Yes, the greening of Sorsogon and eventually of the Bicol Region and other adjacent islands, has been a dream of so many Filipinos. But for Sorsogon, we have reduced the dream into a business plan. The formal full-blown feasibility studies (F/S), however, shall be finished in Sorsogon. It will be better if the F/S have some input from the local technocrats and community leaders. Otherwise people in Sorsogon and else where may complain that their overseas brethren are merely spoon-feeding them. They have to be asked to provide input. (Please read also my earlier essay about Reinventing the Philippine Landscape by clicking http://www.pinoyonboard.com/columns/2003/1117_reinvent.html.)
The proposed reforestation is one of the solutions for the perennial poverty problem of Sorsogon. Farmers who participate in the now-called ER ("Ecological Revolution," our equivalent of the "Green Revolution") may be paid $1.00 per year for taking care of one hardwood tree for 10 years. It may not sound much but a family of six can easily take care of 1,000 seedlings/trees planted in some three to four hectares. This would enable that family to earn at least $1,000 or Pesos 55,000 per year, or almost triple the national average income for a poor family. One-million trees would bring in at least a million dollars for the first year to the province. By 2006, the second full year of the project, another million would be earned, thereby bringing the income of the participating farmers some $2.0 million or more than 108 million pesos. By the third year, another $1.0-million would be earned, and so forth and so on, ad infinitum. Fruit trees need only three years of care before they mature and provide steady income to the tree farmers.
The ABS-CBN Foundation is using a similar operation for the La Mesa Dam reforestation project. Ms. Gina Lopez explained also the fundraising method to the Media Breakfast Club during her visit last year. She is the foundation executive director.
Where will the funding come? There are literally millions of Overseas Filipinos (and Filipino Americans) who would give $12.00 to sponsor the planting of one hardwood tree. Reaching those individual sponsors would entail an effective PR campaign. People (especially Caucasians) in North America and Europe may give wholeheartedly because the trees produce more oxygen, as our areas to be reforested shall be part of the "lungs of the world."
There are other sources of the required funding. Fundraising drives can be done in the United States, Europe and other countries. Activities may include car raffles to raise operational funds for the venture. Part of the fundraising drives can be done in Filipino- and/or Asian-American expositions and fairs, where we have been participating in and/or co-organizing.
Institutional foreign buyers of the hardwood may be able to extend advance payments. The hardwood can be harvested after some 20 to 25 years. After the first harvest, the tree-farm cooperatives can harvest more hardwood every year thereafter until the end of time. Loans may be secured from the foreign banks of the buyers with the trees serving as some kind of collateral.
Foreign firms and foundations may extend grants. For instance, when I interviewed the then AMEX Chairman of the Board James Robinson III, he told me that American Express and the American Express Centurion Bank decided to convert loans made to some South American countries into gifts for the purchase of land devoted to reforestation. Mr. Robinson can help eventually the project.
Foreign governments and multinational entities may also be able to help in the funding. The trade mission that we will organize to Barcelona (Spain) may be able to generate donations for the reforestation project and also for the restoration and retrofitting of the Spanish-built church in Barcelona (Sorsogon).
There are other activities that may contribute more to the economic development of Sorsogon Province and the Bicol Region. Some of these go by the acronyms, "SOS Bay" (for Save Our Sorsogon Bay) and "GDP" (Goat Dispersal Program). This column will discuss them in the coming days. I may be overloading readers with so many proposals. I have written about them for more than a decade now. I realize that many people want to tackle only one idea at a time and I can live with that reality.
Please read also my longer essay in the Front Page of this PinoyOnBoard.com. The article is entitled: The Philippines (And the Third Worlds) Silent Springs.
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