's journey: "Wow, what a ride!" 

 We keep an unending list of things we want to achieve, things we want to change, attitudes we want to cultivate. It is so great to take the time and really ask yourself, what DO I want? Creating and achieving your life list is about deciding what you really want-which means setting goals. 

As I got older, I still had it and now, perhaps of out necessity, but nevertheless, it is about time I crack my skull open to fish for things once lost. I realized there are so many things I want to accomplish in my lifetime. Call it a quarter-life crisis. I found that some of the things I'd listed I'd already done, which was kind of a neat revelation. And here they are.

1. Serve God, make disciples. Serve the people and the government

2. Write and publish at least one book
3. Spending a year with the minorities; volunteering at a homeless shelter or an orphanage; and mentoring  a disadvantaged children and youth.
4. Promote win/win conflict resolution.
5. Positively impact at least 10 people’s lives
6. Starting a profitable, location-independent business doing what I love
7. Having a million dollar investment portfolio to finance my life goals.

8. Establish my non-profit children’s foundation. - DONE
9. Exhibit my own paintings and artworks in a gallery

10. Date someone, get dumped, and remain best friends with them even though they broke my heart. DONE

11. Make my family proud and watch them enjoy life.
12. Learn to play an instrument well.

13. Wave to a stranger, smile and make them smile back. DONE
14. Go scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia
15. Lay down on railroad tracks, and take a picture of the sky.

16. See Starry Night and the Mona Lisa.

17. Drive and/or ride in a Corvette, Porsche, and Ferrari.

18. Travel around the world and take my parents on a vacation abroad

19. Make 50 people smile, in one day and take a homeless person out to eat-DONE

20. Go bungee jumping and kayaking through class IV rapids

21. Go to an African wildlife safari, try hang gliding and walk the Incan trail to Machu Picchu, Peru

22. Explore Antarctica and photograph an endangered species.

23. Experience the cherry blossoms in Japan

24. Find out where my ancestors came from.

25. Understand the truth behind the time-space continuum DONE

26. Give someone a total and pleasant surprise DONE

27. Ride a camel in a dessert

28. Visit the Great Wall of China, Egypt’s pyramid, Taj Mahal, Stonehenge and Explore Teotihuacan

29. Learn to fly a plane

30. Have a meaningful conversation with a beggar- DONE

31. Elect to a public office

32. Get interviewed by international media and publications like Business Week, Times Magazine, Forbes, CNN, etc

33. Realize the most beautiful, intelligent, funny, talented, compassionate woman you've ever met has fallen in love with you. (I keep pinching myself, but I'm still awake!)

34. Find someone who loves me unconditionally and Have a romantic dinner on a hot air balloon, and......

35. Get married to the woman I love and have a wonderful family life.

There’s a lot of impossible things to be accomplished but instead of worrying about when that wonderful days come I think it is best to work towards completing some simple yet spectacular things in my life. M. Russell Ballard said, “small events and choices determine the direction of our lives just as small helms determine the directions of great ships."So, what’s on your "bucket list" Shernan

King and Lesing Through the Years

Lolo Tangking and Lola Lesing's Golden Wedding Anniversary

( Felicidad Cayetano Gamo and Tancredo Aungon Fajutnao)

          What can be a more precious moment than the time when your better half enters your life? Marriage is considered to be one the most special occasion when two individuals get committed in a relationship forever. This Year, my Lolo Tangking and lola Lesing will be celebrating their Golden wedding anniversary.

         It will truly be an affair to remember because not many people make it through the first five years, let alone ten times that number. When lolo Tangking and Lola Lesing first met, Lolo lived in San Andres Romblon and Lola lived in Roma, Mansalay Oriental Mindoro.  Lolo was a small scale businessman then while lola was a simple barrio girl. ‘‘It has brought me joy and love that since our marriage, your lola Lesing has always understood the significance of our relationship, and in our family life, as she stood by me, she has been very devoted to the members of our family,’’ Lolo Tangking told me.

            They truly deserve to celebrate their fruitful marriage life. Imagine they have managed to survive a half century of life's ups and downs together. Over that period of time our grandparents builds a legacy that can't be measured in material possessions, but rather the lives they have touched through their love and faith. Learning from their story, the celebration will be a recreation of their love affair when they began their life together some 50 years ago.

       They have three children: Elcana (School Principal), Jemale (Agriculturist, Gov’t Employee) and Tancredo, Jr. (Electrician, OFW); 17 grandchildren; and 1 great-grandchildren. They raised and educated their children well and actively involved in overseeing their grandchildren.

This event is a reminder of the day on which our lolo and lola united in love to walk through the path of life with each other at all times, be it good or bad. (Shernan)