The Arboretum Forest, located near UP Ayala Technohub, contains what's left of the original Diliman Forest.
It is one of the underdeveloped areas belonging to the University of the Philippines Diliman and seems to be generally unmonitored.
Illegal settlers have built homes inside the forest grounds and in the areas close to it.
Families have also settled along the road from Commonwealth leading to the Arboretum Forest.
There is an abundance of stray dogs adopted by the families in the Arboretum.
The community in the Arboretum make use of the resources offered by the forest.
The forest grounds are littered with trash and cut trees.
Some of the trees had fallen due to natural calamities.
An elderly woman was picking up small branches to use to create small fires for cooking.
Trees and plastic bags bracket the road heading to Visayas Avenue.
One of the local children sat down in one of his favorite playing spots.
The children who live in the area treat the Arboretum forest as their own playground.
A couple of drivers were fixing their trucks that were parked outside the forest.
Several wells are located deep inside the Arboretum forest. This is where the illegal settlers wash up and do their laundry.
It is not merely the trees that the community finds uses for. Fallen fruits are used as makeshift balls by the kids.
The kids shared that they liked tossing rocks and broken pieces of boulders in the well.
One of the houses inside the forest was torn down because it was settled into by 'addicts', locals said.
Wood from the forest were used to construct parts of the houses in the community.
Random mattresses, cushions, and hammock are found strewn across the forest grounds.
