AC holds Arbor Day activities

ANGELES CITY – Acting Mayor Vicky Vega-Cabigting led local government workers, barangay officials and residents, students and private sector representatives on Monday in the simultaneous Arbor Day and tree planting activities in this city.

A kick-off program was held in Barangay Pandan where hundreds of volunteers coming from different religious groups, Inter Fraternity and Sorority Alliance for People Empowerment, Rotary Club and Soroptimists, Partido Abe Kapampangan, the Philippine Air Force, reservists and the local police planted bamboo and mahogany trees along the embankment of the Abacan River.

The 33 villages in this city also observed the occasion where Task Force 1 Million Trees and the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) encouraged residents to plant ornamental, vegetables and fruit-bearing trees in their respective backyards.

Several schools in different parts of the city conducted Arbor Day programs focusing on tree planting and preservation of the environment.

Vega-Cabigting said the revival of the celebration of Arbor Day throughout the country could be our contribution to the preservation and conservation of our environment to at least minimize the effects of global warming due to climate change.

“The protection and preservation of the environment is a responsibility and obligation not only of the City Government and other government agencies but of every individual,” the vice mayor said.

Arbor Day from the Latin word ‘arbor’, meaning tree, is a collective effort of individuals or groups to plant and care for trees for one day.

The activity seeks to create awareness on the need to rehabilitate our environment through volunteerism and collective tree planting nationwide.

In the Philippines, its observance was introduced in 1947 through a Presidential Proclamation No. 30 issued by then President Manuel Roxas declaring the second Saturday of September each year as Arbor Day in the country.