Tree Planting at Mt. Makiling

Brgy. San Vicente Sto. Tomas, Batangas

19 October 2013

"Hitting Four Birds with One Stone!"

I Hiked, I planted trees, I had a great adventure and I did some exciting photo shoots.

2GO LMC organized a tree planting activity at the slope of Mt. Makiling at Brgy. San Vicente in Sto. Tomas, Batangas. This is part of the 2GO Group Corporate Social Responsibility.

Early 0423H on October 19, 2013, I arrived at the designated pickup point at "The Hub" located near Dr. Jose Rizal monument at the Rizal Park, Manila.

Based on our itinerary, we were supposed to leave for Sto. Tomas, Batangas by 0530H for the tree planting activity.

There were more than 100 volunteers on this event from all of 2GO Group of companies.

The registration started at 0515H and then we had breakfast. The briefing started at 0603H and it was conducted by one of the team leaders from LMC.

We started boarding the buses at 0615H. There were three buses and I was assigned at bus #2 together with employees from International Logistics group - Kerry-ATS and Hansa Meyer ATS. We were accompanied by one safety officer and four LMC members. We were 37 in the bus.

We left Manila at around 0645H. We had a quick stopover at a gas station along the SLEX to refuel the buses. We reached Brgy. San Vicente in Sto. Tomas, Batangas at 0850H.

One of the buses got lost and we waited. While waiting, it started to rain and there was a heavy downpour. We decided to wait inside the buses and also to have an early lunch.

At 1002H, we started trekking at the slope of Mt. Makiling towards the tree planting site. It was still raining. The muddy trail was very slippery.

At 1024H, most of us were at the base camp. At 1035H, the final briefing was conducted by a representative from UPLB.

From base camp, we started trekking up to the tree planting site at 1042H. This was the most challenging part of the trail for most of the volunteers who were not used to trekking.

At 1122H, few of us reached the tree planting site and we started to plant the seedlings. There were about 450 seedling bags.

The seedlings were already brought at the site and holes were made identified with a bamboo peg. All we had to do is to remove the seedlings from the plastic bags and then plant them inside the holes.

 

The tree planting site is not a flat ground but an inclined portion. Since only few of us were at the site first, we started planting at the base and gradually ascended on the slope.

Counting the seedling bags that I had, I realized that I was able to plant 35.

 

According to the person from UPLB, the seedlings are fruit bearing trees and not indigenous trees. The tree planting site is about 300MASL and so there is a nice landscape view of the neighboring places.

After planting the seedlings, I enjoyed taking photos.

 

The dedication of the volunteers are impressive. Despite the rain, the steep trail and mud, they did not give up and planted all the seedlings properly as it should be.

James Doolittle said, "There is nothing stronger than the heart of a Volunteer".

At 1220H, we started our descent from the tree planting site. As the trail was wet, muddy and slippery, It took longer for most of the volunteers to descend from the mountain.

We were all back at the drop-off point where the three buses were waiting at 1410H. We had late lunch and left Sto. Tomas at 1512H.

--o0o--