Richard Tantoco For PH Native Forests, My Unbelievable Pinoy Million Tree Man!


“EDC’s COO Richard B Tantoco talks of his personal and professional journey with his love for nature[1]” (Energy.com.ph).

Love for nature. During the Age of Dinosaurs (large typewriters), I was a very busy Editor In Chief of the Forest Research Institute (FORI), now Ecosystems Research & Development Bureau, from 1975 to 1981, busy founding & writing & editing for FORI’s 3 regular publications – monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatropand quarterly color magazine Habitat(that I patterned after the US National Geographic).

Nonetheless, Mr Tantoco surprises me that, ever since, I have never met a Million Tree Man like him! And native PH trees at that!

He writes (“Seeing Green”):

I have two dreams. The first is a personal one, and that is to plant a million Philippine native trees in five years. I still don’t have a business model for this endeavor right now, but maybe at some point I can sell some of the seedlings and create an eco-tourism venture that exposes the youth to nature and explains the importance of trees in an experiential manner.

A million native PH trees. I say that should attract a million PH youth, male & female.

But! Isn’t Mr Tantoco simply dreaming and/or wanting to sound pro-nature!?

Mr Tantoco joined the Lopez Group, becoming President & Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) in 2008, EDC is the Group’s “100-percent renewable power arm,” he says. That same year, the Group also launched BINHI (seed), a greening legacy program, directed by Chair Emeritus Oscar Lopez.

BINHI was established to bridge forest gaps and bring back to abundance 96 of our vanishing Philippine native tree species. At the outset, it was an ambitious goal to rescue the most threatened endemic Philippine hardwoods from the brink of extinction. Trees of these 96 species (were) being cut down at an alarming rate, given the natural beauty of their grain and their mechanical strength.

Thus, with BINHI, the Lopez Group aimed “to combine the business need to reforest (their) concession areas with the need to preserve (Philippine forest) heritage.”

BINHI is collaborative. Making sure that the efforts are guided by science, the planners were partners Perry Ong andLeonard Co (UP Diliman College of Biology), team of Pat Malabrigo (UPLB College of Forestry), working with BINHI’s own Agnes De Jesus, a botanist.

They also have a team of foresters, permanent hires according to Mr Tantoco, for each of the project sites, to work with 88 farmer associations in and around target communities “to ensure that the trees we plant survive and grow into forests.” He says:

Our community partners earn good living by taking care of the trees themselves… The millions of trees planted to date have enriched the lush forests in our sites and in the areas of our community partners. These have been crucial in creating robust carbon sinks and in recharging the geothermal reservoirs that our business depends on.

Thank you, Mr Tantoco, a businessman minding the conservation of PH native trees!@

 


[1]https://www.energy.com.ph/2021/06/17/seeing-green-energy-development-corporation/?fbclid=IwAR3HoLoJJIkGbjM5xT4pbIi2L6Yhf7sDbJnG_NrJ0m1FFrYMM9coKpvemTU


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