Promoting resilience thru permaculture (1)

Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon—How do we prepare communities to withstand serious challenges associated with the confluence of both natural and human-induced disasters? How should local chief executives lead their constituencies so the latter will have food and livelihood security, and freedom from fear of being disturbed in the middle of their sleeping time at night due to the sounds of gunfire exchanged between warring groups? How do we train our younger generation to nurture nature instead of exploit it for crass materialistic gain? How do we change mindsets toward an alternative approach to nation-building anchored on ethical values of earth care, people care, and fair share to build sustainable, resilient communities in the future?

All these questions and more seemed to have exploded in my mind as I was taking part in a very spirited, insightful conversation here at the Tuminugan Nature Sanctuary—a rustic, cool natural paradise nestled near a gully in the heart of Barangay Kalugmanan, Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon. Across the lot where the farm’s guest house (they refer to as the Big House) is located is the spectacular Mount Kitanglad, Bukidnon’s iconic natural park.

Our extended conversation last Sunday was part of a reunion of the Philippine batch of 2016 that attended that year’s advanced class on Transitional Justice and Dealing with the Past in Switzerland. Our spirited exchanges were made possible through the generosity of our hosts, the innovative farming couple John and Renee Perrine, owners of the sprawling 100-hectare mini rainforest paradise called Tuminugan Nature Sanctuary. In the Bukidnon indigenous language, the word “tuminugan” means “paradise.” True enough, this swath of land looks like an idyllic place to relax and find refuge in the safe and majestic presence of nature—a place evoking the presence of a nurturing, all-loving and beneficent Magbabaya/Allah/God in different belief systems.

John, professor Ma. Lourdes “Vene” Veneracion of the Ateneo de Manila University, Ma. Victoria “Mags” Maglana, retired general Cesar de Mesa, now of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, and I are members of batch 2016.

The sanctuary is planted to hard wood trees like lawa-an, narra, mahogany, and the legendary balete (balite) tree, known to many Filipinos as the tree that hosts dwarves and other “not like us” (dili ingon nato, in Cebuano Visayan). It is a species of the genus Ficus, and many of them are actually strangler figs, as they grow or germinate upon other trees. One such tree is planted right at the entrance of the Tuminugan’s Big House. A narra tree hosts it, with the balete growing slowly alongside it as its parasite. The narra will eventually die since the balete is slowly entrapping it until it suffocates and dies, “to allow for the duwende to stay inside,” as John jokingly explained to me and to the rest of us.

It is amazing how this couple has initiated the practice of permaculture, a nature-based solution to problems of rapacious exploitation of natural habitats that often leads to forest denudation and transformations of erstwhile verdant forest cover to grassland and even to barren landscapes. When John started to rehabilitate this now vibrant and predominantly verdant rainforest almost half a century ago, it was just a huge patch of cogon grass. It looked like an impossible mission to rehabilitate this seemingly barren and useless area for most people. But being the visionary that John is, in 1975, he started planting species of hardwood trees mentioned earlier, with the “mother tree” (the first tree he planted) still standing stately and gracefully, seemingly guarding the whole property with its majestic presence.

Both John and Renee are passionate advocates of finding solutions using nature, in nurturing it instead of exploiting it for selfish ends. They started conversing with a small community of farmers in the barangay, encouraging them to become partners in redesigning the whole area to become a showcase of how to practice agriculture using solutions that come from knowing the natural symbiotic relationships between animals, plants, and human beings. For John and Renee, these include ethical values of earth care, people care, and most especially practicing fair sharing of the products that have been harvested from the farm.

Renee looked all the more radiant while she explained the details of permaculture, which she considers a platform for promoting nature-based solutions to promote an alternative nation-building that eventually fosters lasting peace and development. The couple hopes to become a multiplier agent in fostering this by designing a “permaculture” school right within Tuminugan.

(To be continued)

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