Melania Dirain, The Forest Specialist

As a forest specialist, part of Dirain’s job was the enforcement of foreign protection laws,
including policies against illegal logging.
Just a month after she assumed her post as officer in charge of Community Environment and
Natural Resources Office (CENRO) in Sanchez-Mira, Cagayan, she apprehended illegal loggers
and confiscated a number of illegal forest products already.

Because of this, Dirain received death threats for months, but she still continued on her
crusade.

On February 7, 2012, Dirain was shot to death while talking to an office messenger. A report on
the Philippine Daily Inquirer said Dirain was talking to Isaias Cereniado inside her office, when a
man barged in and shot 5 five times in the chest. Her 3 sons suddenly became orphans (she
was a widow; her husband died a few years before).

That same year, Dirain was given the Dangal ng Bayan award by the Civil Service Commission.
She was also given the “Bayani ng Kalikasan” award by the Center for Environmental Concerns.

According to Rare, a partner international conservation organization of the DENR, Dirain

“pioneered the use of cell phones to anonymously report illegal forest activities.”

Jojo Malinao, The Forest Guard

Malinao was a forest guard at the Makiling Forest Reserve in Laguna. His job included diligently
patrolling the forest and protecting it against destructive activities such as timber poaching,
illegal occupancy, kaingin (slash-and-burn agriculture), and littering. He also served as a
witness in cases involving these illegal practices.
On the day of his death on May 9, 2011, he testified during the hearing of Armando Javier and
Napoleon Oliveros, who were both charged with violation of the Revised Forestry Code of the
Philippines, according to a report from the Inquirer.

After the hearing, he went to a tarpaulin shop in Bay, Laguna, where he was shot to death by a
man on a motorcycle.

According to testaments of those close to him, he was once offered P100,000 ($2,153) for bribe
but rejected it and said, “Patayin na lang nila ako.” (They can kill me instead.

Logendrin Aranca, The Forest Ranger and Bernabe Malijao, The Tree Maker

Aranca, a Forest Ranger, and Malijao, a Tree Marker, were both tasked to man a checkpoint
along the main highway going to Real, Infanta, and General Nakar towns in the province of
Quezon.
In the evening of August 22, 1995, a resident of Barangay Maragondon in Real, Quezon, whose
passenger jeepney was loaded with Narra lumber, requested for a clearance pass.
The two, however, denied the request because of lack of transport documents. The resident
then rode on his jeepney again and drove through the barricade.
Jayme Navarro: Invented Fuel from Plastic Trash Bags

From Trash Plastic Bags to Fuels

Jayme Navarro’s Pyrolysis Technology converting Trash Plastics into less sulfuric Diesel,
Gasoline, & LPG.

A commerce undergraduate, who have been passionately fascinated by the versatility of

plastics, have continuously evolved his products over time.

He started off around 1970 when he started to recycle plastic scraps to make plastic twine,
straws and sticks in Bacolod. Around 1983, when the plastic resin was in all time high, he
experimented again and was able to produce liquid hydrocarbons, but, the project was not yet
feasible at that time so he just recycled banker oil to get clean motor oil for two stroke motor
engines. After 10 years, he then invented and recycled discarded batteries as the materials for
plastic pipes for drainage.

But not until 2005 when his sister, encouraged him to try to find ways to recycle plastic bags and
the likes to something useful… and he did.

After intense developing, refining, and improving, last December 2007 during the trial run in
Bacolod, Mr. Navarro finally found a great way to recycle plastic bags. He found the best
process of converting reject plastic scattered on the streets like sando bag, garbage bags and
styrophors, into fuel.

Assorted plastics are first shredded into evenly sized pieces and are put into an agglomeration
chamber. It then enters a feeding screw where it is melted and the polymers are mixed with a
catalyst. The melted plastic goes to a specially designed pyrolysis chamber and
depolymerization occurs, where hydrocarbon gases are being produced. It then passes through
distillation, filtration and centrifuge. The light gases produced are then purified, compressed and
stored. The process is done entirely inside a vacuum; hence no resultant chemicals are
released into the environment.

5000 kilos of contaminated plastic can be converted to 400 liters of diesel and gasoline fuel oil.
The machine was built in Bacolod but a bigger plant is in the process of finalization in Montalban
where it can produce around 5,000 kilos of fuel per day, it is automated so it will only be needing
3 people to man it.

The process was a success that they brought it to DOE and DOST for analysis. It was tested
and it is said to contain all the basic properties of fuel, and even has lower sulfur content. It is
clean and environmental friendly. The invention was patented with intellectual property last
November 2008.

His Company Poly-Green Technology and Resources Inc., will soon put-up some facilities in
Rizal Province and other sorrounding Manila Provinces with the coordination of the local
government units.
Anna Oposa

With all the threats to the marine ecosystem—from the construction of a resort in a sea turtle
sanctuary to the unchecked use of single-use plastic, Save Philippine Seas co-founder Anna
Oposa always has her hands full. Describing herself as the “Chief Mermaid,” she leads the
group in protecting the country’s coastal and marine resources through information
dissemination, education campaigns, and community-based projects. Having earned a
bachelor's degree in English Studies from the University of the Philippines in Diliman and a
Master's of Science in Conservation Science from Imperial College London, she combines her
passion for writing and environment conservation through publications and books such as a
textbook for grade school students titled An Introduction to Climate Change for Filipinos.

Fiona Natasha Jean Faulkner

Fiona Faulkner facilitates Tribes and Treks as the environmental officer of The Circle Hostel, a
chain of low-cost and eco-friendly accommodations popular in the surf towns of Baler,
Zambales, and La Union. Tribes and Treks immerses guests in the Aeta communities of
Zambales and help in the reforestation of at least 3,000 hectares of their ancestral domain. She
also looks after the Plastic Solution, a Circle Hostel project that repurposes plastic bottles by
stuffing them with cut-outs of non-biodegradable waste.

Miku Ebueza

Committed to becoming a "steward for Mother Nature," Miku Ebueza in 2013 started making
handcrafted bracelets, jewelry, and accessories from objects found discarded on beaches and
worn-out shirts and cloth. It later grew into what she now calls Tali Ti Amianan (Ilocano for
"Rope of the North), a social enterprise participated by the women and elders of La Union. The
bracelets also don't make use of glue, which could be harmful to the ocean.
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