We are happy to report that our scholar Vergeil D. Enriquez, a second-year BS Computer Science student at the Western Mindanao State University in Zamboanga City, is turning out to be one such student and environmental warriors. Vergeil led the initiative to plant mangrove tree in her barangay in Manicahan, Zamboanga City to help protect a village from deadly tidal waves and tsunami due to vanishing mangroves.
We have to point out that the area where the tree-plating activity was conducted is notorious as a jump-offf area of the Islamic terrorist Abu Sayyaf group! This is the area where the Abu Sayyaf brings their kidnap victims to hide from authorities. Thank you Vergeil for making this brave move to save the environment.
This was Vergeil's reflections on the need to help and protect the environment:
"If there are no mangrove forests, then the sea will have no meaning. It is like having a tree with no roots, for the mangroves are the roots of the sea.
As we all know, mangroves have so many roles in the coastal areas and that they must be conserved and protected…"
"As one of the leaders of the youth in our barangay, I was able to take part in the planting of mangrove tree at the mangrove swamps…it was such an honor to help protect our mother nature and provide food, nesting and nursery areas for many animals and also to protect the coastline…in doing this activity, we aim to open the minds of the people to help in maintaining the gift that God has given us and for them to be aware of how important the mangroves are and that these things can protect us from natural calamities…
I thank God for giving us such treasure and I hope that we can show God how grateful we are for having them…
To all the sponsors, once again thank you for giving me courage to do things for the better of everyone…this is just one of the accomplished plans I have in helping my fellow citizens…you inspire me and that’s why I want to follow your lead…I hope that I was also able to inspire the youths to indulge their selves in this kind of activity…Thank you and God bless us all…"
We thank all our sponsors for helping us raise scholars who pay their blessings forward through environmental upkeep ... even in the face of danger from the Abu Sayyaf group!