Gideon C. Corgue
PAGADIAN CITY – To meet its target of planting 4,888,888 trees, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has appealed to the media to drum up the “TreeVolution” activity on Sept. 26 at 8:30-9:30 a.m. throughout Mindanao.
In a media forum on Tuesday, Mr. Carlito Tuballa, regional technical director for Forest Management Services (FMS) called on the fourth estate to help promote the said activity to encourage active participation among stakeholders.
Dubbed “TreeVolution: Greening MindaNow,” the activity aims to break India’s record as having planted the most number of trees in multiple locations for an hours.
India got the Guinness World Records title with 1,945,535 trees planted for an hour in 408 locations across the country by 340,200 participants.
With the help of the media, Tuballa expressed optimism that Mindanao’s target of planting 4.6 million of seedlings in 9,200 hectares would be achieved.
Tuballa said the simultaneous tree planting will be participated in by regions 9, 10, 11, 12 and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
For Zamboanga Peninsula, DENR-9 aims to plant 700,000 seedlings in 1,000 hectares to be participated in by 35,000 participants from local government units (LGUs), people’s organizations, and other sectors of society.
Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer Serena Cabrera said they were asking assistance from the members of Zamboanga del Sur-Pagadian City, Inc. (ZPPI) to help them disseminate information to the people.
“We are reaching out to you because you have the power to reach our people in remote areas, and those living in mountains using the radio, television and newspapers,” Cabrera appealed.
“We encourage you to help us instill environmental awareness and promote proactive participation among all Mindanawons to realize our target,” Cabrera added.
Meanwhile, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Adelaida Borja reminded all planters to be at their respective designated assembly area on time for the Sept. 26 tree planting activity. “They shall plant to the best of their ability a minimum of 20 seedlings.”