Camarines Sur bags Guinness for mangrove planting

LEGAZPI CITY ,Philippines  – Camarines Sur has placed the Philippines in the Guinness Book of World Records again for the “most number of mangroves planted in one hour.”

This, after some 7,000 volunteers planted on Thursday over one million mangrove saplings within an hour in a 60-hectare land in Barangay San Rafael, Ragay town.

Sayda Subasi Gemici, an adjudicator of Guinness Book of World Records from Turkey who witnessed and recorded the event, said Camarines Sur practically achieved a new world record, with the Philippines being the first country to plant the most number of mangroves.

“In fact, what the Guinness Book requires is only at least 10,000 trees to be planted to create a new record. Camarines Sur listed a new record after planting over one million in one hour,” Gemici told the state-run Philippine Information Agency in Camarines Sur yesterday.

Data showed that the 7,000 volunteers of the El Verde Movement led by Camarines Sur Gov. L-Ray Villafuerte planted 1,009,029 bakawan or mangrove saplings within one hour in coastal Ragay town.

Also last year, Camarines Sur landed in the Guinness Book as the place with the “most number of trees planted in 15 minutes.”

The same group of volunteers from different sectors, including soldiers and students, planted 64,056 assorted trees in Siruma town.

“We wish to extent gratitude to all who participated in this historic event, particularly the women volunteers who also celebrated the International Women’s Day on the same day,” Villafuerte said.