Photo by Jamael Jacob

Known as the Historical Capital of the Philippines, the province of Cavite abounds with great objects and subjects of culture and history.

It is the cradle of the Philippine Revolution and the birthplace of Philippine Independence. It also teems with natural resources and fantastic landscapes, and is conveniently located just south of metropolitan Manila.

Its accessibility and fresh natural setting makes it an ideal refuge for those who want to take a breather and escape the buzz and fuzz of urban life. Its warm and friendly people manifest industry and patience in various skills and professions, and are open to the entry and exchange of culture and technology that are of value to this wondrous province.

Long known to be a picturesque and gracious province, Cavite gleams with mountains, caves and falls, a scenic view of the Taal Volcano (a volcano within a lake), as well as historical sites that have defined significant national events, and partly characterized the Filipino identity.

RR Tours aim to take part in protecting Cavite’s upland and coastal resources, and in preserving its communities’ cultural integrity.

Photo by Jamael Jacob

Scale Mt. Palay-Palay (Pico de Loro).

Brave the steep slopes of Mt. Palay-Palay and marvel at the panoramic view from its summit called Pico de Loro 664 meters above sea level. Traverse tree canopies, lush bamboo forests, and exotic flora and fauna along the trail, and gaze at an interesting rock formation facing the summit, and at the vast seas and mountain ranges hemming Mt. Palay-Palay.

Experience life in coastal Patungan.

Feel at home with the hospitable and fun-loving people of Patungan, a fishing village now known as Sta. Mercedes. Go fishing with the locals, play with children, live with a family in the community, and know more about their challenges and efforts to save and preserve their natural resources in the face of thriving commerce and development.

Visit the Bonifacio Trial House in Maragondon and appreciate Philippine History.

Take a historical trip to the Bonifacio Trial House, where one of the country’s heroes, Andres Bonifacio, was tried by a military court. See pieces of rich historical legacies the great Caviteño forefathers gave for the birth of Philippine Independence and be reminded of the courage, nationalism, and faith of the Filipino people.

Enjoy the sea, plant mangroves, visit the marine reserves and Carabao Island in Patungan.

Have fun at the sea, and go swimming, fishing, or snorkelling in Patungan. Explore its marine reserves and the Carabao Island. Then, take part in protecting nature’s sea bounty and plant mangroves in its coastal areas.

Tour around an organic farm in Silang and have a glimpse of Taal Volcano in Tagaytay City.

Take a tour around and have breakfast at an organic farm in Silang. Then, spend some time picnicking, shopping, and sight-seeing in Tagaytay – a city with a touch of countryside charm. It is the country’s second summer capital (next to Baguio City) and is famed not only for its cool weather but also for its novelty stores, variety of delectable international and local cuisines, and a great view of Taal, a volcano within a lake believed to be once the mouth or crater of a volcano.

Products. Savour the brewing pride of Cavite – fresh and organic coffee beans harvested from the province’s organic coffee farms. Fulfil your cravings for seafood and bring home to your friends and loved ones some fresh, sun-dried smoked fish.

Itinerary
(3 days, 2 nights)

Minimum no. of participants: Five (5)

Package tour includes the following: Transportation (rented van and boat), Food, Accommodation (Homestay and/or Resort), Tour Guides, Socials, Mangrove seedlings, Donations to host communities and partner People’s Organizations

Tour kits and souvenir items are optional. Freebies will be given to groups with ten or more members. Tourists are requested to bring their own snorkelling gears.

Related posts:

• Refreshing Marinduque Tour

This province is far enough from Manila for travelers to enjoy the old, gentle ways of rural and coastal life, and also near and affordable enough to be back to the metropolis as quickly as they wish.

A warm welcome customarily awaits every traveler to Marinduque. Experience its time-honored hospitality and join the people as they address the issues of sustainable development and the preservation of their unique culture and natural setting.

Boac River Valley, Gasan Marine Reserve, Gaspar Island and Malbog Hot Spring Tour.

Catch the telltale mine tailing spills in the Boac River Valley and share thoughts with the village folk. Interact with the people in the Gasan Community Marine Reserve, then reflect and commune with nature in the pristine white beach of Gaspar Island. Take a dip into the sulphuric hot spring of Malbog then spend an afternoon at a farm interacting with a farmers’ organization.

Bayakbayin-Poctoy Experience.

Share in the pride of a thriving farmers’ cooperative in Bayakbayin, an upland farm. From there, enjoy a panoramic vies of the Torrijos town. Go swimming, snorkelling or fishing, and experience coastal life and the Marinduqueños hospitality during your homestay with a family in the fishing village of Poctoy. Visit a local pot maker and get a chance to sit behind the pottery wheel to create your own Marinduque souvenir.

Mining-Bay-Churches-Falls Tour.

Visit an erstwhile mining pit area, and learn about the adverse effects of mining on the local marine and aquatic resources. Take a trip to Calancan Bay, interact with members of a fisherfolk federation, and plant mangrove seedlings. Visit the town center of Sta. Cruz and pay homage to history in the old churches, one of which was constructed in 1760’s. Explore Bathala Caves, a complex network of seven mostly uncharted caves, then plunge into Paadjao Falls, a series of cascading falls, in Mogpog.

Products.

Known as the land of coconut milk and honey, Marinduque offers tasty treats and sweet delicacies such as the arrowroot cookies and bibingka (rice cake), and other coconut-based food and health products. Enjoy some gourmet delights of fresh seafood, organic vegetables, and native dishes whipped with coconut milk. Bring home beautiful native hand weave bags and other handicrafts made by the expert weavers of Torrijos.

Itinerary
(5 days, 4 nights)

Minimum no. of participants: Five (5)

Package tour includes the following: Transportation (rented van and boat), Food, Accommodation (Homestay and/or Resort), Tour Guides, Socials, Mangrove seedlings, Donations to host communities and partner People’s Organizations

Tour kits and souvenir items are optional. Freebies will be given to groups with ten or more members. Tourists are requested to bring their own snorkeling gears.

Related posts:

• Exciting Cavite Tour

1. moves communities from the margins to the mainstream; 2. builds local economy; 3. protects environment and habitat; 4. enhances cultural integrity; 5. respects diversity; 6. promotes cooperation and solidarity; 7.

builds infrastructure in harmony with landscape, nature, culture and people.

Perspectives and Strategies of Ecodevelopment Tourism:

Moving Communities from the Margins to the Mainstream

• The nation’s tourism industry is largely the domain of big business and foreign investors who have the volume of capital to finance land acquisition and infrastructure development—two of the major elements that characterize the industry today.
• Ecodevelopment tourism (ecodevtourism) is community-centered. The community plays a key role in the planning and decision-making of tourism activities in their area.
• Ecodevtourism advocates community control and management of natural resources. It helps build community capacity to manage the development of its area.
• It involves setting up of community organizations and enterprises, training leaders and community specialists, as well as developing the appropriate technology required to ensure sound management of area ecosystems.

Building the local economy

• A system’s viability depends on its capacity to reproduce and sustain itself. Economic gains from tourism should be retained in the community to improve and sustain its economy and other development activities.
• Ecodevtourism helps develop community-owned tourism enterprises and helps create development funds to support economic, social and environmental projects of community partners.

Protecting environment and habitat

• The natural environment is the base of development of a community. It is also a vital base of tourism. Ecodevtourism is for ecological protection and biodiversity conservation. It recognizes the carrying capacity of each site and of the community. It is sensitive to visitor impact and to the limits of acceptable change of community habitats.

Enhancing cultural integrity, respecting diversity

• Ecodevtourism promotes increased appreciation of cultural diversity. Village stays and immersion activities provide opportunities to deepen understanding of the host’s social and development milieu.
• Ecodevtourism helps foster mutual interdependence and respect between visitor and host in the spirit of genuine human encounter and solidarity.
• Ecodevtourism helps preserve the Filipino cultural heritage through support for restoration of historical sites and monuments, and education on the Filipino’s rich and diverse culture and history.

Promoting solidarity through learning and exchange

• Ecodevtourism is a vehicle to engage solidarity with and support of a people’s defense of its community and habitat.
• It also promotes greater awareness and understanding of the significant contribution that an alternative form of tourism can make to the environment, the people and their economy.
• Education and linkage-building are key components of PRRM’s RR Tours.

Related posts:

• Ecotourism

An urban garden at the PRRM building in Quezon City was a project conceived since 2006. In 2006 a hydroponics projects was installed on the rooftop. Lettuce was grown in a liquid medium. In 2007 another garden was installed in clay jars at the penthouse. However, both projects were not sustained and left the rooftop and penthouse bare.

The combined area in the rooftop and the penthouse that is good for planting measures 323 square meters.

In 2008 PRRM was able to completely install a system of waste segregation on every floor that separates garbage unto four categories, namely: (1) non-biodegradable; (2) recyclable; (3) biodegradable; and (4) compostable.

In early 2009, the PRRM canteen started to be managed by an organic kitchen that could provide more than enough food materials for compost. The kitchen, called Doc Susan’s Kitchen Clinic, is run by the team of Dr. Susan Balingit who also heads the Sandiwaan Center for Responsible Health Care, Inc. Consistent with their advocacy, they provide organic food products for the people in the building coupled with their active campaign for healthy food habits. This provides the garden not only with an abundant source of food materials for compost but also clean and organically grown food.

Challenges Faced

Weight. Roof tops are built to carry the weight of only the ceiling of the top floor. In the case of the PRRM building, the iron bars used were smaller than those used at the penthouse (5th floor).

Structural designs had to be dug up and consultations with the architects and engineers are ongoing. Until now it has not yet been determined how much weight the roof top can actually carry. With this information gap, the project had to slow down while waiting for this important information from the engineers.

As of July 8, 2009 about 30% of the entire area is now filled with plants. They are grown in different containers ranging from black plastic plant bags to old and worn out vehicle tires, and directly on the ground with a thin layer of plastic film. The total estimated weight of all the materials is now eleven (11) tons.

Sunlight. At the roof top area, there is very strong sunlight coupled with a constant wind blowing. This dries up the garden very quickly. We corrected this problem by fixing a shade made of fish nets to dampen the strong light. They also have to be fixed on strong frames of metal poles that are then fixed on metal posts resting on cement-filled vehicle tires. The nets, however, now stand strong and provide shade to the plants.

The nets were supposed to go up during the peak of the summer months. With some considerable delays, the garden beds were finally installed in the first week of May which also marked the end of the summer months. On hind sight, an option would have been to use nets with bigger mesh of at least one inch. Aside from being cheaper, they will also accommodate climbing plants that will eventually give shade to the garden all the way until the coming summer months.

Drainage. With an assortment of gardening materials, there is a risk of clogging the drainage pipes. Among the materials used, it is the coconut fiber and leaves that clog the inlet pipe easily. The rest of the materials are much smaller and soluble, thus going into the drain with ease.

One design that was tried was a perforated mineral water bottle that was filled with coconut fiber that acts as filter. It was used at the corner portion of the garden to receive the water that runs under the garden beds. The garden bed is now permanently resting on the ground and the filter will stay there until such time that flooding occurs. The filter was made to stick out of the bed to facilitate fixing if necessary. As of this writing, no flooding has been observed on this portion of the garden; thus, it was easy to conclude that the filter was effective.

The rest of the drainage receptacles remain open. They have to be cleaned regularly to take off clogging debris. To facilitate cleaning, we tried using pebbles to act as filter. The pebbles, as well as broken pieces of jars are effective in allowing faster exit of the rain water as well as trapping debris such as fibers and leaves.

The latest design we tried was a cylinder of wire mesh wrapped with fine fish nets. It was effective in creating a bigger area for the rain water to pass through while holding off the debris.

Over-abundant supply of food materials. The combined operations of the kitchen and the segregation of garbage require a regular and diligent composting of the materials; otherwise, they would stink and attract unwanted insects. Two compost boxes are now installed. The first one had to be turned into a plant box while the second one still receives food scraps.

The other feature is a vermi-composting box installed last July 16, 2009 with the help of Mr. Wilfedo Benosa, a farmer technician of the RINCOMESA from Baao, Camarines Sur. Manong Willy brought one kilogram of the African night crawler (eudrilus euginae) as starter stock. The box is made of plastic sheets formed as a box with floor tiles that stand against the potted plants. The entire box rests on a mound of coco chips. The idea was to elevate the entire box to allow collection of vermi tea. This liquid is a very rich kind of fertilizer which can be diluted to become a foliar fertilizer.

Fixed Garden Beds

The fixed garden beds is my innovation that will enable gardeners to plant directly unto the ground without the use of any containers. The purpose of this innovation is to cut down the cost as well as integrate the plants unto one another by allowing them to grow freely. However, with fixed garden beds, there are several challenges.

First, the bed should not get in contact directly with the cement. Any small crack on the cement floor might cause an accumulation of debris and algae. They may also become an entry point for plant roots that may enlarge the cracks further.

For this fixed bed, we used the following materials: plastic film (caps and ends of mineral water), and broken jars and pebbles, three layers of cardboard, potting mix. Coco chips that served as foot paths were laid directly on the plastic sheet.

Layout

The fixed garden beds are designed to accommodate easy access while having the maximum number and diversity of plants. Inspired by perma-culture, the foot paths are in the shape of keyholes thus allowing the person to reach every part of the garden with ease. Taller plants are located at the farther end of the beds while smaller plants are located nearest to the foot paths.

Containers

Considerations in choosing the containers to use are cost, accessibility, weight, safety and durability. The rest of the plants are grown on an assortment of containers such as black plastic bags, rice bags (sako), wire mesh and clay pots. Rice bags are expected to last for only six months, while the black plastic bags for only a year or less. Among these containers, the clay pot is still the ideal container. It is does not contain any traces of toxic elements and it regulates the moisture of the soil. However, clay pots are heavier and more costly. Old vehicle tires that served as footing for the posts were also used. They contain, however, cadmium which may be dissolved with the potting mix in time. I planted some ginger on them but had to provide an insulating layer of cardboard between the tires and the potting mix.

The cylindrical wire mesh is another novel design for container gardens. I used a meter of the wire mesh formed unto a cylinder and filled with potting mix to plant granada (pomegranate). I will try the same size to plant papaya and lemon.

Plants

The roof top garden is now teeming with vegetables and herbs. Please see the list. We also dared to plant mulberry, tamarind and avocado on rice bags. They are not meant to grow until they bear fruit but only to harvest the leaves. Tamarind will provide seasoning for soups while mulberry and avocado will provide leaves for tea.

The Growing Medium

We only used a very little amount of soil, left from the past gardening project. I would declare that 95% of this garden uses a mixture of coco peat, carbonized rice hull (CRH) and compost. In the beginning, we had to get our organic fertilizer all the way from Nueva Ecija. The farmers of Barangay Balbalungao supplied us with fifty (50) bags of organic fertilizer and carbonized rice hull which we mixed with coco peat in 1:2:2 ratio. Coco peat holds the water, CRH serves as the habitat of beneficial microorganisms as well as drainage while the fertilizer provides the plant food.

Potting mix is water soluble. This will eventually be taken up and dissolved by the plants or go down the drain. It is therefore a must that a scoop full of potting mix be dropped on the plants, in my best estimate once during the flowering period and once after harvest and before the next seeds are sown on the same container.

Compost. I find the compost from the canteen even more invigorating to the plants. Kitchen wastes are composted immediately at the compost box and are dropped off to the plants as soon as they have matured.

On July 7, 2009 we bought a pair of guinea pigs from a pet shop. Aside from providing pleasure and being animals for affection, they are meant to eat vegetable scraps in order to harvest manure for the compost. Still, vermi-composting would be the best technology there is and we are working to have it established in the garden.

The Kitchen—Garden Interaction

A cycle is now emerging to become a beautiful rhythm of garden and kitchen. This project is also blessed with a team of advocates of healthy cooking and food habits. The kitchen crew is more than happy to participate in managing the kitchen waste, making compost, planting at their own spot, providing seeds and harvesting vegetables and herbs.

Gardening as a Team Building Activity

Volunteer gardeners among the PRRM staff are more than happy to join the gardening days of Fridays. Headed by Ms. Goyi Solis, the Director of Corporate Affairs and Human Resources, they happily make the garden beds amidst exchanges of jokes and laughter.

Conclusion

The project has clearly shown that the success of a rooftop garden rests on the elements of waste management, local resource mobilization, a strong cooperation with the kitchen and a strong team spirit.

It is still unclear if the project is making a cash profit. I also am not certain how and how much money it will create. However, what is clear is that it has now provided some harvests of vegetables and herbs for the kitchen, PRRM staff and other building occupants, exercise for the participating gardeners and a place of solace for the weary office worker. Furthermore, the project was conceived not only with the purpose of becoming a business enterprise. It was conceived to generate lessons on how to utilize the wastes generated, help in cooling the building, provide food and finally become a model from which urban residents may get inspired to create their own gardens.

LIST OF PLANTS
PRRM’s Roof Top Garden
As of 20 July 2009