Santander holds month-long greening activities
By Hazel F. Gloria
CEBU CITY, August 28 (PIA) --- The municipality of Santander, Cebu organized a month-long greening activities in line with the Run 2 Plant 4 GREENIN Philippines 2012 program.
Santander Mayor Marilyn Wenceslao said, these activities will encourage community participation in expanding the town's forest cover.
These activities include “Walk to Care for Trees” held on June 12 that was intended for the molave or tugas seedlings that volunteers from Santander planted in 2011.
“Fun Run to Care for Trees” on June 25 was done in celebration of the National Arbor Day and to commemorate last year's Run 2 Plant 4 GREENIN Philippines.
The running and planting event was simultaneously held province-wide in Cebu.
Wenceslao added that participants were challenged with an uphill hike towards the planting site located in Barangay Cabutongan, Santander. The participants cleaned the surroundings of the one-year-old molave or tugas trees and replaced those seedling that died.
The 500 participants ran and planted 500 mangrove seedlings, such as bakauan, bantigi, bungalon, tungog, and others to protect the shorelines and provide safe habitat to marine animals.
“We could have planted more mangroves,but it's low tide. The run is synchronized province-wide, and the original site is knee-deep in the morning, so we have to forego and find a drier site,” Wenceslao said.
On the other hand, Three–Sixty Pharmacy also did an outreach program in Santander and planted 360 tugas trees.
It was already the second year that the company did its tree planting in the municipality. Aside from planting, the company also gave grocery items to 2,000 indigent families as their birthday gift to the mayor.
Three-Sixty Pharmacy manager, Antonio Yap hopes that the company will do these activities annually.
Santander will monitor closely and ensure the survival and growth of these trees.
This year, Davao del Sur, Davao City, and Compostela Valley also organized their own Run 2 Plant 4 GREENIN Philippines, making these areas the first local government units outside Cebu to replicate the event.
Run 2 Plant 4 GREENIN Philippines 2012 was organized in collaboration with the Cebu Provincial Government, Aboitiz Equity Venture, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Iinterior and Local Government, Talisay City local government unit and other LGUs in Cebu, and various government and private institutions.
Run 2 Plant 4 GREENIN Philippines, one of the components of the GREENIN Philippines program, is a fun run and planting activity that provides a venue for every Filipino to contribute in rehabilitating and protecting our environment with the goal of bringing back the country's forest cover.(mbcn/HFG/PIA-7/RAFI)