HOW many doctors, lawyers, dentists, engineers, accountants, artists, Ilocanos, Bicolanos, Kapampangans, Batangueños, Cebuanos, Ilongos, Chabacanos, Manileños, Pangasinenses and Chinoys do we know who go by the name Ramon? A cursory look at the telephone directory will yield this fascinating fact: nearly every prominent family has a Ramon, but I wonder: how many of them are green?
Can you imagine if they will all plant trees and tell their kith and kin to do the same?
The name Ramon means QUIET, WISE, PROTECTOR, says Ramon Mayuga {writing from Germany where he lives), a namesake of his cousin Ramon, Sylvia Mayuga’s brother.
The Green Ramons (a growing community of tree huggers -- mostly men with the name Ramon, a handful of women named Ramona and kindred spirits with assorted names such as Pinky, Wawel, Binggirl, Lita, Stella, Flor, Jasmin, Mariela, Annie, Ferdie, Tony, Gener, Rene, etc., lumped together as Ramon-din) are now on their third year of bonding. They have their calendars full, climbing mountains and planting native and endemic trees in watersheds and places where there are resident Ramons to monitor their growth.
Trees wherever you look are what they envision.
Learning from Philippine Mountaineers (Ramon Vizmanos, Ramon Vidal) and indigenous people and from tree growers (Ramon Chito Bertol, Ramon Uy of PWPA) Ramon Tulfo, Ramon Devora, Ramon Posadas, with Ramon Flores leading the pack, they’ve planted trees in the Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales sides of Mt. Pinatubo.
Ramon Flores, perhaps the greenest one, spends all his savings documenting the continuing saga of the Ramon trees. An art photographer and radio program host, R.F. is appreciated by environmentalists for his full-time commitment to and success in the conservation of the pawikan (sea turtles) in San Juan, Batangas. His photo/video bank of the organized planting activities include the one in Mt. Pinatubo with the mayor, the Aetas, the soroptimists and the Air Force Command under Gen. Roy Camagay. Gen. Camagay is the same tree hugger in uniform who a few months ago mobilized officers and men and reservists of the 5th Air Reserve Command to bring together to the historic Mt. Manunggal (site of the plane crash that claimed the life of the Philippines most beloved President and all his co-passengers, with only one survivor, journalist Nestor Mata), the local government, the Philippine Mountaineers’ Cebu and Bohol Chapters, DENR representatives, Couples for Christ and youth leaders. Ramon of the Moment was Ramon Magsaysay Jr. honoring his father with living trees in a museum without walls, a future nature cathedral, a people’s park, a forest park in Mt. Manunggal, Cebu, where his late great father met his fate.
RM Jr. tries to attend all these green crusades, taking the first flight before daybreak and returning before midnight. His alma mater, De La Salle University, allocated five hectares for a future forest inside its vast campus in Canlubang. Greening schools, starting with the students, is a big step in the right direction.
Ramon Madrid, 9 years old (namesake of his lolo), is fondly referred to by the older Ramons as Choirboy of Tsikiting Gubat, a mini-forest of trees planted by children 12 years and below. Tsikiting Gubat is at the foothills of Antipolo, inside the Boso-Boso farm of his maternal grandmother. Cousins and classmates are the forest builders.
Fifth-grader Ramon Lorenzo Medel, with the help of his namesake father and grandparents Benny and Ermie (Ramon-dins!), plants trees in their farm in Zambales to mark family birthdays.
Architect Ramon Aldea made sure there is a Ramon Forest in the Philippine Navy Golf Club. He and basketball legend Ramoncito Campos are the resident green Ramons there. Most of them are retired and rich.
Ramon Garcia, former chair of the Philippine Stock Exchange, is the Chair Mon of Choice of the Green Ramons. He says he knows there are at least six Ramon Garcias in the directory. His eldest son, a priest, is also named Ramon. He recently said Mass at Monina (Ramonina) Mercado’s Forest Club in Bay, Laguna, right next door to the dairy farm of RM Jr. Ramons like Ramon Cardenas, Ramon del Rosario Jr., Ramon Isberto plant trees without being prodded. Try and stop them. All the children of Ramon Rodriguez are named Ramon or, Ramona.
Thank God most Ramons have nicknames, I don’t have to be asked Ramon who? When talking about a particular Ramon. Ramon Gil Macapagal is Chito, Ramon Gil Alonzo is Chinggoy, Ramon Rodrigo is Boogie, Ramon Lorenzo Guinto is Renzo, Ramon Fernandez is Ramoncito, Ramon Tulfo is Tulfo, Ramon Zaragoza is Ramon Zaragosa and Ramon Orlina is Orlina. Ramon Arguelles is Archbishop, A number of them are called Monching, Jun or Boy. The mestizos are Ramoning, Monchet is Ramon Albert. Montet is Ramon Acoymo, Monette is Ramon Orosa, and all the rest are Mon, or Tocayo.
To continue this joyful name dropping exercise, all the Ramons I know are green. They have no choice; they say, smiling, they are my friends. “I’m one of your Ramons,” Ramon Cardenas said to me at the wake of a mutual friend for whom we planted 65 trees at the Eco Park in La Mesa Dam, one year for every year she lived on Earth.
There are more of them -- Architect Ramon Antonio; DENR USEC Ramon Paje; Ramon Revilla, father and son; three deans of the UP College of Music, National Artist Ramon Santos, Ramon Acoymo and the late Rmon Tapales;;. Ramon Pedrosa; Ramon Nakpil;, Ramon Roces; Ramon Avecilla, Ramon Sy, Ramon Ang, Ramon Cojuangco, Ramon Locsin, Ramon Aboitiz;. Ramon Villegas; Ramon Bilbao, Ramon San Agustin;, Ramon Villavicencio; Ramon Rivera; Ramon Zamora;, Ramon Marfil;, Ramon Farolan are certified greens, according to close friends who volunteered and registered their names in our Official Registry Book of Ramons.
The superintendent of the Bureau of Corrections in Ramon Reyes who has many namesakes in the phone book Interesting trivia -- there are wardens named Ramon but hardly one among the maximum security inmates.
Postmaster Ramon Diaz, namesake of Silvana Diaz’ husband, has a tree farm in Zambales; Ramon Sison in Pangasinan and Ramon Calderon in Antipolo.
The mayor of Cainta, Ramon Ilagan recently planted trees with the Rotarians of Pasig, the first of a series of mini-forests in their communities. Jose Ramon Aliling was brought to the first Assembly of Ramons in Blue Ridge by his grandmother, Milagring Aliling.
The youth of Smokey Mountain c/o Father Ben Beltran are nurturing trees in Montalban in honor of the late National Artist Ramon Obusan. The green priest has a list of Ramons residing in Smokey Mountain.
Looking back, this Green Ramon virus came about three Augusts ago. One day in Taal, Batangas, brought together several Ramons. Orlina, Flores, Posadas. Cellphone conversations in the car with two more Ramons, lunch at the ranch of younger brother of Ramon Villavicencio. That year was the centennial of President Ramon Magsaysay. In one inspired moment, we agreed to call all men named Ramon to plant 100,000 trees to celebrate the 100th birthday of RM. More than a thousand Ramons from all over registered by phone, text or email and one thing led to another. Mother Earth needs attention. And the Ramons came to the rescue.
And before I knew it the boys were calling me Ramona. Mona Consunji protested, insisting my full name is Odette, short for Maria Lourdes Rosario Fatima etc but Ramona is not there. Ramons, Garcia and Rodrigo, both lawyers said not to worry, they will petition the Supreme Court to allow me to have an extra name. Now Mona lovingly emails me “Hi, Tita Odette Ramona” to ask when the next tree planting is.
The saga of the Green Ramons. continues.
[Odette Alcantara (alcantaraodette(a),yahoo. com is the country coordinator of the Earth Day Network of the Philippines and convenor of Mother Earth Philippines. Earth Day Network is one of the pillars of 10 MM -- the movement to enlist 10 Million signatures for change and for the adoption of environmental security as the highest form of national security. Earth Day Network is at the National Ecology Center in Quezon City, telefax 632-332-6030.]
