By ELIZABETH LOLARGA
Photos by ANNA LEAH SARABIA
FRANCESCA “Chiqui” Mabanta, one of the women in turquoise tops at the Winner Foundation Inc.’s recent silent auction of art, antiques and collectibles, once visited the Arroceros Forest Park in Manila with her then British boyfriend.
She found genteel ladies holding a picnic under the canopy of old and young trees. She learned how they were putting up a seemingly futile fight against the city mayor at that time to keep the forest protected from the encroachment of concrete structures. So enraged was she that she quickly signed up for membership.
Regina “Ninit” Paterno, foundation chair, recalled how the foundation later evolved from the time when she and her friends joined former First Lady Amelita “Ming” Ramos in the Clean and Green Movement.
In the early 1990s, their group was still groping their way. She said, “We were planting all over Metro Manila–in Ortigas Center, along Taft Avenue, even at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. What we didn’t know was what were the right trees to plant. We realized that if you didn’t take care of the trees, they would not survive. You can’t just plant and go away. Of the ones we planted that survived, they were the ones we planted along EDSA, right in front of Corinthian Gardens.”
What Paterno did was to talk to the homeowners’ association to request that the trees be taken care of. It helped that she lived in that village so she could monitor the trees’ growth.
Part of the Winner Foundation’s winning ways was talking sincerely with their allies about their cause like the officers of Casino Español on T.M. Kalaw Street, Manila, where some of the trees they planted over 20 years ago are still standing. Paterno said, “We learned more lessons. There’s a certain mortality for trees. The main lesson was we had to do this in a specific area and take care of the trees there.”
Then foundation president Gloria Cardenas used to go tree planting with Alfredo Lim on Sundays, he acting as a Rotarian, she as a Rotary Ann. When Lim became mayor, he told Cardenas, “I have a place in mind for you, but it belongs to the national government. If you talk to President Ramos, the city of Manila has a budget for an educational and environmental project.”
The foundation entered into a memorandum of agreement with the City of Manila to become the guardians of the 2.1-hectare Arroceros Forest Park that already had existing trees as old as 160 years old.
Paterno said, “What made it ideal was it was beside the Pasig River–perfect for an open-air park. The only thing when we first saw it was it was full of rubble, cogon and informal settlers.” Mrs. Ramos helped look for a resettlement site in Cavite where the informal settlers moved.
The foundation’s members had Arroceros cleaned and planted more trees until Lito Atienza took over as mayor. What followed was a well-documented struggle wherein part of the forest grounds was paved with concrete and a building was put up upon his approval.
Mabanta said, “We lost a lot of the canopy because the concrete pavers couldn’t absorb water. Before they were installed, the forest was denser. The concrete used could’ve gone to the poor.”
Paterno added, “We lost some trees during that struggle, including an old kamagong (ebony).” But the environmentalists emerged as the victors in that clash when Atienza lost in another mayoralty race.
The auction at The Orchid Suites on Vito Cruz, Malate, is part of a yearly tradition to raise funds for the park’s maintenance. Every Saturday, the foundation’s gardening committee visits the park to supervise the gardeners and give out the payroll.
The gathering was a reunion of the old rich with the foundation’s women wearing variations of turquoise, this year’s theme color. (Last year it was green, always a color derived from Nature.)
Member Chit Roces-Santos paused before explaining the color, “Maybe a combination of Arnneow (Ateneo) and La Salle? No reason. We ran out of colors, I guess.”
Perhaps the ladies are being modest. Turquoise, after all, is historically “the talisman of kings, shamans, and warriors. It is a stone of protection, strong and opaque, yet soothing to the touch, healing to the eye, as if carved from an azure heaven and slipped to earth. Its unique shade of blue, often blue-green, lends it name, Turquoise, to all things of this tranquil hue.” (www.crystalvaults.com/crystal-encyclopedia/turquoise)
With a new mayor to deal with in the person of Joseph Estrada, the ladies who garden hope he sees the value of having a forest in Manila to improve the air, for people to freely enjoy and, in a city that sits below sea level, for flood control.