My rubber boots did not get wet – at all

MANILA, Philippines - This is not a story about getting caught up in raging flood waters in my rubber boots. I didn’t even get to wear my rubber boots for the duration of this project that I shall be writing about (I did get to wear them when our GMA GIVES had a tree planting activity in Rizal, together with the GMA Kapuso Foundation). But I mention these rubber boots because it has been the source of incessant teasing from our partners owing to this estero clean up initiative… but that is getting ahead of my story.

In 2013, GMA Network, together with the Philippine Mine Safety and Environment Association (PMSEA), the Philippine Biochar Association (PBiA) and the Sagip Ilog Pilipinas decided to combine our strengths and resources for the Clean River Zone Biochar Community. The idea was really simple – we will clean up the estero that runs along the community of Block 5 in Daang Tubo (UP Diliman) using bokashi balls. Bokashi balls are made from dried mud and other organic materials, including biochar, and are used to clean bodies of water that have high concentrations of sludge and slime.

Louie Sarmiento, PMSEA president, was enthusiastic about this project as it brings the issue of safety closer to the people, so to speak. “PMSEA advocates safety at all times and having a clean estero in the midst of a bustling residential community is a basic requirement for a safe living environment.”

After a simple MOA signing ceremony among the partners in early 2014, we were off and running, so to speak. Our corps of employee volunteers, the GMA GIVES, spearheaded clean-up activities with the residents of Daang Tubo and their barangay officials. We also had learning session with the kids – one painting session with the sultry Kapuso star Solenn Heussaff, and an afternoon doing environment-focused written activities with pre-schoolers. In the meantime, Sagip Ilog got busy engaging the community, organizing them into committees that would continuously liaise with the barangay long after our project is finished.

“The idea of organizing the residents themselves is so that they will be more proactive in deciding how to keep their environment clean,” shares Meth Jimenez, executive director of Sagip.

PBiA covered the actual estero clean up, teaching the residents how to make the bokashi balls that will be submerged into the estero. Close to 2,000 bokashi balls were introduced in Daang Tubo’s estero. PMSEA funded the community engagement activities of both Sagip Ilog and PBiA. Philip and Ching Camara, the couple behind the advocacy of PBiA, say that bokashi balls can even be manufactured as a collective commercial endeavor of the community.

Because we wanted to be scientific about our approach in cleaning the estero, PBiA had the estero’s water quality periodically tested by a professional laboratory. The results of the first water sampling in January 2014 were dismal: the water quality failed in all aspects of DENR’s standards! These days, though, the water running through the estero looks infinitely better – no more foul odor and the Ph levels have, at least, reached the minimum to be considered neither alkaline nor acidic. PBiA happily shared at a recent community workshop that fish were finally swimming in the estero! Of course, the estero still has a long way to go before being considered clean and safe.

We are ending our formal collaboration with PMSEA, Sagip Ilog and PBiA this December. But the interest that our collaboration has gotten from other like-minded organizations has been encouraging. There are no definite plans yet on how to move forward as a group, but we are heartened by the fact that the community officers of Daang Tubo and the barangay officers are all very enthusiastic about sustaining the gains of our collaborative efforts.

In the recently concluded Business Summit 2014, Felipe Gozon, chairman and CEO of GMA Network, emphasized that mitigating climate change and keeping our environment in tiptop shape lie in our hands. Simple activities like re-using, recycling and reducing can go a long way in protecting our environment. Hopefully, that is one paradigm that we have successfully inculcated in the hearts and minds of our partners in Daang Tubo.

No, I did not get to wear my rubber boots in any of the clean-up activities we had in Daang Tubo. I didn’t even wade in the estero, especially before we threw in the bokashi balls – when the waters were still murky and smelly. But perhaps, I could think about wading in the estero now, in my rubber boots… after all, the water is clearer and has less muck, too.

The author is assistant vice president for Corporate Affairs of GMA Network.