Bituen Eco Volunteers

Second Priority Program of Bituen Organization is Sustainability and 3Rs a forum on what individuals & ordinary folks can do.  Since its launch in December 2013, the following forums and workshops have been conducted throughout the Philippines: 1. December 6, 2013 at University of the Philippines 2. March 21, 2013 at Marilao, Bulacan 3. March 28 2014 at Urdaneta, Pangasinan 4. May 12-13 at Tacloban City 5. October 17, 2014 at Obando, Bulacan 6. November 14, 2014 at the Girl Scout of the Philippines Banaoang Ilocos Sur Campsite We continue to look and cooperate with partners for these endeavors to achieve a greener, improved Philippines.

In Bituen 's continues commitment to improve the condition of Filipinos, it is launching its custom workshop Urban Guerrilla Gardening (Gardening from wastes) under its Sustainable Living & 3Rs program for private groups and companies. The workshop shows that even without open space and less budget, individuals and homes can maintain their own gardens using up to 70% of household wastes. The many advantages of maintaining even a pot of plant are as follows: Converts carbon dioxide to oxygen Cleans air to help prevent colds, coughs, asthma, and other respiratory illness Reduces work & personal stress Stimulates learning   Reduces heat and humidity Helps reduce household waste by turning bio-waste into fertilizer Improves overall quality of life . We now accept company, school/class workshops. For scheduling, call (632) 9941372 or email bituen.org@gmail.com

( To View Slideshow, please click here. ) More than just spending and seeing, feel and experience rural and back-to-basics community life. Travel in rural community  Philippines at the not-quite so-remote barrio of Santo Tomas in northern Luzon. Santo Tomas is the mother barangay of the town of Santo Domingo, in Ilocos Sur, Philippines. Legend has it that the first priest of Santo Domingo have chosen the eastern barrio for its snaking river and friendly locals. Throughout the years, the Spanish bar/tiled remnants of the priest's chapel have been removed, and that the farmer tilling the land have since unearthed antique plates and jars within the area. However, the place now teems with variety of local fruits (you can actually ask for FREE from neighbors!), and to sample a common view: Visitors / travelers from Asia (China, Japan, Indonesia), Europe (France, Russia, Croatia, Poland) have found the people friendly, so much like many rural folks in the country as biker...

In November 2013, typhoon Haiyan considered as the strongest typhoon ever recorded, devastated southern Philippines particularly the province of Leyte . It was acknowledged to have cost the lives of some 8,000 people, although ground workers claim the death toll to be around 20-25,000. The tragedy multiplied several times when the national government turned its back on the area as it was left to recover on its own despite the downpour of foreign aid . Six months after the calamity, Bituen volunteers visited the area to establish that aside from temporary bunkhouses, Red Cross and the distribution of relief goods by DSWD are the only signs of national government presence in the province.   Leyte 6 months after typhoon Haiyan.   Mass grave in Palo Leyte where hundreds of cadavers were piled up on top of another. Through the initial help of FaceBook group pages Education is our Tool , Controlled Salpukan Zone, Gising na Pilipinas , and Gising na Pinoy , Bituen v...

More than 500 students from the University of Northern Philippines and DepEd's Alternative Learning System joined the free Sustainable Living & 3Rs Forum & Workshop last December 6 held at the UNP Auditorium. DepEd's ALS learners led by Mr Anselmo Aludino, teachers Julia Formoso, Bonifacio Balderosa, Silver Rabang, Joseph Obrero, Lawrence Agtutubo, Janet Bersamina, UNP's Mariquit Obrero (middle, in white ), Margaret Cruz (in black) and Cris Valmoja (in yellow). More photos here .   Resource speakers for the said forum includes women's right and environment advocate Professor Miriam Javier for Agenda 21 , sustainability advocate Margaret T. Cruz on Global Trends in Sustainability, another environment advocate professor Engr. Nino Tablada and I-Save representative Cris Valmoja updated the audience about current situation of the Ilocos Sur environment. The afternoon was spent on 3Rs projects including paper recycling, biodegradable waste recycli...

Bituen is currently accepting requests for workshops & trainings for  developing positive attitude towards sustainable living. The workshop covers why we need to address waste management at the individual and home levels, with the following topics: What to do with biodegradable wastes. Container-gardening Paper, fabric, plastic & can upcycling. Sustainable lifestyle. Please call (63)-2-9941372 or email bituen.org@gmail.com for inquiry or details. Images shown are actual projects from waste materials tackled during workshops.

"...the gargantuan challenge for Education Secretary Armin Luistro in realizing the value of the K to 12 Program includes ... above all, developing a culture of reading in Filipino children. There’s the rub. [It] might take 100 years or so..." Christopher Ryan Maboloc, The future of our children, Philippine Daily Inquirer Saturday, June 30th, 2012." The culture of reading is the biggest problem in Philippine education. This is compounded by the quality of books provided to public and even private school pupils which is abominable , to say the least... If children were provided books at all. In the latest  Reading Caravan conducted at Pideg, Elementary School in Pugo, La Union, all children in the school in June 5, 2013 (about 200 pupils in all), received their own books for their own reading consumption. The actual photos provide an insight as to how the children feel about reading decent books. We do not need to spell the ob...