GCash makes it easier for Green Heroes to digitally plant trees

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What started out in June of 2019 as a special in-app feature in GCash, the country’s leading mobile wallet, is now a widespread campaign to help save the environment.

GCash Forest, which allows users to plant virtual trees with real life counterparts, has made it easier and more convenient for its users to plant trees through their mobile phones. Now, GCash Forest users, known as Green Heroes, may collect their Green Energy (GE) in App, which are used to plant the virtual trees, within three days instead of the previous 24 hours. This also allows users to collect from your friends if they have not yet.

The amount of GE necessary refers to how much carbon emissions the specific tree species can absorb after a year of growth. Likewise, GCash Forest now includes new tree species to provide a diverse set of trees in the Ipo Watershed within the Angat Watershed Forest Reserve in Norzagaray, Bulacan.

“Despite a year of massive success for GCash Forest, we still want to make sure user experience remains topnotch to maintain or increase momentum when it comes to the number of trees planted. At the end of the day, our goal is to encourage more people to take part in this campaign to save our environment,” GCash President and CEO Martha Sazon said.

By improving the features of the in-app gamified tree planting activity, GCash aims to encourage all of its 20 million GCash users to take part in saving the environment through GCash Forest.

In the new normal where digital transactions are swiftly becoming the norm, GCash Forest is sure to play a critical role in propelling the movement to save planet Earth, while users can still observe standard public health protocols like social distancing. Even at the comfort of our homes, we can continue to care for the environment in our own ways.

“These changes will make it easier for our users to plant more trees despite the limits of our current situation. We believe that through GCash Forest, we will be able to make a difference in the environment as we as in our country’s biodiversity” Sazon said.

This June officially marks the beginning of tree planting as it also signals the start of the rainy season in the Philippines. GCash partner World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) will start planting again this month, after successfully planting 4,200 trees by the end of last year.

GCash Forest's goal is to plant 365,000 virtual trees that turn to actual trees. Even with multiple partners, this remains to be an ambitious endeavor, but is highly doable through collective effort.

In the Philippines, forest cover is quickly deteriorating at a rate of 52,000 trees per day. GCash Forest is only one of many initiatives to save the country’s natural resources.

“Ultimately, these campaigns can only reach their goal if each and every Filipino does their part in minimizing their carbon footprint and avoiding practices which harm the environment. We believe that GCash Forest will not only benefit this current generation, but also the generations to come,” Sazon said.

Globe Fintech Innovations Inc. (Mynt), which operates GCash, is part of the portfolio companies of 917Ventures, the largest corporate incubator in the Philippines wholly-owned by Globe Telecom Inc.

GCash is available for download on the App Store and Google Play. For more information, kindly visit https://www.gcash.com (https://www.gcash.com/)/.

Ten native tree species up for species upgrade

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Tall with beautiful and bold yellow flowers, the Bagoadlau (Xanthostemon philippinensis) is a sight to behold. Found in the forests of Aurora, Camarines Sur, Samar, and Surigao del Sur, it is the hardest and densest of ironwoods, best used for construction. It is also one of the many tree species endemic to the Philippines. 

Unfortunately, rampant logging activities have reduced the Philippines’ once lush forest cover, threatening the species of bagoadlau and other native tree species. As the country began to industrialize, forests were cleared out for timber and for space to develop. To refresh these areas, the government and many private organizations have initiated different greening and other environmental programs. 

However, many of these greening programs are done indiscriminately, planting popular and familiar tree species like Mahogany, Acacia, and Gmelina, which are all foreign and exotic. Unknown to many people, these exotic tree species do more harm to the environment than good. The exotic species invade the biodiversity of our forests and disrupt its balance. This struck uncertainty whether our future generations will still be able to see the beautiful yellow flowers of the Bagoadlau. 

Thankfully, there was still hope in saving our forests. In 2008, the Energy Development Corporation (EDC), the largest vertically-integrated geothermal producer of the country, launched its BINHI program, a species conservation program that focuses on native tree species. A total of 96 threatened native tree species have been prioritized for this search and rescue program as their numbers have been dwindling, with some even believed to be extinct, making the program a pioneer in corporate-led reforestation programs in the country. Many of these identified species can only be found in the Philippines like Malinoag, Philippine teak, Batikuling, Yakal-yamban and the five endemic iron wood species – the Mangkono, Mapilig, Bagoadlau, Sierra Madre Mangkono, and Palawan Mangkono. 

The EDC BINHI team’s arduous search throughout most of the Philippines came into fruition as the 96 identified threatened species were all successfully found in our country’s forests. 

Going beyond rescue 

The BINHI team did not stop there. Just rescuing these tree species was not enough; the next challenge they faced was to multiply and propagate these species. 

To achieve this, EDC has continuously forested the watersheds within its geothermal reservations. Moreover, the BINHI team now has over 150 different partners from different academic and non-governmental organizations, all of which dedicate a specific area for planting of these tree species. 

The BINHI team, then, provides technical support and expertise related to the care of these trees, allowing for their healthy growth. These strategies ensure that more native tree species will be planted in many other areas beyond watersheds within EDC geothermal site. 

Moreover, to further achieve the goal of propagating these species, EDC entered a partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) Biodiversity Management Bureau in 2016 under its Adopt a Wildlife Species Program, where selected threatened native trees under the BINHI program will have their ecological statuses updated, as a proof of their successful propagation. This is also in support of the government’s reforestation efforts. Under the partnership, 35 threatened species are targeted for upgrading within three years. 

Entering the partnership has allowed EDC to contribute to the national biodiversity conservation program, focusing on the updating of the Philippine red list of threatened tree species, the protection of the identified trees in surveyed areas, and the planting of these species to save them from extinction. 

Intensive inventory and geo-tagging were done on the first 10 species for status updating from 2016 and 2017. The results of these activities have shown that, through the propagation efforts made by the BINHI program, these 10 species now have enough numbers to have their ecological statuses upgraded with the DENR. These 10 species for status upgrading are the Mapilig, Bagoadlau, Sierra Madre Mangkono, Palawan Mangkono, Mangkono, Samar Gisok, Dalingdingan, Malabayabas, Yakal-malibato, and Yakal-kaliot, most of which are known for their strong and durable wood. 

Scientific breakthroughs 

Currently, the BINHI program is still the only corporate-led greening program that focuses on the rescue and propagation of threatened native trees, so the results of the inventory and geo-tagging are considered new and pioneering to the scientific community. 

Hence, the results will be submitted not just to the DENR for the updating of their ecological statuses, but also to different scientific journals, as contribution to the scientific community. 

With the success of updating the first ten species, 25 more species are still in the process of undergoing inventory and geo-tagging, with the next 10 species slated for upgrading this 2018, and the last 15 species in 2019. 

The BINHI (Filipino for seedling) program lived up to its name. It has planted and spread seedlings to grow for the future generation. This success means our future generations will still be able to see the striking and beautiful flowers of the Bagoadlau and other native tree species. 

Tall and adorned with bright yellow flowers, the bagoadlau is the hardest and densest of all Philippine ironwood trees. It is also one of the ten (10) threatened native tree species for updating of ecological status with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in 2017, after the successful inventory and geo-tagging of these species. These native tree species were propagated under the Energy Development Corporation’s (EDC) BINHI project, which focuses on native tree species rescue, preservation, and propagation. 

The Bagoadlau distinguishes itself from other Philippine ironwood trees through its stunning flowers, which exhibit a vibrant yellow color and stamens that resemble the rays of the sun.

PTT plants 10k trees in 3 months and expects to breach 3-year target

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“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second-best time is now.” -  (Proverb)

“Gas Up for a Tree”, PTT’s corporate social responsibility project that aims to reforest 50 hectares of denuded forest, the ancestral lands of the Magbukun tribe within the Bataan National Park (BNP), had planted 10,000 trees and expects more trees to grow.

Barely three months after its first tree-planting activity, PTT Philippines Corp.'s environmental campaign has achieved its goal to plant 10,000 trees for this year with the third leg of its “Gas Up for a Tree” planting activity Friday at the denuded portion of the Bataan Natural Park (BNP) in Morong town.

PTT president and chief executive officer Wisarn Chawalitanon led volunteers and various sectoral leaders in the tree-planting activity, reaching the targeted 10,000 trees for this year.

“We didn’t expect to achieve our target as this early. And we owe it to all volunteers, partners and supporters,” Chawalitanon said. “With the turnout, we expect that we could breach our 30,000 trees target by year 2015.”

“Gas Up for a Tree” is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) project of PTT through PTT Philippines Foundation, Inc. (PTTPFI) under its president Paul Patricio Senador. The Foundation’s thrust is focused on the environment protection and preservation, community development, educational and sports development, and outreach program.

The Foundation launched the tree planting project in May this year and conducted the first tree-planting activity in late June and was immediately followed by the second leg of the activity in August.

“We are fortunate enough to get an active support from government and non-governmental organizations as well as those coming from the academe, the church, and other partners from the private sector,” Chawalitanon said.

“We cannot claim credit for this success. It is the cause or our call to stand for the environment per se that led these people to support this project. It shows as well the level of public awareness on how each one of us should get our acts together to protect Mother Earth,” he averred.

Environment Undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio, former BCDA chairman Felicito Payumo and Col. Jeff Tamayo of Philippine Olympic Committee were among those who participated in the third leg of tree-planting activity.

The tree-planting activity also coincided with the tribal games organized by the POC.

Aetas from Magbukun Tribe serve as PTT’s partner in taking care of the trees planted in the area. More than 100 Aeta families from Magbukun tribe were given livelihood as managers of a nursery of seedlings and caretaker of the trees that have been planted.

Sec. Neric Acosta, from the Office of the Presidential Adviser for Environmental Protection (OPAEP), earlier  lauded this environmental activity of PTT “for taking action on the reforestation of the BNP.”

Acosta  took part in the first two treeplanting activities. “The OPAEP was very honored to have taken part in this very inspiring initiative to heighten not only awareness of ecosystems’ protection but in the greater convergence of private and public engagement for conservation and sustainable development,” he said during the tree planting event.

According to Chawalitanon, PTT is set to embark on another environmental campaign next year, the details of which he said would be announced soon.

PTT Philippines is the local subsidiary of Thailand’s biggest oil company, the PTT Public Company Limited that was ranked 81st in Top 500 Corporations in Fortune’s Global 500 for 2013.

Related stories:
PTT reviives denuded forest in Bataan

The Sour Sop (Guyabano) : The Miraculous Natural Cancer Cell Killer

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Guyabano, the Sour Sop or the fruit from the graviola tree is a miraculous natural cancer cell killer 10,000 times stronger than Chemotheraphy.

I’ve read  Natural.tv, New Health, New Hope article CANCER KILLER – Natural Cancer Cell Killer 10,000 Times Stronger Than Chemo! I want this to share to everyone.

Why are we not aware of this? Its because some big corporation want to make back their money spent on years of research by trying to make a synthetic version of it for sale.

So, since you know it now you can help a friend in need by letting him know or just drink some sour sop juice yourself as prevention from time to time. The taste is not bad after all. It’s completely natural and definitely has no side effects. If you have the space, plant one in your garden.

The other parts of the tree are also useful.

The next time you have a fruit juice, ask for a sour sop.

This miracle fruit, heal all those who are suffering from the dreaded desease, cancer.

The fruit written about in this article is abundant and abound locally in the Philippines. We know it as the GUYABANO. It’s English name is SOUR SOP.

I remember that around10 years ago, when we were living in a place in Novaliches , we have plants and fruit trees we take care and enjoyed. We have there, Mango tree, Coconut tree, Atis tree and Guyabano tree. These trees grow well. If you have a backyard, or a big garden, you should plant these kind of fruit trees.

We eat the fruits always. We made guyabano delicious and nutritious shake. We really love guyabano shake!

The many other uses of  Guyabano, the Natural Cancer Cell Killer, it increase immune system, improves health and energy.

Guyabano can kill cancer cells. I hope and pray that many people sufferings from The Big C (Cancer) will be blessed, be healed, be happy and enjoy life!

Read more http://natural.tv/2012/01/05/cancer-killer-natural-cancer-cell-killer-10000-times-stronger-than-chemo/

"The soursop is a broadleaf flowering evergreen tree native to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. Soursop is also native to Sub-Saharan Africa countries that lie within the tropics. Today, it is also grown in some areas of Southeast Asia. It is in the same genus as the chirimoya and the same family as the pawpaw. In most Spanish speaking countries it is commonly known as Guanábana. In the Philippines, it is known as guyabano. In India basically in Kerala, it is known as Aathakka pazham."