The narrow, uphill one-lane winding road to Bineng Elementary School in La Trinidad, Benguet is rocky. It’s a community not often visited by tourists and travelers when seeking colder climes up North.

But for students of the University of the Cordilleras (UC) and environmental advocates—which includes Globe Telecom employees, teachers, parents, and students of the school—the trip to Brgy. Bineng is well worth the effort. It’s one of the beneficiary communities of the Roots and Shoots program, where nursery seedlings were established to sustain forest-building efforts in the Cordilleras.

The seedling nursery in Bineng Elementary School is just one of the 20 nurseries established by Globe Telecom in 2012 in North Luzon along with local partner Cordillera Conservation Trust (CCT). For the past three years, Globe and CCT have joined hands to raise awareness for the need to reforest the Cordillera region via the biking event dubbed Globe Cordillera Challenge. The biking challenge staged by the company’s corporate social responsibility program, Globe Bridging Communities (BridgeCom), has engaged both recreational bikers and conservation advocates to ride for the environment and raise funds to support forest-building activities. The most recent one, held in May 2012, raised P800,000 in funds.

According to JP Alipio, executive director of Cordillera Conservation Trust, “The Roots and Shoots Nursery Program is a sustainable approach to forest-building because not only do we involve the beneficiary communities, but we also transform them to become stewards of the environment.”
The Roots and Shoots program also aims to include environmental education for the children in the public elementary schools, providing a possible livelihood source for the school and community.

The nursery-building efforts in the Benguet area have also fostered a community of volunteers among student leaders. Joem Landell Parungao, 18, of the University of the Cordilleras and one of the student leaders of the Globe-sponsored Leadership Communities (LeadCom) in Benguet, joined the nursery-building activity in Brgy. Bineng, Benguet. “The recent Leadership Communities program, which was also supported by Globe, helped nurture us to become servant leaders. We took it a step further by being volunteers for the Roots and Shoots nursery-building activity in Bineng. After all, the activity is really for our community and there is no better way to become servant-leaders than by serving our own community,” he shared.

Other seedling nurseries were also established in public elementary schools in Wangal, Lubas, Alno, La Trinidad and in Tuba, Kabayan, Kapangan and Itogon, Benguet. The seedlings in all 20 nurseries will be nurtured by the students and the teachers in the community until they are ready to be sold and re-planted for forest-building.

Building ‘Communities of Practice’
Globe also introduced mobile-based savings and microfinancing to Brgy. Bineng in La Trinidad. Community members were able to open their first bank account through Globe’s partner BPI Globe BanKo. Community members now have access to loans, insurance, load purchase and bill payments using only their mobile phones.

Globe also piloted the transitioning program for the government’s 60 Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) beneficiaries through the “Kayang Kayang Kumita sa Hapinoy” program with partner Micro Ventures Foundation Inc. (MVF). Beneficiary families from the Benguet area were introduced to socially responsible income-generating opportunities which they may explore after their five-year stint under the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program has ended.

 Text2Teach, an education initiative implemented by the Ayala Foundation and supported by Globe Telecom, has also been introduced to the community. “We highlighted how mobile technology can be used in various ways and how information and communications technology (ICT) can enhance the educational experiences of grade school students. Hopefully, Text2Teach will be adopted in more public elementary schools in the Cordillera area,” shared Rob I. Nazal, head of Globe Corporate Social Responsibility.

“Aside from our environment preservation and sustainability efforts (i-Conserve), we’ve also brought in all of the other advocacies of the company–good governance (i-Lead), excellence in social services delivery (i-Access), entrepreneurship (i-Prosper), and active citizenship through volunteerism (i-Give)–making La Trinidad a Community of Practice (CoP),” Nazal added.

According to Nazal, “Communities of Practice” is BridgeCom’s commitment to synergize its advocacies and initiatives delivered through partnerships with community-based partners such as NGOs, barangay leaders, youth, and beneficiaries. “We hope that through CoP, Globe can enrich its social commitment to areas where it can make significant contributions and provide opportunities for underserved Filipino communities so that they, too, can participate and contribute in the country’s competitiveness.” In 2013, Globe plans to include capacity-building initiatives to support its partner NGO in the Cordillera region as well as strengthen all five advocacies in the Benguet area.