From March 10-17, 2017, our Province of Laguna is celebrating the ANILAG Festival, which is short for "Ani ng Laguna" or harvest of Laguna.  The theme for this year  is "United Families in a Happy Laguna".   Our Diocese of San Pablo coordinated with the Provincial Government to hold a LAKBAY LAWA FORUM 2018, which is an ecology forum on the first day of the Festival, March 10, 2018.

 

Msgr. Jerry Bitoon welcomed the participants to the Forum by recounting the history of the Lakbay Lawa Forum as part of the Anilag Festival. He puts the event into context by reminding the participants of the issues of quality and quantity of water.  We stressed the need to look into the problems related to water, so that we can reverse the situation.  He introduced the topics and speakers and gave us the schedule of day.

 

The first speaker was Dr. Charity Zafaralla discussed the Learnings from the Manifesto of Pope Francis.  She discussed the ecological bases of the Papal Encycal "Laudato si".  She talked about some of the new terminologies introduced by the Pope in his environmental encyclical like ?ecological debt, integral ecology, interconnectedness, ecological conversion and other related terms. 

 

Next speaker was Mrs. Jocelyn Costales on talked to the topic of Natural and Organic Farming.  She decribed their farm as a family owned business that specializes in Organic Food Production, Farm Tourism and Agricultural Education.  They focus on organic agriculture for safe food production while preserving the environment. She also differentiated between Organic and Chemical farming.  She said that the lifeline of their farm are Effective Micro Organisms. 

 

Another speaker on the topic of "Buhay na Bahay: Alternative Sources of Energy and Models of Biodigeters".  She quoted from Mr. Michael Reynolds that "People can live in carbon zero homes right now, The technology is here! Allowing it to happen is the problem.  Our rules and regulations won't let us do it." She was very convincing about use of solar panels as source of green energy and use of biodigesters as a solution to the problem of garbage. 

 

Other speakers spoke briefly on advocacies and environmental activities.  Mr. Danny Aguilar spoke about Eco-charcoal, which provides livelihood opportunities for PWDs, who recycle plant wastes like coconut husks and waterlily.  Mr. Joseph Alvero introduced the Solar Lamp technology whose objective is to build a simple yet functional solar night lamp that can be used to provide light to residents living in communities without electricity.  Mr. Bobby Azores briefly discussed Floating Green Filters, which a low-tech, low-cost technology that uses local plants to absorb excess nutrients from the water.  Ms. Annabelle Anonuevo spoke about Ecobricking, which recycles bottles and plastic into materials for furniture, walls and other uses. 

 

After all the input, there were breakout sessions where groups were tasked with identifying a problem in their area and find solutions from the models presented earlier in the day.  The group of younger adults (or Millenials) chose to do ecobricking, organic urban gardening and eco-charcoal production. The Baby Boomers group decided on eco-charcoal production for their project.

 

The event ended with each participant making a personal commitment to care for the earth.  There were 9 Rs that were focused on and they are Recycle, Reuse, Repair, Reduce, Refuse, Rethink, Reforest, Reconnect and Respect all Life forms created by God.