KORONADAL CITY–More than 5,000 volunteers have confirmed participation for the city’s 2018 Tree Growing Festival on Friday, June 29, which is touted as one of the biggest in Mindanao.
Augustus Bretaña, head of the city environment and natural resources office, said Thursday they expect another “rousing celebration for the environment.”
Bretaña said they have increased their target this year to 90,000 planted trees based on the identified planting sites, including upland areas, roadsides, idle lands as well as private farms within the city’s 27 barangays.
Bretaña said they already completed the delivery of the planting materials to the sites and will just focus on the deployment of the volunteer planters during the event.
He said about 80 percent of the seedlings were purchased by the city government and the remaining 20 percent were donations from various groups.
“Our objective is to have a quality tree growing program, wherein the planted trees would be properly nurtured and monitored on a regular basis,” Bretaña sad.
To accomplish that, he said they signed up landowners and other concerned stakeholders who have “passion for the environment” to assist in the program’s implementation.
Landowners were tasked to regularly monitor the planted tree and make sure that they survive and grow, he said.
Since its launching in 2011, the city government has planted hundreds of thousands of trees in parts of the city.
The city’s Tree Growing Festival highlights the local celebration of the International Environment Month observed every June, as well as in of support of the national government’s greening programs.
To encourage wider participation among local residents, Malacañang declared June 29 as a special non-working day in the entire city through Proclamation No. 513. (Anna liza Cabrido/PNA)
