URBAN GARDENING FOR A CIRCULAR ECONOMY: GROWING GREENER COMMUNITIES THROUGH BAYANIHAN AND SUSTAINABILITY

Wazzup Pilipinas!? 

In the heart of a rapidly urbanizing Philippines, a quiet revolution is taking root — one that blends environmental sustainability, community cooperation, and circular innovation. The Bayanihan Para Sa Kalikasan Movement (BKM), in partnership with Farm-Ready GG Seedling Corporation and Wazzup Pilipinas, is breathing life into the advocacy for a greener, more resilient urban landscape through urban gardening and circular economy practices.

Recently, BKM received 50 sacks of BOSS (Best Organic Sterilized Soil) Media, a premium-quality soil blend donated by Farm-Ready GG Seedling Corporation. The products were picked up directly from Farm-Ready’s warehouse in Bulacan through the coordination of Ross Flores Del Rosario, founder of Wazzup Pilipinas, and an active trustee of BKM. Joining the initiative were Engr. Eric Raymundo, BKM’s National Chairperson, and Engr. Harvey Venturina of the JBC Workers Union, who also led the distribution of eco-friendly furniture pieces known as EcoSilya, alongside five pairs of pilates rods to support health and wellness within their workforce.

But this partnership is about more than just soil and chairs — it’s about circulating resources, empowering communities, and growing sustainability from the ground up.

The Seed of Change: Urban Gardening as a Circular Practice

The BOSS Media soil will be used in BKM’s upcoming Urban Gardening Projects, designed to empower city dwellers to grow their own food even in limited spaces. From rooftops to balconies, the initiative aims to demonstrate how circular economy principles can transform waste into wealth — reusing organic materials, recycling plastics into pots or garden fixtures, and sharing resources among neighbors.

Urban gardening plays a critical role in a circular economy by minimizing waste and maximizing resource efficiency. Each plant grown in sterilized organic soil represents a microcosm of sustainability — clean air, reduced food miles, and a step toward food security for Filipino families.

The initiative even has a spicy twist: one of the highlighted sub-projects will cultivate the Carolina Reaper, known as the world’s hottest chili pepper. Using the newly acquired BOSS Media soil, this project aims to showcase not just sustainable agriculture, but also entrepreneurial opportunities in high-value crops.

Sharing Economy in Action

True to the Filipino spirit of Bayanihan, the JBC Workers Union extended their support by sharing EcoSilya (eco-friendly chairs made from recycled materials) and pilates rods with their members — embodying the essence of a sharing economy. Instead of keeping resources confined to one group, BKM and its partners encourage the circulation of materials, tools, and knowledge across organizations and communities.

Moreover, Farm-Ready GG Seedling Corporation has requested a BKM-led workshop on circular economy and plastic recycling, emphasizing that sustainability must be both learned and lived. These educational initiatives aim to build awareness on how businesses and individuals can turn discarded plastics into useful products — closing the loop between production, consumption, and regeneration.

Greening the Future, One Sack at a Time

Farm-Ready GG Seedling Corporation, known for its commitment to quality and agricultural innovation, continues to make sustainable growing more accessible. Their BOSS Media is now available in 5kg, 10kg, and 35kg packs at Farm-Ready Concept Stores. For inquiries, growers may contact Ms. Princess Venturina, Concept Store and Ornamental Lead, at 0917 804 3873 or via email at princess.venturina@eastwestseed.com. Seedling orders can also be made through the Farm-Ready Hotline (0917 543 5189).

A Movement Rooted in Purpose

Through partnerships like this, Bayanihan Para Sa Kalikasan and Wazzup Pilipinas continue to prove that sustainable transformation starts at the community level — with people, purpose, and passion aligned. With every seed planted and every EcoSilya shared, they cultivate not just gardens, but hope — for cleaner cities, empowered citizens, and a future that thrives on cooperation rather than consumption.

As Ross Flores Del Rosario often emphasizes in his advocacy for sustainability and social empowerment:

“Real growth doesn’t come from what we keep — it comes from what we share, nurture, and grow together.”

#BayanihanParaSaKalikasan

#KalikasanMuna

#CircularEconomy

#UrbanGardening

#WazzupPilipinas

#FarmReadyGG

#BOSSmedia

#EcoSilya

#SustainabilityInAction

San Quintin LGU to fully subsidize the SSS contribution of over 200 barangay workers

Wazzup Pilipinas?! 

URDANETA CITY – Social Security System (SSS) Luzon Central 1 Vice President Vilma P. Agapito and San Quintin Mayor Farah Lee Lumahan signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to register San Quintin LGU as the first Contribution Subsidy Provider in Pangasinan.

Starting September 2025, 217 barangay workers will receive a P760 monthly subsidy for their SSS contributions, totaling P164,920 in monthly support. The program will be fully funded by the local government throughout the term of Mayor Lumahan, as part of the municipal government’s efforts of enhancing social protection for community-based workers.

 

SSS Vice President for Luzon Central 1 Division Vilma P. Agapito said that the groundbreaking agreement between SSS and an LGU is the first of its kind in Pangasinan and Luzon Central 1 Division which covers Barangay Health Workers (BHW), Barangay Population Workers (BPW), Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNS), and Child Development Workers (CDW) of the said municipality.

 

 “Through this MOA, we are bringing social security protection closer to our grassroots workers who serve as frontliners in their communities. This collaboration with the San Quintin LGU is a trailblazing initiative that we hope other local governments will replicate,” Agapito said.

 

She further emphasized that consistent and regular SSS contribution remittance ensures long-term protection and access to a wide range of benefits such as sickness, maternity, disability, retirement, funeral, and death benefits. Members also become eligible for salary and calamity loans, providing immediate financial assistance in times of need.

 

Meanwhile, San Quintin Mayor Farah Lee Lumahan highlighted the LGU’s commitment to the barangay workers.

 

“Our barangay workers have long been the backbone of community service. By partnering with SSS under the CSPP, we are ensuring that their sacrifices and contributions are recognized through social security protection. This is just the beginning, as we also commit to include our Civic Volunteer Organization (CVO) workers in 2026,” she said.

 

SSS Urdaneta is also conducting courtesy meetings with other LGUs in its jurisdiction to offer the CSPP, in the hope that they will follow San Quintin’s lead in providing subsidy for the social security coverage of their barangay workers.

 

THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS: HOW EARTH’S SILENT BEINGS ARE TALKING, FEELING, AND FIGHTING BACK

Wazzup Pilipinas!? 

For centuries, humanity gazed upon the green world and saw serenity — forests of quiet giants, meadows of untroubled grace, gardens of still life. We thought plants were silent witnesses to the pulse of the planet: rooted, passive, unfeeling. But science is now revealing a far more electrifying truth. Plants are not silent at all. They are alive with conversation — whispering, warning, and even waging war in a hidden symphony of life that has been unfolding beneath our feet all along.

The Hidden Voices of the Green World

Deep within the leaves and roots, an invisible communication network hums with life. Plants, it turns out, are sophisticated communicators. When under threat — say, by an invading caterpillar or a gnawing beetle — a plant doesn’t merely endure. It cries out. Through the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), it sends an airborne distress signal — a kind of chemical SOS — warning neighboring plants of the danger. Within minutes, those nearby respond, bolstering their natural defenses, fortifying cell walls, and producing bitter toxins to deter invaders.

Some species even “speak” in sound — emitting ultrasonic clicks, typically between 20 and 100 kilohertz, inaudible to the human ear but easily picked up by sensitive microphones. These clicks, researchers believe, are the plant’s equivalent of a scream: a vibration born of stress, thirst, or injury.

The “Wood Wide Web” — Nature’s Underground Internet

Beneath the soil, an intricate communication system connects plants across vast distances — a living network of fungal threads called mycorrhizae. Scientists call it the “Wood Wide Web.” Through these fungal highways, plants share resources and relay warnings. A tree attacked by pests can send chemical signals through its roots, alerting others nearby. Healthy trees have been shown to channel nutrients to struggling neighbors, ensuring the survival of the collective forest.

In one groundbreaking experiment, researchers observed that a mother tree could recognize her own seedlings through these subterranean connections — prioritizing them with extra carbon, water, and nitrogen. Far from being mere organisms, forests begin to look like families — communities with memory, empathy, and mutual care.

The Science of Plant Defense

In a lab, a wounded tomato plant glows like a flare under high-resolution imaging, releasing a cascade of chemical alarms. Within moments, other tomato plants nearby respond — tightening their defenses as if receiving an invisible command. Corn plants, under siege by caterpillars, emit chemicals that act as a siren call to parasitic wasps — summoning nature’s tiny assassins to destroy their attackers.

And in a scene straight from science fiction, some flowers can literally hear. When they detect the distinct buzz of a bee or pollinator, they rapidly increase the sugar concentration of their nectar — sweetening the deal for their winged visitors.

Rethinking Intelligence and Sentience

The implications of these discoveries are staggering. If plants can communicate, strategize, and cooperate — can they also feel? Are we witnessing a form of intelligence without a brain?

Researchers caution against anthropomorphizing too much — plants are not “thinking” in the human sense. Yet the evidence suggests they process information, make adaptive choices, and exhibit behaviors once thought exclusive to animals. The very notion of plant “awareness” is forcing scientists and philosophers alike to expand their understanding of consciousness itself.

Some studies even show that stressed pea plants can trigger fear responses in dozens of untouched neighbors — a chain reaction of distress that ripples through entire ecosystems.

A New Frontier for Humanity

As we learn to decode this green language, the potential is enormous. Imagine self-defending crops that “warn” each other of infestations before they spread. Forest restoration guided by the intelligence of native networks. Cities that listen to the quiet wisdom of plants to rebalance air, soil, and life.

But this knowledge also brings responsibility. If plants are sentient in ways we’re only beginning to grasp, how do we treat them ethically? What does it mean to harvest, prune, or burn a living communicator — one that can feel the stress of its environment and cry out to its neighbors for help?

The Symphony We Never Heard

Plants are listening. Plants are speaking. And now, we are finally starting to hear them.

In the rustle of leaves, in the hum beneath the soil, in the fragrance of a flower calling to its kin — there is a vast, unbroken conversation happening around us. A language of survival, cooperation, and quiet brilliance that has existed since the dawn of life itself.

We once called it silence.

Now we know it’s music.

“The world isn’t silent — we just stopped listening. Every leaf that trembles, every root that reaches out, carries a message of connection. If we learn to hear the language of plants, we’ll rediscover the soul of the planet — and perhaps, the better part of ourselves.”
— Ross Flores Del Rosario, Founder of Wazzup Pilipinas