This is just the prelude, a part of drumming up attention, talking to local partners on how they undertake their own Tour of the Fireflies or their version of it.

Impressive row of bikers who are part of the Firefly Brigade put their energy towards the preservation of nature. ELMER RECUERDO

TACLOBAN CITY — Fireflies swell on trees where the fairies dwell. They are her armies to protect her dwelling place from people who are out to destroy them. They either provide light to guide a lost traveler or conjure images that would confuse people with bad intentions.

Thus says a grandmother to kids who would insist to go out and play at night many years back, when trees were still aplenty and streets were pitch black due to the absence of electricity, not to scare the children but to warn them against harming the trees.

But when was the last time you saw a firefly in the city?

“Fireflies are all gone because of pollution,” says theater actor and events organizer Jack Yabut. “As an indicator specie, fireflies thrive in a better environment. If we can clean the air, improve the environment through bicycle, then maybe fireflies will come back.”

The 59-year-old Yabut, president of Firefly Brigade from Quezon City, is part of the four-man group currently on a Trans-Philippines bicycle ride from Baguio City to Davao City to promote road safety, climate action and disaster preparedness.

Other members of the group are Ed Leuenberger Jr., a 52-year-old entrepreneur from Davao City and biking enthusiasts Arvin Fiestas from Catarman, Northern Samar and 64-year-old Boy Garin from Catbalogan City.

The group started to hit the road in Baguio City on 7 October after a fun ride around the city organized by local bikers and the city government of Baguio.

Pedaling an average of 100 to 120 kilometers a day, the group arrived in this city last 18 October on their way to other key cities in the Visayas and Mindanao before the group ends the tour in Davao City on 30 October.

Before the group arrived in Tacloban City, it had made stops in Tarlac City, San Rafael in Bulacan, Parañaque City, Lucena and Calauag in Quezon; Naga, Legaspi and Sorsogon in Bicol Region; Calbayog and Catbalogan and in Samar province.

In those stops, they talked to local bikers to discuss their advocacies on road safety, environmental protection and disaster preparedness as well as make plans for the grand Tour of the Fireflies sometime in mid-November 2019.

“This is just the prelude, a part of drumming up attention, talking to local partners on how they undertake their own Tour of the Fireflies or their version of it, sharing of ideas, making a warm human network and carrying a campaign,” explains Yabut.

Yabuts says the Tour of the Fireflies started in 1999 as an advocacy of biking enthusiasts in environmental preservation, particularly in making the air clean from pollution.

“It is a bicycle event that is not a race but a parade where we invited people to wear costumes that are nature-inspired, wild, colorful and funky to get people’s attention,” he said. Yabut credits the idea of wearing costumes to Katti Sta. Anna, the former president of Firefly Brigade and professor of Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines.

He said it started with a small group of biking enthusiasts who would make a seven-city tour in Metro Manila. Since then, the group had started to swell and reached to at least 15,000 bikers on the streets all over the country in 2013.

From Metro Manila, the Firefly Brigade has also expanded now to other cities in the country. In 2008, similar activities were held in Baguio, General Santos, Palawan, Bacolod and Iloilo among others.

“We encourage people in other cities to have their own Tour of the Fireflies. They can use the idea of having a tour of the fireflies for a day as long as it is done for the same purpose,” Yabut said.

He said the basic concept should be the same — participants have to go on a bicycle, encourage people to go on bikes, inform them that the event is not a race and encourage them to wear costumes.

“The tours can be 10 to 12 kilometers so that even children and old people can join, it will be able to encourage those who have stopped biking na magbalik bisekleta (return to cycling) and even first-timers can join,” he said.

While they have carried the advocacy for clean air since inception, Yabut admits pollution in the city has not improved, instead it is getting worse each year.

“It’s a long shot for bikers to help the environment. Twenty years later, we are still at it and the problem is still not solved. But we can encourage people to take one step at a time, one pedal step at a time,” he said. “More and more places are not only losing fireflies but also other animal species.”