Binhi sows rare Philippine trees

MANILA, Philippines – Here’s one tree-planting activity that’s more than the ordinary.

More than 50 seedlings of premium but rare Philippine tree species were planted at the heart of Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig recently by the renewable energy firm Energy Development Corp. (EDC) under its “Binhi: A Greening Legacy” program.

EDC partnered with Bonifacio Estate Services Corp., Fort Bonifacio Development Corp., and Ayala Foundation, Inc. to bring the company’s newest greening program to its host community in Metro Manila.

Planted along the proposed BGC jogging path were premium and endangered trees like banuyo, dao, gisok-gisok, guijo, palosapis and supa.

Agnes de Jesus, EDC SVP, explained that the Binhi program’s “Tree for the Future” module is biased towards the planting of endangered tree species with high economic value because such species have become the early casualties of deforestation in the country during the past several decades.

“It is not enough that we plant just any tree. We must plant trees that are native but have become rare or vulnerable, as these are also tied with our identity as Filipinos,” de Jesus said.

An initiative of EDC chairman Oscar Lopez, Binhi was launched at the Quezon Memorial Circle in December last year. Highlighting the said launch was the planting of tindalo seedlings – the Binhi program’s banner tree species – which were sourced from the mother tindalo tree planted by former President Manuel L. Quezon at the Bacolod City Public Plaza in the 1930s.

Currently, EDC is working on sealing partnerships with organizations like the University of the Philippines-Tacloban, Philippine Science High School-Eastern Visayas campus, Quezon City Science High School, the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau, Boy Scouts of the Philippines, and public schools through the Department of Education (DepEd) system to implement the Binhi Tree for the Future module.

Apart from Tree for the Future, Binhi has three other modules, namely: Tree for Life (for bridging gaps of critical forest areas), Tree for Food (for livelihood of forest settlers) and Tree for Leisure (for ecotourism).