THE GINTUNG Pakpak Ecopark in Arayat is one of Pampanga’s summer destinations. PHOTO BY E.I. REYMOND T. OREJAS
While many summer getaways are built on pristine settings, three friends worked the other way around. They first restored 8 hectares of denuded sections of Mt. Arayat in Pampanga to make an ecological park.
The endeavor has taken 37 years—and counting—for Angel Gomez Jr., Cecile Yumul, Wilfredo Martinez and their friends among farmers in Barangay (village) Balite in Arayat town.
Yumul says bringing back the forest is worth it, environment- and business-wise.
The Gintung Pakpak Ecopark, the labor of their friendship and love for the environment, has become a favorite destination for tourists and natives since its opening in 2010, says Yumul.
Water, both for irrigation and homes, is plenty, courtesy of a spring and a man-made lake. Springwater feeds the swimming pool at the park.
Gomez, 64, a yogi and the land steward, makes sure guests know the story of this unique destination in the fabled Mt. Arayat.
Just 2 meters from the gate, he built a concrete marker to share this information: “The Gintung Pakpak was conceived in the plateaus of Guimaras [near Iloilo] in 1971 when I stayed with the Trappist monks in silent recluse.”
Before taking on the spiritual journey, he gave up his business, Music Box 1, one of the best manufacturers of sound systems in Angeles City at that time. He turned it over to a Catholic priest for whatever the latter might find use for it.
Gomez returned to his hometown of Mabalacat in 1975, scouted for land in nearby Arayat with the help of a farmer, Jesus Padilla. He began the “hard work of clearing, planting, brushing, digging of ponds and [doing] tedious maintenance.”
‘Earthly paradise’
The result, as Gomez calls it, is an “earthly paradise.” “Altogether, the Gintung Pakpak represents the fulfillment of the golden message spoken by no less [than] our Lord Jesus in his prayer: ‘Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven,’” he says.
Gintung Pakpak, or golden wings, is a reference to Christ, the bearer of that message.
Yumul and Martinez met Gomez in 1976 at Holy Angel University. Martinez was fixing the lights for a theater production of Yumul when he got curious about Gomez’s yoga classes.
AN INVITE to nature—and organic food—at the mountain park. PHOTO BY E.I. REYMOND T. OREJAS
They joined him, picked up his cause and never parted since then.
“Only ipil-ipil, aratiles and grasses grew here back then because of logging or clearing for farming,” recalls Yumul, 54, a college professor and a radio host.
“There was no electricity yet. I had to walk three hours to get to Magalang town to get a mini-bus to take me home to Angeles City or Mabalacat,” she says.
She brought her students along to plant trees or for other activities of the Youth Community Action Program.
Martinez, 56, an electrical engineer, helped around until he left in 1981 for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He spent his vacations, in the 12 years that he was working abroad, at Gomez’s land.
A library that Gomez put up in the middle of the forest drew students. But before long, Mt. Pinatubo, located across Mt. Arayat, erupted in 1991.
They doubled up replanting efforts. It was during a game of chess that Gomez asked Martinez to add basic amenities to the place. Yumul agreed to the plan.
The trees were taller, more butterflies fluttered, and the spring gurgled out more water.
Retreat center
By 2007, they turned the place into a retreat center built on Martinez’s savings.
A portion of the forest was rented for some months to grow pigs. A Korean group doing religious ministry leased it from 2008 to 2010.
Yumul says the money raised from the operation of the retreat center went to the scholarship of children of farmers. Many of them have returned to the town as teachers.
Guests at the ecopark are made to pay P50 as environmental fee, which goes to maintaining the trees such as sampaloc, santol, kamagong, mango, lanzones, mandarin, pomelo, kamias, banana, guyabano, narra and balite. Fish, ducks and birds are grown in the area.
With the cool breeze, clear air, clean water and facilities, the place is suitable for team building, seminars, retreats, recollections, prenuptial events, weddings, birthday parties and family bonding.
“They revel in the quietness,” Yumul says.
Gintung Pakpak has a farm for team-building activities, the Kabyayan restaurant which opened in 2012, two conference halls, 18 dormitory-type rooms (each room can accommodate four people), five villas, wedding gardens and in-house catering.
Food and drinks are organic, the produce coming from the farm or local planters.
“It was never intended for business. We just wanted to share this with the public as a getaway from the maddening crowd,” Yumul says.
“We wanted to show that we could build without destroying. The park followed the contours of the hills, lived on what it has, like the spring,” she says.
Yumul and Martinez believe that Gintung Pakpak is closer to the vision of Gomez.
“What is unique about the place is obviously the environment. It is an example of how people can heal and take care of the forests,” Martinez says. “This is not simply a business.”