By Alfonso T. Ruda
DIPOLOG CITY - Hundreds of Dipolognons from all walks of life flocked to the two planting sites here in support of the“TreeVolution: Greening MindaNOW”simultaneous tree planting activity last Sept. 26.
The simultaneous Mindanao-wide tree planting activity,which was coducted from 8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. was an attempt to break the Guinness World Records of India which had planted 1,945,535 trees for one hour in 408 different locations with 340,200 participants.
Ms. Elsie M Adorable, TreeVolution focal person for Upper Dicayas planting site, said 350, instead of the expected 250 volunteer-planters composed of the members of the Puti Bato Upper Dicayas Farmers Association had registered and planted 5,000 seedlings of cacao, coffee and narra.
Aside from the members of the Puti Bato Upper Dicayas Farmers Associaiton, other groups joining the said activityincludedthe members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), barangay officials, teachers and students of the colleges and university in the city, GSIS, SSS, LBP, DCWD, academe, religious sector, and non-government and civic organizations.
On the other hand, City Environment and Natural Resources Officer Rodney Benedicto together with 125 participants from 101st Infantry Brigade, Police Public Safety Company(PPSC), City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDRRMC), Barangays Turno, Minaog and Sicayab planted 2,500 seedlings of mahogany, narra and other timber trees at the five-hectare public land above the rellocation site in Upper Dicayas.
“Based on initial feedback from TreeVolution focal persons, the tree planting activity was very successful. In fact, planters have finished planting earlier than the allotted time,” said Geoffrey Zayas, community environment and natural resources officer for the province’s second district. For this, he thanked the mayors and local leaders in the barangays and all stakeholders, especially the planters for their support to the one-hour activity.
Meanwhile, CENRO-Dapitan chief Jose Mario Reyes also reported that 1,674 joined the tree-planting activity at Alvenda, Mutia and planted 42,550 of rubber and falcata seedlings at the 100-hectare public land identified for the purpose.
Reyes said the tree planting activity in Mutia town had only registered an accomplishment of 85.1 percentdue to the difficult terrain of the planting site. CENRO-Dapitan targeted to plant 50,000 assorted timber trees in 100-hectare public lands in the whole first district of Zamboanga del Norte.
Similar tree-planting activity were also undertaken by CENRO-Liloy and CENRO-Siocon, all of the third district of Zamboanga del Norte.
From the initial reports submitted by TreeVolution focal persons, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Marlon Velasco has expressed optimism that the Mindanao-wide tree planting activity in the six regions ofMindanao would beat the existing Guiness World Records of India.
The Sept. 26 TreeVolution activity was spearheaded by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in partnership with the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA).