Greening Of Pangasinan In Fullswing

A Pangasinan congressman hopes to make his home province the greenest in the entire country as he had already distributed 1.3 million seedlings to his constituents planted in different barangays last year and another one million seedlings are being grown in a 30-hectare public land in barangay Portic here through his program called "Green the Mountains Again."

Second district Rep. Amado Espino Jr. said that the project earned its targeted initial success after it was launched September last year. Barangay officials, civic or government organizations, schools, church leaders, local executives, the media and even ordinary citizens have supported the project as they themselves planted trees in their own backyard or at their side streets through the coordination of Espino’s brother, Board Member Amadeo Espino who is the president of the provincial Liga ng mga Barangay.

This month, they are into the second batch of another one million trees. Aside from gmelina, paper trees, acacia among others, they are little by little adding some fruit-bearing trees. When bought outside, each seedling of these kind costs from P10-15. But anybody who is interested to plant these trees can get these here for free, said the congressman.

The participation of about 1,300 students from the Pangasinan State University (PSU) is so vital in caring for the growing the necessary seedlings. During summertime, these students never failed to care for these plants. –Eva Visperas