Richard Gutierrez gets taste of global warming

RIZAL, Philippines - The 3 p.m. sun glared down on a group of about 20 young people as they trekked through the rugged sections of Rodriguez (formerly Montalban) town in Rizal province. They edged across a steep mountain slope, aware that a false step could lead to a tragic fall. Buckets of sweat poured from their faces and necks. But this was no ordinary group of weekend picnic hikers. It included actor Richard Gutierrez, his sister Ruffa, fellow actor TJ Trinidad, Kapuso sister celebrities Ehra and Michelle Madrigal, and other celebrity friends and television staff. Earlier that Tuesday morning, the group assembled at the GMA Network Center in Quezon City, sporting mostly plain shirts, pants, and sneakers. They were not preparing for an outdoor shoot. Fueled by a heavy lunch for the strenuous activity ahead, and after an hour-long drive aboard a convoy of vehicles, the celebrity group finally arrived at the foot of the Rizal mountains. At first, they traveled easily through the paved municipal roads of Rodriguez, but soon began to negotiate through more rugged and hilly terrain. The peak of Mount Ayaas loomed ahead. At one point, the convoy pulled to a stop because vehicles could no longer climb the steep road. Richard and the other passengers had to transfer to a more rugged four-wheel-drive pickup truck that would take them to the upper slopes. Since the truck could not carry all of them, the women hikers took the first turn, leaving Richard, fellow actor TJ Trinidad, and the remaining men in the group to wait for the second trip. But Richard was eager to reach the site the soonest. As the truck left with the first batch of passengers, he told the others, “Tara, lakarin na lang natin (Let’s go and hike our way up)!" And so the brawny action star, popular for his heroic television roles as Captain Barbell, Aguiluz and Agent Asero, led the pack in trudging up the muddy mountain trail under the scorching sun. Donning a cap and shades, he soon pulled away from the group and was out of sight in a matter of minutes. Finally reaching the site, the group was greeted by a number of young environmental advocates from the Earth Day Network and Mga Anak ni Inang Daigdig (Children of Mother Earth) led by Fr. Ben Beltran, who coordinated the activity. Compared to the grueling trek to their destination, the main activity itself was plain and simple: the celebrities would plant as many seedlings as they could, with a target of 200 seedlings that day. Tree planting As if on cue, the celebrities and the youth volunteers took their positions and, with only their bare hands, started planting the seedlings into pits already dug out beforehand. The idea was to replant not just any type of tree but three types of endemic trees – namely, sakat, balakat-gubat, and piling liitan, and seven types of indigenous trees, namely, narra, ilang-ilang, molave, dau, lingo-lingo, igyo, and kalumpit. Endemic trees are those that grow only in the Philippines, while indigenous trees are those that naturally occur in the Philippines as well as other countries. “This is my first time to do this," said a proud Ehra, as she tamped the soil around an ilang-ilang seedling. A youth volunteer exclaimed, “We should give them [the plants] names," obviously enjoying the activity. As Richard planted his last seedling, his clothes stained with dirt, Father Beltran explained to him the importance of reforesting that particular area. “Maliban sa pag-focus sa global warming, kailangan din natin ang pagtatanim ng mga puno lalo na dito sa bundok na ito sa Montalban (Aside from focusing on global warming, we also need to plant trees especially on this mountain here in Montalban)," Beltran said. He said a huge percentage of Metro Manila residents source their drinking water from the watershed found underneath the particular mountain in Rodriguez. “Kaya importante na dito tayo magsimula (That’s why it’s important that we start here)." The target of Beltran’s group and Earth Day Network is to plant one million seedlings by 2014 on a 50-hectare portion of the mountain in Puray village that was entrusted to them by the government. Meanwhile, on the upper slopes, an eager Ana Roces continued scanning for other pits into which to plant more seedlings. “This is already my third plant. This is narra, right?" the actress asked one of the environmental volunteers. Global warming The country is one of the world’s most biologically diverse locations, with almost half of its 15,000 species of flora and fauna considered endemic. Richard, a Greenpeace Philippines member, will tackle this abundance in biodiversity in a new GMA documentary to be aired Sunday night, entitled Planet Philippines. Employing high-definition cameras, the documentary is expected to enchant its audiences with vivid colors and sounds of the terrestrial and marine life that make up the Philippines’ unparalleled biodiversity. Richard had earlier visited a number of Philippine provinces, traveling from Isabela in Northern Luzon to Tarragona town, Davao Oriental in Mindanao, and even diving with the rarely seen thresher sharks off Malapascua Island in Cebu. The team also explored the highly-diverse sea lanes of Batangas, considered the “center of the center" of the world’s marine biodiversity and home to one of the largest concentrations of corals in the world. According to Conservation International, "The country is one of the few nations that is, in its entirety, both a hotspot and a megadiversity country, placing it among the top priority hotspots for global conservation." In its latest report, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reported that some 163,000 hectares of forest in the Philippines – almost the size of Cavite province – are lost annually. A number of studies indicate that only between three to four percent of the country’s original, old-growth forest is left. Richard has engaged in explorations and adventures, having hosted environment-themed programs like GMA’s Full Force Nature and the network’s first-ever documentary on global warming, Signos. Despite being drained by the grueling one-hour climb to Mount Ayaas, Richard said the activity was worth the time and effort because he considered it not as a mere tree-planting effort but an exploration of the environment. As the tree-planting drew to a close, the celebrities dusted themselves off, while some volunteers drew out their mobile phone cameras and took the opportunity to have their pictures taken with the young stars. The group then slowly walked off the site, taking care not to trample over the newly-planted seedlings. By 4 p.m., organizers of the tree-planting activity called the event “a wrap" as the celebrity participants made their way down the mountain slope and endured another bumpy descent back to their vans. It might be just another day in the busy schedules of Richard and his celebrity friends. But at least, for that day, they worked not “for a cost," but for a cause. - GMANews.TV