INDUCED
BY THE BRAZEN cutting of trees by mindless zombies with chainsaws
inside of the Buhisan Watershed Area two Sundays ago, I decided to
re-visit the place today, September 9, 2012. Coming with me again
are Silver Cueva, Jhurds Neo, Ernie Salomon, Dominikus Sepe, Edwina
Marie Intud, Eli Bryn Tambiga and Nyor Pino. They were with me on
the date of August 26, 2012 when we saw NINETEEN, repeat NINETEEN,
stumps of recently cut mahogany trees and two teak trees. We were
going to Kilat Spring then for a grassroots bushcraft activity about
Trailsigns and Stalking.
Adding
to our number today are Randell Savior, Glenn Abapo and Mr. Bogs. We
are the core group of Camp Red and I will discuss a non-bushcraft
topic about Environmental Advocacy. In addition, I will also do a
discourse of the Leave No Trace outdoor ethics. We all meet at the
front court of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Guadalupe, Cebu
City except Randell who will be late and would go directly to a place
called the Portal.
The
Portal is the hub of seven trails located somewhere along the edge of
the Buhisan. Buhisan is where the Metro Cebu Water District source
part of their water in providing services to about 15-20 percent of
the city’s households. It is a protected area and is covered by a
national law known as the Central Cebu Protected Landscape Act.
Buhisan is one of the playgrounds of Camp Red and is the only and
last place in Metro Cebu that still host a a large forested area.
Few
people go to its wildest side and Camp Red happens to carry that
honor and reputation of being the only outdoors group who have
penetrated its thickest jungles and leave almost no traces of their
visits. It is terra incognita to the rest of the other outdoor clubs
and rightly so for this place is not designed for ordinary outdoors
recreation like camping lest presence of many people and their refuse
would threaten water source quality which is not what protected-area
administrators wanted.
It
rained the whole night but I am not worried because the weather
pattern is very predictable like sunny mornings and late afternoon
showers. Anyway, it had always been my manner to proceed in all
kinds of weather and the weather had never given me any
disappointment like postponing an activity on the mere excuse of
muddy trails. Rain clouds of last night’s dissipated quickly as
the sun emerge from its slumber and it is mildly hot when we finally
move up for Bebut’s Trail at 8:00 AM.
Dews
adhering to blades of grass at this hour only suggests that
“heartbreak ridge” will not be tormenting. When we arrive at the
Portal at 9:00 AM, Randell is already there. I show to the newcomers
the stumps of mahogany and that most hated sound of a chainsaw from a
distance and unseen from our point. After rehydrating, we take Kilat
Trail and I notice two new stumps of mahogany and their respective
upper trunks already cut into pieces. The illegal tree-cutting
activity have caused so much disturbance among vegetation and
wildlife. I could hear no birds nor other creature sounds in the
vicinity of the newly-cut trees.
My
heart sank into despair and dejection of seeing and knowing that the
government cannot do something to protect the trees and the
environment in a place that is just about six kilometers from City
Hall and their bureaucrats utterly inutile and incompetent to monitor
a protected area. This gave me the vigor to commit Camp Red to an
active role in protecting the very places we choose as our
playground. When these places are destroyed and become off-limits we
may be ultimately forced to transfer our bushcraft camps to faraway
places and that will entail us more transportation expenses and
several days travel which is very impractical.
When
we arrive at Kilat Spring, I start my discussion on the good cause of
advocating for the protection of the environment. I would have
understood the cutting of trees done by farmers during the hot summer
months and during a drought season when their crop yield could not
support their families but during the middle of the rainy season it
invites suspicion. The use of chainsaws only supports my hunch that
it is done in commercial quantities instead of by subsistence.
I
enjoin all not to be antagonistic against these people but to use
social media instead to create awareness among the rest of the
populace. Facebook and Twitter are good vehicles to spread
information fast and course it amongst politicians, environmentalists
and other well-meaning citizens who, in the course of their works and
causes, created accounts for themselves to make them relevant before
the mainstream public. Everyone now has access to the Internet and
information can be accessed and distributed from the tips of your
fingers in almost real time.
When
all have understood that protection of the environment can be done
with the use of social media, all heave a sigh of relief. Then I
proceed to the next topic which had been causing a slight strain
among a number of outdoor groups against Camp Red. Camp Red, by the
very nature of its niche which is bushcraft and survival, do not
follow LNT as a rule. Still, I entertain the idea of educating Camp
Red bushmen about LNT to let them understand better about its
principles and to be informed.
I
explain to all the very reasons why LNT is formulated by its original
authors and its seven guiding principles based upon my knowledge,
understanding and experience. This is my first time to teach the
whole of LNT yet I state each and every sentence and line while
giving certain examples to make it more understandable and
illuminating to my audience. Furthermore, I sift every information
to distinguish which are useful and applicable and which are not.
LNT
is good and knowledge of it will guide you to conduct yourself
properly in the outdoors in the barest impact possible. Making it as
a rule though makes it counter-productive. I have known certain
outdoor clubs and their individual members who insist that LNT should
be strictly followed and use this as basis to reprimand or boot out
their own. Such skewed interpretations of LNT defeats the very
purpose and the intent of the originators. LNT, just like religion,
is harmony and not foment discord.
Exactly
as I have anticipated at the end my discussion, Ernie finished his
cooking. Lunch consists of vegetable soup, pork adobao, raw cucumber
in vinegar and milled corn. Aside those, Silver shared his gourmet
beans. All take several turns to relish the excellent food. Water
is very abundant and flowing from the concrete spring box of Kilat.
I narrate to everyone why this place is called Kilat and how the
spring came to be. Above us is a fig tree that nurtures the quality
of the natural spring.
After
an hour of socializing and exchange of conversations we take off at
1:00 PM for the lone mango tree which serve as my landmark on the
other side of the high ridge. We reach the tree after twenty minutes
of uphill climb and the shade of the mango is the last cool place
after this if ever we decide to go either to Tisa or to Banawa. I
let them choose which trail they would want to take and they opt for
the latter so I target the Celestial Gardens of Gochan Hills.
It
is all downhill now except when crossing between clefts of hills and
we arrive and follow the Way of the Cross, a series of life-sized
figures depicting the route and agony of Jesus Christ carrying his
cross on his way to Calvary Hill. We arrive below the entrance arc
of the Celestial Gardens at 2:30 PM and we take rest at a nearby
store and rehydrate ourselves with soda drinks to pep up lost energy.
We walk the private road down to Duterte Street so we could transfer
to M. Velez Street.
Final
destination is at the Red Hours Convenience Store and it is a good
place to exchange conversations and observations regarding the day’s
activity. We arrive there at 3:15 PM while Guns Pestaño make
himself available in a short while to join us in our gathering. All
are in high spirits and that is a healthy omen that Camp Red will be
here for good.
Document
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