I started caring about the environment when I first got to experience its beauty. For me, that meant having to hike up mountains in various provinces in Luzon just to see what was there all along.

Between the long hours spent trekking through Philippine forests drenched in sweat, mud and sun, the only way to understand why people do is if I let go of the conveniences and just do it. Along the way of expanding my horizons, I’ve been given an idea of what is worth protecting.

I’ve hugged trees with trunks that took four of my friends with arms all stretched to completely enclose, slipped on rocks and sunk on ground all covered in moss. Then came walking through clouds, which I’ve wanted to do ever since I was a child. To my surprise, they do not feel at all like cotton candy every time I get caught in their slow and solemn embrace.

It was during this time that I got to know about Haribon Foundation as its advocacies showed me that what I have seen so far is only a sliver of what else is out there. The forests and mountains that have given me so much, from a break in city life to travel magazine worthy photos of me looking up to the sky and stars not so candidly, were being endangered. I find it hard to care, much less fight for something I am not familiar with, which is why I consider myself lucky that Haribon enables me to find something new to love about nature. It was through kindling the sense of wonder, a craving that can never be fully satiated, that empowered me to work for the conservation of nature.

My dream is to be able to bring everyone in the Philippines in to the outdoors to judge for themselves what is worth protecting. Be it through hiking, birdwatching, diving, or anything in between I have little doubt that once they’ve seen the beauty of it, they will end up with a realization of their own. It may not be similar to mine, but that is part of the fun.

I graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University in 2012 with a degree in AB Psychology. I became a member of the Loyola Mountaineers in my first year of college and have been climbing ever since.

Last year, I joined a fellow Haribon member in establishing ISDA, a skin-diving organization that aims
immerse the university community to Philippine marine biodiversity. I joined Haribon under the Membership Department in 2012.