JORDAN, Guimaras – Some 200 seedlings of Itang-itang tree were planted at the Materials Recovery Facility in Barangay Sto. Domingo, Nueva Valencia, Guimaras on Feb. 13 – a pre-Valentine’s Day activity.
Participants were personnel of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Guimaras, Nueva Valencia’s police station, Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (MENRO), and barangay residents.
The tree planting was a fitting way to express love to the environment this “love month”, said Police Lieutenant Gary Diaz, officer-in-charge of the Nueva Valencia police station.
According to Aljune Margallo, chief of Nueva Valencia’s MENRO, the challenge after the tree planting is making sure the seedlings’ survival.
For this, MENRO would be tapping the help of barangay councils, said Margallo.
Trees help combat climate change, he stressed.
The Itang-itang tree is a medium-sized tree, growing up to 20 meters high. It is common in open primary and in secondary forests and thickets at low and medium altitudes throughout the Philippines.
Its bark, in powder, decoction, infusion, tincture, or wine preparation, is used as febrifuge, tonic, antiperiodic, antidysenteric, emmenagogue, anticholeric, and vulnerary.
Its leaves, when crushed and mixed with a little coconut oil and heated, are applied as a warm poultice to sprains, bruises, contusions, and dislocated joints./PN
