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Some
mornings, Robert John Sobrepeña, chief executive of the
listed Fil-Estate Land Inc., stands amid a crisp breeze
and peers through his binoculars, looking for birds.
Normally,
when a bird leaps from a tree and soars out of sight,
Sobrepeña sets off in pursuit, sloshing across the turf of
the golf course.
“Normally,
when I go out, I find a heron walking casually right in my
yard,” he says, referring to a site in Manila Southwoods
Residential Estates and Golf and Country Club, or
Southwoods.
Beyond
golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, Southwoods is home
to a number of bird species, lakes, numerous trees and
flowering shrubs.
The 103
species of birds, which are dominated by herons, find a
natural sanctuary around the houses and golf courses’
terrain at Southwoods. “Their habitats are meticulously
planted and carefully landscaped to mimic their natural
surrounding,” says Che Patulot, tour guide at Southwoods.
“This
allows golfers an up-close yet unobtrusive experience of
Southwoods’ exceptional wildlife. It’s not unusual to have
kingfishers, pikes, or even an occasional heron as your
spectators,” she adds.
Normally,
there are migratory birds from Indonesia that show up
every August. Patulot, who’s been with Southwoods since
1992, maintains that Indonesia, like the Philippines, has
a wealth of biodiversity.
The birds
at the 450-hectare community of Southwoods are
self-surviving. Some 30,000 trees were planted all over
the area, creating practically its own ecological system.
This has placed Southwoods to be the first in Asia as a
certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary.
The
certification program helps golf courses protect
environment and preserve the natural heritage of golf,
says Patulot.
In the
near term, Haribon Foundation, an environmental movement,
will help Patulot in monitoring the birds at Southwoods—some
of which are exploited by large lizards, snakes and cats.
Apart from
that, Patulot says relentless sprawl, invasive species and
global warming are threatening an increasing number of
bird species in the country toward extinction.
“To become
aware, we’re extending our outreach program to students,”
says Patulot, encouraging more schools to visit the bird
sanctuaries. Students from the University of the
Philippines
in Los Baños and Colegio San Agustin are among the
frequent guests at Southwoods.
With the
immersion of Haribon Foundation, students will be taught
to be more vigilant about new invasive species that can
devastate habitats of birds, and limiting carbon-dioxide
emissions, which contribute to global warming.
“Birds are
threatened far too much by the unthinking actions of human
beings. The least we could do is create a plan to help
them recover,” says Sobrepeña.
Sobrepeña,
who also chairs the Fil-Estate Corp., worries about one
thing: One of the biggest threats to conservation over
time is from people losing contact with the natural world.
“So
Southwoods does the trick. It’s so crisscrossed with lush
hills and streams that most residents think of it as a
good place to live or nest in,” Sobrepeña explains, saying
that Southwoods is the only green part of Carmona, Cavite.
He says
around it are industrial firms like Welborne Industrial
Park, Golden Mile Business Park, South Coast Industrial
Complex, People’s Technology Complex and Sterling
Properties, among others.
Envisioned
to be the new urban center right at the outskirts of the
metropolis, Carmona is now the focus of top priority plans
for many infrastructure developments.
“No other
location is more ideal for this new standard of excellence
in sprawling residential golf-course living,” says
Sobrepeña.
Likewise,
he says most kids—when they think of outdoor
recreation—think of playing soccer on a mowed field.
They’re not in the woods flipping over rocks and looking
for salamanders or watching birds fly, he adds.
And so it
is with Southwoods where “grandest living experience is
found,” says Sobrepeña.
“Building
a community that’s in tune with the environment and with
you so that it’s more than just a home, it’s also a way of
life,” he says. | 
