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==[[Southern Leyte News]]==
==[[Southern Leyte News]]==
'''Protecting the forest is Leyte boxer's toughest fight'''
'''DepEd-Southern Leyte gives tribute to stakeholders supportive to education sector'''
*Source: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/232614/special-reports/protecting-the-forest-is-leyte-boxers-toughest-fight
*Source: http://pia.gov.ph/?m=7&r=r08&id=60111
*09/16/2011 | 06:44 PM
*Thursday, October 20, 2011
:by MARK D. MERUEÑAS, GMA News
:by R.G. Cadavos




MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte - Against the advice of his parents, Mark Cadabos gave up farming and left his hometown in Southern Leyte at the tender age of 12 to pursue a boxing career in Manila in 2001.
MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte, Oct. 20 (PIA) -- The Department of Education (DepEd)–Southern Leyte Division has acknowledged the assistance given by the different stakeholders throughout the province to the education sector, thus a “Pasidungog” (tribute) to these stakeholders was done this morning, October 19 at the DepEd grounds, Barangay Mantahan here.
 
DepEd Education Program Supervisor Jaime Leon Cardona disclosed in a phone interview that the education department of the province awarded the different stakeholders categorized in four areas, such as the Education Stakeholders that gave awards to all municipal mayors throughout the (18) municipalities of the province.
Fortunately for the young boy, he landed a spot and came under the tutelage of professional boxers at the Tiger City Boxing Stable in Mandaluyong City. For almost a decade, everything went as Cadabos had planned, until news of his father's death forced him to return here, to their small farming village of Lunas in the provincial capital of Maasin City.
The next category was the Organization/Foundation which identified four different institutions, namely; Christian Children’s Fund (CCF) from the municipality of Hinunangan, Samaritan Purse from the municipality of Limasawa, Lyoness Foundation from Macrohon town, and Let’s Share TV, a non-government organization that gave support to the town of Limasawa.
 
Other categories include, (7) private individuals identified that are supportive to the education sector such as distribution of instructional materials, scholarship grant, financial assistance in the construction of school buildings, among others,; and the (2) local government units category that awarded the Barangay Council of Ichon, Macrohon and Katipunan, Silago, the source added.
With their breadwinner gone, Cadabos - now 22 years old - was left with the responsibility of attending to the needs of their family. He still occasionally fights in local matches in the province, but he never expected he would end up turning to the very practice he abandoned a decade ago for income: forest farming.
Cardona disclosed that a Plaque of Appreciation was given to the awardees led by DepEd Division Superintendent Dr. Violeta Alocilja assisted by Asst. Division Superintendents Dr. Arturo Isip and Dr. Jocelyn Solana.
 
The source further said that the “Pasidungog” activity acknowledged the benevolent support of the awardees to the different projects of the education department and was presented by songs and other presentations from the academic and non-teaching staff of the division.
Cadabos is one of the more than 100 forest farmers belonging to a local people's organization, the Youth Innovators for Social and Environmental Development Association (YISEDA), which is protecting the Nacolod Mountain Range, locally called the "San Francisco Nature's Park."
Gov. Damian G. Mercado delivered an inspirational message in behalf of the provincial government, while ABC Provincial Federation President Nikko Mercado who represented Cong. Roger G. Mercado also gave his message, Cardona bared.
 
Meanwhile, an oath taking ceremony for the elected officials of the Parents-Teachers Association was also one of the activities during the “Pasidungog” day. (rgc/PIA-SoLeyte)
No different from his exhausting boxing schedule in Manila, Cadabos starts each day by trekking to the foot of the 1,900-foot high mountain as early as 7 a.m. Six days a week, he brandishes a machete and lugs a hand-woven basket containing seedlings on his back as he makes a calculated ascent. He negotiates the slippery slopes, leaps over treacherous ravines, avoids sharp rocks, and endures bee stings in order to cultivate sections of arable land and plant seedlings in denuded areas.
 
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has awarded their group some 400 hectares of forest land to protect for 25 years, with technical assistance from the government and funding from local governments and the German development agency Deutsche Gesellshaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
 
The project aims to institute effective sustainable forest management in the mountain range, warding off illegal loggers and kaingin farmers while restoring the forest land with a variety of trees like Lauan, Acacia, and Sagimsiman.
 
In a 2006 report, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization said the Philippines lost around 157,000 hectares of forest annually from 2000 to 2005. Until last year, the country was still losing forests at the rate of 150,000 hectares per year, according to Dr. Bernd-Markus Liss of the GIZ.
 
In exchange for protecting the forest, the farmers gain the right to harvest trees while planting new seedlings in their place, in specially designated plantation areas on the slopes of the mountain range. At the same time, YISEDA members are taught proper agro-forestry, planting fruit-bearing trees, vegetables, and root crops that provide them with a steady source of income.
 
Also, Cadabos' community contributes in a huge way to easing the greenhouse effect that warms the planet through a global strategy known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation-plus (REDD+).
 
Boxing takes a backseat
 
Cadabos was planting seedlings near a mountain peak when our group of journalists from Manila visited the project site one rainy Thursday morning. He volunteered to assist us as we made the steep descent from the mountain.
 
He candidly told GMA News Online that he still intends to return to Manila to revive his abandoned boxing dream in the future. "Labing-pitong panalo [17 wins]," he says when asked about his career, "at apat na talo [And four losses]."
 
Referring to the famous boxing venue of most of his idol Manny Pacquiao's matches, he confesses, “Sana dumating din ang araw na ako naman ang lalaban sa Las Vegas." [I hope someday I can also fight in Las Vegas]
 
But that dream is still far away, Cadabos admits. For now, he is focusing his attention to the needs of the mountains surrounding their small village.
 
On this particular day, he is potting prepared seedlings to meet his group's daily quota of 10,000 seedlings. Their target is to pot a total of 120,000 plants in two weeks' time, all for the meager allowance of P120 a day or a total of only P1,440 for the entire endeavor.
 
"Okay lang kahit mahirap, kami din naman makikinabang niyan kapag tumagal [It doesn't matter if this job requires hard labor because villagers here like me are the ones who will benefit from this anyway when the time comes]," he says.
 
After ensuring that all the visitors have safely made their way down, the young boxer-farmer politely asks if we didn't mind him going back up the mountain to return to his farming duties. Cadabos gives a small nod to the journalists, turns around, and disappears behind the trees.
 
Back in the mountain, he will face another of his life’s battles which, despite being the toughest for him, he also finds the most rewarding. In this battle, unlike in his boxing stints, there are no tallies for wins and losses. There is only victory.


==Photo Gallery of Southern Leyte, Philippines==
==Photo Gallery of Southern Leyte, Philippines==
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