60,000 Ecijanos to plant trees on 120-km stretch

CABANATUAN CITY — At least 60,000 environmentalists will be mobilized by the Department of Environment and Natural resources (DENR) for the planting of 20,000 trees along a 120-kilometer stretch of the national highway in Nueva Ecija next month.

Joselito Blanco, community environment and natural resources officer for southern Nueva Ecija, told The STAR that the massive tree-planting, which will be held on Aug. 25, will cover the Nueva Ecija portion of the Pan-Philippine Highway from the Nueva Vizcaya boundary at Dalton Pass to Barangay Bulualto at the Gapan City-San Miguel, Bulacan boundary.

From Gapan, the "green chain" will pass through the municipalities of San Leonardo, Sta. Rosa, Talavera, Sto. Domingo and Carranglan and the cities of Cabanatuan, Muñoz and San Jose.

The project is part of the "Green Philippine Highways" project espoused by Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angelo Reyes.

The project targets the planting of trees on 3,439 kilometers of roads traversing three major thoroughfares in the country — the 2,176.4-kilometer Pan-Philippine Highway from Laoag City to Davao City, the 439.2-kilometer Manila North Road from Laoag City to Manila, and the 823.9-kilometer West Nautical Highway from Batangas City to Zamboanga Sibugay.

A total of 500,000 seedlings, planted 10 meters apart, will be used in the synchronized tree-planting on both sides of the three highways.

Blanco said the DENR and the Philippine Wood Producers’ Association (PWPA) will provide the seedlings.

Dr. Rafael Otic, Nueva Ecija provincial environment and natural resources officer, said the DENR has entered into memoranda of commitment with various local government units, government agencies and state colleges and universities in the province for social mobilization through the "adopt a street/park" and "growing a tree for legacy" program of the DENR.

Aside from the DENR and the provincial government, also tapped as stakeholders were the local Philippine National Police, the Army’s 7th Infantry Division, National Food Authority, Upper Pampanga River University of Science and Technology, Central Luzon State University, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and the departments of the interior and local government, public works and highways, agriculture, labor and employment, agrarian reform, education, national defense, health, trade and industry, and transportation and communications.