A COMMUNITY-LED restoration project in Barangay Banlag, Monkayo, Davao de Oro, has earned Southeast Asian recognition after being named a 2026 Asean Green Initiative (AGI) Large-Scale awardee at the Asean Heritage Parks Forum in Quezon City from September 8 to 10.
The Monkayo Pag-asa Carbon Forest (MPCF), managed by the Davao City-based Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF), was honored by the Asean Centre for Biodiversity for converting a 22.4-hectare former agricultural property into a recovering native forest.
PEF reported that it has planted over 22,800 native tree seedlings representing more than 80 species on the site since active reforestation began in March 2022.
The Iloilo-based Yap family donated the land to PEF in 2017 to honor their late parents, dedicating it strictly to forest preservation.
The Banlag Santol Kinaiyahan Workers Association (Basakwa), an organization composed primarily of local informal-settler families previously displaced by upland conflicts, manages day-to-day nursery and field operations.
Members manage and monitor trees across restoration plots to ensure their survival.
“This recognition belongs to the people who stayed with the forest after planting day — Basakwa, our field team, the LGU, DENR, our plot adopters, and every partner who kept coming back,” said PEF Executive Director Dennis Salvador. “Success is not simply the number of seedlings planted. It is seeing those seedlings survive, become forest, and make room for wildlife to return”.
During field surveys, researchers documented 45 bird species on the site, including the Vulnerable Japanese Night Heron and the endemic South Philippine Dwarf Kingfisher. Recent camera-trap footage also confirmed the presence of the Mindanao tree squirrel within the growing canopy.
The Municipal Government of Monkayo designated the property as a Local Conservation Area, with ongoing operations supported by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and private sponsors under PEF’s plot-adoption scheme.
MPCF shared the national AGI Large-Scale distinction with Quezon City’s “Luntiang Kyusi: One Million Trees Initiative”.
PEF noted that the project serves as a model for its broader "Planting for the Future: 3 Million Trees Campaign," which aims to reforest roughly 1,200 hectares of critical Philippine Eagle habitat across Mindanao. GRS
