ILOILO City – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Region 6 recently conducted a conference and workshop on bamboo plantation and development for 2020 under the National Greening Program (NGP) at Zuri Hotel, Diversion Road here.
The six Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Offices (PENROs) of Capiz, Antique, Aklan, Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Guimaras presented their respective NGP accomplishments during the conference.
Environment chief Roy Cimatu assigned undersecretaries for each region to monitor and supervise NGP implementations.
Undersecretary (USec) for climate change and mining concerns, Atty. Analiza Rebuelta-Teh, together with DENR 6 regional executive director Francisco Milla, Jr., Forest Management Bureau (FMB) national director Lourdes Wagan, and Forest Resources Conservation Division (FRCD-FMB) chief Ma. Teresa Aquino discussed the accomplishments presented; addressed issues and concerns, and tackled proposed solutions to further improve the NGP implementation.
In Region 6, there are reportedly 97,640 hectares of plantation under the NGP implemented from the previous years, starting 2011 up to 2019.
The National Greening Program is aimed at poverty reduction and thereby uplift the lives of the people in the community, mitigate the effects of climate change and address its impacts in the NGP plantation areas.
USec Annaliza Rebuelta Teh encouraged DENR personnel in Western Visayas to be more serious in reviewing the implementation. The accomplishments presented served as instructive tools for other provinces to learn the best practices in the region. It is important to be well informed on gaps, policy and requirements to further improve the implementation that can support and address the changes needed to ensure how to improve the situation of the different NGP sites.
During the presentation of accomplishments, each PENRO detailed the commodities planted and the survival rate of each site. The best sites were identified, as well as the problematic sites which were discussed for supplementary solution.
Although NGP is critical in terms of implementation, Cimatu will directly handle NGP through the oversight of undersecretaries.
The Environment secretary focuses on Region 6 as he was assigned as the cabinet officer for Regional Development Security to deal with the region’s insurgencies. Also, he continues to check on Boracay rehabilitation’s progress that made a positive change through the efforts of the department. The National Security Council issued a list of affected and influenced barangays of insurgencies and matched it with the target sites of NGP areas. This could help in ending poverty and insurgencies.
“What we want to achieve is to come up with solutions, ensuring the compliance of agreements and plans to complete the desired survival rate of the NGP as Panay Island is being develop to become the Bamboo Capital of the country,” USec Teh said during the conference.
The NGP implementation could be improved through Survey, Mapping and Planning strategy to assess the sites by indicating the possible areas of plantation with specific crops or trees suitable to the location. It must be based on its planting requirements, identified areas for priority rehabilitation, regular forest protection activities, organizing the community for better outcome, maximize productivity of plantation through rigorous planning of different cropping strategies, and maintain graduated sites to recognize the success of the implementation.
“National Greening Program is one of the top priorities of our secretary Cimatu thus I encourage my fellow DENR personnel especially the PENROs and CENROs to do your best in improving the implementation of NGP here in Western Visayas,” regional executive director Francisco Milla, Jr. said./PN
