MMDA, DENR lead tree-planting activity in San Mateo, Rizal

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), together with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) led a tree-planting activity Sunday, May 26 at the San Mateo Landfill Facility in Brgy. Pintong Bukawe, San Mateo, Rizal. 

The activity was participated in by volunteer groups from the MMDA Emergency Volunteer Core, Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission-Public Information and Advocacy Committee, other government offices, and various sectors from civil society. 

These volunteers planted almost 3,000 tree samplings of premium hardwood and other types belonging from the Dipterocarp family. 

The saplings varied from molave to yakal, narra, palusapis, lauan, and other high quality trees. 

The objecive of the tree-planting activity is to plant 100,000 indigenous trees within the 73-hectare landfill facility until December 2013. 

Presently, the group has already planted 10,000 samplings since the start of the project. 

MMDA General Manager Corazon Jimenez said that the activity is a volunteerism activity gathering members from the government and civil society to work together for a cause. 

She said that the project is in response to climate change and is part of its mitigation and adaptation. 

Such activity would also help in disaster prevention and preparedness, she added. 

DENR-NCR Regional Executive Director Neria A. Andin said that the activity is also part of the government’s ongoing National Greening Program which aims to plant 1.5 billion trees in 1.5 million hectares of Philippine land in five years. 

The San Mateo tree-planting activity also aims to rehabilitate and restore trees that were cut during the creation of the said landfill facility, Director Andin added. 

She also said that species of tree saplings donated by the DENR for this project include premium hardwood such as molave and palusapis, and those from the dipterocarp family such as the lauan, bagtikan, and yakal—all of which were quality woods exported by the country during the 60s. 

The planting of quality hardwood would definitely be beneficial not only for the environment but also to the economy of the country, Dir. Andin added. 

During the activity, a memorandum of agreement was signed by GM Jimenez (MMDA) and Dir. Andin (DENR) that would enjoin the two agencies in the sustained conduct of the tree-planting activity until the end of the year.