INSPIRATIONAL MESSAGE DURING THE COMMITMENT DINNER
Atty. Dominador Buhain
Chairman and President
REX Group of Companies
Good evening, and warm greetings of peace to all; Manila Ecclesiastical Province School Systems Association (MaPSA).
Allow me to express my thanks on behalf of the REX Group of Companies to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila under the leadership of His Eminence Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle, D.D., for serving as one of the co-convenors of the 5-streamed Curriculum Integration Asian Conference Workshop with the theme: The Tipping Point, On Reverse? Living Out Learning Plans Within and Beyond Pre K-12 Classrooms in Asia: A Principles and Values-Centered Curriculum Integration and Capacity Building Handson Exercise.
May I likewise take cognizance that the conference is in response to the call of Pope Francis for all humanity to “Care for Our Common Home.” I am deeply honored to be amidst committed men and women of action, ecowarriors, stewards of God’s creation, who truly care for the welfare of the child, our families, our communities, our nation, our mother earth—this is our shared home. Regardless of age, gender, economic status, political affiliation, religious beliefs, or race, this is our common concern.
The urgent need to take care of our shared home should bind us… as brothers and sisters, and should drive us to work together to clean up and change our ways. The series of calamities being experienced worldwide and the imminent danger to all of us brought about by climate change, and the most recent earthquake in the Philippines which we strongly felt here in Manila, leave us fearing for what is next to come. We are shaken and distressed as the alarming events challenge our basic need to be healthy and safe—two of the tenets of being a whole child, a whole person.
I am grateful to MaPSA and RCAM ES for inviting us, REX, to be your partner in this very important initiative and allowing us to contribute to delivering our shared mission. This initiative is aligned to our pursuit of the Whole Child approach in education.
We feel that in everything we do, while we develop educational materials, we think of the welfare and success of each child. We aim to be part of the village that nurtures the Whole Child. We want a better environment for the child… a better life—for him or her to be healthy, safe, engaged, challenged, and supported. These are the five tenets of the Whole Child. Being an educational publisher, we try to walk the talk in helping mother earth in our own little way and in our own spaces. On March 13, 2015, in celebration of my 70th birthday, with God’s grace and blessings, we inaugurated the REX City in the Forest located in San Francisco, Tarlac. It is a nature reserve and a commemoration of our Catholic faith, highlighting that we are stewards of God’s creation and that our communities should safeguard its natural resources.
The five-hectare “living museum” of trees is an important contribution of the REX Group of Companies in the campaign to once more popularize the use of our native trees. Native trees are what God bestowed our country, our natural heritage, and are part of our identity as Filipinos.
It’s very important to know about native plant species in the Philippines, especially now that many private groups and corporations, and our schools, conduct tree planting as part of their corporate social responsibilities. We have to choose to plant native trees. One expert said, “Trees don’t just function as factories of oxygen. In an ecological viewpoint, they have big roles in sustaining biodiversity through various ecological relationships with multitudes of organisms. If native trees are propagated, native species of animals and other organisms will also proliferate.”
To further aid in the dissemination of knowledge on the different native species of trees indigenous and endemic to the Philippines, REX has also published a guidebook and catalog titled The Rex Living Library of Native Trees, classifying and organizing the trees found in the living museum, according to their plant families, scientific names, general groupings and functions, and geographical and ecological distribution. Out of the 3,600 Philippine native tree species, the guidebook and living library cover a total of 246 indigenous and endemic species.
To-date this living museum is part of San Francisco, Tarlac’s (within the vicinity of Hacienda Luisita) educational showcase, and school fieldtrip destination. And the experience is best enjoyed with a walking tour and reading of the guidebook. In 2016, in our printing facility, we have enforced the use of recycled paper.
Our lighting fixtures have also been replaced, from fluorescent to LED bulbs. REX Printing is also the first printing company to utilize solar energy for its operations. We have installed a 178.5-kilowatt peak solar rooftop in our printing building in Quezon City, which is expected to provide for REX’s energy needs.
This reduces the company’s carbon footprint to 108 metric tons, or the equivalent of 1,080 adult trees every year. In 2017, REX has rearticulated its mission: Tayong Lahat, Kapit Bisig, Para Sa Bata, Para Sa Bayan. REX works to move one nation for the Whole Child, The Whole Child for the Whole Nation.
Through our learning solutions and partnerships with key institutions and individuals, we contribute to the enhancement of education leading to social transformation and contributing to the care and betterment of the world.
This year, we released 21st century teaching and learning textbooks, performance tasks booklets, project-based learning modules, and the Quidbots discovery and experiential program, integrating the Whole Child approach, 21st century skills development, and DepEd’s curriculum goals and core values of Maka-Diyos, Makabayan, Makatao, Makakalikasan.
We wholeheartedly join your cause as this is so aligned with our core intentions and advocacies. We feel this is the will of the Lord, for us to come together. We have been called and we answered the call, with strong faith and desire.
To worry about the future and not do anything is futile and maybe even irresponsible. The clock is ticking. Each of us is able and accountable. We have to do our share. Last March 30 at 8:30 P.M., we celebrated one earth hour; last April 22 we celebrated one earth day. With one act, one diocese, one community, one family, one individual committing to change his daily act, multiplied by so many more one more time, and more tries, there is hope to clean up our act for the sake of our children, the future generations.
We commit to supporting this endeavor through and through. We pray that together with all of you, the waves of change shall be strong and will ripple a thousandfold. Let me end this message by reading this quotation: “Every day you’re alive, you can change the world… It can be big waves or small waves. The very fact that you’re alive and breathing and walking outside, going to class, whatever it is, you’re changing the world with each footstep. There’s a lot of weight to that.”
Let’s do this and live it with joy in our hearts, as our proclamation of the greatness of our Lord!
Tayong lahat, kapit bisig, para sa bata, para sa bayan, para sa ating Diyos na minamahal!