Maguindanao advocacy group to plant trees anew
Breaking News • 15:05 PM Sat Dec 6, 2014
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By:
Ferdinandh Cabrera
Hundreds join the tree planting during the Treevolution campaign last September in Pigcalagan, Sultan Kudarat town. (Ferdinandh Cabrera)
COTABATO
CITY – While most of disaster agencies in the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM) have been placed on heightened alert in preparation for Typhoon
Ruby, another group will make another attempt today to mitigate the impact of calamities
– massive tree planting.
About
a hundred individuals, mostly students and military personnel composing the Balik
Kalikasan Advocacy Group (BKAG) from Cotabato City and Maguindanao areas, will
troop anew to Barangay Pigcalagan in Sultan Kudarat town for another round of
tree planting.
This
time to replace the number of seedlings that did not survive during last
September's Mindanao-wide Treevolution Campaign” which BKAG took a big part in
organizing and mobilizing participants.
That
attempt, spearheaded by the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) was
undeniably broke the world-wide record on the number of participants planting
trees simultaneously in an hour.
Army
Captain Gregorio Jose, BKAG focal person said, about 30 percent mortality of
seedlings were monitored from the 500 Antipolo and Lanipao seedlings planted in
five-hectare area reforestation site. Unsuccessful seedlings are scheduled to
be replaced in today’s activity.
This
was our commitment together with my Brigade commander Col. Arnel Dela Vega to
the regional governor Mujiv Hataman,” Jose said. As promised, we will ensure
the trees we planted are not only for show up or compliance but to sincerely
implement reforestation to mitigate climate change,” Captain Jose added.
Hataman
led the treevolution in the same site where he dreamed to revisit in the future
to check how the trees he planted had grown up.
Hataman
said the place is suitable and ideal for reforestation as the town is suffering
from frequent devastating floods that had been affecting thousands of people
and heavy traffic congestions when flood water reaches the major highway.
STI
College, an academe partner of BKAG, pledged to adopt more communities for
reforestation.
BKAG
is a decade long environmental advocacy group from the 6th Division, DENR,
academe, civil society groups, Minrico Lumber Inc, and Cotabato media that aims
to protect environment and climate change mitigation.