At Large
Green Ramons
By Rina Jimenez-David
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:45:00 10/04/2008
This columnist had the pleasure of joining recently an outing of the “Green Ramon (and Ramonas) Movement” to De La Salle College-Canlubang, a 50-hectare campus located in the vicinity of the techno-park and housing developments in the Sta. Rosa, Laguna area.
Headed by former Sen. Ramon “Jun” Magsaysay Jr., the Movement was founded to celebrate the birth centenary of the senator’s father, the late President Ramon Magsaysay. These days, though, the former senator says he wishes the emphasis would focus less on the “Magsaysay” connection and more on their advocacy: the greening of the Philippines by growing trees and adopting environment-friendly technologies.
The outing was sparked by an invitation to Jun Magsaysay issued by Bro. Kenneth Martinez, FSC, who heads the new institution which houses an elementary, a high school and a college, all with a science and technology focus. The group of Ramons, including their “founding mother” Odette Alcantara of the Mother Earth Movement and officers of the Earth Day Network, journeyed to De La Salle-Canlubang to check out the five-hectare area the college was offering for the “Ramon Forest,” which the movement plans to fill with native hardwood species.
Working with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Manila Seedling Bank Foundation, the Ramons have already turned otherwise idle lands into mini-forests, having carried out tree-planting activities in Clark, Mt. Pinatubo (which the plane carrying President Magsaysay on his fateful flight was named after) and even Mt. Manunggal in Cebu, the site of the plane crash that claimed the president’s life.
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THE DE La Salle-Canlubang campus is a gorgeous swathe of green, with its school buildings standing against a backdrop of mountains, forested plains and landscaped lawns. “We also hold eco-camps, for our students as well as those from public schools, where they can have first-hand experience of working with nature,” revealed Brother Kenneth.
“Our purpose in creating this campus was to build a better Philippines,” said Brother Kenneth, whose enthusiasm for the school’s mission and love for the students are infectious. “I already feel confirmed in our work,” he added, noting how they are not only preparing students for employment in nearby high-tech companies, but also forming responsible students, with emphasis on their stewardship of the earth’s resources and thereby of the nation’s future.
Brother Kenneth also informed us that out of approximately 1,080 students in the high school department, about 100 or roughly 10 percent are scholars from public high schools in the immediate area of Sta. Rosa, Silang and Indang. The scholarship covers not just tuition but also allowances for food, uniforms and books.
This is clearly also part of an overall plan to make De La Salle more accessible and acceptable to the surrounding communities, since it currently charges much higher tuition and other fees than nearby schools. Brother Kenneth said his current obsession is to make the campus accessible to public transport, given its rather isolated location.
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ALTHOUGH we were all generally impressed with both the vision enunciated by Brother Kenneth, and the college’s facilities and amenities, Odette was still concerned about the need to deepen the curriculum’s environmental focus, with the need to inculcate a sense of responsibility for and stewardship over the earth’s resources from the beginning of the students’ formal education.
Toward this end, the “Ramon Forest,” with the details of ownership and management to be included in a planned memorandum of understanding, should go a long way toward sparking the young people’s interest in the environment.
For this columnist, the outing to De La Salle-Canlubang was made even more enjoyable by sharing a ride with world-renowned glass sculptor Ramon Orlina. We rode in his “stretch Beetle,” an innovative vehicle he had fashioned in his own workshop from two old VW Beetles, with parts sourced from all over the world, and which has already been leased for weddings and other occasions.
After our visit, Jun Magsaysay treated us to lunch at Rose and Grace, a popular eatery in Sta. Rosa, famous for its bulalo or beef stew, but which also boasts of other tasty offerings, such as maliputo, a fish found only in Batangas. Feasting on the restaurant’s fare while sharing chismis that ranged from political developments to environmental issues, and comic anecdotes that only Odette could compile, it was overall a most enjoyable educational morning, not least because it gave us a glimpse into the future of Philippine education.
By the way, Ramons and Ramonas, their friends and relatives, are still welcome to join the Ramon Green Movement. Already, Ramons based abroad have also begun recruiting their namesakes to join the causes espoused by the Movement, and start their own environmental projects. May the Ramons flourish and prosper!
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SINGAPORE-based Filipino pianist Albert Tiu is the featured performer in the opening gala of the 8th Metro Manila Community Orchestra (MMCO) Concert Season. Tiu will be performing the Grand Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3, reputedly one of the most difficult and demanding piano concertos in the classical piano repertoire.
The gala takes place next Saturday, Oct. 11 at the CCP Main Theater.
Aside from Tiu’s solo, the MMCO will also be performing “Kantus Tagabawa,” an original composition of MMCO music director Josefino “Chino” Toledo premiered by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra; Kodaly’s “Dances of Galanta”; and Moncayo’s “Huapango.”
The MMCO is currently housed in Miriam College, and tickets for the gala are available at the college and from “Friends of the MMCO.”
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