TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines – Barely a year after being launched during Environmental Month, 10 hectares of young fruit and mahogany trees grown under the government’s National Greening Program (NGP) went up in smoke after being caught in a fire sparked by a 43-year-old farmer who had burned dried hay in his adjoining rice field in Barangay Santiago, Quirino, Isabela early this week.
Moises Tamayo, Quirino municipal environment and natural resources officer, said farmer Vicente Cabacungan was helpless in suppressing the fire made worse by the hot climate and the winds. Cabacungan admitted having started the fire to dispose of palay stalks and dried grass to prepare his field for planting, Tamayo said.
The burned plantation is part of the 100 hectares of the government-designated reforestation area under the NGP in Barangays Santiago and Domingo in Quirino town. An estimated 10,000 young trees were believed razed in the fire.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources said it was mulling filing charges against Cabacungan.