Story of Ramon Magsaysay Awardee Ka Dodoy will remind you: If you take care of nature, nature will take care of you

It's something we already know but might have forgotten, what with our busy calendar, the continuing influence and infiltration of technology into our lives, and the quiet generosity of Planet Earth.

But the first episode of Stand for Truth's Generation Restoration aims to remind viewers that if you take care of Mother Nature, she will take care of you — sometimes a tenfold.

It features Ramon Magsaysay awardee Robert Ballon aka Ka Dodoy, a fisherman who experienced being out on sea for days on end just to be able to catch fish.

"Minsan napabayan ko mga anak ko. Minsan, isang linggo, dalawang linggo, hindi ko [sila] mauiwan sa bahay" he told Generation Restoration.

It was this experience that propelled him to relocate their lives to Mindanao to be able to continue fishing. But it wasn't as he expected.

"Namimingwit ako duon, naglalambat. Bigla-bigla hinagisan kami ng dinamita. Eh di walang huli. Uuwi kaming luhaan," Ka Godoy narrated.

[I was fishing, casting my net when suddenly, a dynamite was thrown our way. We went home empty handed. We weren't able to catch any fish.]

"Pag hindi natin hintuan ang ganitong gawaain, pati mga anak natin, gutom talaga," he realized.

[If we don't stop these practices, even our children will starve.]

It wasn't just these harmful and violent ways that made fishing harder than it already is. Ka Dodoy noticed the dwindling mangroves of Kabasalan, where is his from, in the province of Zamboanga Sibugay. The gorgeous 3,000 hectares of mangroves was quickly depleting to just 1,000 hectares, as more people transformed them into fish ponds. 

"Halos maubos itong mangroves," he said. And in turn, "nawala ang mga malalapit na pangisadan namin."

[We were losing our mangrove forests. We had to venture farther out to sea just to be able to fish.]

Ka Dodoy began educating himself, reading books about aqua culture and attending seminars. He learned mangroves could yield for him and his community, a consistent supply of oysters but it wasn't easy. "Diyan ako nagsimula sa talaba farming [pero] pinagtatawanan pa nga ako dati dahil hindi daw pwede dito ang talaba," he says laughing.

[I started with oyster farming but they would laugh at me because oysters don't grow there.]

He took it upon himself to take care of the mangroves, risking his life to protect them. He shared having experienced being shot at and being chased in the water, because far too too many people wanted to cut down the mangroves.

But Ka Dodoy persisted. And he managed to bring more people to join him in his mangrove reforestation project, and soon, nature rewarded them back. 

The mangroves gave them an oyster farm, yielding the community food on the table and a steady source of livelihood, even during the pandemic.

"Yung tinanim naming mangroves, isang paraan upang maiahon kami sa kahirapan," Ka Dodoy said.

[The mangroves we planted was a way for us to lift ourselves up from poverty.]

"Naantig sila na dapat tulungan kami na maging malakas na organization kasi ito rin pala 'yung hanap nila. 'Yung may panananaw sa pag-alaga or pag-protekta sa ating mga forests — mangrove man or bundok."

[That's when it hit them. They needed to help us make our organization stronger because we had the same objectives. We both believed in protecting our forests, be them mangroves or up in the mountains.]  

According to Ka Dodoy, even those involved in illegal activities, like "akyat-fish pond," have stopped in their ways. "Kaya na nilang mabuhay nang patas, kasi may resources na," he says.

And the people who used to cut mangroves down have joined Ka Dodoy in protecting them. "Alam na nila na ito pala ang makakatulong sa kanila. Kasi maliban sa pagdami ng isda, pinoprotektahan [yung mga bahay nila] mula sa hangin."

[The realized mangroves will be able to help them. Because apart from providing livelihood, it also protects their homes from storms.]

They don't need to endure long unproductive hours in the ocean just to be able to catch fish, too. Because the fish have also started to return.

Returning to nature, protecting Planet Earth may seem like a too simplistic of an answer to a complex problem like poverty, but as Ka Dodoy's story proves, there is no harm in protecting Mother Nature. In fact, it really might just to be the solution to a host of our problems. — LA, GMA News