Pista y ang Kageban – a novel approach to environmentalism and a model for other provinces in the Philippines

Before the sun rose last Saturday morning thousands of Puerto Princesans could be seen leaving their houses and making their way through the streets toward the trucks that were waiting for them at Mendoza Park and the City Coliseum. It was the day of the 15th Pista y ang Kageban, a huge tree-planting festival which takes place each year in the month of June – the start of Palawan’s rainy season. Pista y ang Kageban, means ‘Feast of the Forest’ in Cuyonon and true to its name, the atmosphere at the planting site in the Irawan watershed was one of excitement and celebration.  According to Nonoy Lanzanas, one of the Pista’s founders, having started as a modest, family affair ‘the event is continually growing - each year becoming more of a festival with more people and more activities’.

Despite the rain, more that two hundred people camped out at the planting site the night before the Pista and as early as four thirty the next morning, the trucks started arriving from town carrying volunteers eager to plant their seedlings and join the festivities. On the way there, the participants past by the Water District pumping station, a clear reminder that they were entering the Irawan watershed, Puerto Princesa’s main water source. The volunteers also went by planting sites from previous years – woodland areas which are now thriving thanks to a seedling survival rate of over 70%.

The roots of Pista go back to the final years of the Palawan Integrated Area Development Project (PIADP) in the early 1990s - a time when the province was experiencing an upsurge in environmental activities and awareness.  Through radio broadcasts, music, seminars and workshops, the communication team of PIADP made many of the initial efforts to alert Palawenos to the dangers of environmental destruction. Within this initiative, the group SINIKA started composing and performing songs to raise the environmental consciousness of Palawenos. In June 1991, declared Environmental Month by the United Nations, the PIADP communication team planned to hold a celebration.  At this time Palawan was still experiencing alarmingly rapid de-forestation – roughly 11 hectares per day. According to Mayor Edward Hagedorn, illegal logging and slash and burn farming denuded Palawan’s forest from 75% to less than 50% between 1976 and 1992. Palawenos themselves were feeling the negative effects of de-forestation – communities were suffering from flash floods in the rainy season and lack of water during the summer. Against this background, the PIADP team decided to focus their June celebration on tree-planting.

Since its very beginning, the purpose of Pista y ang Kageban has been two-fold. By the early 1990s, the Irawan watershed had undergone serious de-forestation and it was vital to re-forest the area in order to ensure adequate water for the growing population of Puerto Princesa. In addition to this, the organisers were committed to igniting environmental consciousness in the minds of the city folk. These were the twin aims of the PIADP staff in initiating a tree-planting festival in Irawan and there was good cause for them to celebrate last Saturday as the festival has been highly successful in both these respects.

So far, around 150 hectares have been forested in the Irawan watershed and over 90 hectares in Magarwak, Santa Lourdes. This year around 85,000 seedlings were successfully planted on 32 hectares of land – the most ever in one year. According to City Environment and Natural Resources Officer (CENRO), Roger Dequer, in past years the festival suffered from the fact that some participants made their way straight to the stage area without doing any planting. This year, however, the layout of the site was carefully planned so that each volunteer planted before joining the festivities. Participants carried as many seedlings as they could up the muddy slopes - some one or two while others eight or more. During the festivities helicopters from the Western Command  could be heard overhead scattering seeds on the steep, hard to reach areas of the hillsides. ‘Thanks to tree planting in Irawan the city’s water supply is now relatively stable’ said Dequer. This is in contrast to the early 1990s when Puerto Princesa was experiencing waterless months during the summer. ‘Now, even though consumption in Puerto has increased significantly in the last ten years, we still have a lot of water here in the watershed,’ added Joel Ramos, CENRO Environmental Management Specialist.

Turnout at the Pista has always been remarkable – it soured from 2,500 in 1991 to 7,500 in 1992. In 1993, due to the extraordinarily large number of people expected, the festival was turned over to the City Government under the newly elected Mayor Edward Hagedorn and from that time on attendance levels have been in the tens of thousands. For many students, including those of Palawan State University (PSU) and Western Philippines University (WPU) it is compulsory to attend the festival. According to Ramos this is ‘so they will realise that they share the responsibility of protecting the forest.’ Still, a huge number of other volunteers from all walks of life came to plant trees and join the merrymaking. As one participant pointed out, ‘it’s really a holiday because everybody’s here - the whole town stops just for Pista and that reflects the consciousness of the people’.

The festival is a much bigger event than it once was and the atmosphere now is undoubtedly different to that of years gone by.  Due this its growth, some of Pista’s original charm has perhaps disappeared, however, it is not hard to see that the festival still has its roots – the original performers, SINIKA, are still at the front of the festivities and the basic ingredients of tree-planting and celebration remain at the forefront of people’s minds.

Masaya, or fun, is a word that you can hear over and over again when people are describing the festival in Irawan but most will point out that their main reason for coming is to plant trees to revive the watershed. It is clear that many ordinary people are feeling increasingly involved in the environmental future of Puerto Princesa - ‘It is a matter of the city tying itself with nature’, said one volunteer, ‘this kind of festival should be replicated all over the Philippines.’

This article was originally published in Bandillo ng Palawan, a local environment and development newspaper.

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