THESE SPECIAL trees have borne fruits of hope to hundreds of poor families in Samar province.

Actually fully adorned miniature Christmas trees, the items are quietly auctioned off, together with some art works, during the annual Festival of Trees (FOT) to raise funds for antipoverty and pro-environment programs for the ?neediest? among the Filipinos.

Started in 1995, the FOT is a fund-raising event held every last quarter and hosted by the Makati Garden Club and the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), with prominent and charitable individuals attending.

This year, the festival was held sometime last month.

The first beneficiary was Samar, whose Maqueda Bay was already depleted of marine resources.

?Our concern (then) was the degraded coastal and upland resources (because) majority of the people (in Samar) were dependent on the coastal resources of the Maqueda Bay,? said Cecilia Ang, PBSP-Samar program coordinator.

Much of the funds were initially devoted to the establishment of marine protected areas in Barangay Cabugawan on Buri Island in Catbalogan, the capital town of Samar. The projects involved mangrove reforestation, marine sanctuary maintenance, and cutflower production to provide extra income to residents.

?These mangrove plants do not only serve as a breeding area for fish but also protect our village from big waves during bad weather,? said Rosita Niedo, 62, a member of the Cabugawan Multipurpose Cooperative.

Niedo said many cooperative members had already availed themselves of the livelihood and environmental protection projects of the PBSP.

Several years back, the islanders had been living dangerously, particularly during typhoons, because the mangroves had almost been used up as firewood.

Fish catch had also drastically diminished because marine resources in the Maqueda Bay were being depleted due to over-fishing and illegal fishing methods.

Rampant cutting of trees and erosion aggravated the situation in the uplands.

But things started to change when the PBSP, with funding support from the FOT, began their projects, including community organizing, environmental awareness and livelihood skills training.

It was not easy at first because most of the farmers and fishers were hesitant to accept the new technologies. ?They had this wait-and-see attitude,? Ang recalled.

However, the people eventually changed after the training sessions, she said.

The PBSP, a private and nonprofit foundation dedicated to promoting business sector commitment to social development, spearheaded the implementation of the FOT-funded Catbalogan Area Resource Management Program (CARMP).

According to Ang, the early beneficiaries were Barangays Cabugawan, New Mahayag, Old Mahayag, Iguid, San Roque-Silanga, Pupua and Iguid.

Later, the PBSP area was expanded to Barangay Jia-an in Jiabong town, Barangay Majacob in Tarangnan town, and Barangays San Vicente, Lucerdone, Pangdan and Ibol in Catbalogan.

In 2003, however, FOT funding for the Samar projects ended. Although the annual activity went on, its proceeds went to the less fortunate in other areas in the country.

Fortunately for the Samar beneficiaries, the projects were continued by a Belgian nongovernment organization.

Ang said that without the projects funded by the FOT and the barangay network already organized, the residents could not have availed themselves of the new funding source.

The number of beneficiaries has already reached 3,629, she said.

Based on a survey conducted in August, 1,044 people had benefited from the livelihood projects. Their income rose from P2,500-P3,000 a month to P6,000-P9,000.

They are engaged in cutflower production, fish drying, aquaculture, planting of rice, corn, root crops or vegetable, raising swine, livestock or poultry, mangrove plantation, reforestation and agro-forestry projects.

As support facilities, the PBSP maintains a multi-species hatchery, floating fish cages, a seed bank, a vermicompost production area, a farm demonstration site and an upland technology farm.

The one-hectare hatchery in Barangay Old Mahayag has about a dozen concrete tanks, several floating fish cages for breeding milkfish, grouper, snapper, sea bass, sinagid and pampano, said Neil Pancipanci, PBSP technical officer.

It is now the source of cheap fries and technical assistance to beneficiaries.

In New Mahayag, the PBSP has an office and dormitory buildings in the ?farm? along the national highway. Tall trees surround the area, which has a nursery for mankono, almaciga, guisok and other indigenous trees intended for reforestation projects.