Senator: Planting trees is a must in the Aquino administration

SENATOR Franklin M. Drilon is optimistic the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will fulfill its mandate of planting 1.5 billion trees before the end of President Benigno Aquino III’s term ends in 2016.

The trees are said to be planted in some 1.5 million hectares.

Meanwhile, Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog expresses support to the National Greening Program (NGP) saying that the tree planting program is tenable even in highly urban centers like this city.

Mabilog encourages tree planting in the backyard or in any vacant area like in Calajunan dumpsite where an area was developed into a wedding ecopark for couples to plant a tree before a civil marriage at the City Hall.

The City Mayor said the trees help mitigate the effects of typhoons and other natural calamities by restoring and preserving the environment.

At a recent Senate Finance Committee performance review chaired by Drilon, the DENR reported that a total of 71 million seedlings of different species were planted in about 140,000 hectares of denuded and forest lands in the country in 2011 to 2012.

Furthermore, the tree planting project also created 300,000 jobs from seedling production and plantation establishments in 2011.

The DENR was allocated with P2.7 billion for NGP and will increase to P5.7 billion in the proposed P2.006-trillion 2013 National Budget.