Finding beauty in a sentient graveyard

The beauty that we behold, unbeknownst to us, is actually death in its alluring grandeur. The Bohol Manmade Forest, sitting 20 kilometers away from its the island's capital, is a ten-hectare patch of land densely populated by mahogany trees soaring above you as if you were in a fantasy book. Tranquil, splendid, and eerily quiet, it makes you wonder why no birds and insects thrive in the towering trees. In his book "Philippine Native Trees 101: Up Close and Personal", Professor James LaFrankie tells of the difference in planting a native species like molave and an alien species as mahogany: “Molave, as a native species, has a relationship to the land, water, and other organisms that has developed over a million years. Certain fungi live with the roots, certain insects feed on the plant parts, while others pollinate the flower. Birds and mammals live along the branches and feed on the seeds. No such relationship exists for the newcomer. The result is ten hectares of mahogany in a biodiversity-dead zone. There are no birds, no insects, only a nearly dead soil due to the lethal chemicals that leak from the rotting leaves. Native species are rarely found as seedlings beneath the canopy, and so, most significantly, there is no future for ten hectares of mahogany.”

The Philippines boasts countless natural tourist sites all over the country. Go out and explore! It's more fun here, indeed!

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