ILOILO – To celebrate Arbor Day, the provincial government held a tree-planting activity in Barangay Igpaho, Tubungan, Iloilo on Saturday, June 26.
Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. spearheaded provincial capitol employees, government personnel and stakeholders in the activity.
More or less 200 seedlings were planted in Tubungan.
Participants observed minimum health standards, especially social distancing.
Days prior to the tree-planting activity, Mitzi Peñaflorida, senior environmental management specialist of the Provincial Government Environment and Natural Resources Office, said some of the tree seedlings to be planted included molave, ilang-ilang, banaba, and toog, among others.
Fruit-bearing ones included duhat, caimito, santol, pomelo, lansones, sampalok, and chico.
Arbor Day in the Philippines has been institutionalized to be observed every June 25 throughout the nation by planting trees and ornamental plants and other forms of relevant activities.
The necessity to promote a healthier ecosystem for the people through the rehabilitation and re-greening of the environment was stressed in Proclamation No. 643 that amended Proclamation No. 396, s. 2003.
Proclamation No. 396 enjoined the “active participation of all government agencies, including government-owned and controlled corporations, private sector, schools, civil society groups and the citizenry in tree planting activity.”
About three million trees have so far been planted in the 42 towns and the component city of the province since July 2019, Peñaflorida said.
She added that Iloilo was able to plant 1.5 million trees in 2019, under the Action for Re-Greening and Transformation for Climate Change Adaptation (ART for CCA) program undertaken by Defensor’s father, then governor Arthur Sr.
Another 1.6 million trees were planted in 2020 under the “Tanum (Plant) Iloilo” program, while 1.5 million more would be planted this year./PN
