The La Mesa watershed in bloom

Two weeks ago, my son suggested that we take Drake, the family Alaskan Malamute, for a run in La Mesa. That was the best suggestion ever. I hadn’t visited La Mesa in a long time — and I was awestruck by how lush it had become. It was beautiful. I did the six-kilometer run with my household staff. Drake went wild. When he saw the forest, he broke off into a sprint with the gardener tailing behind him. He was so happy!

Running in a forest is just so different from running on pavement. Here my soul gets touched. I loved running and brisk walking among the trees. I got elated when I saw the streams feeding into the reservoir. And to think we were in Manila!

 The head forester was busy making kuwento. “Ma’am, you know this morning we had more than 100 bikers! And Ma’am, you know next week there will be 450 employees from the Lopez Group doing a Walk The Talk in La Mesa...” He even had Pia Cayetano stories: “Ma’am, ang lakas ng Senator. Tumatakbo siya habang kami ay nagbibisikleta. At pagkatapos niyang tumakbo,  magbibisikleta pa siya! Hindi napapagod...” (“Ma’am, the Senator is strong. She runs while we bike, and after she runs she will bike! She does not get tired…”)

Amused, I called up Senator Pia. I told her that there are Pia stories in the watershed! She laughed.

So I have now decided to run and take Drake there every week. I go together with my two kids. This Sunday I went with my sister in the morning. I met five bikers who biked all the way from Bulacan! They had biked an hour and a half and then biked another three hours in the watershed!

Further down the trail, I met Raf Dominguez, the son of Sonny Dominguez, with his son Armand. He started at 7 a.m. and when I met him it was near noon. He said by the end he would have biked 30K! I am so glad that La Mesa is offering a place for people to bike, run and feel nature.

The other week my son was interviewing me about La Mesa. His class in International School was going to go there. It was their big project in geography for the year!

On the way there I saw a loooong line of people going to the La Mesa Eco Park. And to think that was a place of cockfights and illegal dwellers. We intentionally did not cut any trees, and weaved the development around it. Taking care of the environment is really the way to go.

The place is great because now there are so many trails — 6km, 5km, 4km, 7km and 9km — so we are making maps of all these trails, and there will be arrows directing you where to go.

The trails are so beautiful. I love walking in the midst of trees.

If you want to go biking or trekking in the lush forest of La Mesa Watershed, you may call 938-2540 or e-mail lamesawatershed@gmail.com. But if you want a more recreational La Mesa Ecopark experience, call 430-5208 or e-mail lamesaecopark@abs-cbn.com.

I was quite alarmed when I saw from the chopper that the number of shanties inside the watershed was increasing! Years ago when the 58 hectares were sold for the purpose of turning it into a housing subdivision, I raised five million signatures in three months to stop the housing. I have no problem with giving housing to MWSS employees, but I do have a problem putting up a housing subdivision inside the watershed on top of our drinking water!  Then former DENR Secretary Lito Atienza assured me he would never give an ECC (Environmental Compliance Certificate) for a housing subdivision on top of our water supply.

But the sale of the land had gone through. The person who bought the land — since he could go on with his plan of a housing subdivision has put up an agricultural land — and from the chopper I saw a breeding ground for fighting hens inside a watershed? Something must be done about it. Yes, there is private property. But there must be a law out there to protect public welfare. To my mind private property should not be allowed to the disadvantage of the welfare of the majority.

How can we have agricultural land and shanties inside a watershed? That’s the drinking water of 12 million Filipinos! And these individuals will have access to trees that will one day be worth hundreds of thousands. It’s not right at all, to put at risk the welfare of millions.

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 Here are the correct contact details of Dr. Cris Enriquez of Rapha Health Center is 757-3335 or e-mail doctorcris@me.com. I featured him and his clinic in my article last Feb. 17.

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I can be reached at regina_lopez@abs-cbn.com.