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GM's Corner: Green Living

By: Rodolfo L. Menes (Added: 2009-06-22)

As a masterplanned, self-contained community with an 80-hectare world-class championship golf course, a 40-hectare forest reserve and commercial centers and institutional areas carefully integrated with its comprehensive mix of first-class residential subdivisions (which give residents the convenience to merely walk a short distance away to shop, study, play and work), the Pueblo de Oro Township has all the means and wherewithals to promote green living.

In Pueblo de Oro, we are taking small steps to help keep Cagayan de Oro green and encourage a green lifestyle. In our golf course, we have a drainage system that quickly directs surface water into our lakes, which serve as reservoirs for irrigation. We are slowly implementing organic herbicide and fertilizers as well as manual weeding to cut down on the use of chemicals. We have also begun maximizing the use of previously idle areas in our golf course as greens nurseries.

For all our residential villages, we maintain open spaces such as parks and playgrounds not just to comply with government requirements but also to boost air circulation and so that our homeowners have a place to spend their leisure time.

Residents of our various subdivisions have also begun holding tree planting activities within their respective villages. These tree planting forays are organized by the homeowners themselves with the support of our Pueblo de Oro Community Relations unit. The trees will help not only in the beautification of the villages but provide much-valued shade, help conserve water, and reduce pollution.

We have built an outflow and evapo-transpiration pond in the valley portion of the Township to contain water runoff from the plateau before dispersal into the creeks, thus helping protect the areas downhill from massive flooding. We are also continuing our efforts to maintain, restore, and protect the 40-hectare Pueblo Urban Rainforest. Forest walking is done in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, and perhaps in the future we could do the same right here in CdeO.

In the office, we cut down on paper wastage by using both sides of the paper, and save electricity by turning off the lights during breaks and shutting down the air conditioning units before the end of the day.

With all systems go for the Italpinas Twin Eco-towers, the Pueblo de Oro Township has the prestige of having the first green building in Mindanao. These residential condo buildings will be eco-friendly and are to be constructed along the principles of sustainable architecture, such as generating its own energy, minimizing power usage and maximizing natural ventilation.

Meanwhile, the ORO CHAMBER, of which I am President, has been promoting efficient lighting for the city to prevent climate change and carbon credit awareness under the Kyoto Protocol.

We hope that our contributions help keep the Pueblo de Oro Township and Cagayan de Oro greener in the years to come.