Service-oriented group, Marines plant trees in Maguindanao watershed

KORONADAL CITY — Members of the non-profit transnational Junior Chamber International in Cotabato City and personnel of the 5th Marine Battalion planted hundreds of forest tree seedlings in a watershed area in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte on Sunday, September 22.

The Junior Chamber International, or JCI, a service-oriented non-government organization founded in Mexico in 1944, which has a consultative status in the Council of Europe and is recognized by agencies of the United Nations, has chapters in cities and provinces in the country, its officials in Cotabato City told reporters on Monday.

The tree-planting activity was an environment-protection initiative, meant to encourage other Cotabato City-based cause-oriented groups to also embark on such a project. 

The JCI Cotabato City Chapter said in a statement on Monday that its tree planting activity in the Dimapatoy highland near the Awang and Lomboy areas in Datu Odin Sinsuat was part of the Think Green Project of the JCI Philippines, initiated with the help of the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Energy-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Dimapatoy is traversed by a river flowing downstream to Lomboy, where the Cotabato City Water District operates a facility that pumps water to barangays in Datu Odin Sinsuat, including Camp Siongco, where the headquarters of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division is located, and to Cotabato City, about nine kilometers away.

The media relations officer of JCI’s chapter in Cotabato City, Wencell Abapo, told reporters that they are thankful to the commander of the 5th Marine Battalion, Lt. Mark Lester Baky, and the officials of the MENRE-BARMM for having supported their tree planting activity.

Abapo said the JCI Philippine's Think Green Project is focused on extensive environment-protection thrusts aiming to boost consciousness among Filipinos on the need to cooperate in protecting watershed areas to ensure sustainability of water sources and as an added protection from floods during rainy days.