Kaingin farmer turns new leaf

As a boy, he used to kill trees to clear forest land for farming in Negros Oriental.

Today, he spends his waking hours doing his best to   saving them.

With  this,  59-year-old Rene “Tatay Ete”  Vendiola  has found a lifelong advocacy to preserve trees and promote sustainable farming.

“Ang mga kahoy kabilin nga di mabayran ug sapi (The trees we leave as heritage cannot be paid for with money),” said Vendiola, who led a  group of news reporters and mountain climbers  in an early morning tour of the upland forest in barangay Tabuanan, Cebu City.

He greeted each visitor with a handshake, his  calloused  hands evidence of years in the fields.

Tatay Ete is one of five finalists to be honored tonight at the Marco Polo Plaza by  the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc (RAFI) as an   individual achiever  of the  Ramon Aboitiz Triennial Awards.

Vendiola spearheaded a reforestation project in a 100-hectare watershed in Bacong, Negros Oriental and helped  craft local ordinances  on reforestation, biodiversity efforts and the prohibition of hunting wild animals.

In his backyard in Negros Oriental, Vendiola also developed Liptong Woodland, a 15-hectare rainforest farm cited as an example of sustainable farming practices.

“Ang kahoy adto niya gibutang sa iyang kasing-kasing ang atong hugaw nga gibuhat sa langit. (The tree captures pollution and keeps in its heart all the waste we put in the air),” said Vendiola as he walked through the Tabunan forest.

He instructed  trekkers to avoid making noise or tearing off leaves in order not to disrupt forest life.

“Kung balion nato sila, di ta makabati nga nasakitan na sila, pero nasakitan gyuda na sila (If we break the leaves, we don’t notice but they do feel pain),” Vendiola said, as he gently touched the trunk of a giant Lawaan.

ENRICH

Vendiola said reforestation was farthest from his mind when he was a slash-and-burn (kaingin) farmer in his hometown of Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental.

He said he was 14 years old when he started clearing forest lands.

Back then, he said, he had no idea of the consequences of his actions.  Kaingin farming was common.

Vendiola said they were only after “short-term gains.”

One day he chanced upon antique jars in his parents’ field and sold them to a collector for P600. Vendiola used the money to buy a six-hectare property in their hometown and began farming on his own, until he married at 22 years old.

The forest area that he cleared was planted with rice, corn, root crops and fruit trees. Vendiola said they thought back then that kaingin would enrich the soil.

He moved to a nearby town in Lipton, Bacong following clashes between the military and the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

Evolved

Seminars on the environment organized by the academe and ecology advocates in the ‘80s plus a sideline as a tour guide for researchers and mountain climbers in the terrains of Bacong opened Vendiola’s eyes.

Since then he’s  attended seminars and conference on the environment until he became a full-fledged green advocate ‘90s.

“ When I began to understand, it became difficult for me to hurt the animals and plants,” he said in Cebuano.

During the Tabunan forest tour,  Vendiola recited the local names of shrubs and trees, their medical benefits and their scientific names.

Vendiola said it’s important to plant native tree species to improve  biodiversity and restore the natural species in the area.

He said his knowledge was mostly self-taught from reading books and attending seminars.

He recalled watching a butterfly transform from a caterpillar to a winged creature.

“I thought to myself I’m like that. I also evolved,” Vendiola said.

Greatest dream

Vendiola planted endemic plants in his farm, Liptong Woodland . Root crops go hand in hand with short trees like lansones and taller endemic trees like lawaan for  forest cover.

In 1995, Vendiola was elected barangay captain in Liptong and helped craft ordinances that promote biodiversity and ban hunting wildlife in their town. That year, he was also awarded as an Outstanding Barangay Captain of the Philippines.

Today, Vendiola serves as a  consultants of their local government’s project to reforest Bacong’s  100 hectare watershed.

He said his greatest dream is to complete this shoreline to forest  project  by planting  more mangroves in the coast with endemic trees up to the  mountains.

As a RAFI Triennal nominee, Vendiola said that he has become more confident and determined to bring his advocacy for biodiversity to other  regions.

’Thankful’

He said children should be shown  how important environment protection is so they can appreciate nature early on.

“The trees cannot speak, but they can give signs that they are thankful,” Vendiola said.