Enrique Cadayona is a retired clinician, a classical guitar teacher, and an agroforestry farmer who is simply fascinated with towering native trees.
His interest for the environment sparked when he was in elementary school, back when he used to visit and immerse with the lush forest of Sierra Madre – but never thought that one day his life would be surrounded with trees in his agroforestry farm in Calinan, Davao City.
His agroforestry farm is perhaps one of the most unique and aesthetically pleasing agroforestry farm in the country, as he incorporated towering native trees, mainly dipterocarps species, and his favorite Toog (Petersianthus quadrialatus) which species holds the tallest standing tree in the country in his farm set-up, which he started to develop in 2010, long before the fad for native trees emerged in the Philippines. As an agroforestry farmer and a native tree enthusiast, Enrique Cadayona’s perspective and efforts is more directed on preservation of native trees through adoption and domestication of towering trees in order to support the ecological requirements of his understory fruit bearing crops such as the tasty lanzones, and the hopes that one day that the emergent native trees he planted which some are endangered could become a source of planting materials in support to rewilding and reforestation projects in the country.
Today, Enrique Cadayona enjoys the satisfaction of the fruit produce of his crops, and the joy that his towering trees bring to his soul everyday upon witnessing their grandeur.
As his commitment for the environment and to preserve and protect the native trees he planted and nurtured from the greed of men, Enrique allotted thirty percent (30%) of the total land area of his 11-hectare farm as a protection or no farming zone, and made a legal bond that no one could cut down his sky-reaching native trees even generations of heirs to come.
For Enrique Cadayona, the secret to a successful Rewilding Project is not rocket science, but TLC (Tender, Love, and Care) of the nurturer for his trees.
