LEGAZPI CITY — Some 2,000 residents briskly walked a half-kilometer stretch at the newly constructed Septage Treatment Facility (STF) here to plant different fruit tree seedlings during the annual “Lakad Tanim Para sa Puso”, a fitness and tree-planting activity organized by the city government for the Valentine’s Day celebration on Thursday.
At least 5,000 seedlings of the indigenous baligang (Syzygium curranii), guava and camachile (Pithecolobium dulce) were planted within a three-hectare land at the STF and Engineered Sanitary Landfill owned by the city administration in the uphill portion of Barangay Banquerohan in the southern section of this city.
Mayor Noel E. Rosal, during the activity, said the planting site has been declared by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the city administration as a watershed.
“The planting materials have been provided by the City Environment and Natural Resources,” he said.
Rosal, together with city Vice Mayor Bobby Cristobal and other department heads, have been spearheading the Valentine’s Day march and tree-planting activity to promote the city’s reforestation campaign so it could also be maintained as a “landslide-free zone”.
The mayor noted that most of the seedlings planted during the initial years of the reforestation project have grown into huge trees, particularly those at the top of the view deck of Lignon Hill, site of the observatory of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
“All these planted trees are gifts to our mother nature that will benefit the future generation,” he said.
Employees and members of the Philippine Navy, Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and city government as well as media practitioners joined the 13th year of the tree-planting activity that began after super typhoons Milenyo and Reming not only devastated the city’s agricultural areas but also caused the loss of lives of more than a thousand residents.
It was six years ago when the City Legislative Council adopted a resolution declaring every February 14, the feast day of Saint Valentine, as the city’s own Arbor Day.
Rosal commended all the participants for helping plant the trees that would ultimately serve as protection from the impact of natural hazards like floods and landslides.
