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Anne-Marie Bakker is half-Dutch, half-Filipino, and 100-percent dendrophile (tree lover). She glows with her enviable tan from getting a lot of sun while planting trees or chasing the waves on the beach.
“I must have been .5 years old or something when Mom (Ophelia ‘Ophie’ Mananquil Bakker, once named Woman of the Earth) started to put us in the soil,” Anne-Marie recalls with a chuckle. “My two brothers, Pieter and Henry-Jacques, and I were eating soil as far back then. Seriously, Mom made us plant when we were like toddlers. My first five years, we lived in Indonesia because my dad (Jacob ‘Jack’ Bakker) had his tobacco job there, where we had like a farm in the house with a lot of animals. There was even a peacock.”
She adds cheerfully, “Nature was our playground in Indonesia and my brothers and I really enjoyed being in nature.”
Anne-Marie Bakker with brother Henry-Jacques: “We grew up planting trees. It was normal to us.”
A home full of love and trees
The Bakker children grew up in a family that planted, prayed and played together. Theirs was a happy home full of love and trees. “Our home was (and still is) punong-puno ng puno,” Anne-Marie stresses with a smile as bright as sunlight.
Indeed, Ophie Bakker planted in her children a passion for trees. “It was inherent in us and to be honest, all children would have it if they were exposed to it,” Anne-Marie asserts. “You can’t experience the forest and its benefits through Instagram. You need to touch the frequency of the earth, you need to touch a tree, literally hug a tree, because it has a vibration, there’s a life force. It’s earthy walking on sand at sea or walking in the forest and touching the soil.”
Ophie comes from a farming family in Tarlac. Anne-Marie recalls that her mom was always planting and everywhere she went, she got seeds and was always giving away seedlings and plants, specifically wood trees and fruit-bearing trees. “To us children, it was normal to love trees,” Anne-Marie confesses. “For those who don’t, that was not normal. We learned a lot from planting trees, it kept us grounded.”
She’ll never forget the time her mom brought mango seeds to Holland from the Philippines or olive tree seedlings from Italy to the Philippines.
Undoubtedly, Anne-Marie’s parents share a passion for the earth. You can say it was a down-to-earth match made in heaven. “Mom and Dad met over a plant when they were both working at the Universal Leaf Tobacco Company in the 1960s,” Anne-Marie fondly relates. “Dad was an agronomist, his field was the soil so he knew everything about it. Mom and Dad have the same frequency, they’re vibing together. Also, Dad comes from a fishing village in Holland and he always brought us fishing so growing up, we were already well-versed in rural life.”
The Bakkers then settled in the Philippines and the kids went to International School Manila (ISM). However, the tragic double murder of ISM students Maureen Hultman and Roland John Chapman sent the Bakkers back home to the Netherlands. Years later, Anne-Marie, with her parents, returned to the Philippines and she found her home, at last! The Bakker boys, Pieter and Henry-Jacques, pursued successful careers elsewhere.
“It’s much more fun in the Philippines, to be planting every day,” the patriotic Anne-Marie declares.
Hideaki Kato, Fujifilm Business Innovation Philippines Corp. president: “You print, we plant.”
Feed the planet
It was Ophie Bakker, a formidable woman leader, who planted the seeds of what is now known as Feed (Fostering Education and Environment for Development, Inc.).
“Mom was a very involved home and school mother,” Anne-Marie tells us about her amazing mom. “Her first career was journalism; it was veteran newsman Louie Beltran who trained her. But Feed, which she and Dad founded, was really Mom’s ‘baby.’ It started in 1986 as an educational foundation to raise funds to send poor kids — children of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and parents with no income — in remote areas to school. In 2011, the Bakker Educational Foundation was renamed as Feed.
Anne-Marie tells us more about this ‘baby’ that she adopted from her mom: “Our upland reforestation site is located at UP Laguna-Quezon Land Grant in Siniloan, Laguna: over 9,000 hectares of protected forest at the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountain range. Our mangrove planting sites can be found in Hagonoy, Bulacan as well as in Aringay and Baroro in La Union. We only plant Philippine native trees that are site-specific in all our programs to ensure the highest survival rates, to support the return of wildlife, and to ensure we don’t introduce foreign pests and diseases.”
Beyond environmental restoration, Feed emphasizes social forestry and sustainable livelihood opportunities for local communities. By involving community members in their projects, Feed ensures that environmental initiatives also provide economic benefits, fostering a sense of ownership and long-term commitment to conservation efforts. (Visit https://feed.org.ph/. For inquiries, email info@feed.org.ph. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FEEDInc.PH/.)
On the bright side, Anne-Marie informs us, “We have lost 70 percent of our forest cover, but the tide is turning because the awareness is fast changing. And companies, such as Fujifilm, are actively doing their bit to change this bleak picture.”
She hastens to add, “Yes, you can log sustainably, there’s a rotation method. The standard now is for every tree you cut, you should plant a hundred.”
A down-to-earth match made in heaven: Jacob and Ophelia Bakker share a passion for planting trees, touching other people’s lives.
Say green!
Fujifilm Business Innovation Philippines has partnered with Feed for a corporate sustainability initiative that promotes reforestation in the Philippines. Fujifilm Philippines is committed to planting one tree for every predetermined number of printouts generated by its customers. This initiative not only offsets the environmental footprint of printing but also reinforces the company’s dedication to corporate social responsibility and sustainable business practices.
“Our tagline is: You print, we plant,” says a beaming Hideaki Kato, Fujifilm Business Innovation Philippines Corp. president, at the launch of this sustainability partnership agreement. “We believe that innovation and sustainability should go hand in hand. Through this partnership with Feed Inc., we aim to give back to the environment while supporting our customers in their sustainability goals.”
He’s happy to announce, “At Fujifilm, we aim to reduce fuel emission by 50 percent by year 2030. We have four pillars: Fuji Xerox printing devices, camera (imaging), medical, and technology.”
Kato, who calls himself a “Japino,” has been in the country for seven years now, enjoying the tropical weather and hardly missing the snow in his hometown in Japan. Dazzled by Manila’s colorful lifestyle, Kato often treats himself to Filipino food which he loves, like sisig, chopsuey, and Bicol Express.
Kato, with his dynamic team, can’t wait to see this green partnership grow. Feed will oversee the tree-planting efforts to ensure that the program contributes to biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and community engagement.
Surely, Anne-Marie, along with her family, will never stop planting trees because her love for the soil is deeply rooted in her soul.
