Environmentalist Odette Alcantara passes away

Civic leader and environmentalist Odette Alcantara died yesterday a day after collapsing from an aneurysm, according to close friends. She was 68.

Alcantara was widely known in the environmental movement as a tireless advocate who networked people across many walks of life. "She would say, kahit anong ginagawa mo, you're part of the solution," said Binggirl Clemente, a colleague in the Earth Day Network, a global organization of which Alcantara was the Philippines' country coordinator. "She was the one driving our energy, always telling us, don't stop!" Alcantara was having her weekly lunch last Monday with her grown-up children and grandchildren at the family-owned Heritage House art gallery in Cubao when she collapsed. While she had many friends, and often invited them over to her home in Quezon City to sample her gourmet dishes, she was also recalled as a fighter for her causes. "Talagang walang inuurungan. Sabi nga niya, she is not mataray, she is taray personified," former environment and natural resources secretary Elizea "Bebet" Gozun said. "Yet she was such a loving and caring friend." "She was always so encouraging and sweet to me," said Grace Padaca, governor of Isabela, "once taking a flower from a vase on her table to give to me after a speech I gave on forest protection." Alcantara advocated national policy changes but also made sure to set an example in her backyard, making her Blue Ridge community a model in zero waste management, with its systems for composting, re-use, and recycling. Blue Ridge is now a training center for other communities with zero-waste aspirations. According to Clemente, "her motto was L-A-H-A-T: Lupa, Araw, Hangin, Ako, Tubig. Lahat magkaugnay." Her family and friends are planning a series of celebrations of her life starting this week at the family home in Blue Ridge A, culminating on her birthday on October 1. Then her environmental friends will hold a tree-planting activity in her honor on October 3. According to Clemente, "Tita Odette would tell us that when she goes, 'I don't want flowers, I just want trees.'" She is survived by four sons, her husband Mario, and perhaps a better planet because of her. - Howie Severino, GMANews.TV