Butterflies
are Free
Animal Scene, May 2001
By Nathaniel Cruz
Well she's walking through the clouds
With a circus mind that's running around
Butterflies and zebras
And moonbeams and fairy tales
That's all she ever thinks about
Riding with the wind.
- Jimi Hendrix, Little Wing
Of
all the days in the year, we have to meet Bureau of Internal Revenue
Deputy Commissioner Estelita C. Aguirre during the April 18 extended
deadline for the filing of income tax returns.
She said she's been packed with interviews
since she got out of bed. By the time we met her, a few minutes before
lunchtime, she's already nursing a bad headache and apologized that
she's not so propped-up. "When I
learned this interview will be about the butterflies I got all excited
and felt so revived!" she said. And
we've seen no trace of any of the things she's been complaining about.
She's just a ray of sunshine, a glowing
spirit who can barely contain her enthusiasm, the words tumbling out
as she relates her tale. And the story's not even about her meeting
a young man named Jack and surviving a shipwreck after it struck an
iceberg in the North Atlantic or about her adventure in space with a
boy named Anakin singing, "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi!"
To most of us, it's only a story about
flying insects with pretty colors. But for me, it's a story of another
girl I dig. A charming, animated poet who infects you with her zest
for life.
"Well
as a young girl, I was really fascinated with butterflies, fireflies,
and dragonflies… we would go to the fields and try to catch as many
as we can. We used to have a plant where fireflies would really gather.
We'd try to catch them, put them in bottles and look at them in the
evening. So now, I spend my free time researching on fireflies and dragonflies…"
When the moon appears to shine and light
the sky with the help of some fireflies, does she ever wonder how they
have the power to shine, shine, shine and see them under the pines?
"I've really been fascinated by butterflies,
and by nature. When I visited Puerto Princesa in 1999, I had the chance
to visit the Palawan Butterfly Garden, and I was mesmerized by the butterflies
all around the place, and all those flowers…. I felt like I was in Paradise.
When I returned to Manila, I found myself dreaming about it," she recalled.
"And so when I went home to Pulilan, I
used a portion of our backyard to plant flowering shrubs. One day, I
noticed a butterfly fluttering around my little garden. Every weekend
after that, I noticed that more and more butterflies would come and
fly around my flowers. I would give Mr. Roy Rodriguez - the owner of
the Palawan Butterfly Garden - a call every time I'd see more butterflies,
and finally, I invited him to visit Pulilan.
And that's when she got the idea of putting
up her own butterfly farm, in the sprawling property surrounding her
ancestral home in Pulilan. Gradually, she has managed to develop the
place, until it became what it is now: the Pulilan Butterfly Haven.
And it's fast becoming a tourist attraction.
"As
of now, I have around 20 species at the Haven. I learned the technology
of breeding caterpillars from Roy and Dr. Bonifacio Cayabyab. They are
my consultants in maintaining the ecological balance of the Haven. In
the flight area, you'll find food plants for the adult butterflies while
in the breeding farm, we have food plants for the caterpillars."
The Pulilan Butterfly Haven along San Francisco
Street in Pulilan, Bulacan is a theme park of sorts. It's just that
the after effects is totally different from your usual "yippie!!!" park.
When the people who visit the place leave,
talagang revitalized sila, and they always say that they feel like they've
been able to "re-charge", she said.
The Haven used to be an orchid farm before
her husband, former Pulilan vice mayor, Honorato Aguirre, passed away.
"When he passed away, it became difficult
to manage the farm, because you really need to give the orchids tender
loving care - TLC, as they say. That's the same TLC that I'm now giving
my butterflies."
However, it's not just the experience of
being in the middle of a pocket Eden, having butterflies, flowers and
plants in every shade of green all around you, that make a visit to
the Haven a renewal of the spirit.
"Of course, that's the number one reason
people enjoy visiting the Haven. But another reason is for the children
to be aware of the importance of butterflies in maintaining our ecological
balance. And yes, for them to learn the life cycle of the butterfly…
it's really very educational."
"You cannot maintain a haven or garden
of butterflies if you don't keep on planting. You have to maintain a
balance between the flowers and the butterflies.
"If you have plenty of butterflies, but
you don't have any flowering plants, then it would just be like keeping
butterflies in a cage. But if you maintain an ecological balance, then
you'll have a garden, a real paradise," said the 10th placer in the
1963 CPA Board exams.
"The
third reason is for us to teach the children and their parents cleanliness.
You may not know this, but butterflies measure the pollution in a particular
area. If you have plenty of butterflies in a certain place, you can
be sure that the air there is clean. Have you ever noticed how fresh
and pure the air is in the rural areas, or in farms and forests? That's
the kind of atmosphere where butterflies flourish."
The 1997 Civil Service Commission's Dangal
ng Bayan Awardee is proud of the fact that she does not pay for advertisements.
"People just come purely by word-of-mouth," she said. "That's why I'm
always looking for ways to improve the Haven. Take for instance the
music. You must have heard the Filipino folksongs on butterflies that
we play over hidden loudspeakers in the flight areas. We researched
these traditional songs, and I asked a friend who conducts a choir to
record these songs in a special CDD that is exclusive to the Haven.
"Another thing that's really self-fulfilling
is after the fieldtrips of school children, the following weekend, you
can be sure that two or three would come back with their parents and
their grandparents. That is the greatest feeling for me. Napakasarap,
seeing a family of three generations moving around my garden."
Aside from all this "state of well-being"
stuff, the butterfly business is very promising.
"Lately, we've been servicing weddings,
and there's quite a demand for butterflies. Every now and then, we receive
orders for around 50 to 100 butterflies for wedding receptions and debuts.
Normally, what we deliver are the Cethosia biblis, which are beautiful
orange butterflies."
Butterflies at weddings? Apparently, there's
this new trend at weddings. Butterflies are now used instead of flower
confetti when the newlyweds emerge from the church, or during the reception,
in addition to the traditional doves.
"At
the reception, during the toast, the best makes a wish for the bride
and groom, followed by a friend, then a close relative. Finally, the
bride and groom are called to the "center stage" to make their wishes
for each other. All these wishes are whispered to the butterflies and
afterwards, they are set free. According to an American Indian legend,
you see, when you set a butterfly free, it will carry your wish to the
Great Spirit, and your wish will come true."
A devout Catholic, Mrs. Aguirre has been
a part of the BIR for more than 35 years now. She began her career in
the mid-1960's, as a revenue examiner.
"I rose from the ranks. I started out as
a junior examiner, and worked my way up the ladder. I became a group
supervisor, then a Revenue District Officer and some years later, I
was appointed Chief of the Value-Added Tax Division. In the mid-1990s,
I became Regional Director and finally in 1995, I was appointed Deputy
Commissioner.
And now she can add "a poetess" to her
resume; in fact, she published two books of poems already - Abutin Mo
ang Bituin, and Kay Sarap Mabuhay. Both, she says, are about her life
story, in verse.
"I
discovered that I had this talent in 1998, during a time of deep depression.
I had a very great problem at the time, and I was feeling so disheartened.
But one day, just when everything seemed to be hopeless, the scene oat
Calvary flashed before my eyes, and I felt as of the Lord was reminding
me to have faith in Him, and to humble myself to His Wisdom and Mercy.
That moment inspired me to compose my poem "Pagpapakumbaba" (Humility).
Some months later, a good friend encouraged me to write down my childhood
memories in verse - the rest, as the saying goes, is history. Now my
two little books are out in the market.
"But I never realized that would be able
to write poetry, because I don't have much of a background in literature.
I hate composition and literature! My whole wold was in mathematics…
algebra, trigonometry. Numbers were my specialty, which is why I became
a Certified Public Accountant. Who would ever think that at the age
of 55, I would become a poet and a butterfly lover? All these things
that have happened to me are gifts from the Lord!"
And so she continues to invite us into
the magical world of the butterflies, and encourages us all to see in
these delicate creatures the unfailing strength of the human spirit,
and the eternal love of a merciful God.
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